Our goals were to (1) ensure that community views are represented in the planning process; (2) provide a logical and readable foundation for establishing and maintaining high quality systems of parks, trails and open space. Highlights of our draft plans include:

• Clear definitions;

• Expanded level of service criteria;

• Establishes a broader vision, to help the County meet existing needs as well as attract new business and high quality residential development;

• Responds to neighborhood needs and provides a framework to upgrade underserved areas, such as Dale City and the Route 1 corridor;

• Promotes pedestrian and bicycle networks countywide;

• Emphasizes opportunities for water-based recreation;

• Establishes criteria for permanent protection of parks, trails and open space for future generations;

• Identifies specific opportunities for high priority places for parks, trails and open space (including some already owned by the County);

• Promotes creative approaches to overcoming implementation challenges, i.e., forming a Trails Commission;

• Highlights partnerships with neighboring localities as well as state and federal agencies;

• Promotes an integrated approach, including specific recommendations for updating other Comprehensive Plan chapters and related ordinances;

• Ensures a greater level of citizen involvement in future planning and implementation of goals;

• Acknowledges development needs while conserving natural and cultural resources.

• Provides a broader vision on how to fund park improvements and development needs;

• Includes strong natural and cultural resources language;

• Minimizes implementation costs by relying on existing County resources, such as the County Mapper and the Adopt a Stream program, where possible;

• Responds to citizen views as expressed in public meetings, County-led focus groups, the 2002 Park Authority Park Needs Assessment and Prince William County Citizen Satisfaction Surveys.

1st Inning
December 2004 to June 2006

The process began in December 2004, when Prince William fared poorly in the American Farmland Trust and Chesapeake Bay Foundation report Conserving the Washington-Baltimore Region's Green Network.

The Board of Supervisors directed staff to complete a report detailing existing open space conditions to serve as the basis for revisions to Parks and Open Space policies. Click here to read the Findings Report (on the right menu bar).

2nd Inning
June 2006 to September 2006

The Board formally initiated an update for the Parks & Open Space chapter of the Comprehensive Plan in June 2006.

Planning staff rewrote the Parks & Open Space chapter and presented their draft to the Planning Commission for approval in September 2006.

The first sentence in this draft was "Forty percent (40%) of the land in Prince William County is protected by some form of park or open space," so it was easy to tell that something was wrong right away.

Up to 20 citizens spoke at the public hearing, all in opposition to the low standards in the draft proposal. The Planning Commission deferred their vote and directed staff to meet with citizens to make changes to their draft.

Concerned about the low standards proposed by Planning staff, the Prince William Conservation Alliance and interested citizens formed a coalition to advocate for new policies that set high standards.

3rd Inning
Sept. 2006 to Jan. 2007

After a series of meetings with citizen groups and a Nov. 29 public presentation at the Park Authority offices, Planning staff released a new draft on January 18 2007. 

At the January 24 public hearing, more than 40 citizens, including representatives from eight local organizations, spoke for two hours in opposition to the low standards in the draft proposal.

Click here to read the issues raised by citizens.

The Planning Commission voted unanimously to defer their vote. This time, no date for another review was set and Commissioners again said that additional community input was needed.

4th Inning
January 2007 to April 2007

Coalition members worried that the job would never be done and we decided to re-write the parks and open space ourselves.

We held a public meeting on February 18 2007 to gather community input as the foundation for our rewrite. Click here to read citizen comments on ... Parks ... Trails ... Open Space.

We completed the rewrite and presented our drafts to the Planning Commission in April 2007. We requested a work session to review our drafts and answer questions.

The Planning Commission forwarded the drafts to the Prince William County Park Authority (PWCPA) for their comment. No timelime was established for the PWCPA review.

June 12 2007 - PWCPA Board Chairman Brenda Gardziel sends a memo to Planning Commission Chairman Martha Hendley describing the timeline for their review. The PWCPA review and comments would be completed by the end of July, in time for a September Planning Commission vote and an October Board of Supervisors vote.

July 20 2007 - PWCPA Exec. Director Jay Ellington sends a memo to the PWCPA Board outlining a new process.

July 25 2005 - The PWCPA received three resolutions regarding the draft proposals for Parks, Trails & Open Space. The Board deadlocks on a vote to decide if they will vote, so they do not vote on any of the resolutions or finalize comments on the proposals. Click here to read ... Resolution #1 ... Resolution #2 ... Resolution #3.

Voting to Vote: Rick Berry (Gainesville); Jane Beyers (Coles); Jean Smith (At-Large); Brant Wickham (Occoquan). Voting Not to Vote: Stu Cristiano (Woodbridge); Brenda Gardziel (Dumfries); R.B. Thomas (Brentsville); Duane York (Neabsco).

5th Inning
July 2007 - ???
The Planning Commission is holding a work session to review the Citizen Coalition's draft proposals on Wednesday, August 1 2007, 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the Mc Coart Government Center, Board Chambers. Citizens will present an overview of their proposal and answer questions. This is a great time to find out what's proposed for Parks, Trails and Open Space in Prince William County!

This process has been ongoing since December 2004 and now it is time to move on. Citizens have invested significant time and effort in participating with the process to update our parks and open space policies.

The Planning Commission has tentatively reserved the last Wednesday in September for a review and vote on the plan. We hope this happens so the Board of Supervisors is able to vote to finalize our parks, trails and open space policies this coming October.

July 31 Update: The County's process to upgrade Parks, Trails and Open Space policies has been ongoing since December 2004 with no resolution and many people are getting worried that there's no end in sight.

Nearly one year ago, and two Planning Commission deferrals, the Prince William Conservation Alliance and interested citizens formed a coalition to advocate for new policies that set high standards.

We've been trying to work with the process but we are not sure this is working out. We held public meetings to gather citizen input, wrote draft proposals for Parks, Trails and Open Space, and presented the drafts to the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission sent our drafts to the Prince William County Park Authority (PWCPA) and requested their comments. PWCPA Board Chairman Brenda Gardziel established the timeline in a June 12 2007 memo to Planning Commission Chairman Martha Hendley, saying the PWCPA would forward their comments by the end of July.

Citizens committed significant hours to work with the process, meet with PWCPA staff and Board to answer questions, review concerns and explore consensus opportunities. In late June, PWCPA staff shared a list of 24 issues and requested a response from the Citizen Coalition. Click here to read the PWCPA comments and citizen responses.

However, on July 20, three work days before the PWCPA Board's last scheduled meeting until September, PWCPA Executive Director Jay Ellington issued a memo to the PWCPA Board describing a new process. This new process continued this comment period to late September and joined the PWCPA with Planning staff in a joint comment process.

Although the PWCPA Board had not yet shared their comments, the Planning Commission is moving forward and holding a work session to review the Coalition draft proposals on Wednesday, August 1 2007, from 7:00 to 9:00 p.m. at the McCoart Government Center. Citizens will present an overview of their proposal and answer questions.

This meeting is a great time to find out more about the Citizen Proposals for Parks, Trails and Open Space!