Dividing line: Vint Hill Road currently serves as part of the rural crescent’s existing boundary line. As this aerial photograph shows, development to the east of Vint Hill Road, behind Cedar Point Elementary School, is much denser than on the other side of Vint Hill Road, where building is limited to one home per 10 acres. In recent years, however, the county supervisors have allowed both schools and large religious buildings to be built in the rural crescent. Photo by Roger Snyder.
The Prince William County Planning Commission decided this week it won’t take action on proposed zoning changes for the county’s rural crescent until the newly elected board of supervisors take office in 2020.
The planning commission had tentatively scheduled a public hearing and vote on the plan in December, but Chairman William Milne (Occoquan), speaking at a Wednesday work session, said there is still work to be done before the commission can hold a public hearing or take a vote.
“We’ll continue on with whoever’s left on the planning commission after the first of the year,” Milne said.
Planning Commissioners are selected by the county’s eight members of the board of supervisors. With five newly elected supervisors taking office in January, the commission will likely have new membership in 2020.
During the Wednesday, Nov. 13 work session, county staff fielded questions and concerns from commissioners about two elements of the proposed rural preservation plan: the agritourism overlay district and a “transfer of development rights” program.
Commissioners spent about an hour addressing details of the proposed “Agritourism and Arts Overlay District,” which aims to incentivize investment in the rural area while encouraging agricultural and small business uses.
The Agritourism and Arts Overlay District would apply to all properties in the rural area and A-1 zoned properties of a minimum of 20 acres in the development area. Commissioners debated whether to reduce the minimum to 10 acres in the development area.
Commissioners and county staff also addressed the proposed TDR program, which would allow property owners to transfer their development rights to areas of the rural crescent designated for a new “conservation residential” zoning.
Commissioners spent the remaining session asking questions about the proposed “TDR-D” program, which pinpoints four development rights receiving areas outside the rural crescent: Potomac Mills, Potomac Shores, Virginia Gateway and Innovation Park.
During a Oct. 23 work session, the commission heard a presentation from county staff on other elements of the plan.
About 30 residents also participated about an hour-and-a-half long public comment period held during the earlier meeting. Many expressed concerns about the “conservation residential” zoning designation, which would allow “cluster developments.”
Cluster developments would allow public sewer lines to extend into the rural crescent, something the plan’s opponents consider the first-step to cascading residential development.