Battle rages over Chancellorsville

FREDERICKSBURG, Va. ? Skirmishes between developers and Civil War buffs seeking to preserve battlefields are common in rapidly growing Northern Virginia, which also was the epicenter of the Civil War.

But now a full-fledged national battle has erupted over a proposal to build a new town called Chancellorsville on the land that gave Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee his greatest victory.

It's about money pure and simple. When it comes to making a buck, the memories of our fallen soldiers or their deeds don't mean squat.

The sad part is that every new home built in a county like Spotsylvania, on average ends up costing more in government services than the tax revenue it brings in. These massive developments usually end up increasing taxes on municipalities in the long run. The great "ratables race" has been proven to be BS in many cases. Thats developments dirty little secret.

I live in a county that has seen an explosion of new development in the last 20 years. All along we were told by developers how we "needed" their houses, condos, office buildings and shopping malls to keep our tax base intact. What they never told us was that it was pretty darned expensive to pay for all the new schools, roads, police-fire-rescue and other stuff that went along with these developments and that we were responsible for paying for that ourselves. My local property/school taxes have nearly doubled and they are set to go up again in 2 years.

The zoning hearing on this will be tomorrow, March 25. I hope for the best but am not optimistic. Spottsylvania County is one of the fastest growing counties in the country. Natives are far outnumbered by newcomers; indeed, half the residents have arrived in the last ten years. The new Spottsylvania residents are mostly commuters, heading north to feed the D.C. sprawl, and they have not been there long enough to learn or appreciate anything about the area's history. They spend their waking hours (1) at work; (2) commuting; (3) in front of the tv; and (4) at the mall, in that order. Homo suburbicus.

The problem at Chancellorsville, as at so many other battlefields, is that the National Park was created when the area was rural, so it never incorporated most of the battlefield. The eastern edge of the battlefield -- the area between Zoan Church and the current Park boundardy -- was supposed to have been protected by a long term county growth plan, which had reserved the area for agriculture/open space. The adoption of this plan was a major controversy some years ago, and when it was done, preservationists were told to go away, the battlefield was protected, not to worry.

Now Route 3 (the Civil War era Orange Turnpike) has been four laned through the battlefield, and there's a stoplight at the Chancellorsville intersection itself. The protective zoning arrangement, naturally, was abandoned as soon as the developers regained a majority on the county board. That was in '99. The intent now is to move dirt as quickly as possible before preservationists can, once again, educate and organize the community.

Apart from my personal interest in battlefield preservation, what offends me about this is the sheer short-sighted stupidity of this kind of development. When will we learn? Spottsylvania County is a nice place. It has more to offer than simply being a commuter base for D.C. (If you want that, you might as well live in Fairfax or South Arlington.) It has a historic city center, which is doing well; a big river, public access to which is being steadily closed off by development; and the battlefields, which are unique and irreplaceable. It is simply stupid to throw the history away for more cookie-cutter D.C. commuter pads. If this rezoning goes through and the land is developed, it is a virtual certainty that 20 years from now, folks down there will be kicking themselves and saying "how could we have been so stupid."

I'm not opposed to building more houses in Spottsylvania County, but put them somewhere other than the battlefields. Most of the county is still rural. There are plenty of other places to pave over. The battlefield is under pressure simply because the Route 3 sprawl is barreling its way, not because there is some higher developmental imperative at work. But stupid is as stupid does, and Spottsylvania County has now been sucked into the Northern Virginia commuter mindset. Very sad.

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