I recieved this e-mail update from a concerned citizen. Apparently, the Comprehensive Plan update will now include NEW land use designations, Centers of Community, that would bring in MORE high density housing projects to PWC. Umm, aren’t we experiencing the fallout from previous poor land use decisions? Do we really need MORE houses or instead maybe should focus on bringing high quality businesses to PWC so people can work closer to where they live? We are a bedroom community because our elected officials have not been able to induce more businesses to open up shop here. THESE land use decisions ARE the quality of life issues that we all must deal with on a daily basis. Land use decisions are about land convservation, parks for our children, clean air, clean drinking water, transportation, quality schools, and how much we pay in taxes!
All: If you’re concerned about the issues described below, please
attend (and, if possible, address) the 7 pm 8 October (Wednesday)
hearing of the Prince William County Planning Commission at the Board of
Supervisors Chambers in the McCoart Building of the County Complex off
the PW County Parkway. I intend to be there to speak and would be happy
to go early to sign up by 6:30 pm anyone else who would like to speak.
Let me know if you’d like me to do this for you. Each speaker is
limited to three minutes. If you cannot be there, and even if you can,
you might want to send a message to the eight members of the Board of
Supervisors to share with them your views:
http://www.pwcgov.org/default.aspx?topic=040050000940000442
If you have any questions, please let me know. And please share this
message with any of your friends/neighbors who you think would be
interested. Ralph
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The county is proposing sweeping changes to how it accommodates future
growth by designating 19 locations in the county as “Centers of
Community” (CoCs). CoCs are large areas (reportedly about one square
mile) that are specifically planned for high-density mixed use projects,
particularly high-density housing. Each covers a half-mile radius and
is supposed to be walkable and environmentally sensitive.
The screenshot at the bottom of this e-mail, which I took off the county
website a couple days ago, summarizes the latest version of the plan. I
count a total of 19 planned CoCs — 11 in the Haymarket, Gainesville,
Bristow, Manassas area, and 8 at the east end of the county. If each of
these centers builds 3,000 homes, which is about the same density level
as the infamous 2005-06 Brentswood Project, and assuming the county’s
average of three people per house, that would total 171,000 more people,
a 50% increase in the population of the entire county.
See this link for more info:
http://www.co.prince-william.va.us/default.aspx?topic=040073001410004148
You might be interested to know that two of the main authors of this
plan are leading members of the Prince William County developer
community who reportedly have a direct business interest (some might
call it a major conflict-of-interest) in land involved in the plan,
owning large parcels within some of the areas proposed for development.
You might also be interested to know that making this plan part of the
county’s Comprehensive Plan, as proposed, will effectively bypass the
former rezoning approval and public hearing process, and fast-track
future residential development projects for expedited approval.
I believe that nothing like this should be allowed to slip thru without
thorough citizen input and thorough study and publicizing of its impact
on: 1) traffic congestion, 2) overcrowding in schools, 3) the tax base,
4) property values in existing neighborhoods (oversupply drives down the
value of your home), and 5) the environment. Note: Relative to the tax
base, all but the most expensive homes in the county are a net drain on
county services and tax revenue. This means that ultimately as a
taxpayer you indirectly subsidize all the other, non-high-income
housing, which the county, already glutted with thousands of foreclosed
and unsold homes, doesn’t even need. (By the way, those thousands of
foreclosed and unsold homes can themselves become a significant tax
burden on county taxpayers)
It’s ironic that the county is bringing this up for discussion at the
very time that the U.S. is in the middle of its worst financial crisis
since the Great Depression, a crisis brought on by, among other things,
massive housing oversupply, predatory and dishonest lending practices by
many mortgage lenders to people who couldn’t afford the homes they were
being sold, and the financially toxic effect of these millions of
now-non-performing (bad) loans on the books of banks and other
investors. (Forbes magazine reported 2.2 million foreclosures in the
U.S. in 2007 alone.)
<http://www.co.prince-william.va.us/default.aspx?topic=040073001410004148
