Check out this monstrosity being built on Silver Lake, County property, leased by the Rainbow Riding Club. Citizens are wondering why there are no building permits for this construction. So we called, and this is what we were told…………………………….”since this is county property, we will not cite ourselves for improper building practices”.
WHAT????????????????????? So, what this tells us is that only regular citizens like you and I are held to a county standard. Really?
What may be most troubling, is WHERE was the legally required public hearing when this contract was created? Citizens were denied the right to comment on what would happen with THEIR public park land, public park land we all paid for through the Dominion Vally rezoning process.
This construction is on county PUBLIC PARK land that was leased to Rainbow Riding, but who is financing this building? If it is Rainbow Riding, well, they are a private entity LEASING public land, since when were they allowed exemption from building codes? Furthermore in their contract with the county, it states the exact opposite.
Pursuant the contract:
p2 b. All such improvements shall be constructed in a good and workmanlike manner, in accordance with all applicable governmental laws, ordinances and regulations, pursuant to approved site plans and building plans and therefore (if applicable ordinances and regulations require the approval of such plans), and after licensor obtains all required permits thereafter.
Where is the Environmental Impact Study? Where is the Public Facility Review? Where is the building permit? WHAT is this facility for? Is this just for private use by Rainbow Riding or will they charge a fee to rent it out for bigger horse events? If so, was there a traffic impact analysis completed?
What is very worrisome, when reviewing the contract with Rainbow Riding club, is that our county has basically given our public land away with little to no restrictions of what uses are allowed on County land.
p2 3. Improvements to Property. Licensee shall have the right to construct improvements upon the Licensee Area, which improvements include, but shall not be limited to, fencing, paddocks, barns, run-in sheds, an outdoor riding ring, equipment sheds, and an indoor facility containing an indoor ring, observation area, office suite…….
oh, but wait, if Rainbow Riding allows use of this facility for something other than passive recreation:
p4 e. In the event he Licensee desires to use or permit the use or permit the use of any portion of the property which shall be served by the Access Road for uses OTHER than passive recreation or/or equestrian trails, licensee shall so notify Licensor…….and good faith measures will be taken to eliminate or mitigate adverse impacts from use of access road.
In a nutshell, what this tells me, is that citizens have very little recourse to control what happens on 45 acres of Silver Lake, 45 acres intended for Passive Use only. Since when did County land become subject to private use only? This is a very disturbing and growing trend.
Finally, what disgusts me the most, is during the debate to DOUBLE the size of Silver Lake for public use via a partnership with Bull Run Mountain Conservancy, a public park intended for ALL citizens, the big push back from several Supervisors was concern over public land being “privatized”. And yet, time and time again, since the BOCS denied the BRMC application, you have seen that VERY “privitization” impact through the long term lease agreements with the Rainbow Riding Club(Silver Lake), Virginia Soccer Association (Witta Tract), and finally the Grizzlies Football (Avendale).
Prince William Conservation and Bull Run Conservancy were villifed for working towards this amazing public/private partnership, but in our local government, hyprocrisy thrives I guess.
The lack of building permits is not a big deal. A building permit is a document issued by the approving authority that signifies that the County and the Health Department (if required) have reviewed and approved the land use and building construction. Construction inspections are also logged against the building permit number. If the County has a equivalent internal way of ensuring the plans were approved and the inspections get conducted, then it would be OK. I bet they don’t have any other way other than the traditional building permit process for non-County projects. This answers just a small part of your post though.
Ok, how about that missing pubic hearing?
How about the raping of a passive recreation area?
How about the horses that relieve themselves over by the picnic tables when people are trying to eat?
It sounds to me like Silver Lake has become a little self serving for some of our supervisors’ special interest groups.
The builing permit in itself is definately not the most major issue, you are right. But I do know that the historical commission found rare resources on that property. Where is that review,among all the other reviews, where is the EIS, that is definately important!
It irritates me that someone or several someones pulled a fast one. This monstrosity is not part of passive recreation. It destroys the mood of the entire place. Why is a leasee allowed to put up something like this.
