STAFFORD — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors voted on the 2019-2028 Capital Improvement Plan during the June 19 meeting. The CIP was passed with a vote of 5-2.
The CIP was revised by the Finance, Audit and Budget Committee Meeting just hours before the Board voted on the final CIP.
The adjustments to the CIP include lowering the cost of a new courthouse building to $40 million, down from a proposed $52 million. The plan also includes new money for school improvements.
Mark Dudenhefer, Garrisonville District, frustrated with the CIP, said there were zero dollars for road projects included.
“The CIP included a line now that talks about a million dollars going into the road projects, but that money is not appropriated or guaranteed,” said Dudenhefer. “We will receive some additional based on the legislators passing of a floor on the gas tax, but that also is a diminishing dollar amount.”
Cindy Shelton, Aquia District, commented on her push for a pre-school for all children, not just special needs children.
“One of the interesting things we’ve learned in the past few years is that our children are basically formed by the time they go to school,” said Shelton. “One of the challenges we see as we go forward is what do we do about that? If we now know that all children need to be going to school earlier then we need to have a vision for all those children.”
Jack Cavalier, Widewater-Griffis District, has overseen 15 CIP documents and said that the current CIP was the most expensive he’s ever seen.
“It was by far the most work and the most deliberation that’s ever been put into one so for anybody to think that we didn’t consider this thoughtfully they’re seriously remiss,” said Cavalier.
This was the first year of a joint-process with the Stafford County School Board. Board members saw some ups and downs but are hopeful to make next year better.
“I don’t ever want to do another year like this,” said Cavalier. “Almost all the projects are school related so we have recognized that need in the community.”
The newly approved renovation of Ferry Farm Elementary was very high on the School Board’s list of improvements and Tom Coen’s, George Washington District. A portion of the school will be demolished to make way for a new 22,000 square foot addition that includes a new library.
“When I got on this board, Ferry Farm had not been dealt with for a decade,” said Coen. “The idea of trying to do rebuilds, building new elementary schools, and building everything that everybody wants was not possible so the goal had to be doing something credible, realistic, and meaningful to Ferry Farm and doing it as soon as possible and this CIP does that.”
STAFFORD -- Stafford County Public Schools students will head back to class before Labor Day next year.
The School Board voted in favor of a pre-Labor Day calendar with a result of 5-2.
The 2019-2020 school calendar shows the first semester will start on August 12 and end on December 20, before Winter Break, with a Professional Day on January 6, 2020.
STAFFORD -- Virginia is facing a big problem when it comes to college graduates.
There are more college graduates leaving Virginia for other U.S. states than moving into Virginia from other U.S. states. The most common reason that college graduates are moving out of state is to pursue a job opportunity.
Washington, D.C. tops the list of metro areas where college grads are moving to, followed by San Francisco, San Jose, Calif., Denver, and Austin, Tex., according to a new report from Inc. Magazine.
DUMFRIES — Dumfries officials will close on a new town hall building in the coming weeks.
The town will purchase the private office building built in 2008 located next to the current town hall building located at 17755 Main Street. The building will serve as a meeting place for Town Council, boards and commissions, and town administrative offices. A portion of the building is already home to the town’s police station.
There was a need for a new town hall building after two space needs studies in 2008 and an updated space needs study in 2017-2018 found that there wasn’t enough space for vital local government jobs.
“The study showed the administrative staff, department heads and police department needing additional space. The intent was to have [the] police department and town administration all in the same building,” stated said Town Manager Rob Ritter in an email.
“The benefit will be the Town Council and town staff will be in an updated building while providing additional space for current needs and well into the future,” said Ritter. “Administrative staff, community development, and public works will all be in the same office which will allow for easier collaboration between office to get permits out faster. Also, [the] police department is currently in the building which makes it convenient and easier for communications.”
The Town Council approved $5.5 million to finance the purchase of a new building.
The purchase will also put the town into the Real Estate business as it will become landlord to a handful of tenants already inside the building, including a branch of the Greater Prince William Community Health Center.
