PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Hazardous construction from the “Transform I-66” project has citizens frustrated, but the Virginia Department of Transportation is working to fix unsafe conditions, according to a quarterly mobility report presented to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors meeting on January 8.

Windshields broken by debris, poorly painted lines and other road issues on I-66 are plaguing drivers, Jeanine Lawson of Brentsville District said during the meeting.

Constituents “feel frustrated that things are falling on deaf ears” and “we’ve received many emails, phone calls, Facebook messages,” Lawson shared. “I’ve learned from constituents of broken windshields… There are a lot of complaints regarding lines that were poorly painted. It can be very dangerous.”

“At this point, folks don’t care who’s responsible. They just are frustrated that the roads they’ve paid for are not safe,” said Lawson.

Ricardo Canizales, transportation director for the County, told board members that “it’s a continual effort” and that VDOT is aware of the situation.

“The lines are being redacted and taken away, leaving scars on the pavement and that causes a lot of issues,” Canizales said. “VDOT continually works on repairing… [and] they do have a crew out there on a continual basis trying to fix those kinds of issues.”

Poor weather conditions from frequent rain and the fact that much of the construction must be done during the night were cited as reasons for the road issues.

“We’ll continue to monitor to make sure that we get better results and are able to get to those challenges and issues on 66 quicker than what they do now,” said Canizales.

The construction is part of a larger VDOT initiative called Transform 66 to ease traffic congestion and provide more travel options by adding toll lanes to the highway, between Haymarket and Dunn Loring in Fairfax County. Construction activities are ongoing, including completion of lane shifts, setting barriers, and clearing and grubbing. Traffic impacts and lane closures are available to the public at transform66.org.

Canizales reported that completed county road projects in 2018 include Minnieville Road widening, a pedestrian footbridge at Powell’s Creek, and intersection lighting improvements for Sudley Manor Drive at Bethlehem Road.

Route 28 remains a major focus in 2019

Several projects are underway in 2019 to improve commuter support. VDOT started construction on a 230-space lot for Park & Ride Haymarket (Gainesville), with anticipated completion for spring 2019. OmniRide announced new commuter express service in Haymarket, which began December 17, 2018. The bus service has also applied for additional funding to bring enhanced services to the western end of the County.

Canizales reported that VDOT would not evaluate a Route 28 expansion project this year for funding. “The state has let us know officially that they will not consider this… because we have multiple alternatives and we did not have a preferred alternative as part of our environmental document,” he said.

Route 28 is a persistent issue for commuters, with some of the worst traffic congestion in Northern Virginia.

“We are still looking at the widening of 28. If we cannot get the permits, we can still move forward” with other alternatives, Canizales explained. “We are moving forward with additional monies that the NVTA [Northern Virginia Transportation Authority] has given us.”

Marty Nohe of Coles District chimed in to clarify that improving 28 is still a priority, and that the County has more than $100 million of Northern Virginia Transportation Authority funding that can be allocated to Route 28.

“This decision on the VDOT’s part doesn’t actually slow down this project at all,” said Nohe. “We can get through the design phase and get into the right of way phase using the money we have right now on this project.”

“It is continuing to be a top priority for Prince William County,” Nohe assured. “We’ve got enough money to get us through the next several years of this project and I believe this continues to be our top priority for major congestion.”

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Areas in Prince William County — including the area near Manassas, Dale City, Woodbridge, and Dumfries — are implicated as having a lower life expectancy in the metropolitan Washington region, according to a new report produced for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).

The report, “Uneven Opportunity: How conditions for wellness vary across the metropolitan Washington region,” was conducted by the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center on Society and Health.

“The residents of the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. are among the most affluent in the United States,” the report noted. Despite this, life expectancy in the region can vary by as much as 27 years in some areas.

“[C]loser examination reveals clusters of census tracts where residents live in more difficult conditions,” and in many cases, these adverse areas are “separated by only a few miles or blocks” from more affluent ones.

“The health status of the local population is not uniform across the region,” according to the report.

Census tracts are small subdivisions of counties defined for the purpose of gathering information about the members of a given population. The metropolitan Washington region has 1,223 census tracts. By examining these, the study found “striking geographic differences in… health measures such as infant mortality, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.”

