After a snowstorm stopped Stafford County in its tracks, the Board of Supervisors is carving out a more prominent role for itself if the county is faced with a similar emergency.
The board is proposing an amendment to the County's Emergency Operations Plan that would include these new liaison positions and set the roles, responsibilities, and qualifications for those positions. Supervisors will vote on the matter at its next meeting on Tuesday, February 22.
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It’s not your father’s self-storage place.
Texas-based Greenspace will soon make its way to Stafford County while bringing unique ideas to market.
According to co-founder Rick Stockton, he and his partner David Ledoux decided to use shipping containers as the cornerstone of their storage facilities. These are the same shipping containers on the backs of trucks, trains, and ships on the high seas.
Unlike most storage facilities built chiefly of brick and mortar, when the new Greenspace facility is complete, a three-story glass and steel building will surround the storage containers making them sound for use. Using shipping containers allows for reduced costs and creates a sturdier storage building.
“The magic is that the shipping containers provide all the structure for the floors, the walls, the ceilings, and roofs,” says Stockton. “So it replaces all those thick metal studs and metal pans and concrete.”
The company is in the process of patenting its construction methods. When complete, the shipping containers converted to storage units will be subdivided, with space priced starting at $170 a month for a 100 square foot, climate-controlled unit.
Stockton also says that Greenspace decided to open its first Virginia location in Stafford because of the number of people renting storage space. With its status as a bedroom community for active and military personnel and its proximity to Quantico Marine Corps Base, storage becomes necessary for people to rent storage while they’re away on duty.
Greenspace plans to continue growing from its original three facilities in Texas to other states in the country. It already has one facility in White Marsh, Md., and plans to build another facility in Virginia. Plans are also in the works for expansion into New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
This summer, greenspace plans to open the facility, located on Route 610 near Parkway Boulevard in North Stafford.
Prince William County has begun planning to build a park in the neighborhood of Thoroughfare, near Haymarket.
The county purchased five parcels on 10 acres to build a park in the historic African-American neighborhood, a post-Civil War settlement of former slaves. Last year, an effort to grade a property thought to contain unmarked graves sparked an outcry among the community.
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In Stafford County, Jefferson Davis Highway is now Richmond Highway.
The county is taking the steps necessary to rename a large portion of Route 1 in the county following a new law requiring jurisdictions to drop Jefferson Davis from the name, who served as the confederacy president.
The county chose Richmond Highway, consistent with Fairfax and Prince William counties. The Virginia Commonwealth Transportation Board adopted accepted the change in September 2021.
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Ben Litchfield, a consumer financial services attorney, has thrown his hat to run for state senate in the newly-created 27th District, covering portions of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg.
Litchfield and his wife Valerie have lived in Stafford since 2015. Until recently, he served as the Stafford County Democratic Committee Chairman.
Lichfield announced his campaign 21 months ahead of the General Election on November 7, 2023. He’ll face restaurant owner Matt Strickland, who made a name for himself last year when he defied former Gov. Ralph Northam’s coronavirus mitigation efforts and orders to close his restaurant.
“We wanted to find a community that was close to work but was outside of Northern Virginia. Living in the Fredericksburg area has been wonderful for my family,” says Litchfield. “I cannot describe how proud it made me to be able to help my mom after everything she has sacrificed for my sister and me during our childhood.”
Originally from Massachetteus, Litchfield and his family grew up in a trailer park in a small manufacturing town in Berkshire County. Litchfield described his family’s struggles — his father’s substance abuse issues or having to live on public assistance because his mother was on disability.
However, Litchfield put himself through college, first at George Washington University and then at Howard University School of Law. Litchfield graduated with honors from both his schools near the top of his class.
After graduation, Litchfield became a regulatory attorney at the National Credit Union Administration and later in the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau’s Office of Supervision Policy, where he oversaw examinations of mortgages, college loans, and more.
As chairman of the Stafford County Democratic Committee, Litchfield talked with residents who are concerned about the local economy, the state of local schooling, and first responders not being able to afford to live in the district where they work.
“We have tremendous income inequality in the district without much middle ground. A community organizer was telling me a week ago that there are people who will go to sleep tonight without electricity, running water or a roof over their heads,” says Litchfield. “The poverty numbers and the data about populations from the Rappahannock United Way back that up. ALICE refers to folks who make less than what it costs to live here but who are not below the federal government’s arbitrarily low federal poverty level.”
