Supervisors accepted 29.28 acres at 731 Watkins Centre Parkway in Midlothian as a free gift for open space or future recreation. The transfer closes within 120 days.

Chesterfield County is getting about 29 acres of land in Midlothian for free. The Board of Supervisors on Wednesday accepted the donation of 29.28 acres at 731 Watkins Centre Parkway. The county said the land is for open space or future public recreation.

The donor is Watkins Land LLC. The county will take the land “at no cost through a special warranty deed of gift,” it said in its Board of Supervisors roundup. The parcel is in the Midlothian magisterial district.

What the county is getting

The donation contract is attached to the Oct. 28 meeting agenda on the county’s CivicClerk portal. It sets out the terms:

  • The land: 29.28 acres, more or less, parcel ID 716 707 9476 00000.
  • The price: none. The contract says no money or goods change hands.
  • Who pays the closing costs: the county covers recording, title and survey costs. The owner pays its own lawyers.
  • When: closing takes place at the County Attorney’s office within 120 days of the board’s approval, unless both sides agree another date.
  • Condition: the land is given “as is.” The county may inspect it first and can walk away if it finds the land unsuitable for public use.

The owner intends the gift to count as a charitable contribution. The county will sign the donee acknowledgment on the owner’s IRS form at closing, the contract says. It is up to the owner to set the land’s fair market value, and the county makes no claim about the tax outcome.

The county’s map of the parcel, attached to the contract, shows a mostly wooded tract with a pond. The parcel is on Watkins Centre Parkway, near Route 288.

What it will become

The county has not said yet. Its roundup describes the purpose only as “open space and/or future public recreation use.” It has published no plan, budget or timeline for a park on the site.

The same road is home to a separate parcel, 750 Watkins Centre Parkway, which the county lists as a zoning-approved data center site. We covered that site, and the county’s Oct. 27 forum, in our data center story. The donated land is a separate parcel, and the county has not linked it to any data center use.

Other decisions Wednesday

The board also:

  • approved eminent domain for Phase 1 of the Powhite Parkway extension, which we covered in our Powhite Parkway story
  • let VDOT start work on county land for the southern section of the 43-mile Fall Line Trail
  • adopted its 2027 legislative program for the General Assembly, with K-12 education first on the list

What it means for you

  • Nothing changes on the ground yet. The land stays in private hands until closing, which must happen within 120 days of Wednesday’s vote unless both sides agree otherwise.
  • No park has been promised. Any recreation plan would come later. We will report it when the county publishes one.
  • To see the parks Midlothian already has, read our parks and trails page.
  • To watch the meeting, the county’s roundup links to the full recordings.