King William landowner sues over motocross park
King William County resident Judith Gwathmey has filed suit to stop developers from doing any work on an easement that runs over her property.
Gwathmey is at the heart of a nearly two-year legal dispute with developer KW Morrison LLC that involves a proposed motocross park off state Route 30 near Central Garage. She filed the suit Friday in King William Circuit Court.
She owns 191 acres, including the easement road from Route 30.
KW Morrison owns 327 acres behind Gwathmey's property and relies on the easement to get to its land.
Last year, it sought a conditional-use permit for a motocross park on the property but was turned down by the county because it did not include Gwathmey in its application.
County planning officials, and later County Attorney Mac Chenault and the Board of Zoning Appeals, determined that when two properties are zoned the same and share an easement, both parties must agree to any changes in land use for either property.
Gwathmey's and KW Morrison's properties are zoned agricultural-conservative.
Gwathmey, however, opposes the park.
Friday's lawsuit was prompted by a letter she received in July from lawyers for KW Morrison that said it would begin making improvements to the 50-foot easement Sept. 1. The letter did not specify what would be done or why, said Gwathmey's lawyer, Kevin W. Mottley.
He said the suit seeks to stop any work until the developers share their plans and give Gwathmey an opportunity to agree to it, or, if she doesn't agree, take it to court.
"Good neighbors . . . would certainly let their neighbors know what they're doing on the property and why they're doing it," he said. "Not everything that the owner of an easement wants to do is necessarily permissible."
Andrew M. Condlin, a lawyer for KW Morrison, said yesterday that he wouldn't provide details of the work his clients want to do but said it wouldn't be illegal or improper.
"Everything we're proposing was within our rights," he said, adding that his clients have agreed not to do any work on the property until they have addressed Gwathmey's concerns.
Condlin also said his clients have not decided if they're going to move ahead with an appeal filed in December after the Board of Zoning Appeals upheld the county attorney's decision that their conditional-use permit was incomplete without Gwathmey.
They have until mid-December to do that.
Contact Holly Prestidge at (804) 649-6945 or
.
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Reader Reactions
What kind of improvements? Is this the same access road that was recently ‘improved’ under the guise of forestry? No permits required, and the ‘improved’ road continues to erode directly into the wetland. I guess these proposed improvements will address the mess from the previous improvements. After all, how does anyone expect to get thousands of vehicles in and out of the site?
Aren’t there any County plan or permit requirements? Or did the developers find another loophole?
Speaking only from a common-sense perspective, agricultural-conservative zoning would not seem to include a motorcross park. Ms. Gwathmey deserves credit for protecting her property rights and those of her neighbors from what appear to be less than forthright development interests. Were they forthright, a reasonable person would assume they would permit their attorney to divulge the nature of the work they propose - or, better yet, do so themselves.
Ms. Gwathmey keep up the fight. You have the support and prayers of a large potion of residents including myself that understand what an intrusion this motor cross represents to the rural life style of this area. It has been clearly demonstrated by the residential land owners that a motor cross track is an intrusion not wanted. K W Morrison should look for an area that is receptive to their idea rather than trying to force it on this established community.
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