Mr.
Stephenson,
Thank
you for your e-mail I
wanted to send you an
article that recaps what Chairman Stewart's Planning Commissioner, Gary
Friedman has implemented, Chairman Stewart is supportive of the changes.
Prince
William land use changes in the
works
By
Cheryl Chumley
Published:
December 10, 2008 http://www.insidenova.com/isn/news/local/article/prince_william_land_use_changes_in_the_works/26050/
Planning
Commission members are drafting
what one member characterizes as the most significant land use proposal
in
Prince William in years.
Under
this latest Comprehensive Plan
recommendation, supervisors would name certain areas of the county
Urban Mixed
Use or Village Mixed Use zones with the emphasis on rehabilitation and
commercial development.
The
proposal brought forth at the
Planning Commission last week specifies two such areas: Yorkshire,
located
between Manassas Park and Fairfax County along the Va. 28 path, and the
entire
U.S. 1 corridor, from Belmont Bay to Quantico. Supervisors would still
hold
final authority on which sites are zoned UMU and VMU.
But
for builders who meet certain
criteria, these Comp Plan changes could bring significant benefits:
They would
not have to make proffers part of their application package for these
sites.
“This
absolutely revolutionizes
how the county will grow,” said Gary Friedman, the Planning
Commission’s at-large member responsible for bringing forth the idea at
last week’s meeting.
In
short, the plan requires a
“concurrent percentage phasing” of the residential and commercial
components
of mixed-use developments, according to a fact sheet for the Planning
Commission. That is, the sheet reads, “if Phase One of a project calls
for 20 percent of the residential component it must also require at
least 20
percent of the non-residential component.”
The
intent, Friedman said, is to ensure
developments in these zoned areas don’t slow or stop with housing, but
rather bring forth the revenue-producing side of mixed-use projects —
the
commercial — in rapid fashion.
Other
specifics of the recommendations:
Development proposals must all focus on rehabilitation. They must span
at least
100 acres. And they must not exceed the cap for residential. Only 25
percent of
the development plan can include housing, according to the Comp Plan
recommendations.
“These
projects that come in under
the first two conditions … will be considered by the county to be in
conformance with the Comprehensive Plan and will be proffer-free,”
Friedman said.
The
proposal, he said, is win-win, as it
protects the Rural Crescent, cleans up blighted areas of the county,
and brings
commercial development to areas of the county where some infrastructure
already
exists.
“This
will have a major impact on
the tax structure of the county,” he added.
Another
plus is the Planning
Commission’s latest recommendations bypass the politics and ethics
complaints that undercut an earlier proposal. That plan from Land Use
Advisory
Committee members identified overlay areas on a map as Centers of
Commerce and
Centers of Community that were characterized by high-density, mixed
uses that
furthered “smart growth” principles.
One
version of that proposal also
recommended supervisors pursue a Transfer of Development Right program
giving
developers the ability to trade building rights for higher densities.
Two
of the LUAC members were developers;
some in the community complained these developers purposely pushed
through a
land use policy for Planning Commission and Board of Supervisor
consideration
that would impact their private properties and lead to personal
financial gain.
In response, one developer, as well as a couple of his committee
colleagues,
said all LUAC discussions were open and above board, and the locations
of the
builders’ properties were common knowledge.
John
Stirrup, R-Gainesville and vice
chair of the supervisors, ultimately sought investigation of the issue
by the
Commonwealth’s Attorney in Manassas and the attorney general’s
office in Richmond.
“One
big thing with this
plan,” said Friedman, about his current proposal, “is that …
it removes the problems associated with the LUAC from the [Comp Plan]
discussions and just concentrates on the policy implications. All the
Centers’ language is gone. There’re no Centers of Community, no
Centers of Commerce, all the dots are gone from the map … and the TDRs
are gone.”
Friedman’s
proposal instructing
staff to change and refine the language of the Comp Plan land-use
chapter
passed the Planning Commission with a 7-1 vote. Both boards — planning
as
well as supervisors — still have to consider and approve the final text.
