All candidates were offered an opportunity, after the primary/caucus decisions, to respond to the questionnaire or update their earlier responses. No response was received from Sean Connaughton.

Questions	Chair of Board (Countywide) RICHARD C. COPLEN - Democrat
Question: Unmanaged development has a significant impact on the ability of localities to protect green open space and natural resource areas. The Virginia General Assembly has said that local governments have the tools they need to manage and contain growth within their jurisdictions. These tools include (1) the proffer system; (2) the issuance of permits for building and sewer hook ups; (3) planning and then legislating dedicated local funding mechanisms to leverage state and federal dollars for acquisition of parks and open space; and 4) comprehensive planning, zoning, and use of tax assessments to encourage/discourage types of development. How will you use these tools to manage the pace of development and direct where growth occurs?	COPLEN: The most effective tool is comprehensive planning, zoning, and the use of tax assessments and incentives that effectively integrate land use and transportation planning to achieve smart growth that is balanced, sensible, and sustainable. These are the best tools to achieve growth close to existing public infrastructure such as a mass transit node. Creating jobs and affordable workforce housing close to existing mass transit nodes reduces pressures for residential growth in rural areas, reduces commuting distances and auto emissions, and reduces public expenditures for new infrastructure. This type of smart growth will enable us to preserve significantly more green open space and natural resource areas. I support the leveraging of public funds and the use of property development rights, trusts, and endowments to preserve more open space. My experience, training, and temperament enable me to serve as an effective bridge between the environmentalist and building/developer communities. We desperately need a peacemaking, consensus-building approach to land use and transportation policy. Please see RickCoplen.com.
Question: Inadequate infrastructure - including storm water management, transportation, school and public safety systems - results in preventable increases to pollution levels, reduces quality of life for residents and challenges the integrity of valuable natural resources. There are currently 34,000 residential units approved for development in Prince William County that could accommodate 100,000 more people, increasing the current population by one-third. What will you do to improve the current Levels of Service, and how will you ensure that new rezoning requests to accommodate new development will not make the current problems worse?	COPLEN: The most cost effective and viable solution is to concentrate future growth close to existing public infrastructure, such as mass transit nodes and routes. This will reduce the need to construct expensive new public infrastructure, thus enabling us to dedicate our scarce public monies to raising our current levels of service Additionally, incentivizing more small and large businesses to locate close to mass transit nodes will reduce commutes and strengthen our tax base, thus providing more public monies to improve our levels of service county-wide. My proposal for Innovation East @ Prince William is one such example and is fully explained in my website, RickCoplen.com. I will improve our current levels of service by promoting the type of smart growth described above, enforcing compliance with the comprehensive plan, and ensuring that proffered monies are spent in a timely manner for the intended purposes.
Question: Prince William County's current transportation system cannot accommodate traffic from existing development. The resulting traffic congestion increases automobile emissions into the air within the Northern Virginia region, recently reclassified as "Severe" for air pollution. The 2000 Census shows that only 3.2% of Prince William County residents use public transportation to travel to and from their place of employment. What would you do to increase public transportation options for local residents and/or revamp land use patterns so jobs and housing are closer to each other within 20 years, especially in areas where redevelopment opportunities can maximize investments?	COPLEN: I was instrumental in forming the consensus among the Democratic candidates who made the joint transportation policy statement (August 25, 2003) that offered a blueprint for regional transportation solutions. That plan includes expanded VRE service and the creation of an innovative Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) network linking Prince William, Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. This BRT network will prompt significantly more commuters to use mass transit because it is fast, safe, affordable, and exceptionally accessible. I also support the eventual extension of light rail and monorail to Prince William. I strongly advocate the formal linkage of land use and transportation planning, especially efforts to bring people and their jobs closer together. Innovation East @ Prince William is a representative example of the type of smart growth transit oriented development that will accomplish this critical task. It will also contain a major telecommuting center. Please see RickCoplen.com for more details.
Question: The rapid pace of development in Prince William County challenges government capacity to adequately enforce existing Chesapeake Bay and other environmental regulations. And when infractions are identified, the current penalties are often insignificant compared to the financial benefits that can be realized through noncompliance. As a result, many infractions are either not corrected in a timely manner or not addressed at all. What would you do to ensure regular, timely and comprehensive enforcement of existing regulations to safeguard Prince William's valuable natural resources?	COPLEN: Unfortunately, the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act (CPA) has no enforcement powers; however, I am making a firm public commitment to achieve its lofty goals in Prince William. I will work hard to empower the county staff with the tools needed to fully monitor and enforce compliance. If necessary, I will petition the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board to take legal action to correct violations of the CPA. I will prompt the county staff to embark on an aggressive effort to inform the public, especially the building and development community, of the many benefits of responsible environmental practices. I strongly support protecting our land from stripping and clear cutting. I also support active measures to avoid silting of streams. Efforts to safeguard our valuable natural resources should start with improvement of current land use provisions governing the Rural Crescent. My plans for doing so are detailed in answer #7 and in my website, RickCoplen.com.
