Dear Horse Owners,

 

As you know, one of the goals of the Nokesville Horse Society was to increase awareness of the horse community in PW County and demonstrate that we are a “community”.  Over the years since the formation of the NHS in 2001 I think we have had some significant success in this endeavor.  In late 2004 I received a phone call from the attorney representing Toll Brothers, Mike Lubely.  For those who don’t know, Toll Brothers is one of the largest home builders/developers in our region, and the developer of Dominion Valley and several other developments in the Gainesville District (PW County).  These developments virtually eliminated all the private farms once used by horse owners in the Gainesville District for trail riding. 

 

During this phone call Mr. Lubely asked me if Toll Brothers could give or provide some property to the horse community what would we need?  First off, I was a little surprised at the call and responded that we would be delighted to receive anything that Toll Brothers would be interested in giving back to the horse community.  Mr. Lubely went on to say that if they could find a 10 acre parcel, or so, how could it be used.  At this point I recognized Mr. Lubely did not know much about the horse community.  I explained that beggars can not be choosers, but a 10 acre parcel would not be of much value to the greater horse community except for uses such as an indoor and/or outdoor event ring.  What the horse community really needs is trails to replace the private trails that we have lost due to development.  I explained we would need hundreds of acres for trails or trail corridors.  Needless to say he was a little shocked and said it would be very difficult to provide this to the horse community.  At this point I truly thought any further discussions on the topic would never occur.

 

In early 2005 I received a call from Gainesville District Supervisor John Stirrup asking if I wanted to attend a meeting about possible park related opportunities for the horse community.  Jimmie Jones and I attended the meeting on behalf of the NHS.  Also in attendance in the meeting was the new PWC Park Authority Exec. Director, Jay Ellington, and to my surprise representatives from Toll Brothers.  What we soon found out was that Toll Brothers was in negotiations to purchase the former 200-plus acre campground property at Silver Lake and donate it to the Park Authority in exchange for a moderate increase in density in their existing Dominion Valley development in Haymarket, adjacent to the Silver Lake property.  Discussions continued for about 8 months identifying a trail network extending from Silver Lake to James Long Park, and proffer money for capital improvements to the proposed park at Silver Lake to include significant equestrian facilities.  Supervisor Stirrup and Park Authority Exec. Dir. Ellington also negotiated for proffer money to develop soccer and ball field improvements at James Long Park and Sudley Park, so that Silver Lake could remain primarily passive recreation and equestrian uses.

 

After about a year of planning and negotiations the proffer was about to be put before the Board of Supervisors for a vote.  This was recognized as one of the best proffer deals to benefit the public in exchange for an increased density in a development.  It included donated land for a much needed school site, a donation of an additional 66 acres to James Long Park, a practice football field for Battlefield High School, two soccer fields at James Long Park, completion of the stalled construction of ball fields at Sudley Park, improvements of Rt. 15 to four lanes, and equestrian trails, all built by Toll Brothers, plus over $2M in proffer dollars to the Park Authority for additional capital improvements to parks in Gainesville, PLUS the majority of the former campground at Silver Lake for the new equestrian park.

 

Two days before the vote before the Supervisors, it was announced in a small Gainesville newspaper that former Chairman of the County Supervisors, who lived in Dumfries, renegotiated the deal with Toll Brothers to give the $4M Silver Lake property lock, stock and barrel, free and clear to the Bull Run Mountain Conservancy (BRMC), without any communication whatsoever with Gainesville Supervisor John Stirrup.  Once Mr. Stirrup found out about this turn of events he called me immediately and said to get the word out to the horse community.  Due to tremendous outrage from the community the proffer agreement was again renegotiated within hours of the vote before the Board of Supervisors.  Toll Brothers agreed to give the Silver Lake property to the County Supervisors, not the Park Authority and not BRMC.  The proffer agreement gave the Supervisors the authority to give the property to the Park Authority, BRMC or another non-profit such as the Nokesville Horse Society.  The new agreement also requested that 45 acres be provided to Rainbow Therapeutic Riding Program.

 

So where are we today?  Nearly two years later, the property still remains in the hands of the Supervisors.  A vote was put forward by Supervisor Stirrup to give the property to the Park Authority.  It failed, 3 for and 5 against.  A counter proposal was made to give the property to BRMC.  It also failed, 3 for and 5 against.  BRMC has offered to create a “Natural Recreation Area”.  According to the BRMC website:

 

The owner of an adjoining 268 acre parcel has generously offered to give that land for the natural recreation area, more than doubling its size to just over 500 acres, provided that BRMC will own and manage the combined land area. The Conservancy intends to own this land in “trust” for the general public—in a manner similar to that of the Nature Conservancy and the Civil War Preservation Trust. 

 

The opponents to this concept worry that giving away land currently owned by the “public”, to any private entity (including BRMC) could limit the accessibility and uses of this property since the public would no longer have any input to how the property would be used or developed, or even when the property can be made accessible for public uses.  The property would no longer be public.  It would be privately owned by BRMC.

 

The Board of Supervisors directed the County Executive Director’s office to try to negotiate a partnership agreement between the PWC Park Authority and BRMC.  Over the course of four months several proposals were discussed between the Park Authority, BRMC and the County Exec’s office.  No agreement could be reached.  The BRMC will not relinquish the requirement that BRMC must be given ownership of a large portion of this county property.

 

A new, and probably final vote, will be coming up before the Board of County Supervisors in the very near future.  However, the Park Authority has scheduled a “clean-up” day for Silver Lake to occur this Saturday, September 27 at 9am.  Many, if not all of the County Supervisors and the Park Authority Board will be on had to view this property during the clean-up day on Saturday.  The community has been invited to attend and help during this clean up day.  I can assure you that the BRMC will have a small army of volunteers at this clean up day to demonstrate their ability to “manage and own” this property.  It is my personal opinion that if the horse community has any chance of keeping this property in the hands of the public domain we must have an equal or larger display of volunteer work force.  If there was ever a time that you need to come out and volunteer for YOUR horse community, this Saturday is the day.  As you may know, the NHS also has a Western Schooling Show this Saturday at James Long Park, also in Haymarket.  I think it is equally important to have a large turn out at the Western Show to demonstrate the need for public equestrian facilities in our parks.  With the relative close proximity of Silver Lake to James Long Park, I am sure that our elected and appointed officials will also be going by or visiting James Long Park on this same day. 

 

I think it is critical to the future of equestrian facilities at Silver Lake and trail opportunities in the Gainesville/Haymarket area that a significant turnout by the horse community must occur this Saturday.  If you have an interest in Western showing please attend the NHS Schooling Show at James Long Park this Saturday.  If you are a horse person, but do not have an interest in Western showing, We NEED You at Silver Lake this Saturday, Sept. 27 at 8:30am.  Please forward this very important email to anyone in your horse community that you feel can help this very important cause.  If you need any details for either activity, or just want to let me know that you are coming to show your support, email me at jeffshoup@... or call me at 703-402-3726.  I hope to see you Saturday.

For more information about the NHS Western Schooling Show go to www.NokesvilleHorseSociety.org

 

Sincerely,

Jeff

 

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Jeff Shoup

Cell: 703-402-3726

Home: 703-754-4981

Email: jeffshoup@...

Yahoo Messenger ID: jeff_shoup

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