The bidding price of a 73-acre property on the Prince Edward County and Town of Farmville line, off South Main Street between 118-120 Thomas Circle in the Crestview subdivision, was not accepted, a representative from Torrence, Read and Forehand (TRF) auction company confirmed Tuesday.

The auction for the property took place last Friday, July 27, at Holiday Inn Express & Suites at 404 Sunchase Blvd., with approximately 10 people in attendance.

Bill Jamerson, of Appomattox, won the bid for the property at $250,000. The initial bidding price cited by the auctioneer was $900,000.

TRF auctioneer Micah Torrence confirmed that the high bid of $250,000 was not accepted by Ridgeway Family Investments, LLC, which owned the property before placing it for auction.

He said the owner of Ridgeway and Jamerson negotiated to see if they could come to a solution about an alternative bid.

Torrence said if they cannot come to an agreement, the land will be listed at a price yet to be determined with Coldwell Banker Commercial Read & Co., Realtors, based in Forest. The Coldwell Banker based in Forest is owned by the same operators as TRF.

The land, which comes to 73.880 acres, was recently announced for auction. The land was previously owned by Ridgeway Family Investments LLC, based in Culpeper. Kenton Dunn was cited as the signature authority who signed the contract with TRF.

M. Wayne Dunn, of Culpeper, was listed as care of (C/O) Ridgeway Family Investments LLC in the auction packet. The property identification card for the property cited that the total value of the land was $738,800.

Jamerson said following the auction that he had experience with real estate development in the past, and said he developed Wyndhurst, a community of luxury apartments in Lynchburg.

When asked if he had plans to develop the land in Prince Edward, Jamerson said he did not have set plans for the property.

Kenton Dunn, according to a letter from Prince Edward County included in the auction packet, received a confirmation for a request to build a townhouse development project for up to 250 townhouses from former county planner Jonathan Pickett.

The approval came with nine conditions, including exterior finish of units be comparable to existing homes in Crestview, that a 200-linear feet buffer be placed between the townhouse project and the subdivision and that construction could only take place during regular working hours.

News of the 73-acre auction created concern with neighbors of Crestview subdivision, who worried about the impact a townhouse development, or commercial development if the property is rezoned, could have on the neighborhood.

Currently, the only access route from the land parcel to South Main Street is through Thomas Circle and Williams Street in Crestview, meaning that the narrow, unmarked residential road in the neighborhood could see a sharp increase in traffic that the road may not be able to handle.

“You realize, there’s going to be no inlet or outlet except right through that little street,” Crestview resident Ruth Budd said in a previous interview.

“If (the board of supervisors) considered the same scenario in their neighborhoods, they wouldn’t like it. They wouldn’t want it,” Crestview Resident Jack Houghton said in a previous interview about the potential for increased commercial or residential properties. “That’s all we’re saying. We want to have reasonable accommodation that the county will protect residential interest. And it’s shown a total disregard for our neighborhood.”

County Administrator Wade Bartlett said in an earlier interview in response to concern about the roads following a residential or commercial project that the concerns would need to be addressed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) or the Town of Farmville, depending on the development plan and the ingress and egress of the property.