Gainesville / Prince William Times July 4, 2018

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Happy 4th:The Gainesville Times office will be closed Wednesday.

July 4, 2018 | Serving Haymarket, Gainesville and Western Prince William County | Vol. 17, No. 27 | www.PrinceWilliamTimes.com | 50¢

Vote for your favorite local businesses in our first Readers’ Choice Awards, Page 12-13

P-Nats eye move to Fredericksburg

Prince William supervisors ‘disappointed’ but not surprised By Jonathan Hunley and Jill Palermo Times Staff Writers

News this week that the Potomac Nationals Minor League baseball team is considering a move to Fredericksburg did not come as a surprise to Prince William County officials, most of whom said they already knew such talks were in the works. Still, the team’s June 26 announcement that P-Nats’ owner Art Silber and his adult children could soon enter into exclusive negotiations for a $35 million stadium outside the sprawling Central Park shopping center was “disappointing,” several Prince William supervisors said, considering the team has called

Woodbridge home for more than three decades. “I am really sad to see them leave,” said Corey Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of Supervisors and the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate. He called the team “part of the fabric of the community.” Stewart, R-at large, helped shepherd a plan to construct a new county-owned stadium for the team at Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge until those talks collapsed in July 2017 in the wake of failed effort to put the proposal to voters in a ballot referendum. The referendum idea, pushed by supervisors not in favor of a county-owned stadium, died in

COURTESY The Potomac Nationals released this rendering of its proposed new stadium in Fredericksburg. June 2017 in a 4-to-4 vote. But it nonetheless demonstrated a lack of five votes needed to move ahead with plans for the county-owned stadium.

See P-NATS, page 5

Tiny homes in Prince William? It’s complicated By Karen Chaffraix Contributing Writer

Whether it’s covered wagon trains, tents or tiny houses — micro-living is making a comeback around the country. That trend was evident locally last month, when the Prince William County Fairgrounds teemed with folks interested in miniature abodes, despite the 100-degree bake. “Oh, I’m just curious,” said Shirley Stewart, 79, from under a big hat. She drove up with a friend from Fredericksburg. “I would definitely need a bedroom on the first floor.” This was not your hippy-dippy crowd.

See TINY HOMES, page 4

PHOTO BY KAREN CHAFFRAIX Visitors enter the DC/Virginia Tiny House Festival June 17. The event was organized by the United Tiny House Association and held over three days at the Prince William County Fairgrounds. INSIDE Calendars...........................................14 Classified............................................17 Lifestyle..............................................14 Opinion.................................................6

Public Safety.........................................3 Puzzles...............................................10 Real Estate..........................................16 Sports.................................................11

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