Dear Coalition friends and supporters,
On the heels of last week’s decisions to protect the county against more data centers — there are yet MORE assemblage projects in the Gainesville District, next to the now defunct Digital Gateway nightmare.
We know – ridiculous! Right?!
How many more times is this community going have to traipse down to the McCoart building and stop the development madness?
–> Tuesday, July 21 – 2 PM – See details below
We deserve to “catch our breath” as Supervisor Boddye suggested last week, while complimenting Gainesville District Supervisor George Stewart for his leadership. Right before voting to deny the Dulles Cloud South CPA initiation, Supervisor Boddye said we need to stop upending the Comprehensive Plan, and instead look “holistically.”
Did you think last week was the end of bad ideas that were seeded when the Digital Gateway was proposed? Unfortunately – NO.
Enter these assemblages of existing homes totaling 550 acres and thousands of homes in our county’s rural area: General Trimbles Lane “Manassas Preserve” – NOT!: General Trimbles CPA2026-00016 and Catharpin Valley Estates CPA2026-00003:
General Trimbles Lane assemblage CPA 2026-00016:
Catharpin Valley Estates assemblage CPA 2026-00003:
Have you noticed, NO OTHER COUNTY near, or far, is dealing with this new kind of backwards land use planning? Have you ever heard of long range land use planning by “assemblage?” Where residents, looking to leverage financial gain, propose changes outside the bounds of any sound professional land use planning goals. And the Prince William County Planning staff continues to recommend denial of these proposals!
In the land use history of Prince William County, there is no record of these kinds of assemblages — because these proposals were NON-STARTERS in our county before the 2000’s.
This broken process is how we got the Digital Gateway, which is apparently the gift that tries to keep on giving.
“On April 4, 2022, property owners in Catharpin Valley Estates requested to be included in the PW Digital Gateway CPA. • The Planning Office did not expand the PW Digital Gateway CPA to include Catharpin Valley Estates. These properties are not included in the CPA.”
-> Is Loudoun destroying their remaining rural areas? NO.
-> Is Fairfax destroying their remaining rural areas? NO.
-> Is Fauquier destroying their rural areas? NO.
Only Prince William County is dealing with massive proposals that do not comport with our Comprehensive Plan or any sound land use planning principals and tear apart our rural areas. While at the same time – RIGHT NOW – our county is on a campaign to incentivize our fledgling agro-tourism economy!
Like other localities in the commonwealth, Prince William County, with leadership from our Supervisors, has for the first time adopted a Purchase of Development Rights Program (PDR) to incentivize a rural economy to contribute to the growth of our county, a program that can ONLY exist if we say NO to CPAs that turn open space into housing sprawl development.
To approve this kind of dense housing development in our remaining rural areas, ignoring the directives of our Comprehensive Plan, would sabotage these efforts by both our Ag Tourism and Economic Development initiatives:
How can Prince William County implement a successful Ag Rural Economy if instead of planting flowers, produce, wineries, and other rural agro opportunities, our rural areas are filled with dense housing, more roads, transit, and all the other infrastructure demands of suburban sprawl?
No one is coming to pick pumpkins, strawberries, lavender, pet goats, etc. if you are racing down new roads between thousands of homes. The draw of agritourism IS the rural journey to the destination.
We are losing farming to data centers, transmission lines, and housing sprawl.
Also – We have two National Parks that are a part of our natural and cultural resource future, and our County just can’t seem to figure out how to leverage these very special assets.
The rural crescent WAS supported by both political parties in Prince William, before Ann Wheeler’s reign began in 2020. It was because this prescient land use tool, adopted in 1998 in a bipartisan vote of our Board of Supervisors, was both a sustainable environmental and a fiscally responsible policy. It focused development in areas WITH infrastructure. It was a no brainer.
There are now areas throughout the county, in ALL 7 districts, that deserve and need Reinvestment, Reimagination, and Redevelopment. Curious what that means? Check this out: 3Rs – PW Conservation Alliance
To ignore those areas and instead extend housing sprawl into the remaining rural area of Prince William County is a direct risk to the already impaired and struggling Occoquan Reservoir, a risk Fairfax Water Authority identified in the Comp Plan update. It would also result in significant long term and very expensive major transportation projects – bypassing transportation projects desperately needed elsewhere in the county.
JUST SAY NO to Costly Sprawl and YES to finally moving towards a sustainable Rural Economy and the 3Rs!
YES to a Rural economy
YES to PDR programs
YES to protecting our forests and wildlife
YES to protecting our ground water and drinking water supply watershed
YES to putting money and attention where it is needed
NO to Costly Sprawl
WHEN: Tuesday, July 21 – 2 PM
WHERE: McCoart Building – 1 County Complex Court, Woodbridge
WHAT: BOCS Meeting – Agenda items 11A and 11B
Please sign up virtually by 5 pm on Monday and speak at 2 PM public comment time on Tuesday. You can send an email to the Board. Use any of these talking points. Your comments can be brief.
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–> NOTE: We have NEW yard signs: NO MORE DATA CENTERS! As well as many other different yard signs advocating to protect our communities. Order one today, and start spreading the news to your neighbors!
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