County OKs Water For Site Near Spotsylvania's Bloody Angle
By Deborah Fitts
December 2004

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. - An effort by the Civil War Preservation Trust to save battlefield land near the famous Bloody Angle received a blow in October, when the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors approved a developer's request for public water lines to serve a proposed 232-acre subdivision.

The wooded tract abuts the Spotsylvania unit of Fredericksburg & Spotsylvania National Military Park, about three-quarters of a mile north of the Bloody Angle. Trust spokesman Jim Campi said the Trust would like to protect 70 to 80 acres of the parcel that includes Union earthworks and the route of approach of Federal commander Winfield Scott Hancock in the bloody May 1864 clash.

Campi said the board's approval would make attempts to preserve the historic property that much more difficult. Virginia-based Silver Cos. has an option on the property. The Trust had approached the previous owner, former Virginia General Assembly Delegate V. Earl Dickinson, and sought to buy 70 to 80 acres. Dickinson was reluctant to split the land up, however, and offered the entire tract to the Trust for $2 million.

"We felt it was a little too high," Campi said. "We figured we'd try to negotiate with the new owner."

Dickinson then sold the land to Silver Cos. for $2 million. When the Trust approached Silver, Silver offered to sell 70 to 80 acres - for $2 million. Silver is the developer of Celebrate Virginia, a tourist destination that will include the U.S. National Slavery Museum, golf courses and hotels, next to its 2.4-million-square-foot Central Park retail center on 2,400 acres in Fredericksburg and Stafford County, Va.

The CWPT won a $150,000 federal transportation-enhancement grant to help buy the land. The nonprofit had sought a grant of $1.3 million in 2002.

This past summer, when Silver began seeking approval for county water, the Trust saw another opportunity to negotiate. Campi said the Trust was poised to support Silver's request for water in return for clustering the development off of the battlefield land. The supervisors' approval dashed that hope.

"Now there's less incentive for them to consider" the Trust's proposal, Campi said.

The Spotsylvania planning department had recommended against approval, pointing out that the Dickinson tract lies outside the county's Primary Settlement District and was therefore technically not eligible for municipal water. Silver could build around 115 residential units, according to Campi.

Campi said the Trust's strategy now would be to wait until Silver resells the property or brings in a developer to undertake the project. "So we're hopeful we can still negotiate with them to get clustering," he said.

The "good news" about the situation, Campi said, was that the park has a 600-foot wooded buffer between the Dickinson tract and the park, "one of the most substantial buffers in the park."

"So no one standing at the Bloody Angle is going to have to look at this development," he said.