WaPo: Prince William County Might Ban Home Construction

[Penndems]

Proposal Aims to Get Richmond's Attention

By Timothy Dwyer
Washington Post Staff Writer
Friday, November 24, 2006; Page B01

Prince William County will consider a radical proposal to get the governor and legislature to do something about Northern Virginia's traffic-choked highways: Stop building houses for a year.

Supervisor W.S. Covington III (R-Brentsville), who has been on the board for three years, introduced a resolution this week to freeze housing construction for 12 months. Next month supervisors will discuss his proposal, which has prompted lively reaction from his colleagues, the building industry and Gov. Timothy M. Kaine (D), who said during his campaign that development should be linked to transportation improvements.

"This is something we need to do to get the governor's and the General Assembly's attention," Covington said. "The resolution recognizes the fact that there is a limit as to how far local governments can go. The state has been collecting these tax dollars for years, and they have been neglecting our infrastructure."

The county has grown 72 percent over 15 years, from 215,686 to 371,181 residents, with an accompanying explosion of housing. Some people in the housing industry reacted to Covington's proposal with horror and derision.

Link:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/23/AR2006112301008.html
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Hard as it is to believe, I'm in rare agreement with Wally Covington on this issue. :wow:

:wow:

[demnan]

1. I just came across this post and wanted to reflect

I believe that Republican Cory Stewart won his election for Chairman of the board bascially on this issue. He beat out a more experienced Sharon Pandak because, for one thing, the Environmental League in the county endorsed him, and for another he opposed building in the rural cresent area of the county. The local Democrats put a lot of money behind Pandak, the more moderate candidate, and even some Republicans supported her. But young Stewart ran an excellent campaign and it resonated with voters.

Prince William may go down as the first soldiers in the battle against sprawl, but we are so miserable every day with the traffic. It usually takes me and hour and a half to travel 22 miles home from work. That is an average speed of less than 20 miles an hour. And I live within walking distance of the Occoquan in Lake Ridge, so I'm not in the southern or western end of the county.

[Penndems]

2. My apologies for just now answering your post, denman

We've been caught up in the holidays and personal family business, so I've been remiss about posting on the Virginia board (and on DU as a whole, for that matter).

You are absolutely correct in every one of your assessments concerning Corey Stewart's win. He had the right message at the right time. People are sick and tired of sprawl, the accompanying increase in crime and traffic - not to mention the increased burden a growing population puts on schools, public utilities and county amenities. There was a decision made a long time ago not to build in the Rural Crescent, and anybody who even suggests that decision be overturned is sure to lose in Prince William County.

IMHO, Sharon Pandak was a terrible candidate. Sharon allowed herself to be painted by Corey as a friend to developers. The fact that she came into the race too late in the game (August), and then went on vacation (you don't take recreational time off when you're in the midst of a campaign) didn't help matters any, either.

The best way to handle the transportation crisis would've been to control development. Unfortunately, we had people like the late Jack Herrity to never met a builder he didn't like (or a tree, either, LOL). "Tarmac Jack" was the godfather of cozy relationships with developers. Fairfax County, in its present incarnation, is Jack Herrity's Frankenstein. When the monster was being created, Herrity had it under his control. In the early 1980s, the monster turned around and devoured Jack Herrity. Before we knew it, the Board of Supervisors wasn't in charge - developers were. Now they own Fairfax County. (The Board itself seems to have been rendered a moot point.)

Unless and until there's a moratorium on new construction, and every county BOS in Northern Virginia takes a step back to assess transportation issues and future growth, this out-of-control growth that doesn't keep up with road and transit needs and improvements will be nothing more than a vicious circle.

Of course, that would be a developer's worst nightmare.