WOODBRIDGE — In an all-or-nothing move, Corey Stewart says he’ll vote against a road bond if fellow Supervisors don’t also support efforts to provide more funding to parks.
The Prince William Board of County Supervisors will meet tomorrow for the first time since May 14. At the 2 p.m. meeting, Supervisors are expected to take up a discussion that has been brewing all spring — whether or not to petition the circuit court to put two bond referenda on the November ballot: a $400 million roads bond and $200 parks bond.
While some Supervisors we’ve spoken to favor borrowing money for roads, they’re not keen on borrowing money for parks to construct, among other projects, an $84 million indoor track and fitness center along Interstate 95 near Woodbridge.
“It would be a shame if this Board wouldn’t put both questions on the ballot to let voters decide. There are 120,000 people living east of I-95 and they don’t have a [public] single indoor sports and recreation facility,” said Stewart.
The closest facilities are in Dale City and Lake Ridge with the Sharon Baucom Dale City Recreation Center and Chinn Aquatics and Fitness Center, respectively.
“That needs to be corrected,” he adds.
In addition to the $84 million indoor track and events center, other park bond projects include an indoor practice facility in the western side of the county, a new indoor aquatics facility in the east, funding to improve the county’s network of trails, something residents told the county’s parks department it wanted more than anything else.
The Board has two scheduled meetings in June before its summer recess, on Tuesday and another on June 25, where the Board was expected to discuss the bond issues.
Stewart, who is Chairman of the Board, said he’ll initiate the discussion at Tuesday’s meeting and could call for a vote on the measure.
“We’ll take a vote on it and vote it up or down,” he said. “If there’s no support for it, I’m not going to hang around for next week.”
Stewart has been a driving force for the road and parks bond. Many of the transportation projects on the list are “legacy” projects, including a $70 million grade-separated interchange at Prince William Parkway and Minnieville Road in Woodbridge.
The Board of County Supervisors will look dramatically different next year. Stewart and Potomac District Supervisor Maureen Caddigan opted not to seek reelection. Incumbents Frank Principi, of the Woodbridge District and Marty Nohe, of the Coles District, both lost in Democratic and Republican Primary Elections, respectively.
Voters will head to the polls on November 5 to decide who will fill the four empty seats. And, if Supervisors agreed to send the bond questions to the voters, they’ll also decide on November 5 whether or not to authorize the county to borrow up to $600 million for parks and roads projects.
“With the new Board that is coming on, this Board will have lost, collectively, 130 years of experience,” said Stewart. “The new Board is going to be a bunch of rookies, and it’s going to take a very long to figure out how to get things done. There won’t be any major road or park bonds for the next 40 years.”
Most of that collective experience was lost when the late Supervisor John D. Jenkins passed away in February, Stewart said.
As we’ve reported, some on the Board fears the passage of the roads and parks bond would require tax increases to pay for the projects. The amount of any such tax increase has yet to be determined.
Others we spoke with say they’re more supportive of roads than parks because there are state and federal matching funds to chase for transportation projects, but none for parks, meaning taxpayers would be on the hook to repay all monies borrowed for recreational facilities and projects.
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