The computer chip maker's $3 billion-dollar expansion in Manassas City has brought more business to area hotels, located just outside the city limits.

A Hampton Inn on Williamson Boulevard, near Interstate 66, is seeing a lot of it.

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MANASSAS — Prince William County’s “Democratic Immigrant Caucus” hosted a rally and vigil against immigrant children’s prisons as part of a collaboration with the nationwide event known as Lights for Liberty.

The event on July 12 coincided with other events across the U.S. held, where vigils here held as part of “Lights for Liberty.”

Several politicians spoke against the conditions at the U.S., where border, where nearly 700,000 people have been apprehended while trying to cross into the country illegally.

Virginia Delegate Lee Carter (D-50, Manassas, Bristow) led the group. “I wish we didn’t have to be here,” Carter said. “We have people confined to standing room conditions, drinking out of toilets,” Carter said.

Immigration attorney Hassan Ahmad also addressed the crowd and said that these policies have been in place for a long time and did not “just appear overnight.” Ahmad said the current immigration policies are rooted in white nationalism.

“White nationalism has no place in our immigration policy. None.” Ahmad said, which was met with cheers and applause by the crowd.

Ahmad encouraged the crowd to hold their elected officials accountable, and urged them on by saying, “please don’t let this be the last thing you do.”

Maggie Hansford, a Prince William County teacher whose running for a seat as the Brenstville District Supervisor stood up to speak and said that “The damage that’s being done to these kids is forever.”

Lisa Zargarpur, another teacher in Prince William County, and who is running for a seat on the county’s School Board also spoke. She talked about a second-hand account she learned about — a student who might have problems in school. The student had seen gang violence, and his uncle was murdered in front of him. She said he now lives in a safe home in Northern Virginia and is “thriving.”

“This is why we have to care,” Zargarpur said.

Lisa Stevens, one of the event organizers, estimated that there were about 600 people total who attended the rally by the time the night was almost over.

“Two ingredients of social change are time and pressure.” Ahmad said, “We’ve got a lot of both. And we’re not going anywhere.”

The rally took place from 4 p.m. until 9 pm at the Harris Pavilion in Old Town Manassas.

The event had a children’s craft table, music and dance performances, speeches, and ended with a candlelit vigil and prayers from multiple faith leaders.

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.

WOODBRIDGE -- German discount grocery stores Aldi and Lidl are expanding in the U.S., and now have a solid market share in Prince William and Stafford counties. 

The stores are aggressive in their low price strategy. Retail behemoth Walmart CEO Greg Foran views Aldi as a viable competitor. 

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MANASSAS — Officials want feedback from residents on the future of development in Manassas.

City residents have the opportunity to weigh in on revisions to the Comprehensive Plan on June 26 for a Vision Summit Community Meeting at 7 p.m. at the Boys & Girls Club, at 9501 Dean Park Lane.

The comprehensive planning committee has held update meetings for the past several months to hash out the details and take citizen feedback at its meetings, gathering input on everything from redeveloping the busy Liberia Avenue corridor to limiting building heights in the city’s downtown.

At a June 5 meeting, Eugene Mollinelli said his wife Judith did a survey and about a hundred people said they are in favor of height restrictions to preserve the character and historic nature of Downtown. Earlier this year, the city’s Economic Development Authority entertained a discussion on the desire to keep downtown buildings at or below three stories. 

The discussion comes after the construction of the five-storey Messenger Place building on Church Street. The building includes 94 homes and 3,500 square feet of retail space on the ground floor.

Mike Vanderpool, the founder of the Vanderpool, Frostick & Nishanian law firm, said his client Ahmet Aksoylu, of Aksoylu Properties, wants to redevelop a nearly eight-acre piece of property near the intersection of Liberia Avenue and Quarry Road, which is currently home to a car dealership and auto repair shops. 

Aksoylu seeks to rezone the land from M-1 (office/warehouse/storage/data center) to a commercial/mixed use, similar to the majority of other properties on Liberia Avenue. 

Asksoylu’s property is valued at a little over $7.7 million. 

At the meeting, Vanderpool said, “We need a pioneer” if the city wants to change the Eastern side of the city, and he said that his client is willing to be that pioneer. Vanderpool said his client sees an opportunity to “get rid of a very large used car lot” as well as to build up the north end of Mathis Avenue. 

“We think that area should be commercial/mixed use,” Vanderpool said.

