Prince William planners try to ease rural area concerns | Headlines | insidenova.com
By Nolan Stout Feb 21, 2022
Attendees at the Feb. 10 listening session study the proposed Comprehensive Plan map.
Prince William County planners are trying to ease concerns after a proposed update to the Comprehensive Plan drew criticism that it could devastate rural areas.
The county published a draft version of the land-use chapter of its Comprehensive Plan update, along with a long-range land-use map, on Feb. 4.
The Comprehensive Plan is a guiding document for county land-use policies. While not committing the Board of County Supervisors to any decisions, it declares the county’s vision for future development. The land-use map is a visual representation of where and how the county wants to see development through 2040.
The revisions could threaten what’s known as the “rural crescent” – roughly 117,000 acres restricted to no more than one home for every 10 acres with strict prohibitions on the expansion of public sewer lines. However, county planners say the new plan provides more potential for protection while managing the needs of population growth.
A listening session on Feb. 10 drew 69 speakers, many of whom felt the county sought input in too short a timeframe after releasing the proposal just a few days earlier.
“There was not enough time to look through and give a really thought-out response to what we’re seeing here,” said Kim Hosen of the Prince William Conservation Alliance.
Of those who spoke at the listening session, 47 people were opposed to the draft update or expressed concerns with it, with many speaking on the proposed PW Digital Gateway application for properties along Pageland Lane. Eight people spoke in favor of the draft, but six of those were landowners associated with the PW Digital Gateway plan. Six others spoke out against a variety of specific projects in the county, five discussed various topics and three advocated for a focus on affordable housing.
The majority of the county’s rural area is designated in the existing long-range land-use map as agricultural estate. The draft documents call for replacing that designation with agricultural and forestry.
Rather than primarily covering the western and southern parts of the county, the new designation would also stretch along Lake Jackson through the center of the county to the Occoquan River. County planner Alex Vanegas said the existing estate designation covers 55,310 acres, while the new one would cover 75,647.
The biggest outcry has been around the agricultural and forestry district’s allowance of up to one home per five acres, rather than one home per 10 acres.
Vanegas said the county received feedback that its existing long-range land-use map had too many different designations and was confusing. He said the county tried to combine many districts and, in doing so, changed the dwelling unit allowance to fit underlying zoning as much as possible. Because some of the homes along Lake Jackson are on lots smaller than 10 acres, the allowable density was set at one to two homes per 10 acres.
Vanegas stressed that no changes to rural area land would be allowed by right. Landowners would have to seek a rezoning to allow more density than is currently legal in the rural area. However, if the Comprehensive Plan update is approved, then a proposal’s alignment with the new plan would be a favorable aspect of the application.
“This just doesn’t open the door for all these types of activities,” Vanegas said. “They still have to be vetted through the rezoning process.”
When rezoning applications are filed, county staff produce a report showing how the project fits with surrounding land uses, its impact on schools, potential traffic increases and its compatibility with the Comprehensive Plan.
In other designated areas, the plan calls for Hamlet Mixed-Use, Village Mixed-Use or Conservation Residential designations. The Conservation Residential and Hamlet Mixed-Use district would allow up to one home per two acres. The Village Mixed-Use district would allow up to four homes per acre.
The mixed-use designations would be primarily in Nokesville, Catharpin, Brentsville, Woolsey and Greenwich.The Hamlet designations cover 1,055 acres and the Village designation covers 627 acres, primarily in Nokesville.
Conservation residential clusters would need to be close to existing public sewer lines. The developments would be connected to those lines, rather than having new ones constructed. Vanegas said the developments would require 60% of the property to be conserved as open space.
“The opportunity is there to permanently protect open space in the rural area,” said county planner David McGettigan.
McGettigan also said the county is continuing work on its purchase and transfer of development rights programs, first presented last summer. The Board of Supervisors approved the purchase of development rights program to compensate large rural landowners for keeping their property undeveloped.
The transfer of development rights program would allow landowners in the rural area to sell their development rights to developers in “receiving areas,” where the developers could then build more density than current zoning would allow. The program is still being crafted to choose the receiving areas.
Some speakers last week said they believed the consultants haphazardly picked places for potential development rather than getting to know the county. Chris Carroll pointed out that one of the targeted uses in the Village and Hamlet designations was a post office.
“The consultants might think we’re rural bumpkins watching tumbleweeds as we shoot the breeze at the post office,” he said.
Elena Schlossberg said the proposal just contributes to “industrial and residential sprawl.” She said county residents feel they’re being ignored.
“We keep showing up for this dog-and-pony show,” she said at the listening session. “We’re going to take this fight to a different level because they are not listening.”
Outside the rural area, the plan calls for increased residential density and new commercial development in several areas, including Dumfries, Haymarket, Liberia Avenue and Potomac Mills. The plan also calls for redevelopment in several existing commercial corridors, including Sudley Road and Liberia Avenue near Manassas.
“These are areas that we want to focus our growth so we don’t continue to sprawl,” Vanegas said. “They’re not currently meeting their full economic potential.”
Nolan Stout covers Prince William County. Reach him at nstout@insidenova.com or @TheNolanStout on Facebook and Twitter.
What’s Next
-
The county plans to hold future listening sessions on the Comprehensive Plan.
-
Brentsville Planning Commissioner Tom Gordy will hold an open house on the plan on Feb. 22 from 7 to 9 p.m. at Nokesville Fire Hall, 12826 Marsteller Drive.
-
For more information, visit pwcva.gov/department/planning-office/pathway-to-2040.