Ebony is located in southern Brunswick County, VA - en route to Lake Gaston from I-85
support THIS CAUSE with your financial contribution
Keep Ebony Country is a grassroots effort and campaign to preserve the historic integrity and authentic non-commercialized character of the Ebony, VA community. We mobilized in 2019 to oppose efforts to bring in Dollar General.
Our momentum comes from a shared commitment from the local community as well as a generosity of time, talent, and financial contributions.
Despite overwhelming public opposition to rezoning and Dollar General and laying out legal-based arguments in public hearings that support opposition , 3 of the 5 members of the Board of Supervisors voted 1/29/20 to pass a rezoning request that would allow Dollar General into the area. They voted in opposition to the home district Supervisor who voted to deny the rezoning request.
After taking some time to reflect and consider our options, a decision was made to proceed with an Appeal of the Board's rezoning decision -- because of the merits of our case, what is at stake, and on behalf of all who stood up in opposition.
The Appeal was filed on 2/28/20. Having standing and limiting the parties for simplification, Plaintiffs/Petitioners on the appeal are the adjacent property owners: Anne Edwards Hartley and Prospect Cemetery Association.
Rather than proceding to trial the County pursued a Demurrer -- a path to have the case dismissed. The County was not successful after spending over $100,000 on the Demurrer. We are now on the path to trial with a pre-trial scheduling hearing set for June 3, 2022.
The claims in the Appeal that survived Demurrer and will serve as the legal basis for trial are that the vote disregarded existing land-use management governance tools including VA Statutes designed to protect rural residential/farming communities like Ebony from detrimental over-commercialization.
When the Appeal is complete, any leftover funds received after 4/11/2020 that remain in the account will be refunded proportionally to the respective share of contribution.
Please Note: We are not a 501(c)(3) organization. That said, all donations and expenditures will be processed through a stand-alone bank account with transparent reporting available as requested. After donating, you will receive a receipt for your contribution. Identity of anonymous donors will be masked from reports.
MAKE A DONATION
Add your support to this cause. Please consider a financial donation to our legal fund to help keep the fight going in Court.
Thank you to those who have already donated in the amount of $15,000 that went toward preparing the appeal and opposing the Demurrer.
CURRENT CAMPAIGN: We are now on the path to trial and have kicked off a campaign with the goal of raising another $5,000 to help toward ongoing legal fees.
Please mail a check payable to "Keep Ebony Country Fund" to:
Keep Ebony Country
c/o Kay Whitehead
PO Box 36
Ebony, VA 23845
If you would like to make an anonymous donation, add a note to your check.
Thank you very much.