Two prior studies by the VCU Center on Society and Health have documented Northern Virginia’s “uneven opportunity landscape” and identified 15 “islands of disadvantage,” which are “clusters of census tracts with adverse living conditions.”

Included in those 15 “islands” were Bull Run-Manassas, Dale City-Woodbridge, Dumfries and Centreville.

What is causing the disparity? VCU researchers developed a Healthy Places Index (HPI) to find out more details. The HPI was created using census tract data, indicators and life expectancy computation, and used to rate communities on health conditions.

The HPI provides a score, ranging from zero (lowest opportunity for health) to 100 (most opportunity for health), and researchers used it to rank all census tracts in the metropolitan Washington area. Included in that overall score is six “domain” scores: air quality, education, economic/other household resources, health care access, housing, and transportation.

A higher HPI placement often correlates with a higher life expectancy.

Distant suburbs of Northern Virginia, including areas of Woodbridge and Dumfries, “where life expectancy was as low as 75-79 years,” scored the lowest in the HPI. Contrastingly, areas of Washington, D.C. with high HPI score have an average life expectancy of 87 years.

Ultimately, the HPI found that individual health — often interpreted as a personal choice — is shaped by a variety of factors. These include, but are not limited to, economic resources, housing and transportation. Simply having access to quality health care nearby is not enough to raise an area’s HPI score.

“Health is about more than health care,” the report reads. “Doctors cannot solve the socioeconomic challenges or improve neighborhood conditions. Impacted areas have large populations that lack health insurance and localized areas have an inadequate number of primary care physicians, mental health professionals, and other clinical services.”

The report also found a great disparity in the racial population. “[P]eople of color and immigrants were more likely to live in neighborhoods with fewer resources,” or islands of disadvantage, “which lack the conditions for good health.”

In tracts with the highest HPI scores, 64 percent of the population was white and the proportion of black and Hispanic residents was 6 percent and 10 percent, respectively. In tracts with the lowest HPI scores, 63 percent of residents were black, 13 percent were Hispanic, and 19 percent were white.

“Black-white health disparities persist even after adjusting for other factors that affect health such as education, household resources, and housing,” the report said.

Jennifer Schitter, a principal health planner for COG, told Potomac Local that the COG Health Officials Committee “will be engaging various sectors to champion this report in 2019. Sectors may include housing, education, planning directors, and county and city governments.”

“It is important to be aware of where the neighborhoods with fewer resources are in their respective jurisdictions,” said Schitter. “Once identified, elected officials could work with these communities to identify holistic solutions to addressing each community’s unique needs.”

In addition to COG, organizations who funded the report include Kaiser Permanente, Healthcare Initiative Foundation, Northern Virginia Health Foundation, and the Potomac Health Foundation.

“[C]reating healthy communities and closing the region’s 27-year gap in life expectancy require more fundamental social and economic solutions beyond the world of health care,” the report suggested.

“Real solutions require targeted investments in marginalized neighborhoods to improve access to affordable, healthy housing as well as affordable transportation, child care, and health care.

Manassas needs a new Jennie Dean Elementary School; City Council and School Board at odds on funding it

MANASSAS -- Jennie Dean Elementary School is 82 years old and not getting any younger.

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DUMFRIES — Dr. Mary Kate Moriarty is a contestant in an upcoming episode of Jeopardy!

She’s a dentist at Modern Day Dentistry in Fettler Park just outside Dumfries and has been a resident of Northern Virginia for more than 20 years.

“It was a surreal experience,” Moriarty told Potomac Local. “The first time I saw Alex Trebek, he walked out on stage and I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, this is really happening!’”

Moriarty is a lifelong fan of Jeopardy! “I’ve been a fan ever since I was a little girl, so trying out for it has always been in the back of my head,” she shared.

Growing up, Moriarty’s grandmother was an avid fan of the old Jeopardy! with Art Fleming. “She was so invested, we couldn’t talk to her when it was on,” Moriarty recalled.

Moriarty first tried out for Jeopardy! in 2003, when she was living in California. “I was in the contestant pool, but they didn’t end up calling me back,” she said.

As it turns out, that was the year Ken Jennings swept, winning 74 Jeopardy! games in a row and earning himself the record for the longest winning streak on the show. “I was glad in retrospect that they didn’t call me back that year because he was unbeatable,” Moriarty laughed.

