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.
Well, that’s a done deal. 5-3 in favor of Avendale. The Hall of Shame membership is: Caddington, Covington, Jenkins, Nohe, and Stewart.
A big thanks to Stirrup, Principi, and May for keeping their pledge to preserve the Rural Crescent.
I found it amusing that the Board voted to reaffirm the Rural Crescent after voting to gut it with 500 additional houses and God knows how many more cars on the road.
Corey Stewart broke his pledge. http://www.vpap.org. Check it early and often.
Well, that’s all it takes? Come in last minute and use children as your cover????? I am disgusted with! This Board turns denies Finely but approves Avendale? Where is the sanity????
So does that mean Corey’s letter is a sham? I thought it was really a cheap shot to reaffirm the Rural Crescent after they mangled it. What hypocrites.
It was definitely NOT an astro-glide moment. Prince William County got ….oh how do you Americans say it…got bend over and had.
I am going to have to give special kudos to Supervisors May, Stirrup, and Principi for keeping their pledge, but more importantly, for just using their heads and doing the right thing. Common sense tells us we don’t need more cars on the road and we can’t afford new schools. I sure didn’t see Avendale offering to build a school.
I thought many of the Grizzly parents seemed very uninformed. They knew they wanted fields for their kids. I don’t blame them for that. I would too if my kid were still Grizzly age. But they don’t see at what cost, they don’t understand the ramifications to all citizens when bad development is approved, and that they will probably never see those fields.
Elena is helping to write this post. She is drained and depressed from all the backstabbing and deals that have happened in the past week. PWC denies legitimate business like Finley Asphalt that wanted to built in a properly zoned area that is a revenue benefit, not a tax drain like Avendale will be and then allows a monster mega-house development to intrude into the Rural Crescent. Not only is the camel’s nose under the tent, the entire frigging camel is in bed with Stewart, Jenkins, Caddigan, Nohe, and Covington.
Thank you to Supervisors Stirrup, May, and Principi. As for the other five I hope you ALL are prepared to have serious challengers come next year. Wake up Prince William!! Stop electing these same people time and time again. Of course some of them sell outs haven’t had challengers in the past. That MUST change! If tonight’s vote doesn’t prove that, then I don’t think anything will.
Very sad state of affairs in PWC tonight. 🙁
“Not only is the camel’s nose under the tent, the entire frigging camel is in bed with Stewart, Jenkins, Caddigan, Nohe, and Covington.”-Moonhowler
Sad but so true. I have visions of a JibJab video of this comment. 🙂
Tonight Corey threw more than John Stirrup under the bus, he tossed the Rural Crescent advocates who made sure he was elected under the bus along with John. What a guy. This might wrap things up – I think everyone who helped Corey get elected back when he first ran for Chairman is under the bus now. I hope they pick it up and throw it right back at him.
I watched the meeting online and was interested to see Corey face when he first brought up his silly resolution to “reaffirm” the Rural Crescent. First it was a hand to his collar, as if it had suddenly become to tight, and then his hand moved in front of his face to hide it – he was ashamed (but he did it anyway).
@Curious Cat
Ashamed as he should be!!
You summed it up nicely regarding the smart growth voters.
@Curious Cat
He should have been very ashamed. His name is on that pledge. And he knew before it ever happened how he was going to vote and who his buds in deception were going to be.
For me, the take home message was that Corey is willing to alienate his base of support in PWC, including his long term ally John Stirrup. Maybe Corey has something “bigger and better” planned or maybe he’s just arrogant, but it certainly looks like he’s not planning to run for Chairman in the next election.
Some supervisors expended much of the good will and capital they had with members of this blog last night. Others, who heretofor had very little, now have a good stock pile.
The supervisors’ email addresses are up top under BOCS contact here at Moonhowlings.
It was particularly troubling to see the chair disavow is pledge and subsequent letter which can be seen above in the post.
What a laughing stock this county is when it comes to smart land use decision. The votes that REALLY effect each and every persons quality of life.
