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August 2019 Update!

September 2016 Update

June 25, 2019 Meeting

March 2019 Forum

Presentation, Tom Eitler
Tom Eitler, Urban Land Institute, Presentation for PWCA


2016 PWCA Forum
The Rural Crescent: Fact or Fiction?
PWCA Press Release
Speaker Presentations
Mike May is a partner with the law firm Albo Obelon. He specializes in civil litigation and criminal defense. Mike represented the Occoquan District on the BOS for 9 years where he developed the reputation as a proponent of sensible smart growth land use policies and open space preservation.
Charlie Grymes is a founding member and Chair of the Prince William Conservation Alliance. He is a recovering Federal bureaucrat, retired after working for the Department of the Interior for over 30 years. His family has been in Virginia since the 1640's, and he now teaches the Geography of Virginia class at George Mason University.
Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson has been serving on the Prince William Board of County Supervisors since winning a special election in December of 2014. Jeanine campaigned as a strong advocate of the Rural Crescent and remains committed to protecting its preservation. Currently Supervisor Lawson represents the BOCS on the Agriculture and Forest District Advisory Committee as well as the Virginia Association of Counties, Environmental and Agriculture Steering Committee.  

2014 Rural Crescent Study Report & Videos from PWCAs March 2015 Forum.

The Prince William County Rural Crescent
From the Potomac River shoreline to Bull Run Mountain, we are one Prince William.

Rural Crescent MapIn 1998 the Prince William County Board of Supervisors adopted a Comprehensive Plan that, for the first time, formally established an Urban Growth Boundary.

The intent was to strengthen the County's capacity to control urban sprawl by defining an area that was available for higher density development and a protected rural area, which quickly became known at the Rural Crescent.

Currently, the Board of County Supervisors is poised to initiate a process intended to revise the rural area policies that allow the County to achieve these goals.

The expected September 2016 Initiation of a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to reconsider Rural Crescent policies would create a comprehensive threat, opening the door for increased densities and the extension of infrastructure including public sewer.

Threats to our rural area are numerous and often driven by outside interests seeking short-term gain, to the detriment of citizens countywide. According to the County's own 2014 Rural Preservation Survey, the vast majority of residenets support preserving the Rural Crescen.

The County's 2014 Study recommends a new "transitional ribbon," shown in red on the above map, where access to public sewer is proposed and properties could thus accommodate higher densities. This means thousands of acres would essentially be removed from the Rural Crescent, to the detriment of farmland/open space preservation efforts and increasing the need for taxpayer funded schools, roads, and other public infrastructure. The intent of the "gateways" identified in the Study and shown on the map, is currently unknown.

However, the 2014 Study also prioritizes rural preservation tools, such as a Purchase of Development Rights (PDR) program.

In a PDR program, government agencies (sometimes with other partners) reduce the number of houses that could be built in an area by purchasing the development rights from private landowners. After development rights are purchased, the parcels are permanently protected from new development.

PDR programs are voluntary; purchases are made only from willing sellers and no one is compelled to sell. The state of Virginia provides some funding to local governments to purchase development rights. The Military Encroachment Partnering Program offers 50% of the cost to purchase development rights for properties around the border of military bases, such as Marine Corps Base Quantico.

Prince William County has numerous options to strengthen the Rural Crescent. At PWCAs July 6 2016 Forum, Brentsville Supervisor Lawson shared several strategies, including goals for contiguous green space, expanding agribusiness activities and purchasing development rights.

Public input is critical to effective planning policies. Changes to Rural Crescent policies would affect residents throughout the county. Currently citizens have access to little information on the current effort to revise Rural Crescent policies.

From the Potomac River shoreline to Bull Run Mountain, we are one Prince William. These important decisions affect us all. We support increased protections for the rural area to benefit citizens county wide.

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