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Planners support
scaled-back
version of
Fletcher proposal
By Kevin Allen
Rappahannock News Staff Writer
The Rappahannock County Planning Commission recommended approval on Jan. 16 for Bill Fletcher to operate a conference center on the 800-acre Miller Farm in the F.T. Valley.
The commission voted 4 to 2 to back Fletchers application, but only after they greatly scaled back the intensity of what will be allowed on the property. The deliberations and public-comment period lasted three and half hours.
More than 100 people attended the public hearing at the Rappahannock County High School auditorium.
The crowd seemed to be largely in opposition of Fletcher's application. Of the 32 people that spoke during the public-comment period, 25 said they were not in favor of the conference center because of the noise and traffic it would cause and the effect it would have on property values in the scenic F T. Valley.
Before the public comments began, Fletcher spoke to the commission about his motivation to use the Miller Farm and its 8,000-square-foot mansion as a venue for events.
“The issues being presented here I believe are going to go a long way to determine the future survivability of Rappahannock County,7 Fletcher said. “What I’m asking for is something I believe is going to become necessary for every larger landowner in Rappahannock County to consider.”
A farm is a business enterprise, he said, and it must be profitable to survive. Fletcher said farms like Waterpenny Farm in Sperryville are sustainable and profitable on a small scale. But larger landowners a different situation.
Miller Farm was sustainable in the 1970s and ‘80s, but no longer turns a profit, Fletcher said. He told the commission.that he lost an average of $40 per ac: a • farm last year, which was hit hard by drought.
“If you factor in the long-term cost of the property, farms do not generate a sufficient return on the investment to allow the farm to be kept in the family, mainly because of estate taxes, which are basically 50 percent of the value of the farm." he said.
Fletcher said he has considered increasing the number of cattle on the property or growing horse hay, but drought has taken away those options. He also thought about building tertant housing on the property, but said that would place too much of a burden on county services-.
“I asked for more in this application than I thought
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