Why not just pitch a big tent.
The govt is in the wrong. It’s like saying; yes we know we made a law that says you can’t discriminate against someone on sex, race, religion, etc. But, WE can do it because we’re the govt.
If govt can’t follow it’s own laws why expect people to do the same?
I think Montclair should secede from PWC. Just need 10% of the voters I think….
Lovely, already working on turning Silver Lake into a “SplashDown” of sorts. Only horses instead of swimming kiddos. We are looking for a park to have a portion of our high school reunion in. Silver Lake was mentioned by some, but they had no idea all that’s gone on there. At this point any county facility is off our list of venues for a family funtion. Way to go BoS, et. al.!!
Where is Mom?
Well, I hope they bring in the diving donkeys that once upon a time highlighted the PWC Fair. 😉
You Rang????
Sorry, so busy with other aspects of “County Planning” that I missed this one. That being said, at first blush this looks like another PWC Stealth project and distinctly smells of Wally and the Nokesville Horse Society. My guess would be that several park authority members have their fingerprints on this as well as other members of the BOCS. I’ll take a look through some of notes but I don’t recall an exemption from the building permit requirement. Moreover, when/where was the public facilities review? If PWC is on the one hand saying its their property and exempt from a building permit, is there position with regard to the public facilities review that it is exempt because it belongs to Rainbow Riding Club? Can’t have your cake and eat it too, although that is par for the course in PWC. Elena give me a call when you get a chance.
The County is not exempt from the building code even on their own property. The building code requires a building permit be issued prior to construction. However, the permit is a merely piece of paper indicating that all proper procedures were followed before construction is authorized to begin. If all proper procedures were completed and approved the issuance of a paper permit is a formality. The real issue is “were all proper procedures completed?”.
BTW, Lafayette, don’t hold your breath waiting for the diving donkeys. As a result of complaints regarding animal cruely and as part of the county’s subsidy package to the fair, those donkeys were retired from show business and put to work in the county transportation office. Unfortunately they are now used for transportation planning and not pulling hay wagons.
It appears that someone thought they could sneak something in during the winter when the lake is closed. This building is just wrong and compromises the integrity of passive recreation.
Of course, it was predictable considering how many people fought against the deed that mandated passive recreation. We knew someone was up to something.
This makes me sick. We used the lake a lot. The entire atmosphere and ambiance of going to the lake is ruined. And it is obvious that it was stealth. The zoning office was blindsided and caught off guard.
Shame on those who allowed this to happen. A tall Walmart sized building at one end and a freaking middle school at the other end. And meanwhile, a picnic includes essence of horse crap.
Don’t get me wrong. I am not one of those people who doesn’t like horses. I rode in my youth and we had our own horse–a golden Palamino named Goldie. I just never ate lunch where he had been.
@MoM
Too funny about the donkeys. Just call it like it is–jackasses.
Mom, I can’t stop laughing on that one. Don’t worry, I’m not holding my breath. I don’t think that’s the sort of event the “horse society people” would like. I had to beat Juturna to the punch. She loves to bring up the diving donkeys when ever I mention the fair(a/k/a the F-word according to Moon).
I really just don’t see how such a structure could suddenly appear on a public land parcel without one bit of public input. I guess you have to be a member of one the horse societies to be heard.
Just took a quick pass through the State Building Code and I can’t find any exemption to apply to this particular structure. A building permit is REQUIRED by code and has to be issued by the Building Official. The county may not wish to pursue citing themselves but I suspect the Building Official will have no issue citing the county and issuing a stop work order. For those unaware, Building Officials are a special protected class of civil servant who answer only unto God and then, only if they feel like it. Impossible to fire or over-rule, they are the end all be all when it comes to construction, they’re also a generally irritable bunch.
The president of Rainbow’s board of directors is Connie Covington, wife of Wally. So I guess it pays to have connections.
