Special session of Prince William Board of Supervisors to address I-66 commuter parking lot

Update

The special meeting of the Board of Supervisors will be held at 10 a.m. Monday, Oct. 26, 2015. 

Original post

Chairman Corey Stewart will call a special meeting of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors to discuss plans to build a commuter parking lot on a county farm.

The meeting is expected to be held Monday, ahead of a vote by Virginia’s Commonwealth Transportation Board on Tuesday that could direct VDOT to claim eminent domain over a portion of a The Cedars Farm owned by Jeannie and Carl Heflin. The farm is located on Antioch Road in Haymarket and sits in the Prince William County “Rural Crescent” urban development boundary that limits development to one home per 10 acres.

Stewart intended to draft a letter from the Board of Supervisors to Virginia Transportation Secretary Aubry Lane, noting that Board was against the state taking the property for a commuter lot. Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Princpi notified Board members by email asking the letter by sent by Stewart only and not from the Board of Supervisors because the governing board had not yet met to discuss the matter.

Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland said VDOT should choose another property in his district, other than the farm, to house commuter parking. The Supervisor said the construction of a more expensive commuter parking deck on a property zoned for commercial development vs. a traditional parking lot is a smarter idea, and it could also serve future development in the area.

“It’s an antiquated idea to build another commuter parking lot as we have them today,” said Candland. “You might as well have a horse and buggy out there waiting to pick up commuters when they get back.”

Prince William County is home to the state’s largest commuter lot — the Horner Road lot in Woodbridge which has 2,363 parking spaces, according to the Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission website.

VDOT spokeswoman Michelle Holland said the agency is reviewing all possible options for a new commuter lot in the area, and that the agency has not made its final decision where it will build the lot. Transportation officials plan to meet with the Heflins today to discuss the matter, she added.

“We want a site that makes fewer impacts on properties, and one that sill serve to get people on and off I-66 quickly,” said Holland.

Jeanie Heflin said VDOT notified her family 44 days ago they intended to take a portion of her farm that’s been in the family since 1936. The farm continually raises cows, hogs, and crops, and will be left to the Heflin’s children upon their passing. 

“Today is our first face-to-face meeting with VDOT since we received the letter notifying us they wanted our property,” said Heflin. “We’ve been kept in the dark, and we just want to know what is going on.”

The commuter parking lot is part of a larger project to add new commuter parking facilities to the I-66 and expand old ones. The project, called “Transform I-66 Outside the Beltway” also calls for adding two new lanes to the highway between the Captial Beltway and Route 15 in Haymarket, and tolling those lanes.

The configuration of I-66 outside the Beltway would look similar to I-495 from Springfield to Dulles Toll Road. Four lanes in the center of the highway would be electronically tolled using EZ-Pass, and cars with an EZ-Pass transponder and three or more occupants inside, and transit buses would ride free.

I-66 is the only interstate in the U.S. where cars with two occupants are permitted to use the HOV lane, said VDOT’s Amanda Baxter. The HOV requirement would change to HOV-3 by 2020 as part of the new “outside the Beltway plan.”

VDOT’s “Inside the Beltway” plan calls for electronically tolling all four lanes of I-66 between the hours of 5:30 and 9:30 a.m. and 3 to 7 p.m. Cars with an EZ-Pass and three or more occupants would be able to use the lanes free, under the proposal.