FROM MANASSAS TO THE NFL: Catching up with Redskins Greg Stroman and Tim Settle. Page 7
August 7, 2019 | Vol. 18, No. 32 | www.princewilliamtimes.com | 50¢ Covering Prince William County and surrounding communities, including Gainesville, Haymarket, Dumfries, Occoquan, Quantico and the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park.
County chairman candidates split on bonds By Daniel Berti
Times Staff Writer
On Nov. 5, Prince William voters will be asked to consider two bond referendums that would allow the county to borrow up to $396 million to improve roads and parks. But the four candidates vying for the county’s top elected post disagree on whether voters should approve them. Democratic candidate Ann Wheeler
John Gray (R)
Ann Wheeler (D)
Muneer Baig (I)
said she supports both the transportation and parks projects included in the referendum. Diverting traffic from
Don Scoggins (I)
Va. 28 – a priority of the $355 million road bond referendum – is a must for the county, she said.
“It’s up to the voters to pass the bond referendum, and I’d like to fix Route 28,” Wheeler said. Wheeler added that fixing roads isn’t supposed to be the county’s responsibility, and that federal and state dollars could also be used to pay for projects. “I don’t want to spend massive amounts of local dollars on a state See CANDIDATES, page 2
County unveils rural crescent options By Jill Palermo
Times Staff Writer
Prince William County officials have unveiled some of the long-awaited details of new strategies they say could better preserve open space in the county’s “rural crescent.” Some of the proposals, however, are already being criticized as too aggressive by those who worry that allowing public sewer connections in the rural area or changing the existing one-home-per-10-acre limit on development will lead to unbridled growth. About 100 people gathered at the Hylton Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, July 30, to hear the details of five strategies that could add as many as 10,390 homes – and an estimated 33,000 people – to the rural crescent, which the county supervisors established back in 1998 as a means to put the brakes on suburban sprawl. The options include two proposals for rural “cluster” zoning; two proposals that would allow landowners to transfer their development rights to a designated “transitional See CRESCENT, page 4
PHOTO BY ROGER SNYDER
Dividing Line: Vint Hill Road currently serves as part of the rural crescent’s existing boundary line. As this aerial photograph shows, development to the east of Vint Hill Road, behind Cedar Point Elementary School, is much denser than on the other side of Vint Hill Road, where building is limited to one home per 10 acres. In recent years, however, the county supervisors have allowed both schools and large religious buildings to be built in the rural crescent. INSIDE Classifieds...........................................13 Lifestyle................................................8 Obituaries...........................................11
Opinion.................................................5 Puzzle...................................................6 Real Estate..........................................10 Sports...................................................7
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