Metro in doubt and CTE on the rise, Prince William rethinks economic development

WOODBRIDGE — With the lack of Metro rail and a glut of open office space, Prince William County leaders will look again at the types of business it aims to attract to the region.

Members of the Board of Supervisors met during an un-televised session of their regularly scheduled Tuesday meeting to discuss how to grow the region’s economy.

There, they admitted some of the ways they have been going about the economic development process are outdated.

“We have a lack of industrial space, a lack of employment space in the county, not a lack of office space,’ said Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman At-large Corey Stewart, who was quick to point out Supervisors’ favoritism to attracting white-collar jobs.

Options closer to Washington 

Instead of moving offices to Prince William County, businesses choose the Arlington and Alexandria communities closer to Washington, D.C. where rental rates about-about the same.

“It’s not a lack of office space in Prince William County, its the overabundance [of office space] in Crystal City… places there were hot in the early 1990s,” said Coles District Supervisor Marty Nohe.

Since then, companies have relocated to the juggernaut of Tysons in neighboring Fairfax County, which has rapidly developed as the corporate epicenter of Northern Virginia with hubs for Kaiser Permanente and Capital One.

So, if not offices and white-collar government jobs, Stewart suggested taking advantage of the growing effort to cater to career and technical education — training students to fill positions in everything from woodworking to biomedical sciences.

“Let’s take advantage of it and become a hub for that market,” he said. We want Rosslyn [in Arlington] and that is never going happen. That’s not a bad thing. It’s just a different type of employment.”

Recognizing full enrollment at CTE programs at the county school division and at Northern Virginia Community College, his suggestion is a reversal of past policies that charged county economic development officials with luring high-paying government contracting and tech jobs to the area.

To land many of those, federal procurement officials require access to Metro, something Prince William County doesn’t have.

“I don’t think Metro is in our future,” said Note, who is also the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority Chairman.

Prince William County Deputy County Executive Chris Price echoed the point.

“You’ve directed us to go after high-level federal agencies,” Price told Supervisors. “We’re not a contender, we’re just a way off for a lot of them.”

$990 million return on Innovation Park 

Prince William County Economic Development Director Jeffrey Kaczmarek shifted Supervisors attention to Innovation Park at Prince William, home to the FBI Northern Virginia Headquarters, and the corporate headquarters of ATCC, which houses microorganisms for distribution to scientists across the globe.

The county purchased 500 acres of land on which the park sits in the early 1990s for $8.5 million. To date, the investment has yielded a $990 million return.

County officials urged Supervisors to consider the same approach to redevelopment in eastern Prince William County, something leaders there have been pushing for.

Snapping up large parcels of land that today house empty or underused shopping centers, known as brown spots, would put the county in a better position to offer incentive packages to companies looking to relocate, argued Price.

The challenge in making deals with large corporations is having the ability to scrape together enough land parcels for which the company or companies to build. That lack of land has traditionally forced companies out west to places like Haymarket and Gainesville, he added.

Stewart said he didn’t favor this approach, saying it would “manipulate the market.” 

‘Let’s junk’ the moonshot goal

Supervisors also talked about the so-called “moonshot goal” of increasing the county’s commercial tax base to 35%. Today, it sits at 14% and is instead primary made up of residential property taxes.

The policy, part of the county’s strategic plan, came under fire this week from the Prince William Chamber of Commerce, which called the goal ambiguous.

“So, let’s junk it,” said Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson.

The chamber applauded.

“This measurement was arbitrary and not something truly strategic in nature,” stated Betty Dean, Chairman of the Prince William Chamber of Commerce in a press release.  “The Chamber’s Board of Directors has encouraged the Board of County Supervisors to revisit this issue since the strategic plan was passed. We look forward to working with the Board and County Staff on replacing the measurement with a set of achievable, sustainable and measurable objectives for economic growth that will facilitate continued success for the business community and our residents.”