Applying to compete on Jeopardy! starts with an online test. About 80,000 people take the test each cycle and that number is whittled down to 400. Every few years, Moriarty would take the test for fun, hoping to get called. This past April, she was informed that she had passed and was invited to Philadelphia for an in-person audition which took place in September.

“You take one written test again and then there’s a mock show where you pretend you’re playing and they have the buzzer set up,” Moriarty explained. “They just want to see if you’d be a good contestant and they look for enthusiasm and personality.”

A week later, Moriarty got the call that she had been selected.

“I was in my car, just leaving my Northern Virginia rowing club practice, and I was so excited I had to pull over,” said Moriarty. Her teammates were the first to hear the news and celebrate with her.

Moriarty started prepping for the big day and her friends were eager to help.

“I’m weak in geography and the day after I shared the news, my friend Jean left books on my porch in geography, world knowledge, and presidents,” she said.

Moriarty said her strongest category is arts and culture.

So what is it like being on Jeopardy! and seeing Alex Trebek in person? Moriarty traveled to California, accompanied by her daughter, and said it was a whirlwind of excitement. “The day goes by so quickly and before you know it, they’re taping. It’s all a blur looking back on it,” she said.

“What it really comes down to is the buzzer,” said Moriarty. “It really is all about who is fastest.”

“The crew and the staff were so kind and made you feel really special,” she said. “This was beyond a bucket list thing for me, I’m just so happy I could do it!”

Tune in to Channel 7 WJLA on Thursday, December 13 to see Moriarty compete.

MANASSAS — A three-year city and school funding plan which includes an estimated tax rate increase of nine cents is on the table for the full council to vote on.

The plan includes an increase of the city allocation to Manassas City public schools of 2.625% annually over the next three years. The cost is estimated at roughly three cents added to the tax rate per year for three years, which is a total of nine cents once fully implemented.

This new funding would reportedly help schools maintain current classroom sizes, keep teacher pay competitive in Northern Virginia and go towards building the new Dean Elementary.

City council members met with W. Patrick Pate, city manager, on December 3 to discuss Manassas city public schools funding. They approved a motion (4-1) to move this particular three-year funding plan to the full council for a vote. That vote will be held December 10.

Councilmember Ian Lovejoy voiced concern that the increase would put Manassas’ tax rate in unsustainable territory.

“That new tax rate will have us tied with Manassas Park as the highest tax rate in Virginia,” Lovejoy told Potomac Local. “Anything beyond that and we achieve the dubious distinction of having the highest tax rate in Virginia. I think that will put future councils in a difficult position when it comes to having any capacity to raise additional revenue in the future.”

Lovejoy said he proposed a compromise plan that would fully fund capital needs for building a new Dean Elementary, and increased operation funding, albeit at a slower rate.

“My proposal did not reduce the size of operating funds, but simply had them growing at a slower rate,” said Lovejoy. “It would have cost 6.5 cents over three years and left us with more capacity in the future if it were ever needed.”

In a Facebook post about the funding plan, Lovejoy said his proposal “didn’t go anywhere.”

Councilmember Mark Wolfe told Potomac Local that although Manassas has one of the higher tax rates in the state, it also has “one of the lowest average tax bills.”

“Our citizen satisfaction scores are significantly above the regional and national averages,” said Wolfe. “All of our citizen input places a priority on having quality schools. Ensuring that we can compete for and retain quality teachers, keep class sizes reasonable and maintaining facilities are keystones of having great public education.”

“The council has typically used a two percent annual budget growth factor for our non school, general government services. That we are willing to increase that by 55 percent in funding our schools shows the importance that the council places on public education,” said Wolfe.

“Our friends on the schools side would like to have more money so that they can move even faster in building our school system,” Wolfe said, but it’s “a balancing act.” Other costs like fire and rescue services and street upkeep are also priorities that need significant funding.

No one knows what the final tax rate will be, Wolfe said. “Factors such as the change in the values of property, the amount of funds we receive from other sources such as sales taxes, even the amount of gasoline sold in the city, all enter into the equation.”

The motion will be discussed December 10, but it is not known whether the council will make a final decision then, or wait until January.

WOODBRIDGE -- A Star Wars event at Freedom High School put on by Boy Scout Troop 501 has been abruptly canceled, following reports that the high school told the troop they could not have full access to the gymnasium, despite a previous agreement.

