MIDCO meeting recap for April, 2012:

We had a presentation on the AT&T communication tower at Grace Church, a presentation from Randy Boice on Purcell Road, and updates on ongoing projects.



MIDCO meeting recap for March, 2012:

We had a presentation on the county budget from Pat Thomas, and updates on Purcell Road from Henry Bibber.  




MIDCO meeting recap for February, 2012:

No meeting- we attended a Planning Commission work session on Purcell Road.




MIDCO meeting recap for 1/19/2012

MIDCO heard presentations on Geisler Property, Emergency Preparedness.    

The Geisler Project.  The proposal described by Mr. Vanderpool was the third iteration in a rezoning and development effort that was first discussed at a MIDCO meeting well over a year ago.  The original proposal would have involved the construction of a nursing home, gas station, and fast food restaurant on the property.  Retail space was later added to the mix of proposed activities in the project and the gas station eliminated.  Mr.Vanderpool reported that, in order to meet objections from local residents regarding potential traffic problems and a property line dispute with adjacent property owner, the project had been further modified.  The latest version would replace the proposed fast food facility with a full-service sit-down restaurant, settle the boundary issue, and add left and right-turn lanes at the entrances to the driveway. 
Despite the described modifications, area residents and MIDCO members had numerous questions and concerns about the proposal.  In response to a question regarding the seating capacity of the restaurant, Mr. Vanderpool said that it would be about 8,000 square feet.  He stated that the nursing home could not be built unless a second entrance for emergency vehicles was constructed somewhere; this response led to a comment that it wouldn’t make sense to have both entrances on the same road.  There was concern that the proposed ingress and egress on Route 234 so close to the intersection with Hoadly Rd. would produce danger.  It was stated that the entrance to the 7-11 was already jammed at times and that this would get worse following the construction of the high school.  There followed a lengthy discussion of potential traffic problems resulting from the project.  Mr.Vanderpool referred to a traffic study done under the supervision of the County Transportation Department which estimated that the project would add 2,800 trips per day to the traffic, but concluded that the new traffic light at the high school, in combination with the new turn lanes, would be adequate to deal with the traffic problem.  Area residents continued to express considerable skepticism regarding that conclusion and the need for another gas station in addition to the three already in close proximity to the intersection of Hoadly and Rt. 234.  President Jeter noted that the project was still in the planning process and that there would be public hearings on it by the Planning Commission and the Board of County Supervisors.

Emergency Preparedness.  Mr. Patrick Collins, Emergency Services Manager for Prince William County, described emergency management as the “process of making officials think about things they didn’t want to, to spend money they didn’t have, etc.”  He said that it constituted a cycle that included Mitigation, measures taken in advance to minimize the effects of disasters; Preparedness, largely consisting of training; Response, the actions taken by firefighters and police; and Recovery, the longest phase of the cycle.  The day-to-day activities of emergency managers consist of identifying vulnerabilities, updating plans, taking inventories of resources, training participants, and conducting exercises.  During an emergency event, the manager’s role shifts to coordinating actions, providing warnings and information, evacuating people from affected areas, providing health and medical care, managing resources, and conducting necessary finance and administration activities
Mr. Collins said that much of this activity was conducted at an Emergency Operations Center (EOC), which he described tongue-in-cheek as “an unfamiliar place where unfamiliar people came together during stressful times to do unfamiliar work.”  He noted that it was the job of the emergency manager to assure that this description of the EOC was not accurate.  His responsibility in Prince William County was to prepare 400,000 residents for disasters and to develop in advance an emergency operations plan of some 550 pages and keep it updated.  He said that complacency was the big obstacle to preparedness.  His advice to residents was to try to understand what sorts of disasters could happen, to understand that it is often best to stay where you are when disasters occur, and to create disaster plans with their families.
According to Mr. Collins, the previous administration had ordered the activation of Community Emergency Response Teams (CERTs), despite the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s judgement that this was unwise, given the cost of liability and background checks and the fact that it was an unfunded mandate.  He said that, despite the high cost of training 30 people per year at $5,500 per person, his agency set up such a program.  However, in 10 years they never needed the services of such a team and had now shifted their resources to training programs to help families to protect themselves.  He said that anyone who was interested could contact him at: pcollins@pwc.gov.
At this point, the resident who had suggested that MIDCO host the session on Emergency Preparedness, noted that, although Prince William County doesn’t fund CERTs, many other counties do.  Mr. Collins acknowledged that this was true, but said that he did not believe that this would be advisable for Prince William County.

