Two companies aim to build solar farms in the Hartwood and Falmouth districts in Stafford County.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission held a joint meeting to hear details on the proposals. Members of both bodies had concerns about the facilities based on issues at other solar farms.

The first facility, Enon Road Solar Farm LLC, a project of Florida-based company EsaSolar, would sit on about 16 acres off of Enon Road and Truslow roads, according to documents provided by Stafford County, generating enough electricity to power about 600 homes.

The website for the Enon Road facility offers a timeline where key events are tentatively scheduled to move the project forward. The project’s applicants hope the county will approve the development this year to enter an Interconnection Agreement with Dominion Energy as part of its Shared Solar Program, an electrical subsidy program for the poor.

If approved, The Enon Road project developers hope to begin construction of the facility in 2024.

Another company, Kinglet Solar Farm LLC, has also applied to the county to build a 44-acre facility that would generate power for 660 homes and sit off Truslow Road near Interstate 95. This facility would also be part of Dominion Power’s Shared Solar Program.

The plans for Kinglet’s facility are in their early stages. No company did not include a construction timeline in its plans.

Board of Supervisors members expressed concerns regarding potential hazards that could affect the solar facilities. Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen said stormwater runoff could make the ground beneath the solar collectors softer and endanger the soil integrity.

Applicants said that building retaining walls that could prevent stormwater runoff from the collectors is a possible solution. A stormwater retention area is marked in the concept plans for the Enon Road facility.

Elected leaders are also concerned about the fire risk, specifically with the facilities’ storage batteries. Stafford County Administrator Randy Vosberg said fire suppressant technology would be installed in the storage batteries. According to Vosberg, this has become a standard practice with solar facilities.

The Enon Road and Kinglet Solar Facilities are not the first time that Stafford County has dealt with the question of solar power. Potomac Local News reported earlier this year an offer to install solar panels on the roof of North Stafford High School.

Nearby Spotsylvania County has also been getting in on solar. Sustainable Power Group constructed a 500-megawatt solar farm in the Wilderness area of the county in 2020. The farm had met resistance from residents since the project was announced in 2017 due to the large amount of land that the farm takes up.

Members of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors plan to send the matter down to the Planning Commission so that a subcommittee can be created to set standards for the facilities.

The Planning Commission will update the Board of Supervisors on the matter at its second January 2023 meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.

 

The Patawomeck Tribe of Virginia sent a cease and desist letter after Stafford County Historical Society members questioned the tribe’s authenticity.

Rick and Jerilynn MacGregor sent the letter to the tribe and the Stafford County Board of Supervisors in September 2022, questioning the legitimacy of the tribe, claiming that there is no documentation supporting the Patawomeck as a tribe indigenous to the region.

The letter was titled “Where is the Patawomeck Indian Tribe of Virginia Inc. Recognition Does Not Equal Legitimacy September 2022”.

The tribe was granted recognition as a state-recognized tribe in 2010 by the Virginia General Assembly.

“The process through which the PITV obtained their state recognition reminds us of the little story of Everybody, Somebody, Anybody, and Nobody,” states the MacGregors in their letter. “Over the last 15 years or so, everybody assumed that somebody had done their “due diligence” to confirm the accuracy of the historical narrative espoused by the IPTV. From all we’ve seen thus far, nobody did.”

The MacGregors also called into question the process in which the tribe received recognition through the Virginia General Assembly in Richmond rather than through the Virginia Council on Indians, which the tribe had applied to the council for recognition twice and was denied both times.

Rick MacGregor serves as the Stafford Historical Society President, while Jerilynn MacGregor serves as its secretary. The group is a non-profit organization dating back to 1965, charged with the historical education and preservation of Stafford County.

“We’re upset about this. The tribe has tried to foster goodwill and provide education about the history of the Patawomeck,” said Charlie Payne Jr., the tribe’s lawyer. “The MacGregors have been invited to discuss the issue with the tribe but have declined the offer, this matter was settled back in 2010 by the General Assembly and we have historians that have looked over the evidence and support the tribe.”

The tribe demanded the MacGregors stop the “dissemination of false and misleading information about the tribe” and threatened legal civil action and penalties for failure to comply.

The couple had been invited to talk to the Patawomeck regarding their questions as recently as May 2022 but declined the offer, said Payne. The lawyer also shared letters from historians at both the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg and American University in Washington D.C. that support the tribe’s standing of legitimacy and dispute the claims of lack of documentation.

