This housing project long proposed for Prince William County’s rural area continues to put leaders at odds

LAKE RIDGE — The Woodbridge District Supervisor on Monday night expressed shock that a proposed amendment to the comprehensive plan didn’t pass — one that could pave the way for up to 130 new homes. 

He said the proposal would have easily won five of the eight votes needed from members of the Prince William County Board of Supervisors. Probably not his, however. 

“There were enough votes to take out 300 acres of the rural crescent, given that we have to rethink our legislative strategy,” said Woodbridge Supevisor Frank Principi. “…I find it astonishing that [the vote] was delayed.”

Without taking a vote on March 6, the Board agreed to delay a referendum on a proposed change to the county’s comprehensive plan. It would have allowed county staff to study whether or not the proposed Mid-County Park and Estates project would be a good fit for about 325 acres of land west of Route 234. 

If approved, the Board would later be asked to rezone the land for the project that includes up to 130 estate homes that would be built on less than half of the property. 

About 57% of the remaining land would be used proffered for use as a public park.

The delay — suggested by Coles District Supervisor Marty Nohe, who represents the district in which the homes would be built — means that in about six months the Board of Supervisors will once again be faced with the same issue.

About the same time, they’ll also take up the results of a study now underway to identify which areas in the county’s rural area are right for a transfer of development rights (TDR), or purchase of development rights (PDR) programs. 

With a TDR,  a property owner can sell his or her right to develop their land to a developer who is building in the county’s development area, to include much of eastern Prince William County. For PDR, the government could choose to purchase the property leaving it in the owner’s hands for farming purposes. Also, the land could never be sold to a developer. 

And then there’s the Rural Preservation Study — a 332-page document that took two years, and lots of county staff time and effort to produce and has been collecting dust since 2014. None of the recommendations of the study have been voted on by the Board of Supervisors, to include revisiting the county’s zoning policy as it pertains the rural area.

The fiscal argument 

More than 50 people who live in the rural area, also known as the Rural Crescent, came to an event Monday night at Waters End Brewery in Lake Ridge to hear from Principi and Brentsville District Supervisor Jeanine Lawson. It was an informational session hosted by the Prince William Conservation Alliance, longtime proponents of the Rural Crescent.

The majority of those in the audeince, too, want to leave the land untouched. 

A Democrat and Republican, respectively, both defended the need to fight to keep the rural character of western Prince William County.

Lawson’s main argument is a fiscal one: If you allow the rural area to be developed, that means the county is on the hook to pay for the maintenance of new roads, water, and sewer lines, and for the construction of new schools. And while the developer would pay to construct neighborhood streets, today’s proffer laws clamped down on their ability to offer additional monies for schools and other needed county services. 

“Smart growth principals are imperative to local government decision that we make on any given Tuesday night have impacts on living, and our environment,” said Lawson, who added about 40% of all rezoning applications filed for the county’s rural area lie in her district. 

The Mid-County project, however, was first proposed in 2012, under the old proffer laws. It brings with it more than $9 million in cash proffers, about $40,000 per each house sold, said developer Mark Branca.

This project is located in what’s called the “transitional ribbon” of the Rural Crescent, which stretches from Quantico to the Manassas National Battlefield Park. Only about 12% of the land he wants to build on is suitable for farming and is surrounded by other nearby housing developments. 

Lawson said she was hopeful for a new PDR program and said her Board should begin looking for sources of funding for the program. Principi, not so much. 

“I don’t want to sound like a pessimist, but I do want to sound like a realist. This is the one of the most divided Boards I’ve sat on. There is tremendous pressure to lower tax rate.I’mm not sure any one member can bring forward any one idea to get the support of four others on the Board,” he said. 

No committees, no communication 

He also said there is a lack of communication among Board of Supervisors on this and other issues due to a lack of committees. Other than a finance audit committee, there are no standing committees for the Board of Supervisors. 

“All of our communication happens on the dais on the day of the meeting,” said Principi. 

And, that’s the way it’s always been.

“We’ve never had committees, other than audit committee, and that’s just the way we’ve done things. If you look at the other counties that have standing committees, it doesn’t work any better,” said Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman At-large Corey Stewart.

In the end, Lawson pressured those in the audience to assert pressure on their local leaders to maintain the rural area by using her argument of fiscal responsibility. 

Principi, instead, took an opportunity to urge those in the room to vote out the five Republicans on his board in favor of Democrats. 

“The blue wave that we saw in 2017 will occur in 2018, and we’ll have a new set of people on the Board of Supervisors,” said Principi. 

All members of the county Board of Supervisors are up for re-election in 2019.

Addressing policy change 

By that time, there is the possibility that policy changes could be enacted by county leaders when it comes to the rural area. Established 20 years ago to keep development of the western agricultural areas, Stewart said it’s past time to revisit the policy. 

He’s long argued that doing nothing in the rural crescent will mean property owners may still choose to sell their land, albeit for lower prices, so developers may carve it up and place homes on the restricted land size of 10-acre lots.

He counters Lawson’s fiscal conservatism approach to preserving the rural area. 

“It’s more conservative not to control how much a land owner can get for his property,” said Stewart.

For those who want to see the Rural Crescent preserved, they say it’s time for county leaders to go in a different direction and focus less on housing and more on promoting agribusiness in the rural area, as well as agritourism that would bring visitors to farms, wineries, and breweries.