More
Join

Plane reports engine failure, crashes in Fauquier County

A plane crashed this afternoon in Fauquier County.

Virginia State Police are now on the scene and tell us:

“At 4:46 p.m. Friday (June 25), Virginia State Police responded to a report of a small, private aircraft making an emergency landing in a field in the 11900 block of Freemans Ford Road in Fauquier County. The preliminary investigation revealed the aircraft suffered engine failure. The pilot and only occupant was uninjured. The FAA and NTSB were notified of the emergency landing. The incident remains under investigation.”

We’ll update this post with new information as it comes in.

2 Comments

Chatham Bridge, a key link to Fredericksburg, expected to reopen by October

The Chatham Bridge will reopen a key entrance to Fredericksburg later this year, the Virginia Department of Transportation announced Monday.

One year ago, the Virginia Department of Transportation closed the 80-year-old bridge to demolish it, to make a new and improved structure. The new bridge carries drivers over the Rappahannock River, linking the city with Stafford County.

Potomac Local News on Monday toured the new bridge, which is in the later stages of construction. 

The bridge has been one of the major throughways into downtown Fredericksburg from Stafford County from Route 3 since it first opened in 1941 and carried around 16,000 vehicles a day. Several improvements are underway to the bridge, which includes expanding it from a two-lane into a four-lane bridge and sturdier construction that will be able to hold larger trucks. Because of this, there will be no vehicle weight posting on the bridge.

Other additions made to the bridge will be new pedestrian and bicycle paths separated from vehicle traffic by installed barriers. The paths will also link to Stafford County's Belmont-Ferry Farm Trail and other sidewalks in downtown Fredericksburg.

While the bridge will be open for traffic by October, completion of work on the bridge will be done by April 2022. According to VDOT Engineer Robert Ridgell, final adjustments to the bridge and clean-up, such as removal of the stone embankments placed in the river alongside the bridge, allow heavy machinery to perform its construction tasks.

The total cost of the bridge has been estimated at $23.4 million and is being funded through state transportation funds from the State of Good Repair program. The building contract for the bridge was awarded to Pittsburgh-based Joseph B. Fay; the company included in their bid a guarantee to have the bridge ready for traffic in 16 months instead of the 38 months that the project was expected to be done in.

In the days leading up to its closure, there was much concern about how that lack of the bridge would affect businesses in the downtown area. That effect, however, was eclipsed by the onset of the coronavirus pandemic and made it difficult to say which had more of an impact on local businesses.





  • If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!
0 Comments

Vulcan Quarry expansion heads to PC; More than $12M already invested

The Stafford County Planning Commission on Wednesday, June 23, 2021, will decide whether or not to recommend approval of an expansion of the Vulcan Quarry.

Vulcan has asked the county to rezone nearly 50 acres of land that surrounds quarry in North Stafford, from agricultural to heavy industrial land. The move would clear the way for a new concrete plant to be built on the property and expand the area in which rocks are extracted from the Earth.

Vulcan has asked the county to streamline proffers and rezone land to get at a new cache of amphibolite rock used for paving roads within a nearly 600-acre stretch near Dun Rovin Lane, just off Route 610.

Since the 1990s, Vulcan had been buying up the parcel by parcel, spending over $12 million to acquire the properties. In 1990 and again in 2019, Vulcan acquired land from Clark Leming and Patrica Healy, who has been an elected official serving on the county’s school board since 2000. Lemming is an attorney that has argued multiple land-use cases, like this one, before the Stafford County Board of Supervisors, which will make the final decision on the rezoning request.  

The couple received nearly a combined $1.3 million for the sale of 174 acres. The biggest parcel of 150 acres passes between Leming and Healy and Vulcan twice, once in 1990 and again in 2006 when Vulcan re-acquired it.

Another family, Martin, Gloria, and Shirley Jones received $9.5 million in 2013 for the sale of 100 acres.

The Stafford County Planning Commission is charged with making a recommendation on the case to the Board of Supervisors. The commission, along with representatives of Vulcan, held a special question and answer session on June 16 at North Stafford High School, to try and assuage concerns from the residents who live near the quarry.

Those concerns ranged from issues with the roads to interruption in the patterns of local wildlife migration. Still, the main concern that many of the residents of the Eastern View neighborhood, which sits across from the high school, made was the possibility of damage to their homes if Vulcan ramped up its blasting and mining efforts. 

Many residents also complained about the possible reverberations causing damage to homes. One resident, Dr. H.L. Barner, surmised that the blasting that was already going on had caused cracks to form in the foundation of his home due to the underground vibrations of the blast.

This was repeated by many who complained about cracks forming not just in the foundations but also in walls and support beams and pillars. Vulcan, for their part, denied that their blasting had anything to do with the damage citing the nearby ordinance range at Quantico Marine Corps Base as a prime suspect.

Vulcan also said that their use of berms, boundaries made of dirt, sand, and foliage, which it plans to erect around its expanded operation, should be enough to absorb any reverberations. Vulcan also mentioned that it monitors vibrations coming from their mines detected by seismographs planted between the quarry and the bordering neighborhoods.

