On March 22, 2013, owners of properties in the Crow’s Nest Harbour subdivision, located within the Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) sending area, filed a lawsuit against the Board of Supervisors and the County of Stafford. The lawsuit claims that advertisement of the TDR ordinance was inadequate; the ordinance violated Virginia law by making significant modifications from the advertised ordinance; the Board’s action was arbitrary and capricious because of it’s removal of a two acre provision in the ordinance; the Board exceeded the authority granted by the state legislation because it required “common ownership” for parcels less than twenty acres to qualify for TDR; and the Board failed to timely adopt the sending and receiving area maps, rendering the TDR ordinance void. The lawsuit asks the Court to declare the TDR ordinance void and unenforceable. Read the news article.

Plaintiffs in the lawsuit include corporate landowners 7K Investments LLC (holding lots transferred from Stafford Lakes LP); JCM East LLC (trustees to the lots held by the Marriott estate); Heron Harbor LLC (a Garrett company); Five Cedars LLC; and four individual owners. As of April 2, 2013, the lawsuit did not yet appear to have been served. Read the lawsuit.