Prince William Times 07/27/2023

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SPORTS: Manassas team wins Babe Ruth Baseball state title, Battlefield football update. PAGE 11

July 27, 2023 | Vol. 22, No. 30 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | $1.00 Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.

Cleared for takeoff: City OKs commercial flights from Manassas By Cher Muzyk

Times Staff Writer

By 2025, flights to Florida and elsewhere could be just minutes away in Manassas. The Manassas City Council voted unanimously Monday to bring commercial flights to the Manassas Regional Airport. Passenger flights are expected to get off the ground sometime in the next two years with Florida destinations likely. After holding two public hearings, the city council took the vote at Jennie Dean Elementary School, well aware that residents had concerns about noise, traffic and air pollution associated with additional aircraft flying in and out of the airport, which is now open to only private planes. “Change is hard, but it can be done,” Mayor Michelle Davis-Younger (D) told the crowd at the meeting. “This city is moving forward. This city is growing. People are coming here by the droves. Businesses want to move here. We have to be ready for it.” Lyle Sebranek was one of about 25 speakers at the July 24 public hearing who were about evenly split in support

PHOTO BY ROGER SNYDER

An aerial photo of the Manassas Regional Airport, which is now restricted to private planes but could see commercial flights in as soon as two years.. of or against the commercial flights. Sebranek told the city council he has lived on Chevalle Drive – “as close as you can get” to the airport’s runway – for 40 years with his family. Years ago, there were very few flights but “then came the larger business-type aircraft,”

he said. Sebranek urged the council to consider the quality of life of the residents who live around the airport and pause the approval to perform a preliminary noise assessment. “Jets departing an airport make noise. Lots of it.” he said. “They’re

noisy regardless of what people say.” Residents of the Great Oak subdivision located across from Va. 234 from the airport voiced similar concerns. “The sound is an issue,” said Wilson Lee who resides on Aspen Wood Court. “This has to be thought out. Your neighbors in the community deserve more time.” Manassas residents Brian Nace and Cheryl Macias said the plan would move the city forward. Adding commercial flights “seems like a very natural step to increase the city’s profile,” Nace said. “It’s our next step,” Macias said, stressing that the proposal would “elevate the visibility of our city,” bring economic development and produce jobs. “It’s largely a no-brainer,” she said. Brandon Burton, also a Manassas resident, praised the plan for its convenience: “How amazing would a 10-minute trip to the airport be?” After more than 90 minutes of public comments, Vice Mayor Pamela Sebesky (D) asked Avports about specific concerns raised by residents, including the possibility of cargo flights using the expanded airport and increased traffic. See AIRPORT, page 4

Homelessness up 35% as COVID supports end Minority, elderly, disabled residents disproportionately affected By Anya Sczerzenie Times Staff Writer

The number of Prince William County residents experiencing homelessness hit a three-year high this year and is up more than 35% since last year, mirroring regional trends, according to a recent report released by Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments. The economic stress of the pandemic, the expiration of COVID-19 era housing and income supports and a burst of new construction may have contributed to the rise in the homeless count, according to Tony Turnage, Prince William County’s director of homeless services. In the county, there are more people in homeless shelters now than there have been at any point in the past five years, according to the report, and more unsheltered people than there have been since before the COVID-19 pandemic began in 2020.

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Residents of a Woodbridge area homeless campsite line up for a hot meal, nonperishable food, snacks and new socks and T-shirts during a weekly HUGS outreach. There are no unsheltered homeless children in the county, but there were 40 families with children staying in either shelters or transitional housing during the annual “point-in-time” homeless survey conducted in January. The number of unsheltered people—those who are not living in a homeless shelter, hotel or other indoor location – was 73 when the PIT count was taken, compared to 102 in 2020. However, the number of unsheltered residents more

Nonprofit led by Gainesville mom pays off 20 schools’ meal debts, page 3

than doubled since 2022 when it was just 27. The PIT survey found 326 total residents experiencing homelessness, an increase of 35% from the 2022 PIT survey, which counted 241 such residents. It’s likely both numbers are undercounts, as it is difficult to find every homeless person when some manage to find temporary shelter during the winter. The count is conducted during the last 10 days of January each year. See HOMELESS, page 2

LIBRARY PAGE: Summer reading help, new books, page 8

88 DULLES, VA


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