Corey is the most vile kind of politician. How can he sleep at night? I guess when you have NO moral compass, sleep does not elude you.
why the hell are we up at 5:30 in the morning M-H? Maybe I should call you 😉
I just want to say that John Stirrup was stellar last night.
Yes, John Stirrup was a real hero last night.
Are there any maps on-line – or google coordinates that clearly show the rural cresent and the Avendale development in relation to it? I have tried and canot find any.
I am a life-long, devoted Republican who has rarely, rarely voted Democratic. 2011 may be one of those years. If the Prince William County Democrats nominate a good person for the Chair of the Board of County Supervisors (I have someone in mind) I will support and vote for that person. If they nominate a left-wing flake, I’ll write in someone else. I will not under any circumstances vote for Corey Stewart.
Thank you John Stirrup, Mike May and Frank Principi. By the way, I will not help campaign against Frank Principi.
NTK-I sure hope there other Republicans like yourself that are willing to vote for the candidate and NOT the party. Enough is enough!! Let’s not forget they(BoS) ALL need to be challenged next year. Of course we have to see where the redistricting will leave some of us in Gainesville & Brentsville districts next year.
I told my husband as we were watching the meeting that John Stirrup was going to be the hero. And I’m happy to say he did not disappoint.
I wonder if the BOCS thought they could pacify people by denying Finley in order to let Avendale slip in.
Elena, thank you for all your hard work. You have amazing strength and courage to even want to deal with this kind of puke.
I’m frustrated and mad just like everyone else. The citizens and taxpayers of Prince William County lost last night. Maybe, however, this is what we need to finally get the community motivated to clean out the Board of County Supervisors.
It may the opportunity to stop Corey Stewart’s political career and end his exploitation of people, including children like the Grizzlies last night. Throwing John Stirrup under the bus, who had been his closest supporter and ally, demonstrates that Corey Stewart has no loyalty to anyone or anything. He betrayed his land use supporters. Finley was conned into buying land from Stewart’s Brookfield Homes friends that Stewart and Covington knew couldn’t be used for an asphalt plant because of its proximity to Innovation and residential areas. Look closely at Corey’s “Virginia Rule of Law” campaign and his refusal to support measures to stop illegal immigration in PWC and Virginia that would be truly effective and LEGAL and you’ll see that Greg and HSM are in the process of being betrayed. Finally, last night, John Stirrup gets stabbed in the back. The Grizzlies will come to realize that they are now members of the club of Stewart victims when three or four years roll by and there are still no football fields.
A good con man makes you think he is completely on your side, then exploits you for what he wants, and discards you. Can anyone think of a better example than Corey Stewart?
PW Taxpayer,
I believe you can find the map of Avendale on the pwc website. Avendale is on the border of the RC, that is why it is an easy target. Its now just a game of dominio’s, watch as the RC collapsed, bit by bit, excuse after excuse.
@Elena
Unless we can clean out the BOCS in the 2011 election. Look what Greg wrote this morning:
http://www.bvbl.net/index.php/2010/08/03/avendale-rezoning-gets-approved/#more-3486
Perhaps Greg is coming to realize that Corey’s knife is slipping into his back right now.
My vision is a broad coalition of Moonhowlings and BVBL, Republicans and Democrats, to get rid of Corey Stewart. Not only defeat him here in 2011, but end his career so he doesn’t hurt anyone else in Virginia or anywhere.
Here is a map: http://www.pwconserve.org/issues/landuseplanning/rural_crescent/index.htm
Click on ther map for an enlarged view. The Avandale area is bordered by Vint Hill Road and Nokesville Road (Route 28)
As I understand the resolution the maximum number of homes is 295 single family homes. Here is the document: http://www.pwcgov.org/planning/documents/PLN2006-00781.pdf
Would someone correct if this is not correct?
It would seem that it is time to take on those BICS members who voted for this. I wonder how much any of them have received from the developers. Will have to check VPAP I guess, but who knows if that tells the truth.
