The county finally came out with the agenda for next Tuesday’s Oct. 20 meeting of the Board of Supervisors, when supervisors will be voting on Mark Granville Smith’s Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) and Rezoning applications for his Preserve at Long Branch. His most recent application proposes 102 new homes, with sewer, on Rural Crescent land currently zoned for 33; and would remove 145.9 acres from the Rural Crescent.
While the release to citizens of his most recent modifications and the meeting agenda was delayed until today, you can still influence next week’s vote. You may have already sent an email on this issue to the supervisors…but the greatest impact is to speak during the Public Hearing. You don’t have to be an expert, just speak from your experience and your heart. You can participate remotely from the comfort of your home, and make a difference in the quality of life for all in the county. You must register to participate by 5 PM on Monday.
There are two critical agenda items: 7:30 PM – CPA Preserve at Long Branch, and 7:30 PM – Rezoning Preserve at Long Branch. While we would like you to speak on both, the most critical to speak against is the CPA. If the CPA is passed, your input will definitely be needed against the Rezoning.
Go here to sign up to speak remotely at the board meeting. Scroll through the page: Answer all questions 1 – 5: For question #3 select 7:30 p.m. Public Hearing – D. Comprehensive Plan Amendment: Preserve at Long Branch, and 7:30 p.m Public Hearing – E. Rezoning. For question #4 select Video Conference if joining on a PC, or Telephone if joining via phone.
At the bottom hit Submit. You will be sent an email with the link and code for the meeting. Be sure to access the link no later than 5 minutes before the start of the 7:30 session. Staff will explain the procedures once you join; you will have 3 minutes when it is your turn to speak.
Below are some talking points to consider. And here’s a recent article.
If you haven’t already, please also send your own email to the supervisors by using our easy and reliable click-to-send.
Prince William Conservation Alliance
Community Report, October 12 2020
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Rural Crescent at Risk (Again!) Why Should You Care?
Because every dollar we spend to provide services to new homes and industrial uses in the countryside is a dollar we can’t spend to improve schools, parks, trails, transportation, and fire and rescue services in our eastern and western development areas.
On October 20, 2020, Supervisors are slated to vote on the Preserve at Long Branch Comprehensive Plan Amendment and Rezoning application seeking approval for access to public sewer to build 102 new homes off Classic Springs Drive, in the Rural Crescent. This is more than triple the density currently allowed. If approved, this development proposal would set a precedent for other land speculators seeking increased density in the Rural Crescent.
Planning Commission recommendation: Denial
Planning staff recommendation: Denial
Putting houses where there are no jobs, schools, shopping, or public transportation creates excessive cross-county traffic and exacerbates already over-crowded schools.
Will the County government invest our limited financial resources to upgrade existing communities in development areas OR pay to build new infrastructure to service urban sprawl? Read more…
You can help! Speak at the public hearing on October 20!Community Quotes:
The beauty and character of the Rural Crescent is needed to keep some semblance of a natural environment, just like our African American community (The Settlement) reminds us of our heritage and why we moved here in the first place. –Joyce Hudson, Montclair
The rural area is Prince William County’s most important strategic economic, environmental, and quality of life asset. To reach its full potential, it must be treated with respect and must have a separate vision that sets it apart from the development area. –Dr. Jack Kooyoomjian, Lake Ridge
We take pride in our diverse land uses, with suburban centers and a beautiful countryside with 40 miles of Virginia Scenic Byways. I believe this has value. –Lynda Silverstrand, Woodbridge
The Rural Crescent aligns with Culpepper groundwater basin, one of the more important watersheds in Virginia and essential to the health of our groundwater and the Occoquan Reservoir, our public drinking water supply. –Elizabeth Ward, Gainesville
The Rural Crescent helps maintain the beauty and character of the rural part of Prince William County. It sets the County apart from other jurisdictions in Metropolitan Washington D.C. Once breached, we become just like the rest of the developed area and loose our unique identity.
–Eileen Thrall, Dumfries
I support the Rural Crescent because it provides for a section of Prince William County to maintain farm and wilderness areas of Virginia while being in the backyard of Washington DC. –Amy Hill, Independent Hill
By protecting the Rural Crescent, the county is protecting resources that offset pollution that contributes to climate change. –Ashley Studholme, Lake Ridge
The Rural Crescent = Diversity, Not Monotony –William Olson, Davis Ford Road corridor
We need to focus on quality development in the right places in the development area rather than waste money on sprawl. –Charlie Grymes, Gainesville
Being a part of protecting the Rural Crescent isn’t just about ensuring clean air and clean drinking water, it has allowed me the unique opportunity to forge friendships with people across a diverse spectrum of political ideology, race, and religion. –Elena Schlossberg, Haymarket
I support the Rural Crescent because its rural landscape protects clean water in the streams and wetlands that flow to my public drinking water supply, the Occoquan Reservoir. –Kim Hosen, Lake Ridge
I support the Rural Crescent because it furthers our environmental, economic, and sustainability goals. –Martin Jeter, Davis Ford Road Corridor
Acceptance of this proposal would forever change the concept of a Rural Crescent, our future water supply, and further exacerbate our overcrowded schools and local roads, ultimately resulting in more urban sprawl and higher taxes. –Gary O’Brien, Independent Hill
Read letters on the Rural Crescent, Washington Post, May 17, 1998
Tom Daniels, co-author of the 2014 PWC Rural Area Preservation Study, …warns that cluster development is not a form of farmland preservation, but rather a suburban type of development aimed at allowing residential development while protecting some open space and “rural character.”
This developer’s Preserve at Long Branch application is unique in its threats to the Rural Crescent and will impact the entire county.
We have shown what a united citizenry can accomplish when we all speak up for what we cherish. We need to do that again now.
Even Board Chair Ann Wheeler, in her Oct. 2, 2020 interview with Kojo Nnamdi (12:28:28), touted the “… space and good school system…” which drew her family to their Haymarket home in the Rural Crescent.
The county’s most recent build-out analysis outlines that the county has already approved construction of 35,000 additional residential housing units, when only 31,500 units are needed to accommodate the 101,400 more residents projected by 2040. Bottom line: there is no “need” in our county for any new housing beyond what is already planned.
This county is unique to Northern Virginia. We have so much diversity to offer – not just in our people, but also in our landscape. From the Potomac shore to the Bull Run Mountain, it is worth protecting.
This development will not help the need for equitable and affordable housing throughout the county – it will demand infrastructure dollars to be spent in the rural area, taking away from needs in the development area. The proposed Preserve at Long Branch development CPA and Rezoning must be stopped if the Rural Crescent is to be protected against the housing precedents this will set. The Planning Commissioners have already recommended denial. If Supervisors pass this CPA and Rezoning, then cluster development will ensue, with sewer and high-density housing, throughout the Rural Crescent.
Help get the word out. Contact us to get a Save the Rural Crescent sign for your yard now – make a donation to help defray the costs.
Be aware: the threats to the Rural Crescent are many and insidious. Multiple applications to also proliferate more data centers around and through the Rural Crescent have been submitted. Learn more.
You made a difference before when it mattered – Do it again today by taking action now!