Monday, March 11, 2019

The Rural Crescent an Urban Growth Boundary

Last Thursday the Prince William Conservation Alliance and its cooperating partners, the Coalition to Protect Prince William, and the County Civic Associations (Mid-County, Nokesville, Lake Ridge Occoquan Coles and Woodbridge Potomac Communities) had a public meeting to talk about smart growth and the Rural Crescent in Prince William County.

The Rural Crescent was created in 1998 and originally intended as an urban growth boundary for the county designed to preserve the agricultural heritage and force redevelopment along the Route 1 corridor rather than development in the remaining rural areas. This was to be accomplished by limiting development to one home per 10 acres with no access to public sewers. The Rural Crescent has been chipped away at for years, but still contains around 80,000-acres; however, active farming in Prince William continues to decrease.

Within the Rural Crescent development density is limited to one house per 10 acres. In addition, there is a limit on sewer extensions and public water creating one of the most protective zonings areas in Virginia. Creating the Rural Crescent slowed the loss of rural land in Prince William County, but did not stop it as rural land was cut up into 10 acre parcels. In addition, farming itself has been changing and the smaller farms in Prince William County cannot compete against giant industrial farms using the old models of farming. Small scale agriculture, community supported agriculture, agri-businesses (breweries, wineries, farm-to-table stores and restaurants, etc.), and agri-tourism appear to be the only feasible future for agriculture in Prince William County. These businesses also have the advantage of engaging with the community and adding to the local quality of life.

However, according to the consultants hired by the county and based on the experience of the past 21 years, unless the zoning is very protective (one home per 30 to 50 acres, zoning alone will not preserve agriculture in the county and we are doomed to see the Rural Crescent cut up into 10 acre lots for large and expensive rural homes. There has been continual pressure on the Office of Planning, the Planning Commission and the County Board of Supervisors by developers and landowners interested in maximizing the value of property to amend the zoning to increase development density for parcels in the Rural Crescent.

The Prince William County Rural Preservation Study completed several years ago found a broad support among stakeholders (community groups and residents) that it is important to maintain a Rural Area within the County. Increased density development in the Rural Crescent is inconsistent with the social objectives of maintaining a wildlife habitat, preservation of farmland, preservation of groundwater and surface water supplies and the Occoquan Reservoir, protection of historically significant areas and scenic views within the County. Another point of general consensus was that current preservation policies (primarily 10-acre zoning) is a one-size fits all approach that was not working very well across the large Rural Crescent area, which varies greatly in character and geology from one end to the other.

There has been continual pressure on the Office of Planning, the Planning Commission and the County Board of Supervisors by developers and landowners interested in maximizing the value of property to amend the zoning to increase development density for parcels in the Rural Crescent. Notice in the last version of the revised Rural Crescent the transition area of higher density is carved out of the existing Rural Crescent that is currently zoned A1. Though much more money could be made by the landowners (of those parcels) and developers by building at an increased density, more dense suburban developments would not improve the quality of life of county residents, and would damage the ecology or the region and quality of life of all county residents.

It is often believed that when you own land you can do what you want with the land, but that is not true. Zoning and other restrictions may hinder the ways in which land can be used or developed. We have zoning and the county has a comprehensive plan to guide land use and development decisions that are made by the Planning Commission and the Board of County Supervisors. As a matter of fact, Virginia law requires every governing body to adopt a comprehensive plan for the development of the lands within its jurisdiction to make sure that a county is developed in a way to ensure the community’s best interests. Within the framework of the comprehensive plan, land ownership is a series of rights and the ability to use those rights.

The Prince William Conservation Alliance believes that Prince William County is presently at a cross roads. The County has been upgrading the infrastructure of the Route 1 corridor which was initially developed more than fifty years ago. Route 1 was widened, powerlines were moved underground and other infrastructure has been upgraded. That area in eastern Prince William County is now primed for redevelopment. Redevelopment of these areas, called by the industry Brownfield redevelopment, is more challenging than developing on farmland and open areas. In addition, there are no incentives to take on the challenge of a Brownfield in Prince William County.

Though I found the discussion and comments from the audience members to be very enlightening; many people are angry for different reasons. No one seemed to have a fully developed vision for a sustainable and mixed use county with affordable, walkable, neighborhoods within the urban areas. In the past 21 years Prince William has grown even more residential- we are approaching 90% residential and 10% commercial, but being a bedroom community to Washington DC is not sustainable. We lack a vision and plan for the future of Prince William County, not just the Rural Crescent. The speakers were: Melinda Masters a community activist, Tom Eitler, Senior Vice President for the Urban Land Institute and former PWC Chief of Long-range Planning; and Mike May, who was a member of the PW Board of Zoning Appeals, and Occoquan District on the Board of Supervisors from 2007 to 2016.

Tom showed how the real opportunity for the county was to encourage and incentivize redevelopment and infill projects. This would require commitment from the County elected officials. His points included that the 450,000 residents of Prince William County who do not own large parcels of land in the Rural Crescent should not have their taxes increased to build the infrastructure in the Rural Crescent and subsidize the value of the rural land. Instead we should be building high density mixed use urban communities within the “development area” of the county. This is a conversation about the future of Prince William County. We need to all participate and shape the future of our community.

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