@George S. Harris
George – the rezoning passed last night was for 295 homes. However, the Comprehensive Plan amendment they passed would allow up to about 700 homes, I think. Elena might have more accurate numbers. The developers’ traditional pattern has been to get something passed less than what they really want to make it easier to pass. They come back later claiming “market conditions” or something has changed, and ask for more. Developer-friendly Boards, as we have now, accomodate that.
Brookfield homes will not need another Comp Plan amendment to add about four hundred more homes and add even more density to the same parcel of land. They got the full Comp Plan amendment last night.
Anyone want to take bets that Brookfield will be back for more? Image, say, Corey manages to get reelected in PWC in 2011, is working on his 2013 Lt. Governor campaign and needs money. Corey takes a break from the campaign to visit the McCoart Building and arranges for his stooges in the Planning Office and Executive Management to write up a staff report recommending it?
Remember also, that if Corey wins in 2011, Gary Friedman will no longer be Chair of the Planning Commission. The Planning Commission is now mostly citizen-friendly. They are nominated by the supervisors, however. If this same bunch that voted for Avendale last night wins reelection to the BOCS in 2011, the Planning Commission will undergo fundamental change, and buy rubber stamps to approve whatever Stewart, Covington, Lubeley and Griffin want.
Okay, I watched, but help me understand:
1. Is the rural crescent no longer a crescent because a chunk just got bitten out and bumped up to high density with up to 700+ houses?
2. Who pays the other $22 million for the road realignment after the developers kick in $6 million in cash and in kind donations?
3. When the land becomes available for possible athletic fields in 7 years (or more) — after road realignment and construction of 3 schools — who pays for the land to be made into fields at a cost of $1 million per field?
4. Did the school board want these proposed schools or not?
I love seeing youth participate in and make their voices heard in any civic event, but it was pitiful hearing a child plea for the supervisors to “vote for the Grizzly development” when he’ll be graduating from high school by the time the land is available, and even then, it won’t be available to a single Grizzly unless fields are built, and by whom?
After they spoke, Mr. Covington said the Grizzlies just wanted to be heard on the issue of the lack of athletic field playing space in PWC. All I heard each speaker say was vote for this particular development so that they could have these particular fields for these particular children to play on.
@cindy b
1. This rezoning is a big part of advancing that agenda.
2. You
3. You
4. No
Sigh
TP, yes there is one. I will load it onto the website for you to download. It is a pdf. You will have to enlarge it quite a bit to be able to see the various codes.
Lets recap:
Stewart: stabs initial support base in back, sets up kids for disappointment, collects campaign contribution from applicant, check, check and check, everyone knows its time for him to go.
Wally: see previous
Nohe: ibid
Jenkins: Do we really need to act surprised
Maureen: Ah, finally the fun one. I hope those who had favorable opinions of the Queen of Dumfries now see her for what she truly is. The only question that remains is what was her asking price and how much will the PWC taxpayers have to pay for it.
TP, its there at the bottom of the post. Zoning Map of Prince William County. click on it.
I got it from going through county files. It was quite well hidden.
Concise, perfect response.
I sent this youtube video to Corey in response to his “reaffirmation” of the rural crescent.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kfdpcrOgUp4
Did anyone see the kid who complained that his school had 9 trailers and then he asked for sports fields and Avendale. There is a real disconnect that this zoning change is going to create enough houses to build a new school. If this kid thinks he has trailers now…just wait.
They were real cute but they were being used as puppets. Of course they want football fields. There are enough decent folks out there that there should be some donations that don’t come with such a high price tag. Why can’t there be a few partnerships formed to help these kids out. Surely some farmer has some land not being used.
@Elena
“The Outlaw Josey Wales” – one of my favorites. We own the DVD and I’m going to watch it again soon after Elena’s reminder.
Thanks George that helped. I google mapped from there.
I don’t have a sense of scale here. Are we talking about the triangle of woods that sticks up along Nokesville and Vint Hill accross from the mall and surrounded on two sides by existing – pretty high density developments– kitty corner to the the Broad Run golf club or are we talking about the whole big thing between Vint Hill and Nokesville down to say Schaeffeer Lane – such that there is no cresent at all but two separate limited development areas?
