4 of our current supervisors signed a pledge to protect the Rural Crescent by
1. voting to support the Rural Crescent current minimum 10 acre residential zoning and
2. opposing the expansion of sewer within the border of the Rural Crescent as outlined in the Prince William County Comprehensive Plan.
The 4 supervisors are: Corey Stewart, John Stirrup, Mike May, and Frank Principi
Corey Stewart took the opportunity to enclose a letter with his pledge. In the letter he sent along with the pledge, Chairman Stewart said:
I have been an active and passionate advocate for protecting the rural crescent since day 1 of my entry into Prince William County politics.
Here are the links:
Corey’s letter is online here.
http://ruralcrescent.org/07pledge2.htm
The main pledge page is here.
http://ruralcrescent.org/pledges2007.htm
Supervisor Stirrup’s office sent out a very detailed letter to constituents this afternoon. He asked very probing questions at the BOCS meeting tonight. I suspect his vote will reflect those feelings.
UPDATE:
Corey Stewart Throws John Stirrup Under the Bus
In 5 to 3 vote, the BOCS approved the comprehensive plan amendment to turn 12 homes into several hundred. Stewart, Covington, Nohe, Caddigan, and Jenkins voted in favor of the change. In an astounding move of hypocrisy, these 5 supervisors voted to “reaffirm ” their commit to preserving the Rural Crescent. What a joke.
Full recap of the BOCS Meeting at Insidenova.com
And the Best Hypocrisy Award:
After the vote on the comp plan amendment and rezoning, the board approved a resolution stating its commitment to keeping the rest of the Rural Crescent rural in character. Board Chairman Corey Stewart said Tuesday’s vote on Avendale does not set a precedent for future high impact development in the Rural Crescent.
George,
I am not for keeping PWC Rural, that time is long gone. But I am an advocate for intelligent and well thought out growth. There is no real “rule” to follow when it comes to land use in PWC. We have a unique opportunity to do it right, we have an advantage over FFX which is now trying to create open space where there is none.
$25,000 Gainesville Associates LLC (Columbia, MD)
$20,000 Malcolm W Cook (Woodbridge)
$11,077 Prince William Taxpayers Alliance (Bristow)
$11,000 Finley Asphalt & Sealing Inc (Manassas Park)
$10,307 F Gary Garczynski (Clifton)
$10,000 Comstock Partners LC (Reston)
$10,000 Potomac Nationals Baseball (Woodbridge)
Would anyone like to guess what those figures above are?
What I meant by no real “rule” is that the BOCS makes it up as they go along, citizens NOR developers understand how to play the game, unless of course, you are a big enough housing developer, than PWC has a clear “open for business” sign.
Or how about these? Hint…it is a continuation of the above list:
$10,000 Bobby J Surface Catharpin
$7,500 CR Associates Lorton
$7,500 Roadside Development Washington, DC
$7,000 Charles H Robbins Clifton
$6,000 A & R Foods Inc Springfield
$5,021 Broad Run Recycling LLC Manassas
$5,000 Preston C Caruthers Arlington
$5,000 Allan D Cors McLean
$5,000 Gary D Rappaport Vienna
$3,750 William C Latham Haymarket
$3,500 Theodore D Britt Great Falls
$3,000 SMJ Management LLC Gainesville
$3,000 Stafford Marriott TownPlace Suites Stafford
$2,500 Area Development Group Inc Richmond
$2,000 Branscome Paving Co Manassas
$2,000 John S Groupe, IV Alexandria
$2,000 Land Design Consultants Manassas
$2,000 Prince William Marine Sales Woodbridge
$1,500 John O Gregory Manassas
$1,500 Gregory Construction Co Inc Manassas
$1,000 Dominion Towing & Recovery Manassas
$1,000 Geotechnical Consulting & Testing Inc Woodbridge
$1,000 Mary Ann Ghadban Gainesville
$1,000 Jefferson Plaza Partners LLC Manassas
$1,000 JK Enterprise Landscape Supply LLC Annandale
$1,000 Lake Ridge Nursery Manassas
$1,000 John D Long Newington
$1,000 Malloy Lincoln Mercury Inc Woodbridge
$1,000 Malloy Woodbridge LLC Woodbridge
$1,000 Mike Garcia Homes Woodbridge
$1,000 Sameer S Patel Bethesda, MD
$1,000 Rappaport Company McLean
$1,000 RK Realty Clifton
$1,000 Stanley Martin Companies Inc Reston
$1,000 Frederick R Taylor Fairfax
$1,000 Trinity IV Clifton
There are more on the list but eveyrone can do their own homework. Another hint: think war chest.