Question: As a signatory partner to the Chesapeake Bay agreements, Virginia has committed to invest in productive strategies that support better ecological health of the Chesapeake Bay. Prince William has taken positive action to fulfill this commitment through efforts that begin to assess the ecological health of many County streams. Do you support a comprehensive stream protection strategy similar to that in Fairfax County, including the development of management strategies for the protection and/or restoration of County subwatersheds?	COPLEN: I strongly support a comprehensive stream protection strategy similar to that in Fairfax County, including the development of management strategies for the protection and/or restoration of County subwatersheds. I strongly support buffers along the Occoquan and low environmental impact development techniques of protecting environmentally sensitive streams and watersheds. These techniques should include maintenance of appropriate tree canopies and non-disturbance of existing vegetation. Protection of our critically important streams and water quality is one of many examples of public policy challenges requiring regional solutions. I will work on a full time basis to do a much better job of fostering this type of regional cooperation than my opponent. Please see RickCoplen.com for more details.
Question: Steep slopes and highly erodible soils characterize many of the remaining undeveloped parcels in Prince William's designated development area. These landscape conditions necessitate the use of cut-and-fill development practices and have significant negative impacts on water quality, protected stream buffers and other natural resources. Although prevention is considerably more economical than mitigation, current regulations and requirements provide little, if any, protection for these valuable natural resources. What tools and/or strategies would you use to protect these environmentally sensitive areas?	COPLEN: I am committed to protecting areas containing steep slopes and highly erodible soils in Prince William. We can best accomplish this important objective by aggressively pursing a number of common sense solutions. For example, we should ensure compliance with low-density development on steep slopes and areas with highly erodible soils. We should encourage clustering of development so that environmentally sensitive areas remain undisturbed. Additionally, we should require best management practices such as storm water management, erosion control efforts and re-vegetation of disturbed areas. We should also maintain or increase vegetation on steep slopes and maintain tree canopies. We should be especially cognizant of these solutions as we re-evaluate land use provisions governing the Rural Crescent. Please see RickCoplen.com for more details.
Question: Prince William's designated rural area (Rural Crescent) was adopted in 1998 to preserve open space, agricultural resources and our groundwater supply. Since that time, development pressures continue to challenge local capacity to sustain these goals. Other open space areas protected by state and federal agencies are threatened by encroaching development. Prince William surveys repeatedly show that residents want more green, open space and passive recreation opportunities, such as birding, hiking, photography and other nature explorations. What tools, strategies and/or funding mechanisms would you use to protect and increase green, open space areas and agricultural resources? Would you support a comprehensive system of greenways and trails connecting parks in the county?	COPLEN: We can best protect and increase green, open space areas and agricultural resources by improving the current land use provisions governing the Rural Crescent. Partitioning it into 10 acre executive lots is suboptimal. Therefore, I strongly advocate the appointment of a Rural Crescent Citizens Advisory Committee (RC CAC) in 2004 to find creative ways to preserve open green spaces much larger than 10 acres, as well as ensure clean drinking water and breathable air for future generations. The RC CAC should find creative ways to preserve parcels as large as 50-100 acres using property development rights, conservation easements and trusts, and zoning changes where appropriate. I strongly support a comprehensive system of greenways and trails connecting parks in the county. More importantly, I will lead the way to make it happen. Our children and grandchildren deserve it. Please see RickCoplen.com for more details.
Question: Over 80% of Prince William public water users rely on the Occoquan Reservoir for clean drinking water. Although it is now too late to protect lands along the southern side of the reservoir, much of the headwaters lie in western Prince William. Conservation and preventative efforts offer significant economic advantages over technological solutions, as documented by the EPA in their assessment of New York City's successful watershed protection strategy. What tools, strategies and/or funding mechanisms would you use to protect the public drinking water supply? How will you protect the headwaters of the Occoquan Reservoir as development increases in the upstream sections of Bull Run, Cedar Run, and Broad Run watersheds?	COPLEN: Protecting the public drinking water supply is not merely an important policy priority, it is an imperative. Many of my answers to previous questions apply here. For example, protecting larger parcels of land in the Rural Crescent will help significantly. We must also protect the Chesapeake Bay and key watersheds. Additionally, we should ensure protective stream buffers, adequate tree canopies, and non-disturbance of vegetation. Efforts to educate the public should also help to achieve our water quality goals. The key to success on this issue, and virtually all others, is for the Chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors to establish an environment that fosters collaborative and consensus-building policy-making. I will do a much better job than my opponent of bringing disparate interests to the negotiating table and reaching agreements that are mutually beneficial. Please see RickCoplen.com for more details.