According to Vulcan, the readings from those monitors show that the strength of the blasts put them at levels regulated by the Virginia Department of Mineral Mines and the U.S. Bureau of Mines.

Dr. Barner, an engineer with over 20 years of experience, disputed the ability of the berms to buffer underground vibrations due to their weaker root systems. Although, according to Barner, the berms had been put in place after natural foliage had been removed. The roots from that foliage would have grown much thicker over the hundreds of years there and able to absorb vibrations.

Because the root systems of the berms are newer, they wouldn’t have the thickness to absorb such shockwaves, said Barner.

Residents also asked how does the county benefit from the expansion. One possibility remains that once the quarry is closed and the land is conveyed to the county government in 2035, it would fill the old quarry with water and use it as a reservoir. In addition, the county is expecting huge population growth in the next 20 years, and water services currently wouldn’t be able to support such growth.

However, Vulcan is also asking for a lengthening of its contract regarding the east pit of the quarry, which would be extended to 2055, which would tack on another 20 years and make the quarry unavailable as a reservoir.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, June 22, at the Stafford County Government Center, at 1300 Courthouse Road, where the commission will hear the rezoning case. In addition, the Commission has commissioned an engineered sound study which is expected to be presented at the meeting.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported the county’s public water infrastructure would not keep up with the anticipated population growth.

0 Comments

EPIQ Food Hall a grand experience with global culinary fare

There are new several new places to chow down in Woodbridge -- all under one roof.

On Saturday, June 19, The EPIQ Food Hall welcomed hundreds of visitors for a grand opening celebration complete with a live DJ, face painting, a raffle, and the unmistakable aroma of food from all over the globe. Customers packed the venue to get a taste of the new food hall, a new business that seeks to bring a unique culinary experience to Woodbridge.

Located right across from BJ's Warehouse in Noblewood Plaza, just off Prince William Parkway, EPIQ Food Hall features 14 cuisines prepared by local proprietors, with seating for 390 guests over 13,000 square feet, on two floors. The establishment is the second largest food hall in the Washington, DC region in terms of square footage and is the largest food hall in terms of guest seating.

  • If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!
0 Comments

Town hall to focus on future of OmniRide

Commuters will get an earful on the future of OmniRide, the transportation agency that provides bus service in Prince William and Stafford counties and the cities of Manassas Park.

Residents may tune into a virtual town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Wednesday, where OmniRide Director Dr. Bob Schnieder will lay out his vision for the transit service that's been ferrying commuters since the late 1980s.

The meeting comes a month after OmniRide put six new buses on the roads, part of some 40 new buses the agency has put into service over the past two years, replacing older buses in its fleet.

  • If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!
0 Comments

Volunteers fan out across region to make home repairs

Several deserving residents are getting some extra help around the house this week, thanks to the Catholic Diocese of Arlington

In Prince William County, two homes in Dale City are being repaired. One home is having its deck replaced — as the older deck was unsafe and on the verge of collapse — and a new concrete walkway put in, and the other is having gutters replaced and supports added to a carport.

In the Fredericksburg area, near Massaponax, several home projects include adding an indoor ramp to the entryway of a home, deck work, installing railings, wall repair, and adding outdoor ADA-compliant handicap ramps.

The Diocese declined to provide specific addresses due to safety concerns.

Here’s a press release with more details:

This week, more than 600 teens in the Catholic Diocese of Arlington are volunteering their time to repair homes and complete various service projects within their parish communities. WorkCamp, an annual week-long program the Diocese sponsors, offers youth the opportunity to serve while building friendships and learning life-long lessons of volunteerism. Thirty-five parishes are supporting the effort to undertake more than 100 community repair projects. This year’s WorkCamp, which began Saturday, June 19, with teambuilding exercises and safety training, goes through the evening of Thursday, June 24.

“Each year, hundreds of young people in our diocese take time out of their summer vacations to serve their neighbors in need–for this I am extraordinarily proud, as I am also for the adult staff and volunteers who facilitate this great work. After a particularly difficult year in which many repairs had to be put on hold, the need is especially great. We are thankful for this exciting week and look forward to seeing the fruits of their labors,” said Bishop Michael F. Burbidge, Catholic Diocese of Arlington. “The lessons of the past year are many. Most importantly, the centrality of faith, the importance of community, and our duty to serve. That is the message of WorkCamp. May our Lord bless those who participate and show his love to our neighbors now, and always.”

WorkCamp projects include installing wheelchair ramps, painting projects, repairing home doors, decks, railings, and fences, and preparing meals for those in need. In addition, WorkCamp groups will begin their day with Mass at their local parish and enjoy music, games, prayer, talks, and other social activities each evening.

Each year, Bishop Burbidge visits the WorkCamp sites and spends time with the young volunteers.

