Trump Virginia
Acquisitions, LLC, bought Patricia Kluge’s Estate Winery and Vineyard in 2011,
a 1,200-acre property with a dormant nine-hole golf course designed by Arnold
Palmer. Trump’s proposed golf course, expanded to 18-holes, will take up 480
acres, 216 which were placed under “conservation easement” by Patricia Kluge in
2006.
A “conservation easement” imposes
certain restrictions on the homeowner’s use of their property in exchange for
tax breaks. Dr. Cohen said that “golf courses with conservation easements are
common throughout the United States, including on courses owned by Donald
Trump.
The project proposes that
25 percent of the 216 acres in question be used for tees, fairways, and greens,
while the rest would be set aside for “farmland and grassland bird habitat.”
PEC considers the project “inconsistent
with the rural and agricultural character of the area,” citing “the large scale
venue and thousands of potential visitors to the golf course and the negative
impact on the surrounding properties and the rural landscape that is such an
iconic part of Albemarle County.”
“In addition to the
traffic and noise impacts, we also have concerns about the water use, run-off,
and septic issues,” said PEC.
According to Bonner Cohen,
Patricia Kluge’s conservation easement involves use for “temporary or seasonal
outdoors activities” not “permanently alter the physical appearance of the
property.” Golf in Virginia is a seasonal outdoor activity since winters are
too cold to allow golfers playtime on a daily basis.
“Traffic and noise” are
questionable objections since Albemarle County already has seven public and private
golf courses. Three of these courses are located in rural areas.
Anybody who lives in the rural
vicinity of a university is familiar with the seasonal traffic and outdoor
activities involving football fans driving to home games and having tailgate
parties. In the 762-square-mile Albemarle County, football fans drive through
to the University of Virginia games in Charlottesville, Virginia, with little
disturbance to the environment. It is highly improbable that 61,500 individuals
(the capacity of the UV’s Scott Stadium) would drive to Trump’s proposed golf
course to play at the same time.
Trump Virginia
Acquisitions, LLC, has applied for a special use permit (SUP) from the
Albemarle County Board of Supervisors (BOS). A hearing will be set in the near
future. In the meantime, opponents and proponents of Trump’s project are
voicing their opinions to the BOS.
The Board of Supervisors
(BOS) may approve or deny the project or pass the decision making on to the
Virginia Outdoors Foundation (VOF) a body that oversees conservation easements.
Scott York, chairman of
the Loudon County BOS, praised the Trump National Washington, D.C. Golf Course,
“They have invested millions, contributed to job growth, and helped raise real
estate values in the area they are located.”
The Piedmont Environmental
Council (PEC), based in Warrenton, Virginia, was successful in blocking Disney
from opening a theme park in Prince William County, Virginia twenty years ago.
They have a specific land-use vision for rural Virginia and land owners must
follow their dictates or suffer expensive fines. Their vision coincides with UN
Agenda 21 “visioning” zoning plans passed around the country with the help of Local
Governments for Sustainability, formerly known as ICLEI.
Martha Boneta has a
conservation easement with PEC in Fauquier County, Virginia. She uses tires on
her property to “help hollow fields for plowing, train animals to move in a
certain direction, and assist in planting. PEC sued Boneta, saying the tires
violated her agricultural conservation easement, and she was forced to store
them in an enclosure.” http://www.cfact.org/2013/11/05/trumping-a-golf-course-over-pec-adillos-in-northern-virginia/#sthash.o7uksdQG.dpuf
But when Donald Trump made
disparaging remarks over tires strewn on a dilapidated farm near the
construction site of a golf course in Aberdeen, Scotland, he was criticized in
the “documentary” You’ve Been Trumped
as “insensitive to rural ways.” Are tires useful then when they suit the
environmentalist agenda and harmful when they do not?
Dr. Cohen quoted the PEC
President Chris Miller who commented that “comprehensive planning” in rural
areas should extend to “farms near or adjacent to properties with conservation
easements and should be under a similar level of scrutiny in land-use-related
decisions.”
Check the rural “comprehensive
planning” in your area and see how much of your property rights have already
been taken away by conservation easements and through zoning laws passed by BOS
without your knowledge, approval, or opportunity to vote.
No comments:
Post a Comment