The event, Star Wars Days, was scheduled for December 1 and 2 from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. in the Freedom High School gymnasium.

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In the wake of Amazon’s announcement to build its second headquarters (dubbed HQ2) in Arlington’s Crystal City neighborhood, real estate prices are projected to soar and officials are mixed on how to ensure affordable housing for Northern Virginia residents.

Finding housing in a rapidly growing community has been a concern in the area for years. A recent survey conducted by Suburban Virginia Republican Coalition (SUV GOP) found that suburban residents in the area named affordable housing as one of their four key issues, in addition to commuter transportation, property taxes, and education.

Just in the past week, real estate interest in Crystal City has skyrocketed. Redfin, a real estate brokerage, reported that views of Crystal City listings were up 210 percent.

Arlington’s median home value is currently $664,400, according to data from online real estate and rental marketplace, Zillow. That is a 2.2 percent increase from last year, with a projected 2.4 percent increase in 2019. Apartment List reported that rental prices in the area are trending steadily upwards as well, with year by year increases of over two percent in places like Arlington, Manassas, Leesburg and Ashburn.

Nevertheless, many organizations are thrilled about Amazon’s movement, banking on the marketplace giant’s projected 25,000 jobs to the area and $3.2 billion in new taxes for Virginia over the next 12 years.

“It’s a win-win for the region,” said Paul DesJardin, community planning director for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG). “We have the talent, we have the market, we have the assets,” he said. “We really think we can manage this, because it’s been planned for.”

“We fit the bill for what Amazon was looking for,” DesJardin noted. “We have a tremendously talented workforce, particularly in tech areas like IT, systems engineering and software development. We’re right on top of high-capacity transit between VRE [Virginia Railway Express], Metro, BRT [bus rapid transit], slug lines, and HOV [high occupancy vehicle] lanes.”

2005’s BRAC a loss for Crystal City, a bonus for Amazon

DesJardin also referenced Crystal City’s loss of workers from 2005’s BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) as an unexpected bonus for Amazon. Over the course of five years, thousands of department of defense employees, military and civilian contractors were relocated out of the city to places like Quantico and Ft. Belvoir, which left an enormous amount of vacant office buildings that never quite recovered.

BRAC cost Crystal City upward of 13,000 jobs, said DesJardin, and Amazon’s HQ2 is going right into that same neighborhood– an “ideal location” requiring minimum investment and primed for becoming “a more 24-hour community with more homes, apartments and entertainment.” Amazon will also invest a reported $2.5 billion into the HQ2 neighborhood.

Ahead of Amazon, homes are few

But while there is plenty of pre-existing office space for Amazon to move into, homes for middle and low-income workers are growing scarce.

“There is a housing challenge in this region,” DesJardin concurred. “Our board has acknowledged that, and identified it as a priority going forward this year.”

MWCOG is partnering with a number of different agencies around the region to address the housing challenge, said DesJardin. One example is Enterprise Community Partners, a nonprofit organization that helps finance, build and advocate for affordable housing for low and moderate-income families.

“We do need more housing at the proper price ranges. We want to create great mixed communities; places like Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center,” DesJardin said. “They put apartments right next to the Wegmans, shopping centers and restaurants. It’s packed. These are the types of places people want to live and work. Jobs, housing, entertainment, 24-hour access; everything people want.”

Amazon’s projected HQ2 location has already been rebranded to “National Landing,” which includes parts of Crystal City, Pentagon City, and Potomac Yard in Alexandria. A website for the newly-minted neighborhood promises 17,000,000 square feet of office space and “24,000 housing units affordable at average Amazon income within two miles.”

Incomes at Amazon vary widely, but according to PayScale they range from $60,000 to $150,000. Tech and software jobs command the higher end of the range.

Virginia Delegate says dump Amazon deal 

Some elected officials do not think housing will remain affordable for residents, and would rather pull the plug on the deal.

“Amazon’s relocation will price people out of their homes,” said Lee Carter, democratic delegate for Virginia’s 50th House district in Manassas and Prince William County. “We’ve seen this time and again. The most prominent examples are on the West Coast, such as in Seattle. Workers with six-figure salaries are struggling to live in Seattle now.”