I will say this, I am increasingly — very — concerned that the County is again creeping toward the destruction of historic property. Actually this is battlefield property. Much of the focus of the battle of of Kettle Run is right accross the street and south on down Nokesville. Too much of this has already lost to the east and of course toward Bristow Station which is less than a mile up Bristow. We have an obligation to protect this privately owned property and its view sheds from any further development. For me, its not just about development density anymore. Its about our obligation to our history and our future generations. We are again on a very slippery slope.
NTK,
You will laugh, but my husband and his friends know almost EVERY line in that movie. It is hilarious watching it with them! We have the DVD too. It was my husband who suggested it after I told him what happend last night with the “affirmation”.
@PWC Taxpayer
We agree on yet another issue, PWC. Big time, in fact.
TP, I don’t know. I can’t visualize it myself. I share your concerns though. (earth rotating backkwards now 😉 )
It is unfortunate that it took something like this action but it is refreshing to see so many people with usually divergent opinions who can unite in a common cause both from this site as well as another one. It kind of reminds me of the Arabian proverb (or Chinese depending on your viewpoint) that “the enemy of my enemy is my friend.”
Whether one agrees with current politics at the national level, there really is little that a group of people can influence since one can only vote for state elections or local elections and can’t influence another jurisdiction. But as it has been said on the blog (from Tip O’Neal), all politics are local, which is why the concept of state rights is important in our constitution. One can influence government the closer it is to the electorate.
I can clearly remember the time that Marty Nohe stood on my porch and talked about control of growth as the result of my question. At the time I was represented by a high growth advocate and the destruction of our natural resources has always been an important issue with me. Well, I have slowly losing my support for Mr. Nohe over some of his voting and I feel he will experience a backlash come next election.
The point is that even in this negative action, I am heartened that sometimes there is hope for us if we can concentrate on what we believe in common even if we disagree about the method. And we should also understand that on some issues, we can only hope for an accommodation. (Even on divisive issues, we can make incremental improvements.)
So, what are the “real numbers” for Avendale? Please provide appropriate citation for your response.
If you take the Avendale “rezoning” application at face value, 295 homes and 2950 vpd, if you add in the additional acreage from the map amendment and extrapolate based on County definitions (not Lubely’s fantasy math), 507 homes and 5070 vpd.
@Mom
I don’t have a clue what you have said–you might as well have written it in Sanskrit.
What is “2950 vpd” , where is the map and map amendment, etc, etc, etc.
@George
All this information is included in the staff reports, which are lengthy but a must-read if you want to understand the issues. However, you can read the excellent points John Stirrup raised in a letter to his constituents explaining his concerns about the rezoning:
1. The Prince William County Planning Commission denied both the Comprehensive Plan Amendment and the rezoning on November 4, 2009.
2. The Comprehensive Plan Amendment (CPA) includes 178.84 acres while the Avendale rezoning only includes 125.3 acres. The remaining 53.54 acres could yield as much as 214 additional homes [in addition to the 295 included in the rezoning] bringing the total potential homes to 509 in the area affected by the CPA, if both the CPA and the rezoning are approved by the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS). If the CPA were not approved, a total of 17 homes could exist with its current zoning.
3. While the 77 acres are proposed to be granted to the County and could be used for two schools and a park, it is unclear that the value of the land is sufficient to comply with the recommended proffers. The staff report contends that the applicant’s valuation of the property donated “is far in excess of the land values in the Rural Crescent where the property is located.”
4. The 77 acres to be granted to the County will remain in the Rural Crescent which limits development to one home per 10 acres of land. The construction of two schools and a park on this property is too intense for the Rural Crescent when only 7 homes would be allowed under its current zoning.
