Three Chopt Elementary School is one of the oldest elementary schools in the county. It was built to support the growing suburbs of Henrico County and is surrounded by neighborhoods developed in the 1940s and 1950s. The land was purchased in 1970 and the school opened in 1971.

Also in 1971, in an effort to preserve and protect the property, Henrico County went to the Virginia General Assembly and asked for special enabling legislation and on March 1, 1971, the General Assembly granted the county the right to designate the area a wildlife sanctuary.

On June 11, 1975 the Board of Supervisors designated Three Chopt Elementary School, its grounds and outdoor classroom (nature trail) as the only individual bird sanctuary in the entire county and it remains so today.

The proposed sale of 4.5 acres of the Three Chopt Elementary School woods (and nature trail) is directly in conflict with the county code designating this a bird sanctuary (Chapter 5; Article VI; Section 5-250 - Bird sanctuaries). In addition, it is not supported by the county's own long range plan which calls for the property to remain Government.

As recently as November 2015, the Board of Supervisors voted to spend over $414,000 of taxpayer money to buy 2.5 acres of land in Varina to protect a neighborhood from retail development. The proposed retail use was allowed and would have brought sales tax revenue to the county. Instead the county bought the land to stop it from being developed and disturbing the neighborhood. Nearby residents of the school deserve no less.  They were told multiple times by the Henrico County Public Schools Administration that the woods were not for sale; that the school property was under the 20 acres recommended for elementary schools and they would not be sold. Residents aren't asking to have land purchased for them, just to preserve the land that has been protected by the county since 1975!

We are against the attempts of HCA Henrico Doctors Hospital to buy this land, tear down the woods and put up a 4-story medical building. This is a county designated bird sanctuary, there is a nature trail used by the students and the surrounding community and we all benefit from the open space. There is very little natural areas left in this part of the county. What we do have left should be protected.

Please sign this petition if you are against the rezoning and sale of the Three Chopt Elementary School woods.