'Significant Victory' - 140 Acres Saved At Chancellorsville
By Deborah Fitts
November 2004

SPOTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. - A dogged preservation effort to save part of the Chancellorsville battlefield that has been threatened with development bore fruit Sept. 14, when the Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors announced plans to preserve 140 acres of the Mullins Farm.

"What we've accomplished is preservation of the whole viewshed along Route 3 on the eastern half of the Mullins Farm," explained Jim Campi of the Civil War Preservation Trust. "We're thrilled that we were able to work something out. This is the deal everyone said couldn't be done."

The 788-acre farm, consisting of rolling pastures and cropland along Route 3, has been the focus of an intense battle since 2002 when developers and preservationists first clashed.

The preservation outcome for the 140 acres was due to the cooperation of a developer, Tricord Homes. Campi said the local, family-owned building company was approached by Board of Supervisors Chairman Bob Hagan to see if a deal could be made.

In July Tricord bought 227 acres of the Mullins Farm east of Lick Run, and will sell 140 of those acres - including 55 acres zoned for commercial use - to the Trust for $3 million.

In return, the county is expected to allow Tricord to increase the density of development, clustering 294 homes on the remaining 87 acres. Tricord plans to build age-restricted housing, encouraging "empty nesters" and reducing the pressure for services on the fast-growing county.

Trust President James Lighthizer said the outcome was "a real partnership where everyone wins. Tricord is able to build quality housing for seniors, the county is getting open space for its citizens, and preservationists are getting a battlefield of enormous historic significance."

He said, "It is no exaggeration to say that this is the most significant battlefield preservation victory in a decade."

The 140-acre tract includes a 1,000-foot setback on Route 3 extending for half of the frontage.

The remaining 561 acres - and the western half of the Route 3 frontage - is in the hands of Pennsylvania-based homebuilders Toll Brothers, which is already going ahead with construction. The Toll Brothers land separates the Tricord parcel by about a half-mile from the Chancellorsville unit of the battlefield park.

The Toll Brothers land "is still key," Campi said. Development on Route 3 would affect the historic landscape, and make it more difficult to eventually add the 140 acres to the park.

Campi said the Trust has always sought about 250 acres of the Mullins Farm, including core battlefield from the first day of fighting at Chancellorsville May 1, 1863, and all of the Route 3 frontage. "As far as the eastern part of the Mullins Farm, we got all we wanted," Campi said. "We're hoping that Toll Brothers will see the public reaction and do a deal."

He noted that Toll Brothers is required to set their homes back 400 feet from Route 3. "We'll be asking for 600 more feet," he said, "which, given all the land they have, isn't asking a lot. It's a do-able proposition if they're even remotely cooperative."

The Trust will seek to raise the $3 million purchase price with a request for a major grant from the federal American Battlefield Protection Program, and from a membership appeal in November. They need to "wrap it up" by Dec. 31, Campi said.

Meanwhile the Trust is already beginning to plan for an interpretive trail to be built as soon as possible. "A lot of other sites in Spotsylvania need protecting," Campi explained. "We want to show the county that the Mullins Farm is going to be a tourist attraction."

Funeral home owner John Mullins purchased the farm in 1995 for $2.8 million. His clashes with preservationists began when a developer proposed building nearly 2,000 homes and 2.2 million square feet of shops and offices. The ensuing battle ended with the supervisors rejecting the plan in March 2003.

Mullins threatened to go ahead with a by-right development of his own. But in January, Toll Brothers bought 30 building lots for $2.7 million, and in June paid Mullins another $3 million for an additional 123 acres. The land is zoned for 3-acre house lots.

Campi praised Tricord for its involvement. "They could have made more money" by developing the 140 acres, he said. "It's to their credit that they didn't go for the bigger money. They're very community-minded."

Tricord has also bought 48 acres adjacent to the Mullins Farm where they plan to build a 500-bed continuing-care center.

Campi also hailed the cooperative effort of the Chancellorsville Coalition, a group of a dozen conservation and preservation groups that lobbied for saving the Mullins Farm.