The letters from the college’s historians, Danielle Moretti-Langholtz and Buck Woodard, respectively, show that documentation on the tribe exists through recorded interviews with tribe members who gave oral histories as well as reports from neighboring tribes such as the Pamunkey.

The letters also dispute the claims of legitimacy of Virginia tribes, especially under the auspices of the Virginia Council on Indians. Moretti-Langholtz writes in her letter that the council was never mandated to draw up criteria for recognition, to which no such standards were ever agreed upon.

Moretti-Langholtz sat on the council when she was appointed by then Governor Mark Warner in 203 and served until 2006. Moretti-Langholtz also mentioned that the council had been recently reconvened in Richmond to set up such criteria.

In June 2019, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors reached a lease deal with the Patawomeck Tribe to lease a part of Duff Green Park to build a cultural center and museum opened in the Summer 2022. The county also paid for improvements to the area, which included renovations for the Duff House estimated to cost $109,000 and various improvements to paths, roads, and gardens, which, combined with the upgrades, cost $334,000.

“The heritage and lineage of the tribe are well noted and recognized by the commonwealth and professors from noted universities. It’s unfortunate that instead of working to unite Stafford in its diversity, some are choosing to be divisive,” said George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen.

According to the tribe, The Patawomeck tribe of Virginia Indians is based in Stafford County, along the Potomac River (Patawomeck is another spelling of Potomac). It is one of Virginia’s 11 recognized Native American tribes.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors held off on sending a letter to the Board of Local and Regional Jails that would express concerns about an ongoing study into inmate fees.

Under review fees to a telephone, visitation systems, and the cost inmates incur when purchasing items or services from jail commissaries.

According to the Rappahanock Regional Jail, inmates can pay for these goods and services via accounts set up for inmates, where family members and friends can deposit funds.

The Rappahannock Regional Jail Board Authority asked the Stafford County Board of Supervisors to send a letter outlining concerns regarding the study, which is looking into reducing or eliminating fees.

However, the Stafford County Board of Supervisors decided to hold off on sending the letter as some members were concerned about taking a particular position.

Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary was concerned about its impact on residents with family members under incarceration and the economic effects it would have on them. Gary and Garrisonville District Supervisor Pamela Yueng felt that the letter was unfinished. To Yeung, the letter also seemed as though the Board of Supervisors opposed the study’s recommendations.

“I’m not going to blindly send a letter to the board without knowing what the recommendations are,” said Yeung.

The jail board authority believes that its general fund would be reduced, and the costs of any potential reductions would have to be made up by member localities of the authority, including Stafford.

Stafford, Fredericksburg, Spotsylvania, and King George are the jurisdictions that have a seat on the jail authority.

The work group performing the study is scheduled to report its findings and recommendations to the Chairman of the House Committee on Rehabilitation and the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services in the Virginia General Assembly on December 1, 2022.

The jail board esitmates that the cuts in any of these services or programs could result in a reduction of $2,727,525 from its general fund and its commissary purchase revenue by $625,576. The regional jail would also be required to pay for goods and services that would have been covered by inmate purchase revenues which would amount to $801,159.

The Rappahannock Regional Jail currently operates with a $43 million annual budget which comes from funding from its member localities.

The letter will be brought back as unfinished business at the board’s next meeting on October 4, along with a summation of possible impacts of the jail.

Updated September 30, 2022 — Stafford County wants to buy more land for environmental preservation.

The plan to add 152 acres of land to the county’s Purchase of Development Rights program was discussed at a recent meeting of the county’s Community and Economic Development Committee meeting.

The county is considering two parcels called the Jones and Moore properties. The Jones property is 70 acres, while the Moore property is 82.

Both parcels sit in the rural George Washington District, in the southeast portion of the county. The recommendation to acquire these lands was made in January 2018 by the county’s Agriculture and Land Conservation Committee.

According to its website, the program enables Stafford County to acquire voluntary conservation easements given voluntarily by property owners to ensure that local resources are protected and used efficiently. The program already has 1,035 acres of local land under its auspices.

The parcels’ inclusion in the program would also limit any further residential development on the property.

According to the county spokeswoman Shannon Eubanks, the properties would be acquired to preserve prime agricultural soils, farmland, forestland, and other significant natural resources.

The county would pay $362,500 for both pieces of land. The Jones parcel will cost $152,500, while the Moore parcel will cost $200,000.

Once a government buys property through a purchase of development rights program, the property owner may continue to live and farm on the land or sell it. However, the owner may never build on the property.

