Here we go again folks. For all those people with their axel’s rapped around a pole over the tax rate, bad development’s like Stonehaven is what ultimately drives our taxes into the ground. Who builds the schools to support these developments? Yes, that’s right, taxpayers. Who builds the roads to support the several thousand people now crowding roads? Yes, that’s right, the taxpayers. Who has to build more firehouses and hire more police? Yes, that’s right, the taxpayers.
Stonehaven is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and the Grizzly Football leadership (via their most recent blast email begging members to support Stonehaven), once again, is doing the bidding of Wally Covington and Corey Stewart. It wasn’t enough that they were instrumental in providing cover for the intrusion in the Rural Crescent via Avondale? If the Grizzly leadership team had any sense, they would understand that advocating for massive development will NOT solve our infrastructure problems, it will only contribute to more overcrowding of schools and roads. Sort of like needing to lose weight but eating hot fudge triple ice cream sundaes in hopes you will drop a few pounds. BTW, if only that were true!
Corey Stewart, lo many elections cycles ago (well, only 2006 actually), ran on a smart growth platfrom, I even had one of his huge signs, practically a billboard, on the frontage of my property “Corey Stewart, Supporting Smarth Growth”! Guess what project was his poster boy for a poor land use decision that would ultimately cost tax payers? Yes, you are correct, Brentswood. Well, Stonehaven is simply a reduced reincarnation of Brentswood.
I hope our BOCS votes no tomorrow to initiate this CPA, if Corey, Wally, and Pete truly want to wear the mantle of low taxes, they have no choice but to vote no. Turning a few hundred housed into a few thousand houses is fiscal stupidity, plain and simple.
write to the BOCS and urge them to just say NO and protect your tax dollars!
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]
This happens down here too. A few years back, the controversy was over Chesterfield county’s rubber stamping of housing developments. A 5000 house parcel was approved. The county disregarded protests over the over development of the area. Then a reporter found out that over 25000 houses had already been approved for the county, on top of this one.
Elena, many of us are members of the stabbed-in-the-back-by-Corey club. Excellent post. We’ve differed on other issues but I’m with you 100% on this one!
Well, we’ll see how Supervisor Candland votes on this one. Maureen voted no on Avondale. I am going to try to get down there tomorrow afternoon NTK!
Sorry Elena, Maureen switched up and voted yes on Avendale.
Prince William County took a bigger hit in home prices and equity than its surrounding neighbors so it would be nice if existing homes could recoup some of their value before we have to start spending our tax dollars subsidizing new construction.
@Mom
You’ve got mail!
Did any one else get a glossy card on the new homes at Avendale last week? Perhaps, they are maketing targeted neighborhoods. Geesh.
I can tell you this Censored, our house has still NOT risen to our first real estate assessment in 2002. I don’t mind, don’t get me wrong, we aren’t selling, ever, this is our last home, but to flood real estate market with more homes when ours are still much under water is simply unfathomable.
Darn Mom, are you sure? I was almost positive she voted not based on the stupidity of adding more strain on “infrastructure”. I wonder if I am thinking of some other development then.
@Elena
Absolutely positive, it was one of the many Caddigan knives I’ve pulled from my and others backs.
Surely these grizzlies have parents who are adults?
Grizzly parents! Pull your head out of your hind quarters and stop allowing your children to be used by profitteers.
2000 more homes will have children living in them. These children will be competing with your kids over those shiny new athletic fields. Your kids won’t be gaining anything but more over crowded schools and less playing time on those athletic fields which will have a 1000 more kids jocking for playing time.
Pressure the county into giving up some of their land for your fields. Don’t sell your souls and your kids for athletic fields from developers.
If Wally, Corey and whoever are once again stirring this up, shame on you! I am one step away from using the greedy bastard word.
Did I leave off that you grizzly parents will have even longer commute times?
@Elena
Corey first brought up Avendale but didn’t have the votes. Maureen gave a nice speech about education, overcrowding, etc. and didn’t support it. Good for Maureen. Corey pulled it rather than let it get defeated. The second time Corey brought it out (the parade of kids and their parents by the podium), Maureen voted for it. She was the swing vote. Bad for Maureen. So much for the quality of education and lives of our kids when there’s deals to be made. Wally and Corey bought some cover for Maureen with their deal with the Grizzlies families and their kids.
@Moon-howler
It’s not the Grizzly parents who are not acting like adults, it is the Grizzlies Board of Directors who are not acting like adults, though judging by some of their past behavior in several Gainesville District establishments, it’s not likely they’re capable of acting like adults.
Thank you for clarifying, Just Saying, and welcome.
I just hate that they are being misled.
Welcome just saying,
I agree with your premise, but unfortunately the leadership is the “face” of the organization. I hope grizzly parents demand their leadership get out of politics.
Where are the exact # of homes being published? I’d like to see that. Also…who is the developer? I attended the public meetings hosted by the county and the landowner and there is no developer in the picture. If that has changed can someone please tell me? Did anyone above attend any of the very informative meetings? If you did, do you prefer the County Plan remains as is (which, by the way, already includes residential)? My house is directly affected by whatever goes there so I chose get involved to separate fact from fiction when it comes to this property.
