Monterey Church Panning Hearing

Monterey Church has requested a special use permit to build a church on a ±16.57-acre site zoned A-1, Agricultural. Development of the site is planned in phases; Phase I will include a ±30,000-square-foot building with a 400-seat capacity, and Phase II will include a ±25,000-square-foot expansion, with a 500-seat capacity. Total capacity of the development equates to a ±55,000-square-foot building with 900 seats and related paved parking. Because the land is in the Rural Crescent, the church will require a special use permit. A public hearing before the Planning Commission has been advertised for June 12, 2019.

The site is located at 9514 Auburn Road and is located on the west side of Auburn Road, approximately 400 feet south of the intersection of Vint Hill Road and Auburn Road. The church proposes to cover more than 50% of the land area with buildings and parking for 380 cars. In addition, the site is near to the protected area for the tributaries of Lake Manassas and is ±1,182 feet north of the Fauquier County line.

from PW Mapper -The county line is the dash in the lower left

The Rural Crescent depends on groundwater as the sole water supply for all the existing and future residents, and Monterey Church will depend on an on-site well (or wells) for water supply and septic for sewage. How any proposed land use will impact water and groundwater sustainability should be one of the first questions asked, but is not considered in the application for the special use permit. The right of existing property owners to their water is primary and valuable and should not be compromised or impaired. Because there are natural fluctuations in groundwater levels it is easy to mask or ignore signs of the beginnings of destruction of the water resources that we depend on. Changing the use of the land, covering it with buildings, driveways, roads, walkway and other impervious surfaces will change the hydrology of the site reducing groundwater recharge in the surrounding area. It is estimated that groundwater recharge will be reduced around 60%. Once the hydrology is destroyed by development, it cannot be easily restored, if at all.

While groundwater is a renewable resource it is NOT unlimited. The sad truth is that we do not know how much water we have in the Culpeper basin, nor do we know what the sustainable rate of ground water use is. We can only hope that the Culpepper Basin is adequate to sustain the rural crescent in the next drought, but the USGS tells us that our groundwater basin is under stress. Sustainability of groundwater is hyper-local. Before a special use permit is granted we need to know if the current and planned use of our groundwater is sustainable even in drought years; and understand how ground cover by roads, parking lots and buildings will impact groundwater recharge and what level of groundwater withdrawals are sustainable on site and in the vicinity to determine if a proposed additional use of groundwater is sustainable before it is granted.

The proposed church and school will cover over 50% of the land with buildings, parking, walkway and other impervious surfaces that will change the hydrology of the site reducing ground water recharge in the area around the church at the same time that the church will increase groundwater use. With reduced groundwater recharge in the immediate area of the church from all the paving, there is a real possibility that the pumping from the church will create a large cone of depression to draw water from adjacent properties or greater depth that could cause nearby existing wells to go dry, and people will have homes without water –worthless. This is a risk that has not been examined, studied or modeled. The special use permit should not be granted without first studying the impact to water resources.

Fauquier County, less than 1,200 feet away is engaged in a detailed groundwater study designed by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and spearheaded by the USGS and Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to study the groundwater availability which is the source of most of the County’s water supply. The Fauquier County determined that they need a broad understanding of Fauquier County’s groundwater resources and engaged a study that is to be completed at the end of the second quarter in 2021. It would be irresponsible of Prince William County to approve the requested special use permit without first studying the impact of this use on water resources.

The proposed church site and the adjacent development in Fauquier County