Strategies for Saving Open Space - a Stafford County Priority

About the Program

Category: Planning (Best in Category)

Year: 2017

Saving open space is not just a catch phrase in Stafford County, VA; it is a way of doing business every day, resulting in great benefits for this historically significant and ecologically complex county. Stafford likes to say its history is the history of the United States. The county was founded in 1664 and the likes of John Smith and Pocahontas walked its shores. The county lived through the Revolutionary War, the Civil War and saw Marine Corps Base Quantico help with the build-up for World War II. It borders two major rivers – the Potomac and the Rappahannock – and has wetlands and habitats for a multitude of different land and marine animals. Its population has tripled over the last 40 years as Stafford is convenient to both Washington, DC, and Richmond, VA. It is also home to many defense contractors and government offices, making it an attractive location to live. The Board of Supervisors and staff have worked hard to balance development and the resulting need for infrastructure with being mindful of the county’s responsibility to conserve its natural resources along with the historical and agricultural resources. Instead of relying on one regulation or program to preserve open space, they have made a concerted effort to explore multiple avenues of funding and using innovative ideas to preserve more than 10,000 acres of open space.