“This is an area with extraordinarily low unemployment and an already tight housing market, and we’re cramming more and more jobs in at the top of that income level,” said Carter.

Carter said that this trend was already in place long before Amazon, as low and middle-income workers were priced out of Alexandria and Arlington. Fairfax became the next closest neighborhood, and after it grew too expensive, people moved further out.

Residents in Prince William County and Manassas will soon face the same issues, said Carter.

“They are getting more expensive, people are going to have to move to Fauquier and Stafford and their quality of life is getting worse,” he said. “This conventional economic development model of just cramming more people into a confined area isn’t going to work.”

Carter maintains that the General Assembly should prevent the deal from moving forward in the 2019 legislative session.

“The governor has promised legislative action to Amazon. He didn’t ask us first. That’s not how this works,” said Carter.

“We need to stand up and say we’re not going to bend over backwards for the governor and Amazon,” Carter stated. “We are going to fight for the constituents that we have that are counting on us to not make their lives worse.”

In his press statement about the Amazon announcement, from a podium emblazoned with “Virginia Is For Amazon Lovers,” Governor Ralph Northam touted the state as “dedicated to being on the leading edge of the next technology and innovative breakthroughs” and “consistently ranked one of the best states for governance, due to our fiscal stability and transparency.”

Surrounding counties will absorb Amazon workers, families 

Virginia’s promised economic incentives of the deal, which Amazon will benefit from for the next 20 years, are not yet public.

Mike Ginsberg, a member of the SUV GOP steering committee, said in a news release that “adding 25,000 new employees and their families to Northern Virginia will exacerbate the existing concerns of Northern Virginia residents.”

“These new families will not only be locating in Arlington County but also in the surrounding counties of Fairfax, Loudoun and Prince William, where school budgets are straining, commuter traffic is some of the worst in the country and housing costs and property taxes have skyrocketed since the recession,” Ginsberg stated.

“We are excited about Amazon’s decision to locate in Crystal City and all that it means for our region. However, we believe voters and elected officials should be cognizant of the fiscal impact on local budgets and the local communities surrounding Crystal City,” said Ginsberg.

MANASSAS PARK — Massive city debt has crippled badly needed updates to Manassas Park’s water system, city officials confirmed.

At least half of Manassas Park’s water system pipes are 65 years old, laid when installation was mostly unregulated and not held to particular standards. As a result, breaks are common occurrences, especially as cold weather approaches.

Calvin O’Dell, director of community development and public works, said that most of the water breaks occur in the original Manassas Park subdivision — the western end of the city, where homes were built between 1953 to the early 1960s. The groundwork is similarly dated and presents challenges.

Modern regulations for pipe placement usually require “overexcavating,” where the installer digs deeper to find more suitable conditions. O’Dell said that Manassas Park has “unique conditions,” with a large number of shallow rock beds, and many pipes were laid right up against these rock beds in the ‘50s.

When the ground shifts — typically due to sudden temperature changes — issues and pipe breaks occur. The ground will shrink and swell with temperatures, moving the pipes against the rock. “It’s far worse in the winter,” O’Dell said. “We tend to call it ‘break season.’”

Most of the pipes are made from cast-iron or ductile iron, except for the original Manassas Park subdivision, which has steel pipes. Steel is more susceptible to corrosion, and ductile iron is now widely considered to be a more durable and effective choice.

Despite the frequent breaks, O’Dell said the quality of the city’s water is not in jeopardy. “If you occasionally have areas where chlorine is low, you just move more water through the system to bring the levels back up,” he said. Small amounts of chlorine are used in water systems to kill water-borne diseases.

Phased improvements to the water system have been going on for decades, O’Dell explained, but are hindered by the slow turnaround and lack of funds. “We are currently on what we consider ‘phase six,’ and our staff has already turned in final comments for the design,” he said. “It’s been in design for over a year and we’ll just have to see when we can fund the capital to actually execute it.”

These phases are general improvements to the water system. There are a total of eight phases. Phase six will focus on “getting rid of troubled underground infrastructure where leak rates are far too high to be acceptable,” said O’Dell — a section in the western part of the city.

“I would like to see future phases focused on areas with higher than acceptable break rates, so we can get rid of the troubled steel pipes as we want,” said O’Dell.

