What Matters To You?
As you may already be aware, newly-elected Supervisors on our county Board have decided that Smart Growth principals are only “buzz words.”
We disagree. We believe that smart growth policies, upon which our entire Comprehensive Plan is built, can be the only foundation for quality sustainable communities. Below is how our EPA describes smart growth policies. Without such policies, the adverse effects of climate change will spread across our entire county. Our own county Board passed a Climate Mitigation Resolution in November of 2020. Smart growth and the causes of climate change can, and should, be addressed. Our county leaders, along with all of us, must think globally and act locally.
From the EPA: Smart growth policies contribute to both mitigating and adapting to climate change. Mitigation strategies reduce greenhouse gas emissions from development, and adaptation strategies make communities more resilient to the effects of a changing climate. Smart growth strategies also bring environmental benefits and provide economic advantages to local governments and the private sector. In addition, they can save people money on energy and transportation, which is particularly important for low-income residents, and help protect human health.
Recommendations:
- Reuse existing infrastructure and buildings to take advantage of previous investments and the energy already used to build them.
- Put homes, jobs, stores, parks, schools, and other destinations close to each other so that people can easily walk, bike, use public transit, or drive shorter distances.
- Preserve green space, which can sequester CO2, by conserving ecologically valuable land and promoting development in previously developed areas, which helps reduce pressure to build on undeveloped land.
The Chair of the Board of Supervisors would allow data centers, substations, transmission lines, asphalt plants, and high density housing throughout Prince William County’s Rural Crescent.
Here are just a few of her and another supervisor’s statements from a recent article in the Prince William Times.
“At-large board Chair Ann Wheeler (D) said in an interview Friday, Jan. 22, that she would be willing to look for new commercial- and industrial-zoned land within the rural area and possibly expand the county’s data center overlay district into the rural area as the board updates the county’s comprehensive plan.”
“Wheeler also added that there is limited industrial-zoned land left within the county’s development area. The issue was highlighted last fall when an asphalt company applied for a special use permit to build an asphalt plant near an elementary school. The board deadlocked on the application, effectively killing it, and the asphalt company moved on saying there was no other suitable place for the project within the county.”
“Asked whether she had concerns about whether such development is in line with smart-growth strategies or could increase sprawl in the area, (Supervisor Andrea) Bailey said “sprawl” is a “buzz word to put an element of fear into the positive possibilities of what can happen in the rural area.”
The truth is that thousands of acres of already industrial-zoned land remain available in the county.
Do you support their positions?
If not, there are a couple of things you can do to make a difference.
Write the Board and Planning Commission to voice your concerns.
Attend next Wednesday’s Feb. 17 Planning Commission meeting to personally express your opposition to the NOT smart growth plan for the Route 29 Small Area Plan. Or sign up here by 5 pm on Tuesday to participate remotely.
Not only does this plan promote sprawl, it destroys our incredibly valuable and irreplaceable history of a Prince William County freed slave community! Joyce Hudson, the leader for the Alliance to Save Carver Road, says it best:
“…some will say this proposed Plan is much better than the existing 20-year-old Plan which provides for condos, apartments and four lanes roads throughout, to which I say, good riddance to that “develop everywhere” mentality…we need to do much better. One important note is these pro-development policies are being proposed by county staff; …our elected officials overwhelmingly support recognizing and preserving the history of this truly special area… There aren’t many Virginia counties where descendants of slaves own the land where their ancestors settled and continue to live and thrive there. In this case, ownership of land by former slaves is the significant historic event that I believe should be preserved. Black History Month is a great opportunity for Prince William County to reject road widening and development in historic areas proposed in the Route 29 Small Area Plan and say, “look at us…we honor and promote diversity in historic preservation.””
Finally, please visit Prince William Conservation Alliance Facebook Page, and also join “The Rural Crescent is THAT” group. Post pictures or comments about why preserving the Rural Crescent is important to you.
We have in Prince William County a very real opportunity to demonstrate a conscientious regard for ecology, rural life, and the self-determination that has been the hallmark of some of our best achievements as a nation. This is not a refusal of progress or development. It is an embrace of good, sustainable communities that have existed for quite some time, and can point towards a better future for all communities.
Saying no sprawl and inappropriate development is saying yes to preserving a better future for all of Northern Virginia.
