JUSTICE FOR OUR FAMILY: When Local Government Turns a Family Dream Into a Nightmare
The Issue
County Uses a MADE-UP Requirement to Block a Legal Campground — Judge Finds It Wasn’t in the Law, Political Involvement Is Uncovered, Yet the Campground Is STILL Blocked
This is happening in Stafford County, Virginia — but what happened to our family should concern landowners everywhere in America.
Our family followed the law to develop a campground that was allowed BY RIGHT on our own property.
The County imposed a requirement we could not find anywhere in the ordinance.
We refused to bow to it.
A judge later found the requirement wasn’t there.
Yet our campground is STILL blocked.
⸻
WE CHOSE PRESERVATION OVER DEVELOPMENT
Our story began very differently.
Our family originally planned to develop this beautiful 75-acre waterfront property into approximately 12 estate homes. We had already invested in engineering plans.
But we looked at this land and made a different choice.
Instead of dividing it into homes, we chose to preserve the land and share it.
We envisioned a family campground where people could camp, enjoy the water, walk trails, gather around campfires, and experience the outdoors and history of this property.
Under Stafford County’s ordinance (at the time), a campground on this A-1 property was allowed BY RIGHT.
We followed the rules.
We submitted our site plan.
We paid $21,516.50 in County fees.
We went through the County’s review process.
And that’s when everything changed.
⸻
THE COUNTY IMPOSED A REQUIREMENT THAT DIDN’T EXIST
During the beginning of the review process, Stafford County told our family that our campground had to be:
“TENTS ONLY.”
That meant the County would not approve our campground unless we gave up the travel trailers and other camping uses that were allowed under the ordinance.
There was one enormous problem:
“TENTS ONLY” WAS NOT IN THE ORDINANCE.
Our family refused to put a restriction on our plans that could not be found anywhere in the law.
We were so confident that we publicly offered up to $250,000 to anyone who could show us where the “Tents Only” requirement existed in the ordinance.
No one found it.
Meanwhile, our site plan remained unapproved and the clock continued ticking toward its expiration date.
⸻
THEN WE DISCOVERED WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES
While our site plan remained stalled, public records revealed something we had not known.
Our Board of Supervisors Chairman Deuntay Diggs was communicating with members of the opposition to our campground about changing the very ordinance under which our campground had been submitted.
In a November 7, 2024 communication to the opposition, Diggs wrote:
“I want to inform you that part of my pledge to each of you was to be proactive and try to prevent a situation like the campground from occurring in the future.”
He continued:
“At tonight’s board meeting, I won the support of the majority of the board to review our CAMPGROUND ORDINANCE and RVs and REMOVE them from BY-RIGHT STATUS. If you do not understand the significance of this, please call me, and I will explain further.”
The significance of that communication is REVEALING.
Our campground had already been submitted under the existing ordinance, where campgrounds were allowed BY RIGHT.
Our site plan remained caught in a vicious review process cycle while the Chairman was telling campground opponents that he had won support to review the ordinance and REMOVE RVs FROM BY-RIGHT STATUS.
We saw the WRITING on the WALL.
We weren’t about to let the County run out the clock, change the rules, and then use those new rules against us.
We QUICKLY filed suit.
Stafford County quickly moved forward with changing the campground ordinance.
Our site plan EXPIRED.
And campgrounds were ultimately removed from BY-RIGHT status and made subject to the very own Chairman of the BOS and his colleagues having the power to approve who could have a campground or not. But NOT for us we were locked in with us filing the lawsuit. Thank God we did!
The county quickly filed a Demur to throw out our case before it was even heard. The judge ruled in our favor and we continued to the next hearing.
The next hearing…
⸻
THE JUDGE LOOKED AT THE ORDINANCE
The Judge found that “Tents Only” was nowhere in it and that uses other than tents were permitted.
Think about that.
The restriction that has held us up for almost two years, cost us hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and stood between our family and approval during this process wasn’t actually written into the ordinance.
You might think that finding would have ended this fight.
It didn’t.
Our campground remains blocked, and our fight continues.
Our last hearing was in September 2025, and we have yet to get back before a judge to seek JUSTICE.
Since then, we have been given two hearing dates, but neither hearing happened. The first was disrupted after a last minute change in the assigned judge. Most recently, our July 20, 2026 hearing was canceled by the court just four days before we were scheduled to appear.
⸻
AND THERE IS ANOTHER CIRCUMSTANCE WE BELIEVE DESERVES TRANSPARENCY.
A retired judge who crosses our property to access his waterfront vacation home signed a petition opposing our campground.
His son and daughter in law are judges in Stafford County, and his daughter-in-law is the CHIEF JUDGE. In the same local court where our case is being heard.
We are not alleging that either judge has improperly influenced our case.
But when a retired judge with a personal connection to neighboring property actively signs a petition opposing our campground, while immediate members of his family serve on the court—including the Chief Judge—we believe that connection deserves TRANSPARENCY.
⸻
WHY WE REFUSED TO GIVE UP
We believe landowners should be treated fairly and be able to rely on the laws that are actually written — not made-up demands created during the review process.
⸻
THIS IS BIGGER THAN ONE CAMPGROUND IN VIRGINIA
Today, we are asking people across Virginia and across the United States to PLEASE stand with our family.
Please sign this petition.
Please share our story.
Help us make sure what happened in Stafford County, Virginia is heard far beyond Stafford County.
