OPINION: 'By Right?' Not mine
Development behind a Stafford neighborhood has rattled long-time residents.
By Penny A Parrish
GUEST OPINION WRITER
For 25 years I have lived in a lovely south Stafford neighborhood called “Huntington Hills” off Deacon Road. We’re basically a one-street subdivision with a short side lane branching off. It’s a neighborhood of single-family homes with residents ranging from senior citizens to new babies. And it has lots of trees surrounding it – or it did until this week.
Behind these forested yards, runs the railroad line. We all have grown to love the sound of the train whistles and have the ability to tune it out at night when we sleep. The deep line of trees between our houses and the tracks always provided homes for critters of every type: deer, foxes, raccoons, opossums, groundhogs and of course squirrels and birds. Until this week.
The tree-laden land, that we thought would never be developed, is not part of a railroad buffer. It’s zoned M1 Light industrial. According to AI, this is what M1 means here:
In Stafford County, Virginia, M1 zoning designates Light Industrial districts. These areas are intended to accommodate various industrial activities like light manufacturing, fabrication, warehousing, and wholesale distribution, with a focus on uses that are relatively free from offensive activities and compatible with surrounding areas.
“Relatively free from offensive activities and compatible with surrounding areas.” Huh? Then why is my house shaking as bulldozers take down huge trees to build a parking lot? (Joni Mitchell’s song “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot” runs constantly through my head now). Pictures on my walls are now crooked. My metal front door is humming. I sit on my screened porch at night when the destruction crews have gone home, and listen to the frantic calls of birds and other animals who have just lost their habitat.
And why? Because this is “by right” zoning in Stafford County. Areas near the railroad tracks were zoned M1 years ago, but then Stafford allowed residential neighborhoods to be built right next to them. Right now, the area being cleared will be a parking lot for heavy equipment. Other plans in the works call for taking down another 13 acres of trees behind half of our subdivision. A thin “buffer” of trees will remain.
Reaching out to Stafford officials brought murmurs of sympathy and shrugged shoulders saying nothing can be done as businesses rip apart wildlife habitat and replace it with noise, dust from gravel and big ugly machines. All done lawfully due to M1 zoning.
Today a neighbor who is even closer to the situation let me walk through his back yard so I can see the soon-to-be parking lot up close. He used to take his coffee mug and sit under a huge black walnut that is gone. The noise from the nearby recycling plant is now much louder because there are no trees to dull the sound. Says he’s met the guys who own/work the area, and they’re hard workers who are just doing what needs to be done for their business. And I understand and do not blame them.
But I felt compelled to write this because this should not have happened. If you are looking to buy a house in Stafford County, look carefully at what zoning is nearby. I still would have bought my house 25 years ago because I love the area and it has been a haven for almost three decades. But watch out for data centers, industrial plans – and most importantly “by right” zoning which you cannot stop. Not for yourself, your neighbors or the denizens of those forests who no longer have homes. Sad.
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This piece resonated deeply with me because a few years ago a parcel of wooded land behind my neighborhood was similarly ripped up, and cookie cutter houses were plopped down. While I had the buffer of a couple of streets to protect me from the worst of the noise, dust, and light pollution, I know many neighbors whose houses were covered in sawdust for weeks if not months (causing respiratory distress for some), racoons started visiting our yards seeking food, and it was and is overall so, so sad to see such wanton destruction. I feel for this writer, as well as her human and wild neighbors.