Save Crow's Nest Voter Guide,
2007 Supervisor Election
October 8,
2007 Dear
[Candidate], Save
Crow’s Nest is a non-partisan, grassroots organization of nearly 1,000
members working to permanently protect the entire Crow’s Nest
peninsula from development. We believe
that the best and highest use for this particular area of land is as a
natural use area with public access for low-impact recreational and
educational activities. As a candidate for the Stafford County Board of
Supervisors, our members are eager to better understand your actions,
plans, and commitment to preserving all of Crow’s Nest. Although
Save Crow’s Nest does not endorse political candidates, we strongly
feel that good communication and access to information will help Because
many of the matters involving Crow’s Nest are highly technical, we
will be assisting interested voters in understanding candidate responses
by “grading” the responses based on consistency with positions of
Save Crow’s Nest. (We encourage you to visit our website at
savecrowsnest.org if you would like more information on the issues
important to Save Crow’s Nest.) Our “grades” will be represented
by either a positive blue heron or a negative bulldozer. A copy of
our questionnaire is attached. We
will release the collected questionnaires and our “grades” to the
general public, local press and post your responses online at
www.savecrowsnest.org. To be
included in our educational materials your questionnaire must be
received no later than Thank you
for taking the time to help Stafford citizens understand your goals for
Crow’s Nest and your commitment to a better Sincerely, Ranjit Singh
CANDIDATE
NAME: DISTRICT: INCUMBENT
(yes/no): PARTY
AFFIILIATION: WEBSITE: Word
limit: 150 words per question 1.
Previously, the State of If
elected, will you vote in favor of 2. In the
1970’s, a large portion of Crow’s Nest was rezoned to an A-2
designation, which allows one house per acre. This land use designation
is for transitional areas of the County that are served by either public
water or public sewer. None of the properties on Crow’s Nest are
served by public water or public sewer, and almost all of the properties
on and surrounding the peninsula are zoned A-1, which requires 3 acres
per house. If
elected, will you vote in favor of “right zoning” land on the
Crow’s Nest peninsula to A-1 agricultural land use?
3. Creeks
surrounded by steep slopes and highly erodible soils are dominant on
Crow’s Nest. These landscape conditions necessitate the use of
cut-and-fill development practices and have significant negative impacts
on water quality. Although prevention is considerably more economical
than mitigation, this year the Board of Supervisors voted to kill Water
Resource Overlay legislation. This ordinance would have protected
sensitive water resources such as those on Crow’s Nest. If
elected, will you vote in favor of the Water Resource Overlay ordinance,
and vote in favor of designating all of the land on the peninsula east
of 4. There
are many historical and cultural resources on the Crow’s Nest
peninsula. For example, an October 2005 archaeological survey of only a
small portion (450 acres) of Crow's Nest identified 47 new
archaeological sites, 14 of which meet the criteria for listing on the
National Registrar of Historic Places. The County has an existing
ordinance, the Historical Resource District Overlay, which could be used
to facilitate protection of these resources, but so far has not
designated any part of Crow’s Nest as an historical district. If
elected, will you vote in favor of designating all of the land on
the peninsula east of 5.
Crow’s Nest provides an extraordinary habitat for a variety of animals
and plants, in part due to the contiguous nature of the property. There
have been some suggestions that a cluster development, which would
increase the building density on one part of the property and leave a
portion of the property in open space, is one solution to Crow’s Nest.
This would fragment the property and destroy wildlife habitat. If
elected, will you vote in favor of a plan for a cluster development on
Crow’s Nest? The
Crow’s Nest Harbour is an area of almost 1,000 acres that was
subdivided into lots in the 1970’s. There is a deed restriction on the
lots in Crow’s Nest Harbour which prohibits the use of well water.
Currently, there are not any plans to extend public water or sewer to
the Crow’s Nest peninsula. 6.
If elected, will you vote in
favor of extending public water to the Crow’s Nest area? 7.
If elected, will you vote in
favor of lifting the deed restriction? 8. The
current Board of Supervisors has at various times voted in favor of road
projects that will facilitate development of Crow’s Nest. These
projects include the reconstruction of Courthouse (almost completed) and
Andrew Chapel Roads, the reconstruction of the bridge on Courthouse
Road, the hard surfacing of Rt 609/Raven Rd (the road that runs through
Crow’s Nest), and a proposal to rebuild the bridge on Raven Rd at the
entrance of Crow’s Nest. If
elected, will you vote in favor of removing the Andrew Chapel, bridge
replacement and 9. The
current Board of Supervisors passed the “Traditional Neighborhood
Development” ordinance, which allows dense residential development.
One project submitted under this ordinance, Stafford Town Station,
proposes to place up to 2,250 housing units on land currently approved
for 145 homes, and in exchange, provide money from cash proffers that
might be used to assist in the purchase of Crow’s Nest. Another
developer has had an option to purchase portions of Crow’s Nest and
has actually purchased lots in Crow’s Nest Harbour. That developer has
suggested at various times an exchange of protected property on Crow’s
Nest for dense residential development—up to 12,000 housing units--on
Widewater. Both
these proposals would create more housing units than can be built on
Crow’s Nest. If
elected, will you vote in favor of rezonings for dense residential
development in exchange for the protection of a portion of Crow’s Nest
if those rezonings will create more housing units than can be built on
Crow’s Nest? What else
would you like the members of Save Crow’s Nest and other voters to
know about your position on Crow’s Nest?
|