Updates.  Ms. Candi Choi, Aide to Coles District Supervisor Martin Nohe, announced that Nohe’s Town Hall Meeting on February 6 would be open to discussion of the Purcell Road project.  In addition, the work session of the Planning Commission on February 15 would also consider the project.  Although the meeting is open to the public, it will not afford an opportunity for public comment.  President Jeter suggested that residents address any concerns to Ernie Gonzales of the Planning Commission.  He said that the Planning Commission would decide what to do next.  Although everything is on hold for the time being, the County could downgrade Purcell Road to a secondary collector road on the Comprehensive Plan, in which case VDOT would redesign the intersection.  
Jeter noted that the Bacon Race Police Station is back in the Capital Improvement Plan and is scheduled to be built by 2016.  He said that the Board of County Supervisors has made changes in board procedures to meet the requests of MIDCO and other civic groups that no last minute changes be made without the public being given a chance to understand and comment on them.  In the case of Earl Cunard Park, he said that we are still waiting for action on landscaping that had been agreed to earlier.

  
Our December 2011 MIDCO meeting was our annual Christmas party, this year held at the Bungalo Alehouse in Woodbridge. 


MIDCO meeting recap for 11/17/2011

We attended the Planning Commission work session on the Occoquan Overlay District that was held on the same date as our regular third Thursday meeting. A number of MIDCO members spoke to the commissioners at citizen's time to recommend implementation of the district. The commission decided to not make a formal recommendation to the Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) to initiate the plan.  The BOCS can initiate the plan for study at any time.



MIDCO meeting recap for 10/20/2011

First up- Meet and greet with Coles Supervisor candidates Marty Nohe and Anthony Arnold:

Five minute introduction each for candidates and then questions from the room were entertained.
During his time, Marty stated that the Purcell Road/ Rt. 234 intersection project is on hold until the county takes another look at the whole Purcell Road long-range plan and decides whether or not to keep it a 4-lane divided highway as it is now. If not, the intersection with Rt. 234 would need to be redesigned.


Second item- Consolidated Public Hearing Procedures:

Planning Director Chris Price gave an overview. Basically, there will be no presentation at BOCS hearing from county staff or the developer representative if approval is recommended by county staff and the Planning Commission and there are no outstanding issues. One issue brought up was how citizens could know how any previous issues were resolved if no presentation is given. MIDCO members recommended that a wider notification area for signs be instituted by the county to ensure that citizens are aware of projects as early as possible. Currently, a 200 foot radius from the project is in effect but a 1000 foot radius would reach more neighbors in a large-lot area such as mid-county.


Third up- Occoquan Overlay Committee: 

Henry Bibber presented the draft report from the committee (available under the “Current Projects” tab on this website). The next step is to present the final report to the Planning Commission in November. Jack Kooyomjian, Jill Clauss, Barbara Deegan, Larry Mote and Al Alborn joined Henry on the committee.

It was noted that Cunard Park is going back to the drawing board with MIDCO, LOCCA-Pelt and the Dale City Civic Association working with the Park Authority on a new design for screening.



MIDCO Meeting Recap for 9/15/11:

Purcell Road Expansion: The planned expansion of Purcell Road to a four-lane divided highway that will connect Route 234 to the Prince William Parkway was discussed first due to the large number of community members present that were particularly interested in that subject. Martin gave an overview of the situation involving two distinct projects- the 234/Purcell intersection and the planned new section of Purcell that will connect to the Prince William Parkway, being interconnected. Henry Bibber explained the Comp Plan Amendment (CPA) process. The CPA to remove the expanded Purcell Road from the Comprehensive Plan will need to be initiated by the Board of County Supervisors, then the Planning Commission will hold a public hearing and finally the BOCS will hold a public hearing and vote on the issue.