“The impact of WorkCamp is tremendous. We are thankful for the opportunity to give back, and we are inspired by the number of young people who step forward to participate each year,” said Ed Gloninger, WorkCamp Coordinator, Office of Youth, Campus, and Young Adult Ministries, Catholic Diocese of Arlington. “We have seen both teens and communities transformed. Our hope, of course, is that this transformation is just a beginning.”

The Catholic Diocese of Arlington’s Office of Youth, Campus and Young Adult Ministries has sponsored this week-long summer service program since 1990. There is no cost to those receiving these services. All supplies, building materials, and building permits are provided by WorkCamp. Crews arrive at residences with the necessary tools, food, water, and everything they need to complete the projects. A safety training is completed the first weekend of WorkCamp.

For more information on WorkCamp, visit arlingtondiocese.org/workcamp.

0 Comments

Fredericksburg Jazz musician going strong after 30 years

Harry Wilson has been a fixture in the Fredericksburg Jazz scene for the last 30 years and is still going strong.

Wilson brings a wealth of experience and knowledge to the jazz world as the bandleader of the Harry Wilson Quartet. Wilson is also the vice-president of the Fredericksburg Jazz Collective, which since 2011 has continued to promote the awareness of jazz music and the impact the genre has had on modern culture.

Wilson is also unique as he plays the vibraphone in his quartet which is not a typical lead instrument compared to the piano, the trumpet, or the saxophone when one thinks about Jazz. In going this route, Wilson has forged a very recognizable sound that can be enjoyed by even a novice looking to find their way into the genre.

The current iteration of the quartet includes many promising and upcoming musicians from the area which includes Jazz student Kyle Smith on drums, bass player Luke Gray, a teacher with the Fredericksburg Area Young Musicians group, recent the University of Mary Washington graduate Ben Peters on saxophone as well as more experienced musicians such as Steve Rathson on piano.

Wilson spoke to Potomac Local News about his experiences and how he and his band weathered the recent coronavirus pandemic.

What inspired you to pursue playing Jazz as a professional?

I learned Jazz at an early age playing on the streets ofNorth Philadelphia, I listened to people like John Coltrane, Miles Davis, and Sun Ra. Sun Ra took me under his wing and I played with him on the road for four years and recorded a couple of albums with his band. There's a spirit in Jazz that I've grown up with, it's one of those things you have to dig deep in your soul to see where you're coming from because there's a spirituality whenever I play and I try to draw the cats in with what I do.

What attracted you to the vibraphone?

Milt Jackson, listening to Milt Jackson play the vibraphone on his albums inspired me. I got a set of vibes when I was 21 and I've been self-teaching myself to play the vibes ever since. I did have some teachers like Bill Lewis in Philly and other players. Another person who helped is my friend and mentor Marshall Allen, he's 97 and he's still playing, he's one of the angels of the story.

How did the coronavirus pandemic affect your ability to play live as well as any other projects you may have had?

I did some virtual classes for elementary schools, we now have a clubhouse where we'll start having lessons, and I also did some work with the Fredericksburg Jazz Collective honoring some upcoming musicians like Kyle. We also played at the Pig Pitt, they have a nice patio outside and the owner gave us the opportunity to play there and it blew up with other gigs starting out solo and later with the band.

Over the last few years Jazz has had a resurgence with artists from the Hip-Hop world influencing the genre, what do you think of this resurgence?

I think it's good, I think it's very good. Sound Fusion (a group that Ben Peters plays with) just cut an album with the Coltrane song "Impressions" that has those kinds of influences.

Which local Jazz artists should listeners be paying attention to?

Me, and Sound Fusion.

The Harry Wilson Quartet will play their next show at the Pig Pitt at 1017 Sophia Street in Downtown Fredericksburg on Saturday, June 19 at 6 p.m.

Editor's note: This interview was condensed for length and brevity.

  • If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!
0 Comments

Stafford leaders approve Downtown Stafford concept, while residents wary of more traffic

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors moved closer to making Downtown Stafford a reality.

Supervisors held a public hearing on Tuesday and then voted four to three to adopt a plan that would conceptualize what the downtown project would look like as well as changes in the plan that would support the development. Also included were revisions to the zoning that would support the project's development.

The project site is located near the county's iconic courthouse, and across from Stafford Hospital.

  • If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!
4 Comments

Exclusive: Prince William wants to create public park at site of Thoroughfare cemeteries

Prince William County will consider purchasing at least five pieces of property in the wake of the Thoroughfare cemetery controversy.

The parcels, owned by Flint Rock Builders, of Chester, are located adjacent to the Farm Brewery, near Haymarket. If purchased by the county, they would be used to create a public park.

The push comes after descendants of slaves, who have family members buried in cemeteries in and around the property, found in April that earthmovers had been used to grade an old cemetery, clearing the way for new homes. Flint Rock Builders spent a half-million dollars on the properties with the intention of buildings new homes.

  • If you rely on us for local news and haven’t already, please support us by becoming a member!
2 Comments
View More Stories
×

Subscribe to our mailing list