Prince William County leaders will decide next week whether to update the county’s policy on sewer in rural areas.
At the end of a work session Tuesday, Supervisor Victor Angry, D-Neabsco, directed county staff to bring forth a resolution that would initiate a study of sewer in the rural area, known familiarly as the “Rural Crescent.”
Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, R-Brentsville, objected to the directive, forcing a vote on the issue. The board voted 5-3 along party lines to advance the motion.
Public sewer is the central issue to the future of Prince William’s roughly 117,000-acre rural area. Since 1998, that area has largely been restricted to one home for every 10 acres with strict restrictions on the expansion of public sewer lines. Preservationists have argued that once access to the county’s sewer system is extended into the rural area, developers will build off it to add more housing, eschewing the more cumbersome septic systems used by most dwellings in the rural area.
The issue has heated up in 2021 since supervisors voted along party lines to approve the Preserve at Long Branch, a 99-home development in the rural area.
Most of the discussion around the motion Tuesday focused on the board’s rules of procedure. Supervisor Pete Candland, R-Gainesville, made a push to delay the directive a week and have Angry bring forth a resolution so the public would be aware of the decision. Tuesday’s work session was not live-streamed on the county’s website, as regular board meetings are.
Angry, Chair Ann Wheeler and Supervisor Andrea Bailey said the motion didn’t need a resolution because it was solely for staff to bring forth a resolution at the next board meeting for a vote, rather than an actual vote on the sewer study.
“We are not about to vote on changing policy right now,” Bailey said.
The resolution will come forth at the board’s May 18 meeting.