Martin pointed out that numbers count if citizens want to be successful in removing Purcell Road from the county Comprehensive Plan. Christine Learman recommended an approach to divide the different aspects of the community concerns among different speakers for public meeting purposes.

The MIDCO Oct. 20 meeting is tentatively planned to bring together county staff, Supervisor Nohe’s office and the residents of the Purcell Road area to discuss the future of Purcell Road. Some questions for that meeting: can funding be allocated to eliminate the curves from Purcell without creating a 4 lane Purcell and related intersection expansions? (Funds allocated to date for the .6 mile 234/Purcell intersection expansion are 6.7 million with the county contributing $1.6 million). If the first step in the process is to remove the 4-lane Purcell from the comp plan, can the intersection design then be downgraded due to the fact that one of the major considerations for VDOT’s design has changed? All are questions for the Oct. 20 meeting.

Concern was expressed regarding a four lane Purcell resulting in more commercial projects in the community. Martin pointed out that the current Comprehensive Plan restricts that under the SRR designation, but the Plan could be changed in the future. Martin pointed out a discrepancy between the Comp. Plan and the Zoning Ordinance on the SRR designation (the 2.5 acre/home minimum only exists in the Comp. Plan).

Christine advised a combination of door knocking, contacting supervisors, online petitions and speaking at Citizens Time during BOCS meetings for residents to be effective on their issue.

Eugene Buckingham offered to be point on Purcell, and the group will coordinate through the Purcell Road Facebook page.



The Cunard Park project.  The berm and plantings that the community, represented by MIDCO and LOCCA/PELT, had negotiated for with the developer, county staff and the Park Authority is not to be due to objections from Supervisor Jenkins’ office, whose district the park now resides in. The concerns from Supervisor Jenkins' office centered on funding and safety. The berm would have provided screening for the park from the industrial usage next door. There will be additional flowers and shrubs planted where the berm would have been. There will be a clean-up day at the park in the spring.



The Chipoltle project at the Glen Shopping Center was discussed to gauge interest in a full review. Opinions varied, but the general consensus was that our friends at LOCCA-PELT had done a good job with their recommendations for the building’s architecture, and that no involvement from MIDCO was needed.



Henry Bibber provided the Occoquan Overlay District Committee report. They have worked their way through the first team of experts. The Planning Commission has a meeting to discuss the overlay in November. The recommended area affected would be up to 1 mile from the reservoir. There’s a need for tighter controls over pollutants and housing density limits. Henry stated the overlay should have been completed 10 years ago and we need to do this ASAP- it’s really too late in some respects, We will only be able to hold the line. Business position via Al Alborn: My opinion is that restrictions based on sound science and research will be  preferred by the Prince William Chamber of Commerce. Al is a member of the Chamber.       Martin pointed out that once the MIDCO committee finishes their report, we need to interface with the county to get the improvements into the Zoning Ordinance and the Design and Construction Standards Manual.



The Laroche-German Property: This is another proposed development that was discussed to gauge community interest in a full review. It is a housing project on land between Hoadly Road and Websters Way near Lost Creek Court. It calls for 12 homes on approximately 5 acres. MIDCO will monitor the situation and try to engage the nearby residents to assess interest in a full review.



There was discussion of the median break on the Prince William Parkway just down from the 7-11 in front of the Branscome property. No U turn is allowed at that cut now- that eventuality was apparently not made clear during the planning process. Concerns were expressed on stacking issues for the left turn lanes at the break, creating an unsafe condition.


Five free historical maps of Prince William County were offered by MIDCO, with the request that takers donate to flood victims via the PWC web.