Mom,
I will call you after I tuck the kiddies into bed. I really think part e of the contract is what gives citizens the tool to require the Board to deal with the uses of this indoor riding facility. I am pretty sure these are not “passive uses” that will be going on in the huge facility. My guess is that the building is probably around 1,800 to 2,000 sq. ft. and over 60′ tall. The county should be able to tell us EXACTLY how big it is, will do more researching tomorrow. Today was a busy day to be sure.
[…] When the Prince William Board of County Supervisors turned the Silver Lake Recreational Area over to the Park Authority (see Silver Lake Regional Park -The Park Authority’s Newest Passive Recreation Facility and Park open but still in progress), I went onto other matters. Somebody else did not. Elena at Moonhowlings has a post about this, this Monstrosity on Silver Lake! […]
Emma, where do you see that? I see no mention of board of directors on the website.
I want to know who owns the building and what will it be used for.
The rules must be for us schmucks and not for anyone else.
It’s the therapeutic riding group. Here’s a link:
http://rainbowriding.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/rr-summer-newsletter-10.pdf
I’m only aware of it because I know some folks who are heavily involved with Rainbow. Otherwise I have no idea even where Silver Lake is.
@ Mom: certain agricultuural buildings such as barns, chicken coops, etc. are exempt from the building code. Maybe the County determined that this thing is akin to a barn.
What a lame cop out for the county.
Exemptions such as those are limited by square footage and this is no backyard shed.
This structure requires footings, likely a pad, probably commercial grade electric service, one would presume handicap accessible restroom facilities, not to mention grading permits, E & S plans, etc., etc., etc. Being an “agricultural” use does not exempt it from a building permit or inspections, the county can waive the requirement for a zoning permit but not a building permit or inspection.
Mom and BS,
THis is where things get interesting. Apparently the applicant applied for permit for a 450 (?)sq ft “barn”. The county told them, because of their contract, and being in the AG district, they did not need one. However, they DO have a grading permit, which, we know, is required if you move a certain amount of dirt. So suppposedly this “barn” doesn’t need a building permit but does need a grading permit? Something is very fishy, very fishy indeed.
By squinting real hard and using the pickup in the foreground for scale, this thing is at bare minimum 15,000 sq. ft and appears to be 50-60 ft. in height and built with structural steel. This is no barn, it does however appear to be an unfinished prefab commercial unit. I say unfinished because if that is the finished framing, another snow like last week’s will bring the roof down next winter.
Mom: There is no area limitation on agricultural buildings as it affects permit issuance. You may be thinking of the 150 sq. ft. or 210 sq. ft. ( don’t remember) limit to residential sheds where a permit is required.
We don’t even know what this facility is. It looks like a Walmart.
All this and the county has yet to put up trash cans at the lake.
Apparently this was all part of a master plan and might just explain why it took years to reach any agreement on Silver Lake.
According to the link I posted above, it is to be “the construction of an indoor ring, educational building and barn.”
BS, I think you are confusing zoning permit requirements with building permit requirements.
@ Mom: here is the section of the building code that exempts agricultural buildings from the need for building permits fyi: http://www.dhcd.virginia.gov/StateBuildingCodesandRegulations/PDFs/2006/2006_VirginiaConstructionCode.pdf
@ Mom: Sorry, I forgot the section number. See Section 102.3 exemption #6.
BS, I would agree except for the fact that the Rainbow operation does not fall under the definition of a farm. The stated purpose is not agricultural but rather therapeutic.
This is probably another pay-off of public land for private use. Recall that the BOCS gave the Gainesville Grizzlies exclusive rights to use the park facilities at public expense at Avendale. That was payback by Corey, Wally, etc. for the parents disgracing themselves by allowing their kids to used as shills on behalf of a developer. This is likely the same sort of thing.
Emma, thank you for posting that. I missed seeing it earlier.
The building all sounds well and good on paper. However, Silver Lake has been so contentious with various groups jockeying for different uses.
Looking at it from a different perspective, there was virtually NO transparency regarding this structure. It also apparently hasn’t been through all the building code hoops and the county was blindsided.