5. While there is a proposal to provide the County with land for schools and parks, there is no money provided for the construction of the new schools. Residents would have to pay for the construction of the new schools though tax dollars. The Prince William County School Board is against this application. (see statement below)
6. The applicant has proffered to give the County $100,000 for park purposes. To give some perspective on how small this amount is, each turf field at Long Park cost approximately $1 million. County tax payers or sports groups would have to fund the expensive construction of any proposed park in this area.
7. The County has for several years planned for the realignment of Vint Hill Road however, the County has never incorporated a re-planning of this area in the Comprehensive Plan. This area has always been intended to remain rural.
8. The Applicant has only committed providing half of the cost associated with the realignment of Vint Hill Road . Taxpayers will undoubtedly be asked to fund the remaining portion. It is also unclear when the ultimate design of Vint Hill Road would be built.
@Not the Red Queen
Thanks–at this point in my life I don’t have time to read all this. But suffice it to say I don’t see this as a “wrist slitter”. It seems to me that folks don’t want Prince William County to grow–they want it to stay some kind of rural, pastoral place and that simply is not going happen. I don’t like the traffic congestion either, but that is the result of piss poor planning on the part of the BOCS for many years, along with VDOT and the unwillingness of the legislature to provide funding for decent roads. The BOCS has a Planning Commission, but I am convinced it serves as window dressing–nothing more. From what little I know, the BOCS more often than not does not take the advice of the Planning Commission and is willing to change the Comprehensive Plan willy-nilly depending on who is greasing their palm I suspect. Many allegations regarding this palm greasing, but I have seen little hard evidence.
[…] for close to 700 homes. John Stirrup was completely thrown under the bus by Stewart on this. Even the ladies who started Anti-BVBL are in total agreement with BVBL on this. And the developers whipped out the ole “bus in the kids to cry about how they need the […]
@George S. Harris
You asked for information on “… the “real numbers” for Avendale? Please provide appropriate citation for your response.” If you can’t even be bothered to read the points John Stirrup outlined for your convenience, much less the staff report, your credibility is zero.
At least Corey is no longer dividing the community. He’s now solidly united everyone – against him and his Gang of Five (except for a few developer interests and Grizzly families who haven’t noticed the knives in their backs yet).
Here’s another Republican blog attacking Stewart:
http://www.tooconservative.com/?p=7589
The Gang of Five must be thinking that this will blow over by Election Day in 2011. Let me assure them that Avendale will be as much in the forefront of people’s thinking then as it is now, even if I have to do the publicity alone (which I don’t anticipate being necessary).
I made a high quality digital recording of BOCS meeting last night, have saved everything from the Grizzlies’ web site, etc. This betrayal will follow each member of the Gang of Five through the remainder of their, hopefully very short, poltical careers.
Mr. Harris:
Sorry, I too often presume that everyone understands the nomenclature. Red Queen laid out last night’s questions very succintly. As to VPD, it stands for Vehicle Trips Per Day, in this instance based on the Planning Office’s standard formula for residential housing.
My crack about Lubely’s fantasy math goes to the fact that the actual density for the development, after you subtract the 77 acres, is 6.11 houses per acre or roughly 7260 sq. foot lots. In reality, after you subtract roads, open space, easements, etc. they will be lucky if they get 600 sq ft. lots.
Lastly, as regards greasing of the palms, a straightforward example/piece of evidence is the application by Malloy Hyundai. If you follow the dates on the county DAPS schedule and the figures on VPAP (taken directly from the State Board of Elections) you will find the application was filed, shortly thereafter a contribution made by Malloy to Chairman Stewart, the application approved and a second contribution made. I would give you dates and amounts but VPAP is down right now. My notes indicate the first contribution was $3000 and the second $1500.
Oops, 6000 sq. ft. lots
Since I know that in the past, Mr. and Mrs. Nohe have read and posted on this blog, it would be nice if Mr. Nohe came on to give us insight on his vote. Not a requirement but if he has any information that would be useful, it would help.
That would be very nice if he were to do that, Rez. I am not counting on it, however.
It has been my experience that Mr. Nohe is not as protective of the Rural Crescent as several other supervisors.