By Cody Mello-Klein | cmelloklein@alextimes.com

Proposed state funding in both the Virginia House of Delegates and Virginia Senate budgets could bring the Save River Farm campaign closer to the purchase and preservation of the historic River Farm, a 27-acre property once owned by George Washington.

On Feb. 10, Alexandria State Sen. Adam Ebbin (D) and Mount Vernon Del. Paul Krizek (D) announced that proposed funding for the preservation project had advanced in both the House Appropriations Committee and Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee budgets.

The House Appropriations Committee requested $2 million in direct funding for the preservation of River Farm, while in the Senate budget, $5 million in combined land conservation funds would go toward the preservation of both Chickahominy tribal land and River Farm. At least $2 million of the $5 million will go toward River Farm, though discussions are ongoing and legislators have to determine whether to take the funding route proposed by either the House or Senate, Ebbin said.

“It’s a good feeling to be able to preserve this important space that’s meant so much to so many people, and I’m happy to use my position on the finance committee to bring home those funds,” Ebbin said.

If the funding advances, it would be allocated to the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority, known as NOVA Parks.

Since the current owner of the property, the American Horticultural Society, placed the property at 7931 E. Boulevard Drive on the open real estate market on Nov. 13, the community has sought a way to keep the property open and available to the public. Local nonprofit Northern Virginia Conservation Trust launched the Save River Farm campaign with the aim of raising private funds to present a viable public offer and keep the property open to the public.

“Some would say that [progress] is infrastructure and development and buildings, but I think the pandemic has taught us that progress also ought to be about balanced, livable communities that have these resources and that it’s not all just built up,” Alan Rowsome, executive director of NVCT, said.

In collaboration with NVCT, NOVA Parks submitted an offer to purchase River Farm on Jan. 4. The offer proposed paying a “fair market value,” with interest, over the course of a few years for River Farm, which AHS had listed for $32.9 million.

The surrounding community, conservationist nonprofits, regional garden clubs and local government officials have all expressed concerns about what could happen to the property should it fall into the hands of a private developer. The effort to preserve the property has unified all these actors, who are often at cross-purposes about how to address issues of conservation.

“It’s almost never that you get all of those segments deciding that this one project is a very high priority … and that’s what’s happening with River Farm,” Paul Gilbert, NOVA Parks’ executive director, said.

So far NOVA Parks has secured $250,000 in grant funding with more than $2 million in additional grants pending, Gilbert said. While the proposed state funding would help the campaign inch closer to its goal, there is still plenty of work to be done to secure River Farm for the public, Gilbert said.

“The idea that it has been on the sales block here and anyone could buy it for any reason is concerning, and hopefully those concerns will get resolved sooner rather than later if we can come to a resolution on this,” Gilbert said