All candidates were offered an opportunity, after the primary/caucus decisions, to respond to the questionnaire or update their earlier responses. The Victor Bras response has been updated.

Questions	Coles VICTOR BRAS - Democrat	Coles MARTIN NOHE - Republican
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?	BRAS: We should educate the public about the benefits of land preservation, encouraging the use of trusts and endowments. I support leveraging public funds to preserve open space. I also support the right of landowners to develop property. The Comprehensive Plan is the primary tool for responsible land use. It isn’t just a “guide.” It is a policy document resulting from a public input process. A practical approach to land use decisions is a transit-oriented development allowing higher housing density, perhaps clustering, around major transportation corridors and mass transit opportunities while having lower densities in other areas. However, the issuance of permits for building and sewer hookups is not a good tool since it occurs long after development plans are vested and approved. Finally, we should establish a better plan to use proffers for intended mitigation instead of “banking” funds at the expense of those paying the bill—the new homeowner.	NOHE: Comprehensive planning must be at the heart of land use decision making. However, the comprehensive plan is only useful to the extent that those implementing it have the political will to respect the guidelines laid down in the plan. A plan that is too flexible or for which too many exceptions are made is meaningless. Therefore, proffers should used whenever possible to ensure that development always creates a net positive impact upon the overall community. The preservation and/or creation of parks and dedicated open space should also be part of the comprehensive plan process and should be backed with dedicated funding for open space. Finally, sewer hook-ups should only be allowed in those cases where the higher densities that are inevitable with installation of sewers do not otherwise negatively impact natural resources.
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?	BRAS: We need to resolve the problems the current Board of Supervisors and their appointees have caused. A place to start is slowing development in impacted areas until infrastructure catches up and attempting to channel funds based on budget offsets. For new development, the proffer system should encourage non-vehicular access to public conveniences. Also, encouraging higher densities along transit oriented areas like VRE and OmniLink routes and encouraging job growth for in County employment would reduce vehicle trips, pollution levels, and increase family time. Public safety will increase as people spend more time in the community aware of their surroundings while spending less time in commuter traffic. All levels of service should be defined and identified and “wants” or “needs” benchmarked against other localities to ensure they are adequate and affordable. Improved management of proffers, ensuring that collected funds are spent in a timely manner will mitigate new development as intended.	NOHE: In far too many cases in Prince William County, Levels of Service (LOS) are rated �D� or �F�. The reason Prince William County is an attractive home for so many people is because they desire a suburban, family-friendly quality of life. I support strengthening the Comprehensive Plan to include guidelines for Adequate Public Facilities to be required before new residential construction can take place. Unless we tie development approvals to infrastructure, we cannot guarantee that the LOS for transportation, education and public safety do not become further degraded to the point that we lose the quality of life that makes Prince William a desirable home in the first place.
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?	BRAS: Public transportation needs to be made more convenient and affordable. I have a specific proposal, developed with other candidates, detailed on my web site that will get cars off the road. The centerpiece of the proposal is essentially a Metro Rail on wheels consisting of new technology buses on dedicated vehicle lanes to Springfield Metro and points North. The plan is affordable and can be implemented quickly. Other near-term mitigations are: better support to the grassroots “slugging” practice by working with officials in destination points to make the system even more practical and efficient; encouraging telecommuting; and converting to more efficient technology for public transit. For the mid- to long-term, we should strive for transit-oriented development along existing and future major collectors, mass transit and commuter lots. Finally, I support job creation close to home with adequate non-vehicular walkways and bikeways to reduce our reliance on motor vehicle transportation.	NOHE: The solution to improving transportation lies not in building new roads, but in getting cars off the roads that we already have. Public transportation options must be improved through better regional cooperation with our neighbors to the north and south, expanded local transit that serves the community in a manner that those with cars are willing to use it, and better use of technology to make regional transit more available, practical and affordable. Moreover, we must continually seek to provide incentives for more private investment that will generate high-paying jobs within the county, so that average commuting distances can be shortened and so that home based work and telecommuting becomes an attractive and practical option for employers to offer their staff.
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?	BRAS: The focus of Bay protection activities has moved steadily upstream and the role of local governments in meeting water preservation and restoration continues to expand. Prince William County has tools available to protect, conserve, and restore our water supply. The current Board has not used the tools when businesses have not followed the Chesapeake Bay Protection Act (CPA) in zoning actions, development, or operation. If elected, I will champion CPA compliance, and will, if necessary, petition the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Board to exercise its legal prerogatives to correct violations of the CPA. Finally, I would advocate programs that would make CPA enforcement actions less necessary by communicating to the public, through the existing natural resource and preservation councils, the benefit of responsible environmental practices. For example, I would give greater visibility to the "Great Scapes" Lawn and Landscape and the County Storm Water Management Education programs.	NOHE: Government at all levels should seek to achieve a balance between incentives and enforcement that drive would-be polluters toward better natural resource conservation practices. The multi-state Chesapeake Bay 2000 agreement was drafted with the belief that all generators of point source and non-point source pollution should implement plans to ensure that their operations create a net positive benefit to the community without hindering efforts to restore the bay to standards laid out in the agreement. I support expanding Prince William County�s Bay Protection regulations to include stronger enforcement policies, particularly for erosion and sediment control, which is a particular challenge for a county with such rapid residential growth.
