University of Virginia Library

State To Halt Prison Plan
If Scenic Area Preserved

By ALAN JACOBUS

Plans to build a prison and
hospital complex at Green
Springs will be dropped if area
residents assure the state that
the historic nature of the
Louisa County Community can
be preserved, Gov. Linwood
Holton said yesterday.

Although Mr. Holton did
not say how much of the
Green Springs area is involved
in the plans or what measures
would be needed to maintain
the historical nature, he
suggested that an open space
easement as provided by the
Open Space Act of 1966 would
ensure historical preservation.

The easement guarantees
that privately owned land will
be used exclusively in keeping
with its historical or scenic
character.

Mrs. Hiram B. Ely,
spokesman for the Green
Springs Association, said,
"What has been lost sight of is
that the people of Green
Springs originally offered
scenic easements 2½ years ago,
when the state had only had
$10 option on the land."

"The land can be protected
using a checkerboard
technique, combining the areas
designated as historical with a
number of scenic easements,"
Mrs. Ely added.

A spokesman for Mr.
Holton summarized the issue as
being a question of preserving
the area as opposed to the
de-centralization of the state's
penal facilities. The state is
looking at alternate sites for
the prison-hospital in Louisa
and Fluvanna counties, but has
no land options other than
Green Springs.

Louisa County Executive
Secretary Dean Agee
questioned the historic
significance of the area,
"They've been saying that the
area is historic, now let them
prove it. I don't think it can be
done," he said.

However, the Virginia
Historic Landmarks
Commission and the Dept. of
the Interior have said that
penal facilities would ruin the
area's historic value. The
Commission report stated that
"The Green Springs area
harbors and assemblage of rural
architecture that is unique in
Virginia...."

Agee also pointed out the
economic aspect of retaining
the land with easements. "I'd
think twice about binding my
land forever with an easement.
And it's hard for purchasers to
get clear title to the land with
this sort of restriction," he
asserted.