NVCT Friends,
As you likely saw from our visibility and fundraising campaign during October, NVCT was taking the lead in attempting to purchase, at auction, several environmentally sensitive land parcels adjacent to the Gerry Connolly Cross-County Trail in Annandale. Due to your interest, generous support, and increased pressure, several members of the Fairfax Board of Supervisors requested that the property auction be stopped in the hope that the parcels slated for sale could be protected in another way. That request was granted and the auction of these particular lands was cancelled.
The auction and the Accotink parcels that we aim to conserve have been under review by the county in the hope that new path can be found that keeps these sensitive lands from being sold to the highest bidder.
With support from your generous public donations combined with our operational reserves, NVCT was and continues to be fully prepared to bid on these valuable parcels. We remain ready to act when and if the public tax auction is reinstated. These flood plain parcels may reappear in the next county auction in the spring of 2022. Throughout this process, NVCT has been in close contact with the Fairfax County Park Authority regarding these sensitive lands and sees this as an opportunity to continue working together to protect them.
Concerned citizens and generous donors to this project have raised this land's profile in such a way that you've succeeded in postponing its imminent sale. NVCT is now working with the county and other partners to drastically improve the likelihood that these parcels remain protected for all time, including staying prepared should its auction be reinstated.
Thank you to Supervisors Walkinshaw and Palchik for taking notice of this proposed tax sale and recommending its cancellation, but specific thanks go to Mason Supervisor Penny Gross, who first brought this property to NVCT's attention four years ago and who continues to champion its protection in her district.
We will be updating you as soon as we know more regarding the fate of this land and can't thank you enough for standing tall with us to demand that it be saved for all time.