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?	BRAS: I support comprehensive stream protection and restoration strategy similar to that in Fairfax County. I am eager to work with groups interested in natural resource protection and get there by building on existing efforts. Further, I will be an advocate for comprehensive regional approaches to water quality by developing regional plans. As a Supervisor I will work with citizens to put “teeth” into enforcement of our implementation of the CPA. As part of the implementation, I will demand low environmental impact development techniques of protecting and enhancing the delicate balance of environmentally sensitive streams and watersheds. That would include non-disturbance of existing vegetation and maintenance of appropriate tree canopies. Finally, I support the Fairfax Water Authority regulations concerning the easements that buffer the Occoquan. However, Prince William must demand proportionate representation and voting power on the Water Authority to ensure fairness to the rights of our residents.	NOHE: Despite having seven of Prince William Counties streams listed as �highly impaired� by the Department of Environmental Quality, I am committed to seeing Prince William be the first large county to see all of its streams meet the Water Quality Standards laid out in the Chesapeake Bay 2000 agreement. As Chairman of the Potomac Council and Vice-Chairman of the Potomac Watershed Roundtable, I have worked with policy makers in Fairfax County and have studied their subwatershed restoration plans. At this time, Prince William lacks even the comprehensive stream surveys that are needed to begin a subwatershed protection program and I feel that beginning these surveys and identifying those watersheds which present the biggest challenges should be a top environmental priority for the County.
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?	BRAS: Some of the same strategies that protect the stream valleys and the Chesapeake Bay would be appropriate for managing development on steep slopes and highly erodible soils. Maintaining or increasing vegetation on steep slopes, maintaining tree canopies and requiring best management practices such as storm water management, erosion control efforts and re-vegetation of disturbed areas are just a few tools. Encouraging clustering of development so that environmental sensitive area can remain undisturbed is an option. Certainly, compliance with low-density development on steep slopes and areas of highly erodible soils is necessary. Once again, education and collaboration are methods for reasonable positive results.	NOHE: Maintaining lower residential densities in steep slope areas and keeping commercial development out of these sensitive regions is a must. Prince William County has already lost a great deal of our natural top soil to poor development practices and the Chesapeake Bay is paying the price for that poor planning in the form of higher turbidity levels. In addition to strong enforcement of the county�s new Bay Protection Ordinance, I support expanding those RPA buffers for commercial development to the 200 foot guideline recommended by the Chesapeake Bay Local Assistance Division of the Department of Conservation and Recreation.
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?	BRAS: Encouraging higher intensity development along transit corridors, encouraging clustering development to reduce impervious services and increasing open space, encouraging land trusts for future preservation, education, and public acquisition of critical natural resource areas. I support a comprehensive system of greenways and trails connecting not only the parks but libraries, drug stores, banks, dry cleaners and other amenities that currently generate short vehicular trips. Funding mechanisms can include long-term low interest and tax deductible debt issues by the County, matching grants with State and Federal funds, encouraging land trusts by local citizens, and proffer requests for stream valleys and trail connectors.	NOHE: As an elected Director of the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District, maintaining Prince William County�s agricultural heritage is an issue that is close to my heart. Further residential and commercial development must be linked to further protection of green space, particularly in the form of passive recreation areas, wildlife habitat protection areas and natural resource conservation areas. Moreover, residential construction in the Rural Crescent should be planned in a manner that is not detrimental to neighboring parcels that are used by families that choose to continue to use their land for traditional agricultural purposes. Conservation easements and land trusts can be a valuable tool for protecting sensitive areas into perpetuity.
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?	BRAS: The strategies referenced above to protect the Chesapeake Bay resource with buffers, non-disturbance of vegetation, adequate tree canopies, and adherence to the Comprehensive Plan are tools to protect the drinking water supply. Establishing the goals, routine monitoring of the water quality with those results against the goals being made public will provide incentives to the community to join in the effort to achieve high water quality goals. Although recent the water quality in the reservoir may be the best it has been in 20 years, we must take action to protect the future. Again, education, collaboration and a willingness to work with the development community, the citizens and environmental expertise within the County and region are truly the keys to obtaining the results we want to achieve. I believe that part of the solution we will agree on is to purchase of development rights around the Reservoir and streams.	NOHE: Conservation Planning should be an integral part of all land use decisions. Planning should include development of Best Management Practices (BMPs) that should be employed on all agricultural and commercial land use applications, and residential land use application should employ extensive land management planning to include analysis of the impact of wells and septic fields. I believe that the Commonwealth�s budget should include restored funding for Agricultural BMP cost share programs, and that the county should provide additional support for voluntary Natural Resource Conservation programs, to include funding for expanded conservation planning, stream surveys and subwatershed restoration and protection by the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District.