Vanderpool said at the meeting that Aksoylu has built a 7-story building in Manassas Park that he invited everyone on the planning commission to tour. Vanderpool told Potomac Local that they wouldn’t necessarily build a 7-story building in Manassas.

Another site ripe for redevelopment is the Holmes Heights neighborhood, an area near downtown located north of Wellington Road between South Grant Avenue and Main Street. The possible Comprehensive Plan update would allow these older homes to be turned into newer residential or retail/office/open space.

Manassas Community Development Director Liz Via-Gossman, said just because the comprehensive plan says it can be redeveloped, “doesn’t mean every house will be affected.”

The Holmes Heights neighborhood consists of the Cape Cod-style homes that sit on property owned by Holmes Smith, who sits on the city’s Economic Development Authority. 

The Holmes Heights homes are rental properties, so Via-Gossman said that there is a “possible displacement strategy” for the people living there. Via-Gossman said that some of the residents might be eligible to buy a house or they could partner with an organization such as Habitat for Humanity to find housing for them.

Ultimately, Via-Gossman said, “The city can’t mandate redevelopment, it’s really the property owner.” Via-Gossman said it’s “totally up to them.”

MANASSAS — Now they can dress the part.

Thanks to an enterprising group of students and a Manassas based non-profit “Hire Ground,” Osbourn High School in Manassas has a closet full of professional clothing that students can wear for job interviews, speeches, or trips to visit colleges.

At a ribbon cutting for the closet, Osbourn Principal Joseph Gabalski said “I’m really proud of this,” and added that the closet will be long-lasting.

The drycleaning for clothing in the closet was donated by Zips Dry Cleaners and the racks for the clothes by Stuff Consignment shop. Osbourn High School’s National Technical Honor Society put together the career coaching program which included the closet. Area businesses, to include Micron, donated the clothes. 

Hire Ground Founder Jinnae Monroe has had over 20 years of experience in training people to conduct successful job interviews. She got the idea for the closet when she had students come up to her after interview training and asked if their clothes looked professional.

After inspecting the students, she would gently guide them toward more professional clothing choices, she said. The closet at Osbourn is her first at a high school, but hopefully not the last, she said.=

Since starting this closet, two other schools have asked her for one, she said. She chose Osbourn High School, the only high school in Manassas because it “has her heart.” Monroe also serves on the Manassas City Schools Foundation, which helps to raise money for the school division.  

The closet is open to all the students – but the teens are asked to do one hour of community service per item of clothing they take.

MANASSAS — Homeowners in Manassas will pay more in taxes next year.

The city council hiked the tax rate by two cents to $1.48 per $100 of assessed property value.  It’s a 5% percent increase that will generate an average tax bill of 4,295 for city residents in fiscal 2020, starting July 1.

The real estate tax was raised in order to support the 2020 Budget. The City Council in a 4-2 vote approved a higher tax rate, with Council Members Ian Lovejoy and Theresa Coates Ellis voting no.

Some of the costs the 2020 Budget will cover include the five-year Capital Improvement Plan which includes a new Fire & Rescue Station 21 on Dumfries Road near the Prince William County Fairgrounds, and a new Public Safety Building on Grant Avenue. The city is also on the hook for increased “shared services” costs with Prince William County, like operations at the county’s courthouse and jail, which is being expanded, which $1 million, said city spokeswoman Patty Prince.

The Budget also gives $1.7 million more to schools (three percent over last year). Overall, the city’s operating budget city operating budget went up to $138,000.

Not everyone is pleased with the new budget deal.

“Northern Virginians pay the highest taxes in the commonwealth.  From real estate and personal property taxes to supplemental taxing districts; from income to tax to sales tax on everything we buy – the people of Manassas City have been dealt the 2nd highest tax rate in the state,” said Manassas City Councilman Ian Lovejoy. “Close to 300 residents reached out to the City Council requesting a flat tax rate this year and I’m disappointed their concerns were not acted upon.”

Lovejoy is also running for 50th District in the House of Delegates. Two Democrats, incumbent Lee Carter, and current Manassas City Councilman Mark Wolfe are also seeking the 50th seat and will face off in a June 11 Primary Election.

Vice Mayor Ken Elston, who is resigning from City Council in July, voted yes on the budget.

Elston said, “…This has been a long time planning,” and added that the budget didn’t emerge overnight. He said that he thinks the city is in a good place for remaining flat in the very near future – even as soon as next year.

“I think it’s good to think about the future,” Elston said.

To read the entire budget, you can access it on the city’s website.

