Demand for proffer law changes may be tough sell for legislators

WOODBRIDGE — Restoring the old proffer system sits atop the legislative agenda in Prince William County.

In a contentious dinner meeting on Tuesday, The Board of Supervisors met with members of the county’s General Assembly delegation and demanded that they work to repeal drastically change a 2016 law that limits the county’s ability to ask housing developers for conditional zonings (known as proffers), to include the gifting of land for new schools and transportation improvements.

Since the new law passed, the local leaders have approved zero new home developments. And they’ve been on the hook to find new sites for elementary and high schools — sites that, in the past, had been proffered to the county as part of new housing developments. And leaders have found themselves embroiled in at least one lawsuit from a developer that claimed the county asked for an unreasonable proffer, something the 2016 law strictly prohibits.

“Under the old law, if you were going to sue a county board of supervisors, you had to prove the board’s decision ‘arbitrary and capricious. Today, they can sue if they think the proffer that the county is asking for is unreasonable,” said State Senator Richard Stuart (R-28).

The law was intended to stop counties from charging developers exorbitant fees to get projects approved. Legislators named a handful of counties that were notorious for doing this prior to the new law, and Prince William was also one, charged State Senator Jeremy McPike (D-29) who represents the county.

Prince William County Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart At-large led the charge in demanding full repeal on the proffer issue.

“If it gets only partially repealed, forget it… If you could write it down, and help us with it, that would be great,” said Stewart, who added a change in the law would benefit both the county and developers. “We don’t want to go to war with the homebuilders. We want the system to work with everybody.”

Under the current proffer law, the county is unable to discuss with developers work happening on any other than their own. In an “extreme” example shown to officials by Deputy County Attorney Chris Price, two parcels of land next to each other were slated for development, but the current law limits communication between both developers, as far as the county is involved.

“Under the old system, we would be able to discuss each project with both developers to find ways to make these two developments better co-exist as one neighborhood,” said Price.

Democratic legislators, however, weren’t having it. As some were already soured by the recent Board of Supervisors failure to show support for the ratification of the Equal Rights Constitutional Amendment. The amendment was first introduced in the early 1970s and has found its way back into today’s political discussion, and is a favored cause by some in the delegation including State Senator Scott Surovell (D-36) and Delegate Jennifer Carrol-Foy (D-2).

Surovell told the Board of Supervisors that legislators from other parts of the state consistently see news stories about Prince William County’s overcrowded classrooms, and that convincing them that Prince William has room for more development and to change the proffer law would be a tough sell.

McPike agreed.

“If its all or none, you’re not doing the county any favors,” McPike told Chairman Stewart. “It doesn’t’ help our case when we have to meet with legislators from the southside and Hampton Roads to discuss this issue, and it’s Shameful that [proffers] are the county’s top priority over issues like homeless services and schools.”

“How do you think we get money for the schools, Jeremy?” Stewart replied.

The Virginia Home Builder’s Association worked with state legislators on new legislation that would if passed, nearly repeal the 2016 law. Prince William officials, however, say the bill doesn’t go far enough and would, if passed, continue to leave the county open to lawsuits from developers who think that a county’s proffer request is unreasonable.

Virginia’s 45 60-day General Assembly session begins in January.