As I said in my post, this Republican led BOS seems to be going down the same path the politically tone deaf and developer beholden Loudoun County BOS took in the 2003-2007 term. They were summarily booted from office. Virginia needs serious campaign finance reform and much tougher conflict of interest and ethics laws. We also need independent prosecutors at the state level to be able to handle politically charged cases. The Commonwealth’s Attorneys are much too in bed with the local powers that be. Even if something truly stinks here, there’s no way paul Ebert would do anything about it.
Corey’s donations per vpap.org?
All should take the time to visit the website and “follow the money”.
http://www.vpap.org
@Not the Red Queen
I could give a rat’s behind less what you think about my credibiitly. I read through the stuff you provided, but can’t find any reason to read all the staff work, etc, etc, etc. By my calculations, 205 houses on 125.3 acres comes out to lots that are 18,458 sq feet or almost half an acre–not counting stuff out for streets. How Stirrup gets 214 houses out of 53.5 acres remains a mystery. I guess they are going to be buidling townhouses on it or perhaps apartments/multistory condos.
Its 295 homes on 48.33 acres, 77 acres of the 125.33 goes to the county.
The 214 homes on 53.5 acres is the maximum number allowable at the high end of the SRL scale of 4 homes per acre which is what the developer asked for in the Comprehensive Map amendment.
@Lafayette
Funny thing about it is that when the election was happening in 2007, I compared VPAP for Sharon Pandak and Corey Stewart and Ms. Pandak got more at the time (I recall) from real estate interests than Corey Stewart.
@Rez
In 2007 Corey’s crackdown on illegal immigration was his major platform. I recall the comparison of vpap as you did above. I just can’t keep up with all the nonsense anymore.
WHEREAS, this is a request to rezone +/- 125.3 acres from A-1, Agricultural, to PMR, Planned Mixed Residential, for a maximum of 295 single-family detached dwelling units with waivers and modifications. The proposed gross density is 2.35 du/ac, and the net density is approximately 2.36 du/ac.
I believe this comes out to 18, 536 sq ft per lot–almost half an acre per dwelling unit.
I think there is a lot of smoke and mirrors math going on.
I think where the ARC has screwed up is advocating no growth, despite Elena’s comment to the contrary.
If we have all this proof of vote buying, when is someone going to investigate? It apparently can’t be Paul Ebert since Loudon Insider claims Ebert is in bed with Stewart ET AL. My God, we live in a political cess pool!!!
Is recall a possibility? Can’t the BOCS be taken to court for not listening to their own Planning Commission? Do we have no recourse until the next election? Or are we going to just set around and piss and moan?
A few days ago people were ready to lynch John Stirrup, now he is the man in the white hat. How does this happen? Fickleness (is there such a word?) I vouchsafe say.
Interesting list of contributions Moon-howler. Here’s some connections I spotted off the top of my head:
$20,000 Malcolm W Cook (Woodbridge) – War Museum (proposed)
$11,000 Finley Asphalt & Sealing Inc (Manassas Park) – Finley Asphalt Plant (denied)
$10,307 F Gary Garczynski (Clifton) — Reid’s (approved)
$10,000 Comstock Partners LC (Reston) – new baseball stadium for the Potomac Nationals (proposed) and rumored to be interested in a new partnership forming to develop the Harbor Station at Cherry Hill development (approved)
$10,000 Potomac Nationals Baseball (Woodbridge) — New baseball stadium for the Potomac Nationals (proposed)
$10,000 Bobby J Surface Catharpin — opposed to Finley Asphalt Plant
$7,500 Roadside Development Washington, DC — Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center (approved)
$6,000 A & R Foods Inc Springfield — War Museum (proposed)
$5,021 Broad Run Recycling LLC Manassas – industrial recycling facility near Victory Lakes (approved)
$5,000 Preston C Caruthers Arlington — Belmont Development (approved)
$5,000 Allan D Cors McLean — War Museum (proposed)
$5,000 Gary D Rappaport Vienna — Bristow Shopping Center and others, appointed to Corey Stewart’s economic development task force
$2,000 Branscome Paving Co Manassas — opposed to Finley Asphalt Plant
$2,000 John S Groupe, IV Alexandria — Caton’s Crossing
@Lafayette
I wasn’t defending Corey Stewart by the way. I was just saying that the opposition might have been worse but it may not have been worse. We can go only on our research at the time.