Furthermore, if I were a grizzly parent I would be publicly taking the leadership to task!
well, it looks like there is a max of 2355 units possible. Does that sound like a deal for PWC residents? I don’t think so. This CPA is incredibly mis leading from my perspective. You have to read the “fine” print to really determine what COULD be proposed, or as staff puts it” worst case scenario”. I’m not sure why they would use that language? Do they mean worst case for citizens but best case for developer?!
I would also add, as taxpayers, we are ALL stakeholders. There is alot of vague language that should be unsettling to everyone who reads to CPA. How can citizens judge exactly what is being proposed if there is so much that is unknown about the final application. How can this even be possible to propose a CPA that is such a rough draft?
I find it interesting that only in this particular circumstance the adjacent community is input is weighted so heavily while in so many other land use applications if the community expresses overwhelming negative reactions, they tend to be ignored.
It is good to see staff recommending denial for Midwood. What a nightmare that whole story has been for the Haymarket proper and those who fought that original rezoning.
Mike LubiLIE promised high end retail if his client was allowed to double their retail and what did we get, yes folks, we got a walmart. I guess to Mike LubiLIE walmart is high end retail.
The staff report was unavailable for a long time, but I was finally able to download it late yesterday and start reading it. Makes one suspicious about the intent of some in the County government, but I digress.
To be objective, the plan put forward does not completely gut the job creation planned for the area, as the Brentswood proposal for this area in 2006 would have done, even though it does diminish it substantially. The plan also includes a lot of area for open space. That’s good. There does need to be a transition area between the existing homes in the Linton Hall area and the commercial district.
The problems are that the plan still includes far too much residential – far more than is needed for a transition area to maintain the quality of life for the current residents of the Linton Hall area. This will impose a large negative fiscal impact on all taxpayers in the County. This level of residential will also increase congestion in the area and overcrowding in the schools.
There is no phasing stated in the plan. This is typically how developers operate. Development of whatever commercial is in the plan will come about when the developer gets good and ready, if ever, and we’ll get all of the revenue-negative residential development upfront. Don’t be surprised in a few years to see developer attorneys at the podium begging for changes to eliminate all of the planned commercial and convert it to residential because, “market conditions have changed.”
The commercial development that is included is not well-defined. The Board, Peacor, staff, developers and their attorneys consider retail to be commercial development. That’s usually what we get alongside residential development. It does nothing to add good, high-wage jobs or contribute to lowering the tax burden on citizens, and will not address the problem of PWC residents having to commute to other jurisdictions to find goods work.
The biggest sign that this plan is not in the best interests of PWC is that its supporters are once again promising sports fields and other things to groups like the Grizzlies and mobilizing them to appear with their kids at McCoart, as they did to get Avendale approved. If the plan stood on its own as desirable for Prince William County rather than just landowners, developers and their attorneys, these shenanigans would not be needed to garner support.
What those groups don’t know is that the land promised for the sports fields are not actually on these particular parcels. My sources indicate that Wally is promising fields on additional property zoned for commercial development owned by the applicant. I’m told that the applicant is not happy about Wally promising that use on land that isn’t part of this rezoning and hasn’t signed on to the concept, but then again, is that really a problem for Wally. He’ll just have the fields transferred to some other parcel like the Wiita tract and cause even more problems down the line, all the while making his property holdings in the Rural Crescent even more valuable.
One other thought, I hope all those sports groups have figured out how they are going to get to those fields when Jiffy Lube is in use. If they haven’t been told that the field access will likely be off Wellington, maybe its time somebody gave them a reality check.
Oh Gawd, Melissa, shut up, you have no business sticking your nose into land use matters until you know how to read a site plan.
She was ready to take over, until it was made clear that school’s had representation in the chambers. The look was priceless. Dear in the head lights!
Corey’s really working hard for his campaign contributions this afternoon.
Corey’s really working hard for his campaign contributions this afternoon.
LOL-And here come the citizens!!! Hopefully, we’ll hear some sense from them.
Great.. Odin, et al to lead this off.
geesh
It is really sad to see all the positioning and rationalizations that are going on so they can all vote to approve. It all seems so hopeless.
Agreed, Watching.
These idiots actually believe they are going to get a high school in their lifetimes.
You know a project is bad news when the developer brings in Stephen Fuller to speak on its behalf.
Fuller, the Hospital and Lube-Lie back, to back, to back. Anybody believe Midwood is a good plan if it requires all of them to show up and shill for it.
Stonehaven isn’t a blended community you realty moron. It has a blended map, blended of concepts from various groups not blended in the fashion of a walkable community.
MoM, want some blood pressure medicine? I am going to stop watching.
Censored, who is that lady speaking now?
My blood pressure comes in a bottle imported from Scotland. I’m going to need quite a bit after this circus. Corey and Marty are bending over for this and the speakers (except for the woman who will probably be assaulted by the Grizzly coaches in the parking lot) are spewing Wally’s prepared lines which are based largely on misrepresentation of the existing conditions.
Brenda needs to disclose that she works for the owner of the Stonehaven property. She’s with RK Realty.
Lomond Dr. can NOT handle additional traffic from Heritage Crossing!!! Give me an effin’ break. Roll down Lomond Dr over Flat Branch about 5pm one weeknight, BOYZ!!! Three districts converge there.
Blood boiling!!
“let the community talk to itself”….OMG!!
I can’t watch anymore, it’s simply too stressful. It funnyhow citizen participation only succeeds if you are on the side of the developer 🙁