STAFFORD — A legal battle between a private land developer and the Stafford County Government continues despite the fact a local judge recused herself from hearing any case involving the local government.
Circuit Judge Victoria Willis made the comments following a lawsuit filed by developer Robert Gollahon, who is suing the Stafford County Government after its Board of Supervisors in April passed an ordinance that automatically disqualified proposals for numerous “cluster subdivisions” totaling more than 300 homes that would have been built in rural areas of the county.
The move means now cluster subdivisions, where multiple homes are built on smaller lots to preserve open space, may be built on only 40 percent of undeveloped land in Stafford, down from 100 percent before the April decision.
The recusal also comes as Stafford County judges have pushed the Board of Supervisors for a new courthouse. Willis and other judges have actively pushed the Stafford County Board of Supervisors for a new courthouse for the past 18 years, according to a private attorney practicing in Stafford County Clark Leming.
The new Courthouse additions were added into the 2018 Board of Supervisors capital improvement plan.
Willis’ recusal also came after comments made by Supervisor Wendy Maurer during June at a Board of Supervisors meeting. Maurer said that she received a call from a judge who has threatened to sue the county if the Board did not move forward with a new courthouse. She did not name the judge but said the threat concerned her because Stafford has pending court cases.
“I think we need to look into whether or not it’s appropriate to have our cases heard by the same people who are threatening to sue us,” Maurer said.
The Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star reported in May that Willis was in support of Gollahon’s request for an injunction to forbid the county from enforcing the ordinance until the lawsuit was over. She wrote that it is unclear whether Stafford adhered to a state law requiring 40 percent of a locality’s undeveloped property to be eligible for cluster subdivisions.
During the July 10 Board of Supervisors meeting the Board doubled down on the March 20 decision to restrict high-density subdivisions on cluster ordinances.
The Board voted 4-3 to prolong its support for a map that reduces the amount of land on which cluster subdivisions can be built upon. The map will be incorporated into Stafford’s Comprehensive Plan for guidance on land use.
Board members also voted 5-2 in favor of even more restrictions to the county’s cluster ordinance, which now decreases the minimum housing lot from 3 acres to 1.5 acres on agriculturally zoned land if developers preserve at least half of the property.
Stafford Principal Planner Michael Zuraf told board members during the July 10 meeting that the map reserves 41.5 percent of the county’s vacant land for potential cluster subdivisions and follows state code.
