Rezoning would bring 109 new homes to Downtown

MANASSAS — A decision on whether or not to rezone 10 acres of land to accommodate 109 new homes in Downtown Manassas will have to wait.

During its last meeting of 2019, the City Council voted to hold open a public hearing on the Jefferson Square project — a combination of single family and townhomes to be built at the intersection of Prince William and Jefferson streets, an area that lies within the borders of the city’s downtown sector plan.

A total of 14 wooded parcels of land make up the 10 acres eyed for rezoning. Two homes current sit on as many plots and would be demolished if the property is rezoned from low density to city center planned use.

K. Hovnanian, the developer, has offered $1.2 million to help offset the impacts of the 277 new residents who move into the new homes, 114 of which will be school children.

There’s also a plan to erect a memorial marker noting the location of the second Brown School, which taught African-American children between 1926 and 1954.

The developer also proposes to construct about $1million in improvements to Jefferson Street to include widening it, adding sidewalks, curbs, and gutters, and buying power lines.

Many residents who spoke about the proposed neighborhood said they were supportive of the plan, but they wanted them for new and improved street lighting n the area, as improved signage for the new development.

One resident who spoke was concerned over the density of the project, saying that it would bring too many new residents and too many new students that would need to go to an already crowded Dean Elementary School.

The city Planning Commission supports the rezoning.

The single-family homes would sell for $450,000 each while townhomes would go for $375,000 each, said Austin Haynes, a consultant for the developer told the city council.

The average median income of the homeowners will $82,000, about $18,000 more than the average city resident’s income, added Haynes, who based his figures on information he obtained from the city’s’ economic development office.