Litchfield points to federal data from ALICE (Asset Limited, Income Constrained, Employed), which shows areas such as Falmouth and the George Washington District in Stafford, Fredericksburg, and the Courtland and Salem Districts in Spotsylvania all have between 34 to 40% of residents that can be considered limited income.
After last month’s redistricting, the new 27th District lea has become more of a swing district which to Litchfield allows a Democrat to be elected in that area, said Litchfield.
“My focus is addressing the kitchen table issues that impact the voters of the 27th. From access to affordable healthcare to workforce development to environmental and criminal justice, voters are demanding more than politics as usual,” says Litchfield.”They want candidates who are not afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work addressing the big issues. After all – what is elected office for if not to make people’s lives better?”
An analysis conducted by the county looked at the possible needs for department facilities soon. Those results have been incorporated into the county's Capital Improvement Plan for Fiscal Years 2022 to 2031.
The CIP contains recommendations for projects that would be important to the county looking forward. Projects that have been prioritized include rebuilding three of the department's fire stations and creating a new training center for public safety personnel.
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Matt Strickland, the famed owner of Gourmeltz restaurant in Spotsylvania County who pushed back against former Gov. Ralph Northam’s coronavirus restrictions, is running for state senate.
Strickland will run as a Republican in the new 27th District that encompasses parts of Stafford and Spotsylvania counties and Fredericksburg. Strickland announced his campaign 21 months ahead of the General Election on November 7, 2023, when all 40 Virginia State Senators will be up for re-election.
Strickland received regional media attention when he bucked former Gov. Ralph Northam’s Executive Order that required restaurants to the number of customers allowed in his restaurant and prevented anyone from sitting at a bar.
Strickland fought the Governor after the state sued Gourmeltz for non-compliance with the Governor’s orders. Strickland deemed the order detrimental to his business and unconstitutional.
The health department ordered Gourmeltz to close for violating the governor’s orders, but Strickland kept his doors open. He eventually faced off with the state in a Spotsylvania courtroom last year, and won his case.
Strickland says that his experience and the encouragement of residents and conservative organizations helped in his decision to run for office.
“My fight against the government over the past couple of years has shown me just how corrupt our representatives are. And we have these corrupt politicians on both sides of the aisle,” says Strickland. “I have come to the conclusion that the best way to stop the destruction of our Commonwealth and country is to fill one of these seats myself and fight hard for our children’s future.”
Strickland will run on a platform that will include implementing voter ID, healthcare reform, banning of Critical Race Theory in schools, support for Second Amendment rights, limiting the Governor’s powers of emergency executive orders, and eliminating personal property taxes. Strickland is also pro-life.
Strickland also plans to introduce term limits for legislators. Strickland himself only intends to serve two four-year terms if elected.
Strickland is a native of Virginia whose family has been in the state for five generations. He is also an Army Veteran who enlisted in 2001 and served overseas in both Afghanistan and Iraq.
Strickland opened Gourmeltz in 2016 as a food truck with his wife, Maria. The business grew to three trucks over a year.
In February 2018, Strickland sold the trucks and reopened Gourmeltz as a brick-and-mortar restaurant in Fredericksburg.
“I will bring the ambition and work ethic of an entrepreneur that has built a successful small business from nothing. Above all, I will be in Richmond not to make friends but to fiercely represent the people that elected me,” says Strickland.
[Updated Noon Friday, January 28] In his first proposed budget, Stafford County's newly-appointed School Administrator, Dr. Thomas Taylor, asks for $32 million in more funds than the division received last year.
His proposed $374 million budget delivered to the School Board on Tuesday, January 25, Taylor calls for addressing the issues of recruiting and maintaining the county's pool of teachers, managing the expected growth of its student body over the coming years, and providing on-time transportation for students.
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Some Stafford County residents asked elected leaders to fund new artificial turf fields for two county high schools.
Citing disparity and safety concerns, residents say these two schools are last in the county, lacking such amenities.
A couple of residents took the opportunity to address the Stafford County Board of Supervisors during its public comment time earlier this month on the subject of artificial turf fields at local high schools.
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