Staff
writer Cheryl Chumley can be
reached at 703-670-1907.
I hope you
find this information
helpful.
Thank you,
Laurie
Laurie
Anne Cronin
Senior
Aide
Chairman
Corey A. Stewart
Prince
William County Board of
Supervisors
(703)
792- 5626 / (703) 792 -
4640
lcronin@pwcgov.org / cstewart@pwcgov.org
-----Original
Message-----
From: Ralph Stephenson [mailto:stephenrk1@comcast.net]
Sent: Sunday, December 14, 2008 9:37 AM
To: Caddigan, Maureen S.; Covington, W. S. Wally; Nohe, Marty E.;
Stewart, Corey A.; Gainesville District; Jenkins, John D.; May, Michael
C.; Principi, Frank J.
Cc: Stephenson, Kathy; Stephenson, Kate; Stephenson, Daniel;
Stephenson,
Benjamin
Subject: We Strongly Oppose the CoC Proposal
Members
of the Board of County
Supervisors: Thank you
for all you do to serve
the county, and Happy
Holidays to all of you.
We'd
like to share with you
excerpts from an e-mail
exchange in late November 2008 with a friend
regarding the Centers of
Community/Centers of
Commerce proposal put
forward by the Land Use
Advisory Commission.
We had
e-mailed to him the
following information:
..."An advisory body to the
county -- following
behind-the-scenes lobbying
by local <>
residential
developers for
many months, with virtually
no effort to keep citizens
informed or to
receive broad-based input from
them -- is <>
proposing
that at least
30-35,000 homes (likely to
accommodate about 100,000
people) be built in
the Haymarket-Gainesville-Bristow-Manassas
<>
area in
the coming years. If
this does not sound to
you like a good idea, I
strongly urge you to
get involved..."
He
responded: "...Thanks for
keeping me in the
loop on these issues. Unfortunately,
I am out of
town this week and will be
unable to attend <>
the [3
December Planning
Commission] meeting. As
usual, hard working citizens
will be
under-represented due to our efforts
to make a living and
grow the economy..."
We in
turn responded to him
that we shared his
frustration that ordinary citizens
have to so frequently
defend themselves
against outrageous proposals
like this one and
the infamous Brentswood
plan.
We the undersigned ...
strongly recommend that AT
MOST only one or <>
two
Centers of Commerce be
added to the CompPlan now,
IF AND WHERE THE EXISTING
INFRASTRUCTURE CAN
SUPPORT THEM, and that no
Centers of <>
Community
be added. With
20-30,000 homes approved but
not yet built and thousands
of homes in
foreclosure in the county, only
a fool or someone <>
who
stands to gain personally,
to the detriment of the
county as a whole,
would suggest that we
should now fast-track
approval for 75,000 <>
new
homes (meaning ~225,000
people) by putting this in
the CompPlan. Yet that is
what this plan for 19
Centers of Community and
6 Centers of Commerce
indeed proposes.
Taxpayers
will pay through the
nose for this plan.
How will they pay? Through:
1) ever-worsening
traffic congestion (note
recent Forbes <>
article
on Linton Hall having
the worst commute in the
country:
http://www.forbes.com/vehicles/2008/12/09/commute-traffic-town-forbeslife-cx_jb_1209commute.html);
<>
2)
increasingly overcrowded
public schools; 3)
declining property values in
existing neighborhoods
(oversupply drives down the
value of your home <>
and can
eventually lead to
older neighborhoods
becoming blighted unnecessarily);
4) further
damage to the county tax
base (commercial development
subsidizes the tax
base, while almost all
residential development
results in higher
taxes for all of us);
and 5) further
adverse
effects on
quality-of-life issues, including
the environment.
Again,
we strongly recommend
that AT MOST only one or
two Centers of Commerce
be added to the
CompPlan now, IF AND WHERE
THE EXISTING INFRASTRUCTURE
CAN SUPPORT
THEM, and that no Centers
of Community be added.
Ralph
Stephenson
Kathy
Stephenson
(etc.)
