Not surprisingly, the town and county have two different plans for a new reservoir on opposite ends of the county. Maybe, at some point, those plans will converge. Either way, building a new lake to store drinking water for Culpeper residents is a process involving strict regulations taking as long as 10 years from start to finish. It could also involve land condemnation — a process known as “eminent domain” in which a government takes private land for public purpose. Regardless of how it happens, in an age of constant drought worries and limited natural resources, a new reservoir is on the mind of both Culpeper governments. At Wednesday’s Town and County Interaction Committee meeting, acting town manager Dan Boring kicked off discussion about the latest in joint reservoir planning, telling the six-man committee that there’s still work to be done. He said town staff met with county staff last week on the issue. “Everybody’s interested in the future of water impoundments in the town and county,” agreed County Administrator Frank Bossio. “We are the right track.” But Town Councilman Duke duFrane wanted to know if the county supported the town’s plan to build a new reservoir between Lake Pelham and Mountain Run Lake, west of town. Doing so, he said, could require the county to sign off on possible land rezoning and/or condemnation. The county’s response was definite hesitation. Supervisor Steve Nixon said Virginia law prevents the county from doing “contract zoning” wherein a local government bargains away its zoning power on a certain parcel of land in exchange for some benefit: i.e. obtaining land for a reservoir. “We can’t do zoning in exchange for land,” Bossio said, adding, “I think we need to sit in a room and talk about what needs to be done.” DuFrane was not finished.
All of the land required to build a new reservoir between lakes Pelham and Mountain Run lies in the county, he said. “If it’s going to get done, it’s going to take some cooperation,” duFrane said. “If the town takes the lead in it or does it itself, we will certainly need the county’s help with that.” Supervisor Steve Walker, one of two town representatives on the seven-member county board, told duFrane, “Condemnation is a very rare case” that could only be justified with “a lot of reasons.” “It’s a tough question to ask,” Walker said. It might be one that requires asking, duFrane said, mentioning 10 or 20 property owners between the existing town lakes that could be impacted if the town decided to dig a third lake. What if a single property owner located in the middle of the area refused the town’s $200,000 offer, for example, demanding $2 million instead? duFrane asked. “We’d have no choice but condemnation,” he said, answering his own hypothetical. Holding up the entire project because of a single property owner that refuses to sell his or her 1 acre is “just senseless,” duFrane continued. Nixon, the other town representative on the county board, felt such discussions, perhaps, were premature. “We can look at the options once everything is nailed down,” he said Wednesday. DuFrane pushed further. “There’s no sense spending all that money if the county isn’t interested in having a lake there,” he said of associated costs for land acquisition, engineering fees, studies, etc. Nixon said the county would be interested in assisting the town. Town Councilman Steve Jenkins said planning for a new reservoir eventually needed to “move from informal discussion to formal discussion.” Regional approach recommended The town and county last met on the reservoir issue in December at a meeting attended by a local rep from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality — the primary agency involved in reservoir permitting. Andrea Putscher, water supply planner in the DEQ’s Woodbridge office, told town and county leaders that a regional approach is better and one that would expedite the reservoir permitting process. “I urge you to do your water supply planning from a regional perspective,” she said. But a 2001 county study recommended that the county build its lake — the Muddy Run Reservoir — downstream of Emerald Hill Elementary School, about seven miles north of town. However, that plan was not discussed Wednesday, and its fate — like the future reservoir itself — is yet to be determined. ...Allison Brophy Champion can be reached at 825-0771 ext. 101 or