Imagine having a favorite rural spot, driving by it and seeing a structure the size of a Walmart store on the road down to the lake. It appears that very little attempt has been made to even blend in to the ambiance of the area.
There is probably nothing that can be done. We will probably have to chalk it up to ‘welcome to Prince William County.’ Deals were cut behind the scenes long before the public even got involved.
Meanwhile, there aren’t even any trash cans out at Silver Lake. How soon before it becomes a slum with that kind of planning and implementation?
Emma, drive on out to Silver Lake when it gets warmer and before it gets crapped up. It is off Antioch Road, off of 55. Then head on over to the winery after you go to the lake.
@ Mom: Go back to the building code and see Chapter 2; definition of farm. If I can paraphrase the definition: a farm structure or building is a non-residential building used for the handling of agricultural animals. Also see Section 119: Appeals. Anyone affected by the building official’s decision may appeal that decision. It seems to me that if one could convince the appeals board that horses are not agricultural animals, the appeal may have merit. If the appeals board overturns the building official’s decision, then I would guess the County would issue a Stop Work Order until either a building permit is issued or the higher level appeals board (State level) overturns the County appeals board ruling.
Here’s the definition in its entirety:
FARM BUILDING OR STRUCTURE. A building or structure not used for residential purposes, located on property where farming operations take place, and used primarily for any of the following uses or combination thereof:
1. Storage, handling, production, display, sampling or sale of agricultural, horticultural, floricultural or silvicultural products produced in the farm.
2. Sheltering, raising, handling, processing or sale of agricultural animals or agricultural animal products.
3. Business or office uses relating to the farm operations.
4. Use of farm machinery or equipment or maintenance or storage of vehicles, machinery or equipment on the farm.
5. Storage or use of supplies and materials used on the farm.
6. Implementation of best management practices associated with farm operations.
The operative phrase is “located on property where farming operations take place”, it is that principal portion of the definition that I can’t square with the riding center’s operation. Is a horse an agricultural animal, in many instances yes, does that extend to horses used for therapeutic purposes, dressage or pulling tourists in carriages, my guess is no.
@ Mom: your interpretation is apparently not the same as the building official’s. As you stated earlier; Building Officials are “Impossible to fire or over-rule, they are the end all be all when it comes to construction…”. Since you believe the building official misinterpreted the code, your code specified recourse is to file an appeal per Section 119 with the Prince William County Board of Building Code Appeals.
Again, I don’t necessarily disagree. The question that I would pose prior to any action would be is the Building Official aware of this. If the Planning/Development Office gave them a free pass on a zoning permit, was a building permit ever sought through the Building Official? Did the Building Official make the call or did Nick Evers?
Trying to stay neutral, but since no one has presented “the other side,” I will.
Without an indoor arena, therapy is canceled every time it rains, snows, sleets, etc. This is bad news for kids and adults who need the riding on a regular basis. The arena fixes this problem.
Additionally, in order to service more disabled people, the resources must grow.
Rainbow operates entirely on donations and even has access to a foundation that provides scholarships to families in need.
It is common knowledge that therapeutic riding helps those on the Autism spectrum, those with physical disabilities and those with emotional disabilities. Equestrian therapy is even used for Vets with PTSD and other disabilities. Here is some information in case you want to read more:
http://www.horsesforheroes.org/
http://www.therapeiontrc.com/Benefits.html
I realize the process has been subtle, but it was no secret that Rainbow was planning to build an arena on this property.
Oh and for the record, I am not arguing that the typical rules were probably circumvented. I know nothing about that. I just know what Rainbow does first-hand.
“Trying to stay neutral, but since no one has presented “the other side,” I will.”
And there we have it, the first, albeit likely unintentional, “the ends justify the means”.
Same old song we have heard from the BOCS, Soccer folk and the Grizzlies, as long as I get mine, process, procedure and public benefit be damned. Nothing against the Rainbow Center and its work, I just want everybody to play by the same rules especially as regards public land.
Mom, You are wishing for a level playing field in PWC. Ain’t gonna happen!!
