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Lawmakers Set Sights On Va. Land Preservation

By Craig Timberg
Thursday, December 28, 2000

RICHMOND, Dec. 27 -- House Speaker S. Vance Wilkins Jr. (R) has made preserving more of Virginia's land for parks and wilderness a top priority for the legislative session that opens in two weeks.

Wilkins and a bipartisan group of lawmakers from several regions of the state are pushing for as much as $40 million a year, which perhaps would come from taxes paid on real estate transactions.

The money could be used to acquire tens of thousands of acres a year to curb suburban sprawl and preserve the rural character that's vanishing in many parts of the state. It also would help Virginia meet its share of a three-state goal to protect 1 million acres in the Chesapeake Bay watershed over the next decade.

Maryland and Pennsylvania, which share that goal under a bay protection pact signed in the summer, traditionally have budgeted far more money for land preservation than Virginia has. But rapid development across Virginia has made the issue more popular. A legislative commission studying the state's environment endorsed an ambitious plan of land preservation last week.

"I live over where it's beautiful," said Wilkins, who is from the small town of Amherst, in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains. "I see it building up, and if we don't do something soon, it will be gone."

Wilkins made a similar push during last year's session, his first as House speaker. That effort fell short of his goal but provided $15.8 million over two years to protect land and historic sites such as Civil War battlefields.

In the budget proposed this month, Gov. James S. Gilmore III (R) cut the planned second year of funding for the effort, totaling $6.2 million. Wilkins and others hope to restore that money, but a faltering economy will make that difficult, supporters acknowledge.

"We were obviously very disappointed the governor did that, taking away the money the speaker and others fought for," said David H. Hallock Jr., a lobbyist for the Nature Conservancy. "Now it's gone."

Del. Vincent F. Callahan Jr. (R-Fairfax), House Appropriations Committee co-chairman, said, "We got a foot in the door last year, and now the foot has been removed."

The Nature Conservancy calculates that Virginia spent $24 million from 1992 to 1999 to protect land in the Chesapeake watershed. Maryland, by contrast, spent $386 million during that period, and Pennsylvania spent $188 million, according to the conservancy.

Gilmore administration officials said that they cut the money reluctantly and that they support the goal of preserving more land. Other priorities, including the continued repeal of the tax on personal cars and trucks, took precedence in a year when a slowing economy cut revenue growth.

"It was not a question of hostility to this program. I hope we can find a way to restore some of that funding," said Natural Resources Secretary John Paul Woodley Jr. "But this budget . . . was extremely tight."

The budget will dominate the 46-day session as lawmakers struggle to find money for favorite projects. Along with Wilkins, Del. David B. Albo (R-Fairfax) and Del. R. Creigh Deeds (D-Bath) plan to push for land preservation.

Their bill would use real estate transaction taxes, but only in years when tax collections run high. Depending on the real estate market, up to $40 million a year would go to build parks, protect wilderness or preserve historic areas.

Albo decided to sponsor the bill after hearing complaints from constituents about wooded areas disappearing in his Springfield district. "We started looking at things we could do to preserve open space, without doing things that Republicans don't believe in, like taking people's property without paying for it," Albo said.

The biggest roadblock is likely to be the Senate Finance Committee, where a virtually identical effort stalled last year. Among the opponents was the committee chairman, Sen. John H. Chichester (R-Stafford), who supports the idea of land preservation but objects to dedicating a permanent source from the general fund -- which also pays for such basics as education and mental health.

He predicts the effort won't pass in the 2001 session. "This is a year where we simply don't have the money," he said.

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