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Scenic treasure: How conservation lines the pockets of the rich
Open space preservation brings lots of benefits.PHOTO BY JEN FARIELLO
Preserve the land and get a sign.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
John DeKoven "Deke" Bowen III grew up on Clay Hill Farm, and says he would have preserved it even without the financial incentives.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
COURTESY VIRGINIA OUTDOORS FOUNDATION
Deke Bowen (left) is the fourth generation to inhabit Clay Hill Farm, and he wants to preserve it for five and six: John DeKoven Bowen V, Nina Bowen, Reece Bolus, and daughter Heather Bowen Bolus, who lives on the farm.PHOTO BY LISA PROVENCE
Virginia's first conservation easement donor, Richard Selden, found out they don't always work as intended.FILE PHOTO BY WILL WALKER
A conservation easement didn't stop construction of one of the largest houses in the county on a preservation property at Turner Mountain in Ivy.ALBEMARLE COUNTY PHOTO
Hunter Craig and Coran Capshaw understand the advantages of tax credits, but they aren't talking about them.FILE PHOTOSWhat if Biscuit Run were the tip of the iceberg, just the latest and largest in a litany of public payments to private citizens? What if the state gave away vast sums– some measuring in the millions of dollars– to induce millionaires to "conserve" luxurious estates that they may have had no intention of developing anyway? And what if Virginia, which forces the humblest homeowners to place their real estate transactions in public view, created a special law allowing the millionaires to shroud such deals– currently measured at $106.8 million a year in taxpayer money?
Welcome to Virginia, where "conservation" makes it all possible.
Best intentions
Virginia boasts that its land preservation incentives are the "most generous" in the count...Derivative: 'Number Four' flawed in countless ways
File PhotoI Am Number Four is shameless and unnecessary. That's sad, when a movie casts aside all shame, demonstrates itself willing to rip off anything that might attract audiences, and nevertheless fails. What we have here is a witless attempt to merge the Twilight formula with the Michael Bay formula. It ends with sexy human teenagers involved in an endless special effects battle with sexy alien teenagers who look like humans, in a high school and on its football field.
Let's pause for a moment to consider this apocalyptic battle. It is all special effects. None of it is physically possible. It might as well be a cartoon; it's essentially CGI animation intercut with brief bursts of inane dialogue. Brief, because the global action market doesn't much care about dialogue, and besides, when people start talking about something, you could run into the hazard of having actual characters in a plot. Minute after relentless minute, creatures both human and alien, whom we care nothing about, wage war and occasionally disintegrate into clouds of tiny pixels for no particular reason. Full review.
Charges filed: Ousted developer Toomy blamed for fire
Toomy fought the blaze along the fenceline near the Colston subdivision.photo by Andy Hord
But the smoke and flames spread beyond containment.photo by Andy Hord
Flames eventually burned back toward the front of the subdivision.photo by Hawes Spencer
Investigators appear to have pinpointed this burn pile as the sourcephoto by Hawes Spencer
Fire Marshall James Barber conducted the investigation.photo by Hawes Spencer
Huff lost a collection of Texaco signs, three antique boats, and a travel trailer.photo by Hawes SpencerIt's been a tough time for Alex Toomy. Last year, he moved out of the 7,000-square-foot house he built on 106 acres and lost, via foreclosure, the adjacent Ragged Mountain subdivision he'd developed. Asked by the new owners to clean up the lots in preparation for the spring selling season, he'd been conducting some outdoor brush burns.
Now he stands accused of starting, perhaps accidentally, one of the larger fires in recent history, a multi-day wildfire that scorched 800 acres, consumed a barn, and put as many as 40 houses at risk.
He's living on-site in a tenant house, and the new owners have tapped his ex-wife as listing agent for the now-blackened rolling hills.
"We could easily have another Ragged Mountain fire," said Albemarle Fire Chief Dan Eggleston, in announcing the two misdemeanor charges against Toomy at a Tuesday morning press conference.
If convicted, Toomy faces up to $750 in fines– $500 for breaking the state's springtime ban on pre-4pm burning and $250 for conducting a careless fire.
"I'm delighted that somebody's held responsible," says neighbor Rip Thomsen of the adjacent Colston subdivision. "I can't say that 750 dollars is a major fine. It should be more for that kind of negligence."
The larger issue, some neighbors s...
Remembering Emily: Sister Katie helps unveil Couric Cancer Center
"It's bittersweet, I must admit," Katie Couric said of seeing her late sister's name on the building.
"It's a day," she said, "of sadness and pride."
The architectural firm of Zimmer Gunsul Frasca designed the LEED-certified structure.
There's even a rooftop garden on the fourth floor.
UVA president Teresa Sullivan thanked her predecessor, John Casteen, here with wife Betsy, for fostering the project.
Parents Elinor and John Couric were joined by the other two siblings, Clara and John.
UVA's chief operating officer Leonard Sandridge confers with George Beller.
The highlight came when Emily's sons, Jeff and Ray Wadlow, unveiled a portrait of their mother.
"It's a testament," said Katie, "to how Emily lived and not how she died."More photos
Nearly a decade after losing her battle to pancreatic cancer, state senator Emily Couric was commemorated Saturday by the dedication of a 150,000 square-foot University of Virginia medical building bearing her name. Headlining the dedication was broadcast journalist Katie Couric, who, several years before losing her sister, lost her husband, Jay Monahan, to colon cancer.
"I have personally witnessed the ravages of this disease and the importance of treating not the disease but the patient and his or her family," said Couric, a 1979 University graduate. Now anchoring the CBS Evening News, Couric has long tried to highlight cancer even letting millions of Americans watch in 2000 as she received a colonoscopy and, five years later, a mammogram.
However, she directed much of the credit for pushing the Emily Couric Clinical Cancer Center to cardiologist George Beller, her late sister's husband, who convinced the General Assembly to appropriate $25 million of the $74 million cost.
"George was like a dog with a bone," Couric told reporters during a pre-dedication briefing. "He never gave up."At the dedication ceremony, whose attendees included cancer-surviving UVA women's basketball coach Debbie Ryan, Couric read from a favori...
Happy campers: Commission smiles on pool-to-camp plan
The Planning Commission approves Field Camp owner Todd Barnett's plans for the Blue Ridge Swim Club. Although the plan has wide support, some residents aren't happy.File photoField Camp founder Todd Barnett is one step closer to buying the historic Blue Ridge Swim Club after the Albemarle County Planning Commission recommended approval of a special use permit February 22. While commissioners cited dozens of letters from Swim Club neighbors supportive of Barnett's plan, other neighbors say they're willing to fight to keep the camp out of the neighborhood.
"It is not an acceptable use of the property," says Frazier Bell, a 33-year neighbor to the Blue Ridge Swim Club– a 13-acre parcel featuring a unique, century old, hundred-yard-long spring-fed pool.
Bell says he objects to the potential noise and traffic he believes the Camp will bring and, in particular, by its founder's plan to construct a 2,000 square-foot outdoor pavilion.
"Twice as long as most houses," Bell says an email following the hearing. "And, it will mean clearing a large area for the structure and around it. They plan on campfires. No one addressed the possibility of fire safety."
Bell is not alone in opposition. At least five other Owensville Road-area residents, including Albemarle County Circuit Court Judge Cheryl Higgins, expressed concerns at the recent hearing, most stressing the potential for increased traffic, trespassing, and noise from the estimated 60 campers who attend Field Camp at any one time during the summer months.
"Any ration...
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