Wartime museum approved

Dale City, Va. –– The American Wartime Museum is coming to Dale City, and is slated to become another destination in a developing military history corridor along Interstate 95.

The Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the $50 million museum Tuesday, which will sit on about 70 acres of land off Dale Boulevard and Interstate 95, behind a K-Mart store.

The museum is expected to attract hordes of money-spending visitors to the area, but some don’t want the museum in their backyard.

“We’ve had two studies done, most recently in the past two months by the George Mason University Center for Regional Analysis says 300,000 visitors a year will come to our museum,” said American Wartime Museum spokeswoman Kathy Bentz. “They’ll come here, they’ll spend their money here, they’ll spend the night here, and hopefully that will generate more money for us and other attractions in the area.”

The exhibits at the museum would be interactive, including World War I battle trenches, a replica of a bombed out European village from World War II, and an aircraft hangar to simulate an airfield.

The museum’s exhibits will feature members from each branch of the military, the Coast Guard and National Guard.

Residents who live on nearby Ashdale Circle fear that the noise produced from the exhibits, and increased traffic would lower the quality of life in their neighborhood.

The museum will sit about 50 feet from their property lines, and that’s too close for the residents who spoke against the plan to build the museum.

“It’s ridiculous how close this will be to my property,” said Bill Houston, who unfurled a 50-foot tape measure in an attempt to illustrate how close the museum would be to his property line.

“There is going to be an aircraft hangar where they’ll be starting engines, propellers, possibly jet engines, this is unacceptable,” said Houston.

Residents plan to continue their fight against the museum but declined Tuesday night to say how.

The museum – like the Marine Corps Museum in Triangle – will be built entirely with donations. And with only $6 million of the needed funds, the organization still has a lot of fundraising to do, officials say.

The museum is scheduled to open on Veteran’s Day 2014, according to the organization’s Web site.