Stephenson's Depot Battle Site Rezoning Fails
By Deborah Fitts September '01 issue

WINCHESTER, Va. - Supporters of the Stephenson's Depot battlefield near Winchester whooped with delight Aug. 8 when a proposal to rezone a 404-acre tract for industry failed on a 3-3 vote by the Frederick County Board of Supervisors.

The motion died on the tie vote, scotching controversial plans by Winchester-based Shockey Cos. to create an industrial park, dubbed the Mid-Atlantic Industrial and Tech Center.

The outcome thrilled opponents of the Shockey plans. Catherine Whitesell, who spearheaded the opposition, said the victory "was probably one of the happiest moments of my life. We were just totally excited."

Whitesell said the reaction by the crowd of battlefield supporters in the supervisors' meeting room was so extreme "it was like everybody won the lottery. People screamed and cried."

They had hardly dared to hope. In February, the Planning Commission recommended the rezoning 9-1. In 1996, the area was proposed for industry in the county's land-use plan.

But opponents of the Shockey plan were buoyed in late July, when Civil War Preservation Trust (CWPT) President James Lighthizer expressed interest in purchasing the land, where the Second and Third Winchester battles took place, if its zoning classification remained unchanged.

"We're committed to doing whatever we can to save the land," Lighthizer was quoted as saying. "We're not interested in buying rezoned land."

Trust spokesman Jim Campi said later that although the battlefield is on only part of the tract - Whitesell estimates 70 acres of core battlefield - there are also concerns about protecting the viewshed. Also, a rail spur that Shockey proposed to reach the property "would go right through the Stephenson's Depot battlefield."

Whitesell attributed the three votes against the rezoning to the huge crowds of battlefield supporters (under the umbrella group Frederick County Voters with Common Concerns) who thronged the public hearings. She estimated that 450 supporters witnessed the Aug. 8 vote.

Other factors in the supervisors' decision, she said, included concerns about the cost of infrastructure that the county would have to provide to a relatively remote location, traffic, and the impact on the area's other historic resources.
The Shockey Cos. had set aside 32 acres of the core battlefield not to be developed. According to Whitesell, however, another 40 acres of core battlefield would have been destroyed. She said it would also have destroyed the Milburn Rural Historic District, which in 1998 was deemed eligible for the National Register of Historic Places.

Whitesell indicated that her group may now approach other conservation organizations in hopes of acquiring the part of the tract that is not battlefield.

CWPT has preserved or helped to preserve considerable battlefield land in the area, including 222 acres at Third Winchester, 150 acres at Cedar Creek, and 315 acres at Kernstown. "We're very involved in Frederick County," Campi said.

In a letter to the Frederick supervisors July 30, Lighthizer stated, "Frederick County, Va., has more Civil War history than any other county in this country. As a Frederick County landowner, CWPT is eager to see heritage tourism develop into an attractive basic industry. Publicly and privately preserved battlefields add value to adjacent properties, generate jobs and income, and produce tax surpluses for local government."

Lighthizer noted also that the Trust's 222 acres at Third Winchester lie within a mile of the Stephenson's Depot site. "We have literally spent millions of dollars to preserve these sites in Frederick County," he said.