Pinko, Don’t some of these horse society people have their own covered riding rings? And if they do, why not share them? Especially if they run on donations. I’d like for your visit my friends farmette in Fauquier. Get in touch with me. Maybe, we can set something up when the warmer weather returns.
I’m with Posting as Pinko, but not so neutral.
I went to one of the public meetings about Silver Lake last year? Late 2009? and this was discussed. It’s not a monstrosity, it’s a building, and it is necessary. My daughter was one of the sidewalker volunteers for Rainbow five or so years ago. I can’t tell you what a muddy, mucky mess it was driving her there on rainy days, and everytime I’d get used to a location, they had to move, from farm to farm. Having one location, and now this new indoor arena is fantastic for the community.
That said, I haven’t heard of a public process being followed. The hearing I went to was full of people who wanted a shooting range, diving in the quarry pool, etc. But I do recall, the Rainbow Center was somehow separate.
And at the public meeting the park authority people explained that it was “pack in, pack out” with trash because of wild critters getting into the trash cans.
Why not actually call and talk to someone at Rainbow and at the Park Authority, rather than speculate here?
The indoor arena is only fantastic for a small percentage of our population. That’s not my idea of public. I do find it very odd that the horse people were seperated from the rest of the public. hmmm. Seems fishy to me.
@Mom
Mom, I’m not saying the end justifies the means. What I am saying it that first, Rainbow’s intentions have been announced again and again via media and elsewhere. No one complained. It was no secret.
Lafayette, Rainbow rented space for ten years. The farms did not provide the space or resources needed, never mind the kind of consistent care that Rainbow horses require. Rainbow uses specific horses with special temperaments, and they need more of these animals. To boot, there’s the liability. Rainbow has to deal with tremendous amounts of liability insurance, waivers, etc. The general horse community does not want that kind of responsibility, and I don’t blame them.
The horse community volunteers hundreds of hours providing trained therapists and experienced assistants. They have contributed thousands of dollars. I don’t think we can ask more of them except to pick up poo if they are not doing so already.
Again, I am NOT saying the process was necessarily correct, but I don’t fault Rainbow. They did as much announcing as any organization can do. If you want to fault the county, then do so, but as Cindy says, ask all the questions. A blog isn’t the place to get real answers.
“No one complained. It was no secret.”
Not exactly my recollection, I seem to recall rather heated debates regarding the location of the riding center, size of the facility, lighting, parking, traffic generated from other uses of the ring, mass of the building, impact on the passive park, etc., etc., etc. Those discussions/debates have gone on since the first offer by Toll Brothers ultimately with little substantive guidance or positioning by the BOCS.
Actually, it was a fairly well kept secret since no one saw their contract before hand, the county had no idea about this. They were blindsided. And there are no building permits posted or any other paper work that might identify the building and its owners.
Pinko, you and Cindy are really assuming a lot. You know what that does to a person. You have no idea who was called and how many times they were called. And actually, I have found the opposite to be true. This blog has shed all sorts of light on things over the past year as did its parent blog.
As for carry in and carry out. That is just a typical county ephamism for not wanting to assume responsibility. The land and lake were proffered. Dominion power volunteers cleaned the place up and built the tables. What is the county really being asked to do? Nothing. Parks and Recs can get off their butts and stick a few trash cans in the area and put the site on trash patrol.
Animals my tail! lYellowstone has recepticals, Shenandoah national Park, PW Forest Park. Hell Ben Lomond has trash cans. I don’t even want to hear no trash cans. That is the quickest way to turn a place in to a trash pile I have ever seen.
Do we suppose that people have more regard for Silver Lake than they have for Giant parking lot where people dump trash and diapers and God knows what else? Believe that and I have a bridge for sale. it doesn’t take but a few slobs and dirtbags to ruin a pristine area.
One more thing…..(god, I sound like a drunk this morning…and another thing….) I don’t care if Mother Teresa put up a building. Conform to county regulations like the rest of us slobs have to do and at least put in a building that looks like it belongs in the rural community. Walmart doesn’t exactly fit in with the pastoral view. Of course, neither do middle schools.