8/03/2005

The new preservation - "amenities"

The preservation - developer partnership is moving on, the relationship formed over Chancellorsville battlefield now taking formal shape.

Stafford County VA now has a group called Friends of Stafford Civil War Sites and it is authorized to use the county seal.
For developers, the possible benefits of working with the friends group are threefold ... A builder can avoid construction delays, lower its costs for archaeology and planning, and use a site's historical significance to help market houses. And those who buy their homes can enjoy the marked, preserved historical sites as a community amenity. [Emphasis added.]
This is a negotiated surrender - "we can't raise money to buy land outright and set it aside, so let's cut some quick deals."

Let's not surrender that fast.