By the way, the immigration issue neither gained my support nor lost it. Although for some reason my recollection for my thinking was that I would prefer we asked people their status rather than the opposing view at the time. As I recall, Ms. Pandak talked about going after employers (I agree) but also to go after landlords. I thought that I didn’t like making someone unemployed, starving and homeless too. It seemed a little cold to me but it didn’t sway my voting.
It was mainly about conservation issues and unbridled growth for me. I addressed the issue with Mr. Connaughton and Mr. Nohe just previous to that time and got some reply that BOCS was powerless to stop development if it was in the Comprehensive Plan. So when I asked, “but doesn’t the BOCS approve the Comprehensive Plan and amend it, why are they amending it for further development.” No answer came for that question.
@Curious Cat
Nice work. Unfortunately your connections are not nice at all.
I hope people are paying attention to the “homework” being done here.
Mr. Harris:
It’s relatively elementary math.
If you are having computational or conceptual issues I would suggest contacting:
Carol Knight
Math Supervisor
Prince William County Schools
(703) 791 – 8849
She seems to believe her dumbed down approach can make anyone a math success.
Thanks Lafayette. I just listed some obvious connections. I can only imagine what might turn up if someone actually researched this.
George,
There is a comprehensive plan that outlines the development area, we have 40 thousand homes that are approved but not built. Avendale is the perfect example of poor land use decision.
As far as John Stirrup goes, I am willing to compliment someone when they do the right thing. That does not negate comments I have made in the past, but John has been, and remains a consistent advocate for smart land use. I don’t agree with him on many other issues, but this one I do.
“I can only imagine what might turn up if someone actually researched this.”
You would find that the owners of parcels involved in applications like the Lake Manassas CEC made contributions just prior to approval of their applications, in that instance large ones to Wally and smaller ones to Corey (hint: look at RER Madison Square Associates LLC, or Merrifield Garden Center)
George,
The 295 home is the bare minimum. Ultimately, within the CPA, they could have up to 500 and possibly 700 with an additional parcel(adjacent and land locked) they are sure to purchase now. The reality is that only 17 WOULD have been allowed. The Rural Crescent has served this county well, especially in the last building boom. Our forclosure mess, had developer built ALL the housed they would have wanted, including in the RC, would not have been a bubble bursting, but a nuclear explosion. The tax base the county earns from single family homes, in order to be a net positive after required services is around half a million. I doubt these homes will reach that threshhold.
As for John Stirrup, I compliment him for doing the right thing. He was a hero last night because he wouldn’t let people schmooze him or the board. He came back at them and demanded answers. He honored his pledge when it would have been all too easy to have gone the way of his Republican buds. Also, the Grizzlies are home-based in his district, not Covingtons, for the most part. He will take some political heat for his NO vote.
I will be the first person to jump all over John Stirrup when I don’t agree with him or when I think he is wrong. (as everyone who knows me knows) However, I also reserve the right to praise him when I feel he has looked out for his constituents and done the right thing. In this case, I praise him. I hope I will have the pleasure of doing so again.
@Rez
I didn’t think you were defending Corey. My point was Corey was too busy with immigration and did say too much on land use issues that election, but certainly had in the election before.
I wish more people were looking at the big picture and not a single issue. Land use issues and our Comp Plan is quite important to me and keep on my radar.
