Summary Occoneechee Land Swap Issues

·        Overwhelming Citizen Opposition:  Within Mecklenburg County where the land swap is suppose to help local citizens, people 80% to 90% of the citizens oppose the land swap/golf course.  Outside of Mecklenburg County nearly 100% of citizens oppose it.  In the entire state 3,200 to 6,400 people support the golf course/land swap while over 7,000,000 or 99% oppose it.  A vote against 99% of the citizens is a breach of public trust and an affront to our principles of democracy.

·        Cut the Park in Half:  Losing the 23 acres in Occoneechee State Park will completely bisect the park thus causing the lost in value of the park as a whole.  Presently the park is made of a continuous forest.  There is not another piece of land that can make the park whole again, once the 23 acres are clear-cut for a business.  

·        Sacred Indian Land:  The 23 acres is sacred land to the Occoneechee-Siouan Indians.  Out of hundreds of Indians polled in Virginia and North Carolina 100% strongly oppose the presence of a private business on the 23 acres in Occoneechee State Park and the bulldozing of the sacred 23 acres.  The Virginia Council on Indians, which represents all recognized tribes in Virginia, has sent a letter to the Department of Conservation and Recreation and Governor stating their opposition to bulldozing this sacred land for a business.  The NAACP has also come out in opposition to the 23-acre deal since it is a civil rights issue regarding sacred lands.

·        Natural Mature Forest:  The 23 acres is made of 50 to 100-year old hardwood trees. The land that Clarksville is offering to exchange is made of scrub pines, having been clear-cut and artificially planted in the past decade or so.  The 23 acres is a natural and mature forest in the Virginia Piedmont.  As a whole, the Virginia Piedmont does not contain any untouched forest and only has small remnant stands of old growth forest. State parks and US Army Corp of Engineers land offer an opportunity to allow natural processes to re-establish old growth hardwood forest without the impacts of commercial forestry.  It would take 100 years and a significant monetary investment to make the swapped land equivalent, from a mature forest perspective, to the present 23 acres of Occoneechee State Park land.

·        Bald Eagle Habitat:  The 23 acres is habitat for endangered bald eagles that routinely hunt in and are seen in the 23 acres.  We cannot force the eagles to begin using the swapped land once their habitat is clear cut and destroyed.  And the land swap could jeopardize their further recovery in Mecklenburg County and Virginia.  

·        Lake Front Property:  The town of Clarksville does not own 23 acres of “lake front” property that could be exchanged. Since there is no piece of land equivalent in value from all perspectives the 23 acres this would to some degree be a land give away NOT a swap.  

·        Bad State Park Precedent:  Allowing a land swap to facilitate the opening of a private business in a state park sets a terrible precedent for Virginia State Parks.   Virginia’s state parks are ranked as the best in the nation.  This precedent would jeopardize the success that we currently have.  

·        Bypassing the Established System:  The Occoneechee Land Swap would in effect bypass the decision-making process already stipulated in SB249, thereby supplanting the public will, public scrutiny and current public policy.  The Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR) is tasked with being the steward of our state park land and doing the will of the people. The Occoneechee Land Swap attempts to remove the DCR from the decision-making process.  The public has given the DCR overwhelming input regarding their opposition to the private business in Occoneechee State Park and the DCR is in the process of making their decision.   Let them do their jobs and make their decision.

·        Pollution the Lake:  If a land swap is made the twenty-three acres of lakefront property will have no buffer of trees to prevent runoff from the private business going directly into the largest lake in Virginia.  Hundreds of pounds of pollutants such as fertilizers and pesticides will run off into Kerr Lake.

·        Conflicts of Interest:  The golf course has been fraught with controversy and conflict of interest issues such as: 1) the head of the Industrial Development Authority, who is the primary group driving the golf course, being a real estate developer and the golf course being a real estate development. 2) The Mayor of Clarksville casting the deciding vote for the golf course at the DCR Board meeting.  The Clarksville mayor’s family is also in the real estate business.