Atherton appointed to VOF board

Its seven at-large members, who serve four-year terms, review and consider for approval applications for permanent land conservation easements.

The board also sets VOF policy.

As of Friday, VOF, a quasi-governmental agency, held permanent easements on 470,501 acres of Virginia, including 63,959 in Fauquier.

The VOF position will allow him to remain active in rural land-use matters, said Atherton, who served 19 years on the county planning commission.

Atherton was elected Marshall District supervisor in 1999 and again in 2003. He retired on Dec. 31, after two terms.

During his time on the planning commission and the board Atherton, 63, acquired a peerless understanding rural land management, said VOF Executive Director Bob Lee.

Lee has known Atherton for almost 20 years.

They got to know each other well beginning in the early 1990s, when Atherton served on the planning commission and Lee served as county administrator.

Lee believes Atherton brings a lot to the VOF job.

In addition to a deep knowledge of land conservation (Atherton initiated Fauquier's popular purchase of development rights program), Atherton possesses a sharp mind, Lee said.

He considers Atherton among the brightest supervisors he served as county administrator.

Atherton, a cattle farmer, professes a passion for open-space protection.

Indeed, a few years ago, he put his 250-acre farm near Orlean under a VOF easement.

Easements permanently protect affected land from further subdivision. In exchange, landowners are eligible for federal and state tax benefits.

The decision to put the farm under easement "solved a lot of problems," Atherton said. "I'm at the age when you start to think about your children's needs. What happens if I get sick? What happens if my children don't want it?"

The easement also "cut down the options dramatically" and thus provided him a great deal of "relief," he said.

Atherton explained: "There's a certain satisfaction in knowing whoever owns" his farm, "they can't screw it up. I like the idea [the farm is] pretty much going to be the way it is, and it's not going to be covered with houses."

Atherton succeeds veteran VOF board member and Fauquier resident William Abel-Smith.

He will attend his first VOF board meeting in September in Charlottesville.

Appointed by the governor, the board meets at least quarterly. Members receive no salary.

Atherton received a law degree from Catholic University (1974) and a bachelor's in history from Harvard University (1967).

He and his wife, Anne Douglass, have two grown daughters and a grandson.

E-mail the reporter: ddelrosso@timespapers.com