May 6, 2022
Prince William County’s proposed 2040 Comprehensive Plan, as it currently stands, is a vision for a developer’s heaven.
Environmental sustainability in the document seems to rely mainly on the concept of “open space.” There’s a lot more involved in protecting against climate change than just protecting open space.
A countywide water study should be funded and completed in order to have some science behind this plan. County commitments to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments, or “COG,” include commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions countywide to 50% of the 2005 level by the year 2030. The plan needs to establish policies and action strategies that will enable the county to meet the 2030 target.
The explicit directive from the board of county supervisors to incorporate the goals of the county’s “Climate Mitigation and Climate Resilience” resolution into the comprehensive plan is all but absent from the land use chapter. The chapter does not draw a clear link between land use and climate mitigation or climate resilience. The chapter does not discuss the link between land use and carbon storage.
Land use is one of the principal policy instruments available to address heat islands and other opportunities to improve resilience. The land use chapter should specifically address resilience to climate change.
Planning commissioners, please engage with the planning department and have them incorporate climate mitigation and climate resilience into the land use chapter. Please ensure a complete and consistent 2040 Comprehensive Plan by implementing the board of supervisors’ existing climate change mitigation commitments.
Marilyn Karp
Haymarket