“The tenants of the building will subsidize the annual payment enough that the Town will not be required to increase taxes,” added Ritter.
There will be new improvements inside of the new building such as a new council chambers, and audio/video system.
“The residents would benefit by having a building that they can all be proud of,” said Ritter. “[It includes] additional seating for citizens, larger reception room, larger offices, filing rooms. One stop shop with tenants include Greater Prince William Area Community Health Center, Inc., Dr. Alf Adler, MD Corporation, J2 Engineers, Inc, Young Marines, a national non-profit 501c(3) organization, STRATEGIC RESIUENCE GROUP, LLC, and Whitney, Bradley & Brown, Inc., a Virginia corporation (WBB).
The address of the new town hall will be 17739 Main Street. The current town hall dates back to 1970.
STAFFORD -- The Stafford County Board of Supervisors will meet Tuesday, June 5 to consider adopting the 2018-2019 capital improvement plan.
Earlier in May, the Board heard from the members of the county’s infrastructure committee about a plan to build an addition to the current courthouse. County officials have planned to redevelop the area at the intersection of Route 1 and Courthouse Road, for several years, around the existing courthouse into an area called “downtown Stafford.”
STAFFORD — Some Stafford County residents will continue to get their cable TV and internet from Cox Communications.
Cox had been providing telecommunications services to customers in the southern portion of the county under an agreement that expires June 6.
The Stafford County Telecommunications Commission negotiated with Cox so that they could continue to serve the Falmouth, George Washington, and Hartwood districts.
TCC member Brian Roinestad negotiated the for Stafford County and spoke at the Board of Supervisors meeting on May 19. Roinestad talked mainly about the service Cox provides and the updated terms of the deal.
“Cox will extend service to new subscribers upon request, for homes located in areas in which there is an average of 20 homes per mile along the public right-of-way,” Roinestad said. “Only homes within 300 feet of the right-of-way will be counted. Cox will charge its standard installation rate for all subscribers located within 200 feet of the right-of-way.”
The TCC’s primary goal for this agreement was for the new Cox deal to be as similar to the deal Stafford County made with Comcast in December 2016.
“We want this to end up as close in terms of the Comcast agreement,” Roinestad said. “We felt [that] it was precedent with both of our other franchise providers [Comcast and Verizon] going into those negotiations and at the end of the day I feel we ended up with such an agreement.”
Cox will continue to provide video service and any necessary equipment (such as a converter box) at no charge to County government and school facilities within its service area.
“Cox will pay the county an annual grant of $0.20 per subscriber per month,” Roinestad said. “This grant will be used to purchase equipment to support the public, educational and government (PEG) access channels, and related capital needs. This is the same fee paid by Comcast and Verizon. Cox will also provide three channels on its system for carrying PEG channels.”
The new Cox deal has new discounts for lower-income families.
“Cox was more than willing to get the word out about discounted broadband services to students under the free and reduced lunch program,” Roinestad said.
The TCC was very enthusiastic about the new deal with Cox.
“At the end of the day I feel and the TCC feels that this will serve the residents of Stafford county well,” Roinestad said. “I can’t remember any time during my time w/ the TCC anyone came in and address had an issue with cox in terms of service and infrastructure. Any questions we’ve had with Cox has been answered in an exponential manner.”
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors and Telecommunications Commission approved the deal unanimously.
Unlike behemoth cable provider Comcast which services northern Stafford County, Cox serves a much smaller share of Northern Virginia with service areas to also include Fredericksburg City, Fairfax County, and some portions of Loudoun and Arlington counties.
STAFFORD — There are 2,089 homes planned to be built in Stafford County all needing wells. With some wells underperforming in a rural section of the county, officials ordered a study of the available groundwater residents in those homes would use.
In 2016, residents who lived along Mount Olive Road in the western portion of the county voiced concerns that their wells were slow to recharge. They also voiced concerns about potential impacts to their wells from a nearby developing subdivision at the time.
