Woodbridge, Va. –– There’s still plenty of money to go around despite a commuter parking deal that fell flat.
Prince William County officials earlier this year struck a one-year, $288,600 deal to lease 370 parking spaces at the First Baptist Church of Woodbridge, but abruptly ended it this week after the lot proved to be an unpopular place for commuters to park.
County taxpayers paid $95,350 to the church for a lease that lasted four months, said Prince William spokesman Jason Grant.
The remaining balance will be used to lease new parking spaces on a private property next to a commuter lot at Old Bridge and Minnieville roads in Lake Ridge.
The new lot lies in Prince William’s Occoquan District lead by Mike May, who hopes this new lot will be more popular than the church lot.
“At this point, we are hopeful that the new lot will see more users as it is directly adjacent to an existing commuter lot that fills up quickly every morning and is serviced very well by existing bus service,” said May.
Commuters griped about the church lot, which was near Prince William Parkway and Minnieville roads, saying it was too far away from Interstate 95 and that is wasn’t adequately served by mass transit.
County officials were forced to lease additional commuter parking spaces earlier this year after Potomac Mills mall reduced the amount of commuter parking there from 1,000 to 250 spaces.