MIDCO Meeting Recap for 6/16/11:

The Purcell Road four-laning project was the first agenda item with Purcell-area residents and Rick Canizoles, head of the county transportation department in attendance. The project was broken down into two related parts for discussion, the Rt. 234 section that's currently funded and planned, and the remainder of current Purcell Road and the new section that will connect to Prince William Parkway. The path for the new road will start at the present Purcell near the corner that leads on to Hoadly and veering off from there to extend to Peaks Mill Road. It will then follow the path of current Peaks Mill Road to its end and continue on with a new section that will connect and cross Prince William Parkway at the existing median break in the parkway (the only one for miles). The new four-lane Purcell is designed serve the approximately 600 acre undeveloped parcel at this location on both sides of the parkway.

Area residents had a number of issues with the section of Purcell near Rt. 234 that's currently in the design phase, including the length of the four-lane section, the lack of sound walls, the alignment of the road in the right-of-way, and tree removal. Mr. Canizoles stated that the county will hold future meetings with the community to  work to address these issues.

The consensus of the group was that the extension of Purcell Road to Prince William Parkway is unwarranted and should be removed from the county Comprehensive Plan. Supervisor Nohe has sent MIDCO a letter stating his intention to direct county staff and the Planning Commission to study the issue, take input from residents, and report a recommendation back to the Board Of County Supervisors.



Project Updates:

• Geisler Project- The Planning Commission hearing has been postponed until fall.
• Occoquan Overlay Area- The committee hosted Patty Dietz from the county Environmental Services department at their last meeting and had a very productive discussion. A report is expected later in the year.

MIDCO Meeting Recap for 3/17/2011:

The Occoquan Reservoir Protection Area was discussed and a committee was formed to formulate details as to what conditions should be included in the protection area. Henry Bibber will head up the committee, and Jill Claus, Al Alborn, Judy Sweet and Jack Koomoojian will participate. Jack will act as liaison to LOCCA. Supervisor May was in attendance and will inquire with the county regarding progress so far and what the procedure is going forward to move this idea from the Comprehensive Plan to the Zoning Ordinance. Updates were discussed for various ongoing projects:

• The Bacon Race Cell Tower- Still no application filed with the county. New technology may lessen the need for tall (125’) towers in the near future. One tower benefit cited is maintenance for cemetery property (around $2000.00 per year). It was suggested that burial plots could be sold to cover costs (one per year), or donations from current plot owners could be resumed to cover costs. A balloon test is to be held to gauge impact. Since the meeting, AT&T has proposed to purchase T-Mobile, possibly complicating this application.

• The Geisler Project- A new plan has been filed with the county with the gas station eliminated. The plan now shows a drive-thru fast food site, a small strip mall, and a retirement home at the rear of the property. There is still only one access shown for the retirement home use that requires two. The right in-right out access point from Rt. 234 brought questions from the group and will reportedly need a waiver from VDOT requirements. There were concerns expressed regarding the fact that students from the planned high school near the fast food site will need to exit the parcel, make a u-turn at the Hoadly/234 intersection, and make a left at the school if they want the fast food that will be available next door to the school.

• The Occoquan Forest Fire- This fire that burned over 100 acres was started by a downed power line and fed by 65 mph winds. All agreed that the fire department did a fantastic job limiting the damage from a fire that could have been much worse. Burying the power lines was discussed as one way to address the powerline issue, albeit an expensive one and one that Dominion Power does not consider a safety consideration. Powerline tree trimming methods were questioned, with a number of people indicating that even after trimming, many trees were left overhanging wires, and trees that didn’t even reach the lines were cut down to the ground. An effort will be made to encourage a unified approach for communities along the Davis Ford Corridor to engage Dominion Power on the tree trimming issue.

• Earl Cunard Park- A site meeting was held with LOCCA, MIDCO, the Park Authority and PWC representation.  It was decided that a 4-6’ earthen berm on park property would be constructed with plantings on top to help screen the 4.5 story credit union building with drive-thru from the park. This would complement the additional plantings already agreed to by the credit union property owner on his side of the entrance road. The park identifying sign will also be upgraded and moved to the front of the park parcel.

• The upgrade of Purcell Road was discussed at citizen’s time, and MIDCO will have a special meeting on this subject in the near future.