Annandale land sold at auction
The Northern Virginia Conservation Trust was unsuccessful in its attempt to acquire undeveloped land near Accotink Creek that was up for auction.
The NVCT had bid on the seven tax-delinquent properties off Spicewood Court in an effort to prevent them from getting into the hands of developers. The properties are in a floodplain, and one of them includes a section of the Cross County Trail.
The winning bidders and purchase prices aren’t expected to be announced for several weeks. Starting bids for the seven properties ranged from $12,000 to $20,000. Near the end of the auction, the bidding got quite competitive.
Related story: Environmental group hopes to prevent developers from buying Annandale land
The NVCT and other environmental groups had previously argued that the properties should be preserved as parkland and not sold to a developer.
Fairfax County was initially planning to auction the properties last fall but agreed to postpone the auction until this spring to give the NVCT or another nonprofit time to raise enough money to buy the land in partnership with the Park Authority.
When that didn’t work out, the county was required by state law to put the properties up for auction and sell them to the highest bidder. State law prohibits the county from using eminent domain to take ownership of tax-delinquent land.
Members of the Board of Supervisors previously assured the NVCT that the county would likely not approve a rezoning to permit to allow development on the land as it is in a resource protection area. However, a developer could try to seek a zoning waiver. It is rare to have so much undeveloped land in the Annandale area.
Told you a developer would buy this.
More proof this Board of Supervisors cannot be trusted
Another failure of state and local government to protect our ever-decreasing green space. And yes, the owners will likely ask for a waiver because zoning plans in this county are only good until a waiver is granted. Would be interesting to see the number of zoning waivers granted vs denied as a percentage of waiver applications. Wonder what the justification for Virginia prohibiting counties from using eminent domain to acquire tax delinquent properties?
What a blunder on the part of the county. They either can’t get it together to do anything, or they don’t WANT to do anything. Either way we are stuck with more building, more traffic, more kids in our crowded schools, and less green space.
I just don’t know what zoning means here.