The county has applied for funding through the Virginia Land Conservation Foundation and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. It will also use its funds for costs such as appraisal and closing fees. According to county documents, that revenue will need to be appropriated from Roll Back Tax revenue, which has been earmarked for the land purchase.

Stafford County is currently accepting new submissions for the program. New applicants have until September 30 to apply for the program.

The county’s acquisition of the parcels is currently in progress and is expected to be completed by December 2022.

*This story has been corrected. 

After 15 years of planning and negotiation, Stafford Regional Airport has completed its goal of extending its runway by 1,000 feet.

The airport held a ceremony in honor of the extension, which included the flight of a blue Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane, the first plane that flew from and touched down on the newly extended runway.

The ceremony included former and current members of its authority and various members of the Stafford County government and its board of supervisors.

“It’s a monumental day. There are so many people that were involved in getting this project going. We had great leadership, and it was a big collaboration between the municipalities and the FAA on the state and national levels. It’s a great combination of everyone coming together to see this happen.” said John Eaves, the current chairman of the Airport Authority.

The goal of the extension, according to both Eaves and other members of the authority, was to allow for bigger planes to use the airport. The 1,000-foot extension will also lead to more fuel sales and a greater probability of economic development in the area due to the newly extended, now 6,000-foot runway.

The funding for the extension came from the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave $5.5 million to the airport in July 2021. That funding came from a larger pot of $14 million of transportation funding dedicated to Virginia airports. Construction on the extension would begin in June 2022 and finish in early September.

“We’re very excited that the runway extension is complete and that the FAA was phenomenal in this since they paid for the entire expansion. This did not cost our taxpayers in Stafford County any money,” said Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke.

Potomac Local News also spoke to Hank Schapenberg, who was also present at the ceremony and performed the ribbon-cutting duties. Scharfenberg has been a part of the Airport Authority since 2007 and was a vocal proponent of the runway extension when people thought, as Scharpenberg himself puts it “touching the third rail” on the matter.

“The airport can now function as a true economic driver, it can get businessmen in here from either the West Coast or Europe, take off again, and we know that’s going to bring economic development,” said Scharpenberg.

The next move for the airport, according to Schapenberg adding more T-hangers to house more planes. The airport also wants to pursue more corporate clients willing to park their aircraft at the airport.

The Stafford Regional Airport sits at 90 Aviation Way in Stafford, just off Centreport Parkway.

Stafford County residents voiced support for school custodians as the contractor hired to clean school buildings is cutting ties with the school division.

During a recent Stafford County Board of Supervisors meeting, residents used the meeting’s public comment time to offer support for school custodians whose jobs are on the line after an announcement by ABM Industries canceling its contract with the schools.

“For the last year, we’ve raised our voices in support of needed changes for custodial workers in your public schools. We celebrate the cancelation of the contract between ABM. This corporation hires and manages the workers and the school district,” said Patricia Smith, a representative of the Fredericksburg chapter of Virginia Organizing.

Smith said the county should hire the custodial workers as a way to offer transparency when it comes to worker compensation. Smith also stated that such action would prevent exploitation of the custodial staff, and the county school board was given authority for oversight.

Nancy Reeder of North Stafford is a former school counselor who had worked in the county schools for 23 years. Reeder also agreed that the county should take the reins of hiring the school custodians while acknowledging it would be a difficult matter.

“They are a part of our school community, they interact with our children, and they come in and clean up after them. We really do need to take care of them as citizens,” said Reeder.

Employees of the Maryland-based management firm spoke at a Stafford County School Board earlier this year, where over a dozen of them related stories of alleged mistreatment at the hands of ABM. Among those was a demand from the company to report to work during a snowstorm that stranded commuters and cut power to thousands of homes in January 2022, employees claimed.

A request made by Stafford County Public Schools via a press release in late August announced that the system is currently searching for custodial services after its contract with ABM had been canceled.

On August 22, ABM sent a letter informing the school system that they would terminate the contract between the two parties. No reason was given in the letter for the termination. Potomac Local News attempted to contact ABM on this matter but has received no response.

The school system signed its previous contract with ABM in June 2020 and amended it in April 2022.

“The School Board and I want to reassure the custodians working in our schools that they are valued by the school system,” stated Stafford Superintendent Dr. Thomas W. Taylor in the press release. “This Notice of Cancellation does not reflect the school system’s view of the work ethic of the custodians.”

ABM will continue to provide custodial services to Stafford County Schools until the official cancelation date on December 20.

Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyares (R) came to the Prince William County Police Department in Woodbridge to hear speakers testify and describe human trafficking survivors.

“It’s a crime that hides in plain sight. Too many people in Northern Virginia think that it’s not happening in our community, but it is. It is one of the most insidious crimes. It’s a multigenerational crime. It not only affects the victims, but it also affects their future partners, their children”, said a woman who identified herself as Mary.

Miyares described how issues such as drug addiction could lead to domestic trafficking, where family members could use others to fulfill their needs. The Attorney General briefly described possible moves that the Commonwealth of Virginia could make to help, such as more funding for law enforcement.

Another possibility that Miyares described was treating victims of human trafficking as witnesses and informants rather than arresting them on criminal charges.

“This is an issue that impacts vulnerable people, vulnerable children, vulnerable adults and it’s a difficult issue for law enforcement to investigate,” said Prince William County Police Chief Peter Newsham. “Oftentimes, the victims are being manipulated in a way that they don’t want to disclose what’s happening to them.”

The meeting began with introductions of individuals such as Tanya Gold, director of Anti-Human Trafficking at the Office of the Attorney General. Gold discussed her experience as a human trafficking victim.

“To be purchased is an idea or concept that you all may not be able to fully grasp what it’s like. It’s not only the control that someone has over you. That’s not the only issue. It’s the negotiation of your value. The price, the cost,” said Gold. “No human being should ever come to face such a feeling of someone negotiating over something you don’t want to sell.”

John Richmond served as the U.S. Ambassador-At-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons from 2019 to 2021. Richmond recounted his experiences not only in helping victims of human trafficking but also having encounters with actual human traffickers. According to Richmond, these people were incentivized to commit these acts not just for the massive amounts of money but for the relaxed attitude that courts took when it came to such cases, mostly only handing over suspended sentences.

According to Richmond, the revenue collected by human traffickers worldwide amounts to $15.2 billion yearly, more than the combined revenues of Apple, Samsung, Microsoft, and McDonald’s.

Richmond also referenced numbers from the International Labor Organization’s global estimate of modern slavery, which estimated 27.6 million slaves today. That estimate is up from the last count in 2017, which was 24.9 million individuals.

Richmond put the efforts of law enforcement into perspective against that number, revealing that just over 90,000 victims were self-reported by governments worldwide.

“It sounds a clarion call of urgency, and what we are doing is insufficient. The problem is getting worse. It is not getting better,” said Richmond. “It doesn’t mean that the work we’ve been doing is not meaningful, but it does mean that we’ve lost ground.”

Richmond suggested many possibilities to gain more ground in the fight against human trafficking, such as not arresting survivors of trafficking who would find their lives after trafficking negatively affected with a criminal record even though they were coerced into that crime.

Other ideas that Richmond offered were focusing on efforts to disrupt businesses that use forced labor, such as illicit massage parlors, arresting sex buyers, also known as the “Nordic Model” for its prevalence in Scandinavian countries, or setting age limits for commercial sex acts so that minors would not be arrested for the crime but would be protected.

Miyares removed reporters from the room for a private question-and-answer session with panel attendees.

This meeting is the third held on the subject of human trafficking. The first two were held in Hampton Roads and Southwest Virginia.

The Stafford County Board of Supervisors has expressed interest in researching a Rappahannock Crossing Parkway to alleviate traffic Interstate 95 corridor.

The Board approved a letter to the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization requesting that it research options for a new bridge over the Rappahannock River, west of I-95. The Board also asked FAMPO to consider fiscal impacts, potential funding opportunities, route options, and effects on existing road networks.

The Board asked FAMPO to keep it and other localities informed of any developments in its research. Fredericksburg bypass studies were done in 2013 and 2019. Officials balked when a proposed road came too close to existing neighborhoods.

The Board chose “research” instead of “study,” which had been used in a previous draft. Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke said “study” tends to have additional strings, such as federal and state funding. According to Bohmke, using the word “research” would give the FAMPO more flexibility.

FAMPO Director Ian Hollis was at the meeting to answer questions. Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen asked what the difference would be between research options now and previous studies.

Hollis said that previous studies had studied a bridge rather than the viability of many potential solutions. As of late, FAMPO’s focus has been on rail and transit solutions, getting people out of cars and onto public transportation. Hollis said new methods of data collection could aid in the research, such as streetlight data which can map the origin and destinations of commuters; this method was not available for the previous studies.

Hollis also mentioned that there had been renewed calls for an outer-connector road network that could potentially alleviate traffic issues in the Stafford/Fredericksburg area corridor.

