MANASSAS — Manassas residents packed the Boys and Girls Club, eager to learn about the city’s Comprehensive Plan and offer their input on sticky notes that were provided for their feedback.
“It’s hard to get people out on a weeknight – except in Manassas, where we’re actually quite good at it,” planning commissioner Russell Harrison.
Liz Via-Gossman, Community Development Director for the city, welcomed the crowd and presented a short introductory video before the room broke up into individual stations where people could walk and discuss the plan with city staff and planning commissioners.
Gossman called the event the “closing ceremony” for the Community Conversations the city has been holding over the last two years for citizen feedback about the Comprehensive Plan, a document that outlines future land use and development patterns for the city.
The comprehensive plan has a new “technology corridor” section this year, which promotes “high tech, high wage” land use. The E.G. Smith Baseball Complex at 9651 Godwin Drive and the surrounding area next to Micron Inc. is now located in the new technology corridor.
Many asked what that means for the popular neighborhood baseball complex, which features four fields, snack bar, restrooms, and plays host to multiple team competitions.
Kelly Davis, a Senior Planner for the city of Manassas, explained that just because the ballfields are located in the technology corridor doesn’t mean that there are plans for the fields to be zoned, and she added that “open space is still appropriate” for the technology corridor. Davis added that planning for open space has been a priority for the planning commission.
Councilman Ian Lovejoy explained that the complex isn’t going anywhere. “It just happens to be in the middle of the technology corridor,” Lovejoy said. He added that the last council budget included enhancements for those fields.
The E.G. Smith Baseball Complex is one of the busiest fields in the city and is used by travel teams for children’s games. Lovejoy said that with people traveling from out of town, “We want to keep them in our neck of the woods.”
Lovejoy said that with the addition of a new Tru by Hilton Hotel and restaurants being opened nearby at the Landing at Cannon Branch, the city’s newest development at Godwin Drive and Gateway Boulevard. “It’s really synergistic.”
The new hotel and attractions will help keep these travel teams in the city more, Lovejoy said.
The next step for the city’s comprehensive plan is for city staff to go into “writing-mode” over the summer, and then the plan will go to the public for formal comments in October.
A formal public hearing for the plan will then be held in November, and then the planning commission presents it to the city council in January 2020. The city council then has 90 days to decide on the proposed plan.
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Inspired by local physicians who were among the nation’s first to adopt the concierge medicine model, Northern Virginia is now a hub for its surging popularity. These leading physicians are redefining the patient experience with same-day appointments, direct availability, unhurried visits, and deeply personalized care:
After almost 40 years in practice, Manassas-based Internist John Cary, MD’s change to concierge medicine enabled focused attention for each individual, and the launch of his innovative diet program for those with type 2 diabetes. “The goal is to promote enough weight loss to reach an acceptable A1C of 6% with no medication,” he explains. “Achieving that can take several months of very close follow up. As I tell my patients, we are in this together.”
Jay Tyroler, MD considers his patients quite literally as family. “I believe there’s nothing more honorable than helping patients when they’re sick, or scared, or feeling vulnerable, and I care for them exactly as I would my loved ones.” Whether for a specialist referral, urgent health issue or ongoing follow up, “My patients know I’m always just a phone call away.”
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