Whether you’re aware or not, next Tuesday, Dec. 13, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors will hold a public hearing on an update to the county’s comprehensive plan, a document that will direct the next 20 years of development and land use in the county.
Even if you live adjacent to or within areas impacted by changes, Prince William County officials have left you in the dark, as this process evades the public signage and mailing notices normally used to notify residents.
As of Tuesday, Dec. 6, a week before this critical vote, the county had still not published the staff report or a map of proposed changes, which will affect every facet of the county: land use, schools, housing and transportation. It is unacceptable that the county is rushing this plan, the guiding vision for the county over the next two decades, toward approval with little to no time for public review.
Based on prior drafts, the new comp plan, dubbed “Pathway to 2040,” will replan hundreds of more acres for data center development near our homes and schools, notably Chris Yung and Tyler elementary schools, accelerating our path toward overtaking Loudoun County in data center development.
For those who prefer this industrial growth to high-density housing, do not fear, there is plenty of that coming as well.
The plan also paves the way for hundreds of additional housing units throughout the county, including in the new “Nokesville village,” along rural Valley View Road, and in the “Delaney tract,” which sits in the mid-county area, surrounded by the new “Occoquan Reservoir Protection Area,” which is also part of the plan. The already congested U.S. 29 in Gainesville is also planned for more housing, as is the rural Vint Hill corridor.
Board of Supervisors Chair Ann Wheeler has proposed adding thousands of dwelling units along Vint Hill Road, which would necessitate its widening to a four-lane road, likely at taxpayer expense, not to mention further construction and improvements on impacted rural roads.
The impact on the Prince William County school division will be enormous. Do the schools in Gainesville, Bristow and Nokesville have the capacity to serve potentially thousands more students?
The current numbers published by the school division show that many of our schools are already over capacity. And with new schools and infrastructure needed to support this overdevelopment, how will that impact funding for much needed school improvements across the county? Has the board of supervisors considered the potential of school overcrowding or the cost to taxpayers?
Our county’s vision should be guided by smart-growth principles. This 20-year plan is not that and will cause skyrocketing greenhouse gas emissions, new roads, new infrastructure and new schools – all at taxpayer expense.
If and when the plan is publicly released, I encourage county residents to review it. If nothing else, when the bulldozers show up next door, you’ll know whether it’s for another data center or more high-density housing.
Chris Carroll
Brentsville representative to the Prince William County Sustainability Commission
Nokesville