Orange County Moves to Change Positions in Wilderness Crossing Lawsuit

(Orange, Va.) — This morning, Orange County filed a motion to change their position in the lawsuit brought by the Trust and its allies to stop the planned Wilderness Crossing mega-development at the gateway of the Wilderness Battlefield. The County, which had previously defended the Wilderness Crossing rezoning, has formally asked to withdraw its opposition to the lawsuit and all its defenses, leaving the developers to defend the project alone.

“We have known from the start that the Wilderness Crossing development was not only a detriment to the battlefield, but arose out of an illegal process, and we are thrilled Orange County has reached the same realization,” said David Duncan, president of the American Battlefield Trust. “Hopefully, the developers behind this wrong-headed mega-development will soon also reach the same conclusion.  We look forward to working with the county to find a win-win solution that protects the battlefield as well as the interests of residents and park neighbors.”  

The motion comes after a special meeting of the Orange County Board of Supervisors yesterday, where the board unanimously passed a resolution acknowledging that the creation of the Planned Development-Mixed Use (PDM) Zoning District, which paved the way for the Wilderness Crossing mega-development rezoning in 2023, violated Virginia State Code.  

The board’s finding echoes one of the claims in the lawsuit brought by the American Battlefield Trust, Friends of Wilderness Battlefield (FOWB) and the Central Virginia Battlefields Trust (CVBT), with the support of nearby residents, against the Wilderness Crossing Rezoning.  The defective initiation of the PDM Zoning District is one of several grounds advanced in their lawsuit to set aside the rezoning as illegal.

The Wilderness Crossing project was approved over near-unanimous public opposition in the spring of 2023. Ahead of its vote, the Board ignored repeated requests from the preservation community, the National Parks Service, and others to study the impact of this largest rezoning in Orange County history. It allows the building of up to 5,000 residential units, and intense development of more than 800 acres of commercial and industrial development. Nearly 750 acres could be occupied by data centers and distribution warehouses. All this would be built just across Route 3 from where 160,000 Union and Confederate soldiers clashed in May 1864, during one of the most important battles of the Civil War.

The American Battlefield Trust is dedicated to preserving America’s hallowed battlegrounds and educating the public about what happened there and why it matters today. The Trust enjoys the support of more than 500,000 members and supporters from all 50 states and around the world. The organization has protected more than 63,000 acres associated with the Revolutionary War, War of 1812 and Civil War across more than 160 sites in 25 states, including more than 500 acres at The Wilderness. Learn more at www.battlefields.org.