Unpredictability and instability are sweeping through Prince William rural crescent, an area on the county’s western side without public sewer and characterized by picturesque forests, fields, and national parks. From massive rezonings that would put data centers next to national parks and state forests to comprehensive plan changes that extend public sewer to rural areas and replan agricultural land for vaguely defined industrial uses, it seems county leaders are no longer engaging in an authentic planning process and have instead handed over the future of the rural crescent to developers.
These decisions are jeopardizing our clean drinking water and inducing costly sprawl. Worse, they are raising fears and forcing rural residents to face a choice: sell a home they love or risk the value of their property as industrial development goes up around them.
An authentic planning process engages residents and stakeholders with varying interests in the formation of long-range visions, goals, policies and strategies that guide future development. Community plans are informed by analysis, studies and community engagement in various forms. Following these plans ensures that development benefits all residents in an equitable manner, that infrastructure is planned and budgeted for, and that residents have some sense of what the future development of their community will look like.
At this point, the county planning process seems to be in the hands of the developers, while community concerns about impacts are treated as irrelevant, and any studies, if they’re even being done, are being ignored. This approach will leave families stuck living next to incompatible industrial uses, saddle taxpayers with the costs of extending infrastructure and services and inflict devastating impacts upon the community assets such as the Manassas Battlefield National Park and the Occoquan Reservoir, which supplies drinking water for over half the population of Prince William County.
Prince William Board of Supervisors, it is not too late to take back the reins and create a plan that the public can endorse.
Julie Bolthouse,
Piedmont Environmental Council
Kim Hosen,
Prince William Conservation Alliance
Max Hokit,
American Battlefield Trust
William Sellers,
Journey Through Hallowed Ground
Kyle Hart,
National Park Conservation Alliance
Nancy Vehrs,
Prince William Wildflower Society
Ann Bennett,
Sierra Club Great Falls Group