FAMPO’s Citizen Citizen Transportation Advisory group’s August meeting discussed the viability of an outer connector, which would include an eastern connector road from Stafford to Spotsylvania and a western connector through Culpeper and Orange counties.

Following that discussion, a push by Stafford Supervisors led  Henry Scharbenberg, the group’s chairman, to be booted from the panel. Scharpenburg pushed the idea of an outer connector without support from Supervisors, knowing an outer-connector road is not in the county’s long-range transportation plan, Supervisors told Potomac Local News. 

Culpeper and Orange are not FAMPO members and would need to join for the project to be viable, said Hollis.

During the meeting, Bohmke said that she was not in favor of an outer connector for fear of the possibility of urban sprawl.

Another concern from Allen and George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen was a lack of communication between the organization and the county regarding matters on the connector.

Coen expressed concern that officials in nearby Fredericksburg seemed to know more about the issue than the county did and stressed that they should be kept in the loop if they were to be involved in such a project.

The Board approved the letter with a vote of 4-2-1. Allen abstained from the vote.

The costs have come for a half-day holiday in Stafford County.

Stafford Supervisors closed the county government from 12:30 to 4:30 p.m. Friday, August 19, so county employees could attend the Stafford Warriors baseball game at Virginia Credit Union Stadium in Fredericksburg. Students from all five county high schools were on the team that played and lost a Babe Ruth World Series League championship game that day.

The county abruptly announced the closure on Thursday, August 18. About 100 of the county’s 400 government employees who were expected to attend showed up. Other essential personnel, like public safety crews, remained on duty.

Under the county’s holiday leave policy, some county employees who work during holidays and during other times when the local government closes for inclement weather or, in this case, a local baseball team playing in the championships are paid bonus overtime.

Overall, it cost $97,500 in bonus pay to close the county government on August 19. On Tuesday, September 6, the Board of Supervisors agreed to pay the special half-day compensation.

Some Board of Supervisors members were unhappy with the last-minute notice of the game.

“We already had given employees a floating holiday which they could have used instead of giving them another day,” said Garrisonville District Supervisor Pamela Yeung. “I’m not against people going out to see their kids play but not at the expense of the community. I got a lot of emails about closing the offices. Personally, I thought it was fiscally irresponsible on our part to do that.”

Fiscal responsibility was also a concern of Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen when she asked how much overtime pay employees who worked during the closure would receive.

“I didn’t support this because I don’t think this is a good usage of tax dollars, and also, it wouldn’t set a good precedent,” said Allen. “Would we be required to allow time off for an employee’s child’s game? I think this could have been put to better use.”

Aquia District Supervisor Monica Gary supported the half-day closure and paying holiday pay, remarking that events of this nature are standard practice with the Federal Government and can help foster good relationships and retention of employees.

However, Gary said tweaks should be made to avoid a last-minute situation in the future. “I wish it hadn’t been so politicized and argued that we wanted to do something nice for our staff,” said Gary.

Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke also expressed her support for the event but was not pleased with the last-minute nature of the event. Bohmke disapproved of all county services being closed and particularly named the Commissioner of the Revenue and the Treasurer’s offices.

“We had people walk in wanting to use those offices and couldn’t because they were closed, and I was not happy about that,” said Bohmke.

George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen supported paying overtime, expressed fiscal concerns about the bonuses, and said that not knowing the budgetary impact was troubling.

“All of our employees are dealing with the pressures such as inflation and COVID. Existing staff are taking on other people’s work to meet the needs of the community,” said Coen. “I felt we should do something to recognize that.”

Coen would also voice concern about the last-minute nature of the event and asked if a policy could be made to avoid the issue in the future when an event such as this happens again.

Rock Hill District Supervisor and Board Chair Crystal Vanuch supported the bonuses since, according to her, there had been no team-building exercises or events for county employees since early 2020. Vanuch cited the work of county employees, particularly first responders, utilities, and the Board, who she felt deserved the bonuses and half-day for their work.

“Taxpayers just paid 58 cents so our first responders can have a $200 bonus for one day, “I think this is a good investment,” said Vanuch.

On the general government side, the county incurred $23,770 in bonus costs, while the county’s public safety departments incurred $73,800 in bonus costs.

The Board of Supervisors would approve the bonuses with a 4-3 vote. Bohmke voted to approve the motion, and Vanuch seconded. Yeung, Allen, and Hartwood District Supervisor Darrell English voted against paying the holiday bonuses.