Citizen group seeks balance
By John Barnhart
Jan 11, 2006 Bedford Bulletin
Steve Stevick, President and Nancy Raine Secretary/Treasurer of BCLP with one of their horses
Bedford Citizens for Land Preservation (BCLP) got its start due to a "Conservatively Speaking" published in the July 25, 2001, edition of the Bedford Bulletin.
The column mentioned that Bedford County was preparing to update its comprehensive plan. It mentioned the county's rapid growth over the last 30 years and a program that Virginia Beach uses to purchase development rights on farmland within the city.
Steve Stevick and Nancy Raine have protected their 120 acres, off Otterville Road, from development with a conservation easement. The horse conveyed with the property when they bought it and they have added a few more since that time.
Virginia Beach was formed when Princess Ann County merged with the resort town of Virginia Beach to defend itself from annexations by Norfolk.
According to Nancy Raine, who serves on BCLP's board of directors, she and a friend, Annis McCabe read the column and became curious about the comprehensive plan. They contacted Philip Thompson, the county's director of planning, and set up a meeting. The meeting lasted three hours.
"We came out with our eyes crossed," Raine recalled.
Raine said that they realized that the comprehensive plan was a complex issue. The group scheduled a series of meetings and sent out post cards announcing them. Thompson spoke at one meeting and Tony Sprouse, then a member of the county's planning commission, addressed another. Ridge Schuyler, representing the Nature Conservancy, was the featured speaker at a third.
"The community got educated about the comp plan," Raine commented.
More than that, an idea was born. A total of 100 people attended the meetings, according to Raine, and they were asked to fill out questionnaires. Everybody who returned a questionnaire felt that Bedford County's rural character should be preserved.
BCLP was organized at a fourth meeting with approximately 40 people present.
Steve Stevick, BCLP's president, said that they were impressed by the fact that the people who showed up for meetings came from a wide variety of backgrounds. There were business people , professionals, farmers and real estate agents. Stevick said that this meant that any organization should include all interests in the county.
As a result, BCLP has an 11-member advisory board, in addition to its nine-member board of directors. The advisory board is chaired by Robert Lambeth and includes Lee Ann Carr, executive director of the Bedford Area Chamber of Commerce, Nanci Drake, the Bedford area's tourism director and and Scott Baker, Bedford County's Virginia Extension Service's extension agent.
BCLP's goal is to balance development and preservation while conserving the Bedford area's community character. Raine said that Shelly Maistran, a speaker at an early meeting, pointed out the importance of preserving community character. She told them that travelers are not interested in localities that look like every other place.
"People will travel for something unique," Raine commented.
Education became an early and continued focus for the organization. Members educated themselves by gathering information, then found ways to get it out to the public.
One effort is a public library resource cart, which has been popular with the public according to Raine. The cart contains, among other materials, a DVD that points out a number of ideas that could prosper in this area. The same DVD is also available, free of charge, from BCLP.
Another effort was a cost of community services study, prepared last year by American Farmland Trust (AFT). AFT, a private, nonprofit conservation organization, did this study specifically for Bedford County. It concluded that residential developments consume $1.07 in public services for every $1 of tax revenue they pay. Commercial and industrial land uses consume 40 cents for every dollar in taxes they pay. Land used for agricultural uses consumes only 25 cents worth of public services for every dollar generated in tax revenue. This study can be downloaded in PDF format from BCLP's Web site at www.bedfordpreservation.org.
Stevick noted that a high rate of development is tied to rising property tax rates, something that Raine has personally witnessed.
"I grew up in Fairfax when it looked like Bedford," she commented. "And, we all know what happened there."
When Raine's parents were in their 70s, they were forced to sell their home and move because their real estate taxes had risen so high that they were no longer able to pay the taxes.
Stevick believes that Bedford County can't afford not to look at all options available to preserve the county's character. One of those options is to purchase development rights on tracts of land. He said that this allows the property owner to cash in on the land's development value while still retaining the land. According to Stevick, this will save the county money over the long run by preventing new residential development.
Individuals can do something, too.
Residents can place a conservation easement on their property. This qualifies them for state and federal tax credits that they can either use themselves, or sell. Raine said that these easements offer a tremendous amount of flexibility and can be tailored to the individual property owner's needs and desires. Raine said that they hope to be able to sponsor seminars for attorneys and tax advisers on what conservation easements can do for their clients.
Stevick and Raine have placed a conservation easement on 120 acres they own off Otterville Road.
"We just could not imagine this land being different from what it is now," Raine said.
For more information, or to get involved with BCLP, check out the Web site. The site provides e-mail addresses and phone numbers for all members of the board of directors and advisory committee.