I’m not the least bit surprised your question to the BoS went unanswered. Sir Sean is a dirty word in my book. I bet there’s a couple of others that would rather not hear that name.
corr
My point was Corey was too busy with immigration and did *NOT* say too much on land use issues that election, but certainly had in the election before.
Rez, it isn’t so much that candidates take real estate money. I don’t think real estate money is any more tainted than Burger King money or any other special interest group. It is how that candidate conducts him or her self after taking that campaign money. Strings are very ugly.
I actually don’t see what Sharon Pandek has to do with anything. She isn’t playing loosy goosy with the votes like Corey is.
Everyone was a winner on my little quiz. I guess I will have to toughen up those test questions. Cat, you really spread some sunshine on all those people. I wonder which ones haven’t ponied up yet. There is just under $200,000 in the war chest right now. That sounds like a mighty assault on Prince William County.
Perhaps there are other plans…..Aw Shucks….tell me it ain’t so.
@Moon-howler
I just used the previous election and my thought processes to say that I thought I was fooled by my research. I wasn’t trying to bring Sharon Pandak into the conversation other than she was the opposition.
@Lafayette
My bad for misinterpreting your earlier post. That’s why I much prefer verbal communication rather than electronic.
@Elena
Where does it say that 295 is the “bare minimum”? And same for 500 and 700?
@Mom
I suspect you need the “Math for Dummies”. I refer you back to the action of the BOCS. 43,560 sqft per acre/2.36 du/ac = 18,536 sq ft per lot. Is that so hard to understand? Or do you have your head in some undisclosed location?
Perhaps you missed the part about “295 homes on 48.33 acres” because 77 acres of the 125.33 total acreage will not have housing constructed on it.
125.33-77=48.33
48.33/295=.17
1 acre=43560 sq. ft.
43560 x .17 = 7405.2 sq. ft.
gross density of the developed property 6.11 houses per acre
@Mom
You must be reading a different document than the one I am reading.
Hormonal levels rising in here a little? I don’t know the principals so I thought I would be “gender-neutral”.
Lot size was listed with the application. 5000 sq ft with 43-56 ft of road frontage. Carriage style house with optional garage building in rear.
@anona
But what did the BOCS “approve”? Where can I find the application?
I don’t know for sure how cozy Stewart is with Ebert, but I wouldn’t hold your breath waiting for him to look into anything here. Loudoun’s CA Jim PLowman sat on his ass and looked the other way when the last BOS was pulling the same kind of crap, but issued all sorts of bogus opinions against slow growthers. There’s a HUGE double standard when it comes to this stuff in Loudoun. Looks like you guys are now in the same boat. The Gang of Five you mention is exactly the terminology Scott York used to get rid of four of the five super pro-growthers in 2007. Take back your government, but please select opposition candidates carefully – sometimes the solution is just as bad!
George,
Look here at the staff report. I can’t cut and paste as it is a PDF. You will find specific numbers. I hope this helps clarify my position.
http://www.pwconserve.org/issues/landuseplanning/avendale.pdf
Loudon,
Corey WAS chosen to be the developer of sane growth……………………………….we see how that worked out.
I expect Corey and Ebert do not like each other. I expect Ebert considers Corey a flea.
@Elena
Thanks Elena–I think I am too old to understand all of this so am dropping out of the conversation.
Dear George,
It IS sooo confusing, land use is hard to understand, that is why it is so easy to screw citizens without them knowing. Take a rest and relax. Life goes on and the most important part of it is our families.
@Elena
I love ya like a sister, but I think your comment here is very patronizing. I choose not to understand because I don’t have much of a dog in this fight–doesn’t affect where I live and taxes will go up any way with or without Avendale. If they build as many houses as people predict, I suspect they will go belly up and then the issue may be moot.
Sorry George, it certainly was not intended as patronizing.
I am going to throw in here and say that all the land use issues are totally confusing. I rely on Elena and a couple other people for all my information. They have been involved for years and I am fairly new to the game. I had no idea about some of the terms MoM was throwing around. (the vehicle acronym I would have never gotten). I have had to ask a LOT of questions during the asphalt plant issue and the more recently, the Grizzly fields.
Thanks to all of you all who have propped me up so I can report on these issues for discussion. Couldn’t have done it without you.