Visit our website and view documentation staffordvirginiarightsatrisk..com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mycrowsnestoutdooradventure?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
296
The Issue
County Uses a MADE-UP Requirement to Block a Legal Campground — Judge Finds It Wasn’t in the Law, Political Involvement Is Uncovered, Yet the Campground Is STILL Blocked
This is happening in Stafford County, Virginia — but what happened to our family should concern landowners everywhere in America.
Our family followed the law to develop a campground that was allowed BY RIGHT on our own property.
The County imposed a requirement we could not find anywhere in the ordinance.
We refused to bow to it.
A judge later found the requirement wasn’t there.
Yet our campground is STILL blocked.
⸻
WE CHOSE PRESERVATION OVER DEVELOPMENT
Our story began very differently.
Our family originally planned to develop this beautiful 75-acre waterfront property into approximately 12 estate homes. We had already invested in engineering plans.
But we looked at this land and made a different choice.
Instead of dividing it into homes, we chose to preserve the land and share it.
We envisioned a family campground where people could camp, enjoy the water, walk trails, gather around campfires, and experience the outdoors and history of this property.
Under Stafford County’s ordinance (at the time), a campground on this A-1 property was allowed BY RIGHT.
We followed the rules.
We submitted our site plan.
We paid $21,516.50 in County fees.
We went through the County’s review process.
And that’s when everything changed.
⸻
THE COUNTY IMPOSED A REQUIREMENT THAT DIDN’T EXIST
During the beginning of the review process, Stafford County told our family that our campground had to be:
“TENTS ONLY.”
That meant the County would not approve our campground unless we gave up the travel trailers and other camping uses that were allowed under the ordinance.
There was one enormous problem:
“TENTS ONLY” WAS NOT IN THE ORDINANCE.
Our family refused to put a restriction on our plans that could not be found anywhere in the law.
We were so confident that we publicly offered up to $250,000 to anyone who could show us where the “Tents Only” requirement existed in the ordinance.
No one found it.
Meanwhile, our site plan remained unapproved and the clock continued ticking toward its expiration date.
⸻
THEN WE DISCOVERED WHAT WAS HAPPENING BEHIND THE SCENES
While our site plan remained stalled, public records revealed something we had not known.
Our Board of Supervisors Chairman Deuntay Diggs was communicating with members of the opposition to our campground about changing the very ordinance under which our campground had been submitted.
In a November 7, 2024 communication to the opposition, Diggs wrote:
“I want to inform you that part of my pledge to each of you was to be proactive and try to prevent a situation like the campground from occurring in the future.”
He continued:
“At tonight’s board meeting, I won the support of the majority of the board to review our CAMPGROUND ORDINANCE and RVs and REMOVE them from BY-RIGHT STATUS. If you do not understand the significance of this, please call me, and I will explain further.”
The significance of that communication is REVEALING.
Our campground had already been submitted under the existing ordinance, where campgrounds were allowed BY RIGHT.
Our site plan remained caught in a vicious review process cycle while the Chairman was telling campground opponents that he had won support to review the ordinance and REMOVE RVs FROM BY-RIGHT STATUS.
We saw the WRITING on the WALL.
We weren’t about to let the County run out the clock, change the rules, and then use those new rules against us.
We QUICKLY filed suit.
Stafford County quickly moved forward with changing the campground ordinance.
Our site plan EXPIRED.
And campgrounds were ultimately removed from BY-RIGHT status and made subject to the very own Chairman of the BOS and his colleagues having the power to approve who could have a campground or not. But NOT for us we were locked in with us filing the lawsuit. Thank God we did!
The county quickly filed a Demur to throw out our case before it was even heard. The judge ruled in our favor and we continued to the next hearing.
The next hearing…
⸻
THE JUDGE LOOKED AT THE ORDINANCE
The Judge found that “Tents Only” was nowhere in it and that uses other than tents were permitted.
Think about that.
The restriction that has held us up for almost two years, cost us hundreds and hundreds of thousands of dollars and stood between our family and approval during this process wasn’t actually written into the ordinance.
You might think that finding would have ended this fight.
It didn’t.
Our campground remains blocked, and our fight continues.
Our last hearing was in September 2025, and we have yet to get back before a judge to seek JUSTICE.
Since then, we have been given two hearing dates, but neither hearing happened. The first was disrupted after a last minute change in the assigned judge. Most recently, our July 20, 2026 hearing was canceled by the court just four days before we were scheduled to appear.
⸻
AND THERE IS ANOTHER CIRCUMSTANCE WE BELIEVE DESERVES TRANSPARENCY.
A retired judge who crosses our property to access his waterfront vacation home signed a petition opposing our campground.
His son and daughter in law are judges in Stafford County, and his daughter-in-law is the CHIEF JUDGE. In the same local court where our case is being heard.
We are not alleging that either judge has improperly influenced our case.
But when a retired judge with a personal connection to neighboring property actively signs a petition opposing our campground, while immediate members of his family serve on the court—including the Chief Judge—we believe that connection deserves TRANSPARENCY.
⸻
WHY WE REFUSED TO GIVE UP
We believe landowners should be treated fairly and be able to rely on the laws that are actually written — not made-up demands created during the review process.
⸻
THIS IS BIGGER THAN ONE CAMPGROUND IN VIRGINIA
Today, we are asking people across Virginia and across the United States to PLEASE stand with our family.
Please sign this petition.
Please share our story.
Help us make sure what happened in Stafford County, Virginia is heard far beyond Stafford County.
Visit our website and view documentation staffordvirginiarightsatrisk..com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mycrowsnestoutdooradventure?mibextid=wwXIfr&mibextid=wwXIfr
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Petition created on August 13, 2026