Maurer
The subsequent groundwater study examined water quality west of Interstate 95. Officials wanted an estimate of available groundwater and examined well regulations enacted by nearby localities.
They also wanted to know if establishing a county program to monitor wells would be beneficial. The study noted the supply could support an additional 4,500 homes that rely on water from wells.
Snellings
The purpose of this study was to provide an evaluation of Stafford County’s Piedmont Aquifer with a focus on better understanding the aquifer’s capacity as a water resource and current usage of the resource.
The study examined previous reports and studies, using preexisting data. The board also used data compiled by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH.)
The study, while currently in draft form awaiting presentation to the Planning Commission and comments from the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, there is an available water supply of 1.43 million gallons per day (mgd).
The study also noted that while Stafford has been given specific legislative authority to regulate wells based on quality, and not for well construction and abandonment, the county has not yet enacted and additional regulations.
Six other counties in the Piedmont region have taken action, passing ordinances requiring hydrologic assessments for new developments to be supplied by groundwater resources. The six other counties surrounding Stafford already have had different regulations passed by local governments.
Among other concerns, the study found that newer drilled wells that were drilled after the year 2000 were more productive than older wells that were drilled prior to 2000.
It was found that monitoring wells could be used to detect short and long-term changes in groundwater levels.
Supervisors Vice Chairman Gary Snellings (Hartwood) and Wendy Maurer (Rock Hill) recently held a town hall meeting at Margaret Brent Elementary School earlier this year to talk about the issue with Stafford County residents affected by this issue.
The town hall meeting was about the release of the water study. Additional recommendations will be forthcoming coming but have not been formulated yet.
NOKESVILLE — It’s that time of year again for the residents of Nokesville, Nokesville Day is back with a few changes this year.
Nokesville is a small village in western Prince William County. Each year, it hosts a festival called Nokesville Day which takes place on Saturday, May 19 this year.
One of the significant changes happening this year at Nokesville Day is the change in location. The location moves from Brentsville District High School to Fitzwater Drive.
“Fitzwater Drive is the heart of the town of Nokesville,” said Mark Olsen, Nokesville Day Organizer. “The Nokesville Day event has its roots and has been held annually since 1973.”
The Nokesville Day parade changes location as well. The parade starts at 11 a.m. and proceeds down Fitzwater Drive. It starts at Brentsville High School and ends of Free Street. The parade is organized by a committee made up of Nokesville clubs.
“This year the parade is being organized by a committee including the Nokesville Business Association, Friends Uniting Nokesville, Nokesville/Bristow Ruritan Club, and several citizens of Nokesville,” Olsen said. “The parade is a celebration of Americana, fire trucks old and new, bands, antique cars and tractors, community groups, and recognizing the Brentsville Class of 1968.”
The day includes many vendors, including crafts, non-profits, and food vendors. It also includes moon bounces and laser tag along with other activities for families to enjoy.
“Some of the specific vendors for Nokesville Day include Blue Dog BBQ, My Glass Garden, Farm Bureau Women’s Committee, Lazertag2you, Skeleton Key Treasure, Swirlies Soft Serve Ice Cream, Lambert Bounce Houses, Golf Cats by Troy Rose, Kettle Corn, and many, many more,” Olsen said.
The Nokesville/Bristow Ruritan Club will be having their Cow Pie Bingo raffle for $1,000. A cow makes a deposit on a numbered grid and the winner is declared. Tickets are $10 a piece. The Nokesville Church of Brethren is having a full day of family activities at the church that has yet to be announced.
“Nokesville Day is a day to celebrate the history and the vibrant community that is Nokesville,” Olsen said. “Please come out and explore the many shops, businesses, and restaurants throughout Nokesville which are open all year.”
STAFFORD -- The fourth annual Stafford County Public Schools Film Festival will take place at Colonial Forge High School.
The Film Festival was inspired by A.G. Wright Middle School students that wanted to make mini-feature.
Following the first mini film festival, it led to the creation of the A.G. Wright film club, with the help of club mentor Robert Long who inspired the countywide film festival.