MANASSAS — Young adults in the area who want to give back to their community now have a new way to do so, thanks to a few enterprising young people in Manassas.

Laura Coates, Creative Director for Rotaract, as well as Program Coordinator for CenterFuse

Downtown Manassas, co-founded the club along with President-Elect Aaron Squires, an intern for the City of Manassas.

They are assisted by Coates’ mother, City Councilwoman Theresa Coates Ellis, who is also a Rotarian. The group founded Rotaract two months ago.

Ed Pratt, President of Manassas City’s Rotary Club, said, “I wholeheartedly support it.” He thinks the club is a “great idea.

“All the Rotaries, internationally, realized that they did not have anybody between the ages of 18 and 30, so they created the Rotaract…” Coates said.

She explained that it’s the same thing as a Rotary Club but a “younger version.” The city has two Rotary Clubs — The Rotary Club of Bull Run which meets at City Tavern restaurant in Manassas at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesdays, and the Manassas Rotary that meets for lunch at noon on Wednesdays at the Center for the Arts at the Candy Factory.

For Rotaract, members may join for $25 a year. The hope is that once someone joins the Rotaract, they then go on to become a member of the Rotary.

The Rotaract will foil a void in the area, as the nearest Rotaract Club is in Washington, D.C.

Rotaract in Manassas will partner with the Manassas-Bull Run Rotary, Manassas Rotary, and Lake Ridge Rotary clubs.

The Lake Ridge Rotary offered to pay for their starting off merchandise such as their coins and T-shirts.

A kick-off Rotaract event took place on March 27 at Jirani coffeehouse in Downtown Manassas. Coates estimated that about 20 or 25 people were there.

“The kick off was more about the Rotaries and the Rotaract all coming into the same room and saying ‘this is actually happening. These are what our goals are. Everybody get ready,’ kind of a thing,”  said Coates.

Coates said that they’ve already started to have projects, including meeting at the Freedom Aquatics and Fitness Center to do various service projects including a trash pickup, repainting old wooden structures, and re-mulching an old trail.

The Rotaract plans to have service projects every Saturday.

Aaron Squires, the President-Elect, has lived in Manassas since he was a child. When he graduated, he was looking for a way to serve the community.

Because the Rotary requires members to have a more established career, Squires saw the opportunity to start a club for younger members.

“The market was here,” Squires said. “But you turn 18, and there’s nothing you can do until you turn 30 or 35.”

By then, Squires said many people have already started their careers and families. Rotaract was a perfect opportunity for young people to serve their community.

He explained that Rotaract is more casual than the Rotary club. While Rotary members take attendance and follow more of a structure, Rotaract is “more relaxed” in order to be “more appealing to the younger generation that wouldn’t necessarily be as excited” by the regimented club format.  They aim to “make it a little more fun.”

The club meets at local businesses such as CenterFuse, a co-working space, and Jirani. Their updates can be found on their Facebook page, Manassas City Rotaract.

Squires said he knows that a lot of people stay in the area and go to school at George Mason and NOVA, but there was no club created for them. Squires explained that it was a dream of his to start this club.

“The people are here… it’s just a matter of finding them,” he said.

LAKE RIDGE — During a standing-room-only event Monday night, Democrats running for political office in Prince William County discussed the environment during a candidate forum sponsored by the Greater Prince William Climate Action Network.

Topics ranged from coal ash ponds outside a Dominion Power Plant near Dumfries, whether the candidates would accept donations from Dominion Power, and extending Metro to Prince William County.

The questions, submitted online by residents prior to the forum, were all tailored in some way around climate change

Evelyn BruMar moderated the event, a Democratic activist who grabbed headlines in 2017 when she accused Prince William County Supervisor Jeanine Lawson of devaluing her daughter after she said Lawson told her daughter that children deserve a mother and a father. BruMar and her wife, both of Gainesville, are raising the child.

On the familiar campaign year topic of bringing Metro to Prince William,  newly elected Neabsco District Supervisor Victor Angry, said he supports the idea, and that the county “definitely” needs it. Angry says the Metro will “cost us a lot,” but it will cost even more if the county waits. Angry said that if the county had put a Metro stop in “ten years ago,” it would have been even cheaper.

Angry was sworn-in to the seat following a Special Election to fill the seat vacated by the late John D. Jenkins and to complete his term which ends December 31. Angry must campaign again in the fall in an effort to keep the seat.