Replacing pipes is labor-intensive and expensive. In addition to the cost of the materials and labor, replacing pipes usually involves disrupting a neighborhood for a long period of time.

“You’re not going to save any money replacing pipes until you’re seeing two or three breaks per winter in a small two or three-block area. At that point, your leak rate and water loss goes up,” O’Dell explained. “If you don’t have that many breaks, you actually lose money by going in and digging it up.”

O’Dell estimates that each two or three street project costs millions of dollars to replace. He said that no federal or state monies are available for water system use at this time.

O’Dell would “like to see the city working toward a long-term plan that will get rid of the aging infrastructure within the original Manassas Park subdivision.” But he cautioned, “if it’s not broken, you don’t spend millions to fix it.”

Years of cumulative debt and operating in the red is what landed Manassas Park in this situation, city manager Laszlo Palko explained. Right now, the city is drowning in about $120 million in debt, and loan repayment amounts over the next five years are expected to grow to leave the city strapped to pay for anything new initiatives. 

“The city is badly in debt,” he said. “We’re over leveraged and that causes huge debt payments each year that prevents our public works department from being able to execute their plans.”

Palko said a string of loans in the late 1990s through the 2000s to build public facilities “beyond what the city could afford” was responsible for the majority of the debt. “The water and sewer fund have not been the financial burden for the city, instead it has been the general fund debt associated with new facilities,” Palko said.

“Our debt to operating budget ratio is at 25 percent, whereas every other jurisdiction in Virginia is under 10 percent,” said Palko. “We’re struggling financially.”

In 2012, residents saw their water and sewer rates double from a base rate of $24 per month to $52 per month. Despite this increase, it could still be a significant amount of time before that money can go to water system fixes.

“The money has to go to debt,” said Palko.

The council is prioritizing drastically reducing its debt, with a strategy that involves “focusing on downtown development, along with boosting reserve balances so we can fully separate our cash position from water and sewer cash,” he explained.

MANASSAS — The city of Manassas has acquired Annaburg Manor, a historic property, for the purpose of turning it into park space. The property has 3.65 acres of land, but the building is badly in need of renovation.

“Resident surveys have noted a lack of public space and a need for additional space in the community. This is a very nice, undeveloped area,” said Manassas city manager Patrick Pate.

Annaburg Manor was previously owned by the Prince William Hospital Corporation and they voted on last week to sell the land to the city for $846,000. The city of Manassas has 60 days to perform “due diligence” and assess the physical condition of the property.

Ideally, for the city, an interested nonprofit organization will step up and take over the renovation of the property before those 60 days are up. Prince William Hospital Corporation will provide a $75,000 challenge donation to that organization to help renovate the grounds.

Currently, an interested party has not emerged, but “we are hoping someone steps in to get it fixed,” said Patty Prince, communications manager for the city.

After the 60 days are up, Manassas city council will have the ability to publicly vote to appropriate the land.

Over the years, the manor has fallen into disrepair, crumbling from age and lack of upkeep.

“Any time you have a structure that is not being used, you’re going to have some deterioration,” Pate said. “The hospital has been very good about any issues that were pointed out, such as a loose drainage line, and they have fixed those issues.”

Councilmember Ian Lovejoy wrote a Facebook status explaining details of the sale. “One consistent issue brought up in citizen surveys and professional analysis the city has commissioned is our lack of green space/park infrastructure,” he wrote. “This deal is mainly about securing the green space around Annaburg as a park. The house is largely just along for the ride.”

“The plan is to use money from land sales at Gateway to complete the purchase, rather than general fund/tax based revenue,” Lovejoy said.

In addition to its land, the manor has historic significance as well. It was built from 1892 to 1894 by Robert Portner, and was one of the first homes to have mechanical air conditioning. It was later used as a nursing and rehabilitation center from the 1960s to 2007, run by Novant Health UVA Health System Prince William Medical Center.

“This beautiful piece of land will make a great addition to the City’s parkland,” Mayor Hal Parrish said in a press release. “On a beautiful day, I can see children playing in the park, folks taking a break from the day in this space and even an occasional wedding or event taking place here.”

This will be the 16th park for the city of Manassas. Pate said it will most likely be a passive park — something with nice walking trails and picnic tables. As the discussion moves forward, Pate said that the city will likely hold neighborhood meetings to find out what amenities residents would like to have in the park.