Aracely Panameno, a Democrat running this fall to unseat Angry, said “ideally, yes,” to a Metro extension. She said that the county has been discussing this for at least 12 years, and there are competitors such as Amtrak that the county needs to maximize.

“It’s not just about Metro, it’s about a comprehensive approach,” Panameno said.

Danny Funderburk, a Democrat running to unseat Republican Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland, said that everyone wants more transportation options, but no one wants the Metro running through their neighborhood.

When asked about the biggest environmental issue facing the county, some candidates continued to talk about transit, land development, and density.

“I’d rather see us do more mass transit options than build more roads,” said Ann Wheeler, a Democrat running for Prince William County Chairman At-large.

Donald Scoggins, an Independent candidate also running for Prince William At-large chairman, added that he rarely sees more than two to three people on OmniRide commuter buses that ferry passengers from the county to and from Washington, D.C. He recommended getting smaller buses that hold 10 or 15 people instead.

On development, Woodbridge District Supervisor Frank Principi touted his record of opposing every new residential development in his district during his time in office. He pointed out that fought the newly approved Rays Regarde Development for the last three years. The project will be built at the end of Horner Road near Kilby Elementary School and will bring 325 new homes to Woodbridge and will be constructed partially on the site of an old landfill.  

Opposing new developments doesn’t make him popular in the business community, he added.

The county continues to wrangle with cleaning up the coal ash ponds near Dumfries, which are full of a toxic ash byproduct left over from 55 years of burning coal to generate electricity. During a question about the county’s coal ash disposal plan, LT Pridgen, Democrat candidate for Coles District Supervisor, said, “We don’t have a plan.” She said that county residents feel like no one is listening to them.

Raheel Sheikh, Democrat candidate running for Coles District Supervisor, suggested utilizing “one of the world’s largest research institutions” in our area, Virginia Tech, to help solve the problem.

Andrea Bailey, Democrat candidate running for Potomac District Supervisor, said she was very concerned about the coal ash. “I think that toxic is toxic. It kills people.” Bailey said.

She advocated for the coal ash to be removed and not recycled and made into other products, as some has suggested.  

“Toxic is toxic,” said Bailey. The coal ash should be removed carefully, and not trucked out on the two-lane Possum Point Road leading to the coal ash ponds.

Margaret Franklin, a Democrat running for Principi’s seat in Woodbridge, said that the county should make Dominion pay for coal ash “in more ways than one” by suggesting Dominion build a science center to educate the community about caring for the environment.

Another question asked whether the candidates would accept campaign money from power companies or developers.

Principi said, “Yes I’ve taken a few dollars from developers” over the years, and that he will continue to do so. He pointed out that developers are people who have children in Prince William County and can produce great environmentally friendly products. He also said that to his knowledge, Dominion Power Company doesn’t donate to local races, but if they did, he wouldn’t accept it.

Franklin said that because of the coal ash problem which she said affects people of color, “I won’t take money from Dominion.”

Maggie Hansford, a Democrat running for Brentsville District Supervisor, was represented by a proxy, Barbara Larrimore. Larrimore answered no on her behalf.

Angry said, “No, only because I was told never to take money from power companies.” He added, “I’m new to this.”

Angry also pointed out that not all developers are bad guys, and that candidates need money to run elections.

Ann Wheeler, who was on the NOVEC Board of Directors, said “No one’s offered me any money.”

Scoggins said no, and added “I’m running the kind of campaign that I can sleep at night.”

Kenny Boddye, Democrat candidate running to unseat Occoquan District Supervisor Ruth Anderson, said, “No I will not, never have, and never will.”

A former candidate for a House of Delegates seat, Boddye said he had previously raised $46,000 in campaign funds during that race and that you don’t need big corporation donations to run a race.

Aaron Cedric Edmond, a Democrat also running for Occoquan District Supervisor, said no as well and said this his campaign is people-driven, which isn’t easy but it’s “necessary.” He added that because of this, he gets a lot of smaller dollar donations.

Bailey admitted that she is “being courted,” because “that’s business”, but because of the coal ash problem in the community she would say no to Dominion.

“I’m no cream puff,” Bailey said.

Danny Funderburk asked the room to raise their hand if they live, do shopping, or send their kids to school in the county. He then pointed out that all those places are brought to you by developers. He added that he doesn’t want the money from community developers to go to his opponents.

No Republican candidates were present during the forum. Alice Crowe of Plastic Free PWC said all candidates had been invited.

The forum was held at the Chinn Park Regional Library in Lake Ridge.