Moonhowlings

One of my husband’s favorite sayings is “Captain Obvious” when someone says something so incredibly, well, obvious.   There are parents in the PWC community that have suddenly come to the realization that our class sizes are woefully too full, so full, that quality instruction is being jepoardized.   PWC school has reached the state’s legal limit for class size.

PWCS raised class sizes to the state limits this school year in response to current budget constraints. In the executive summary of the 2014 budget, Walts notes that reductions of teacher staffing ratios (or increases in class sizes) have led to savings of $4.3 million at the middle-school level and $5.3 million at the high school level. Walts also notes that next year’s budget does not restore those cuts.

In response to concerns about class sizes, Walts’s office has said it would cost $15 million annually to reduce average class sizes by one student at all levels. The Code of Virginia sets the following maximum class-size limits: 29 for kindergarten classes; 30 for grades one through three; and 35 for grades four through six. English classes are limited to 24 in grades one through 12, otherwise there are no state maximum class-size limits for grades seven and above, according to Dena Rosenkrantz, an attorney with the Virginia Education Association.

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 **UPDATE**  The Sheriff indicates there will probably not be a vote on conflict of interest.  I guess its ok to ignore the people.  More indelible horse manure will stick to more boots. 

**UPDATE 2**  Sheriff thinks there will be a second but it will get voted down. 

Click to here to get to the agenda

Today is the much awaited BOCS meeting where carry over funds are decided and where Pete Candland’s Conflict of Interest Resolution is supposed to be codified.  County attorney Horan, many think at the direction of Chairman Corey Stewart, has advised that his Resolution would violate the law.  Many citizens are crying FOUL over this suggestion.

Conflict of interest discussions have dominated the county landscape ever since Supervisor Wally Covington  attempted to slide $100k to Rainbow riding where his wife served in a leadership capacity until very recently.  Even though Covington pulled back his request after the blogosphere went wild over his audacity, it was like he had stepped in indelible horse manure and he simply has not been able to get it off his boots.  The horsey stuff has also wafted over to the other supervisors and it has been behind most of the discussion about conflict of interest.

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What  happens on Tuesday will not change the broken process in PWC, no matter what the Board does in the end.  Whether Rainbow Riding gets its funding along with other numerous recipients, what citizens can count on for sure, is that we will continue, BAD  business as usual in PWC.

It has come to my attention that the “process” for non profits to attain tax payer funds are quite backwards.  Here is how it works.  Non profit asks for money, county gives money, THEN, behind closed doors, said non profit agrees upon a “memorandum of understanding”.

Well, here is my first most obvious question, how the heck can the county GIVE money BEFORE you understand WHAT how the money is being spent.  My next question is,  within the context of this supposed process, where does the non profit list the deliverables expected from this money?

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Jeremy Borden  of the Washington Post traced the wind blown political career of Supervisor Corey Stewart over the past 9 years, on the eve of his announcement to run for Virginia Lt. Governor.  In his article entitled, Stewart’s changing stance on development in Prince William, Borden shows a candidate who goes where he thinks he will get to votes.  Stewart certainly showed his stripes today as he planned to  announce his candidacy from Stonebridge at Potomac Town Center in Woodbridge.  According to Borden, at the Washington Post:

Stonebridge, Stewart says, is emblematic of a new way forward for economic development in Prince William, an issue that was the focus of his reelection campaign last year.

Stewart started out as a politician with a strong desire to stop sprawl and to protect the environment.  He had many folks, both Democrat and Republican on his side for that reason.  This flip flop has caused many of his former supporters to become disenchanted with his political career.

But some former supporters say Stewart has lost his way on development issues.

No longer, critics say, is he seen as someone who would force developers to pay their fair share and help temper the feverish pace of home construction that has overwhelmed roads and schools.

“His campaign account shows he is now beholden to the development community,” said Jeanine Lawson, a former Stewart campaign volunteer. “It’s a disappointment because I thought he was principled on the issue.”

The project’s developers, District-based Roadside Development, contributed $10,000 to Stewart’s campaign account in the past couple of years, according to the Virginia Public Access Project, or VPAP, which tracks money in politics.

In recent years, Stewart has greatly increased his totals from real estate and construction interests, according to VPAP. From that sector, Stewart raised $308,782 in 2010 and 2011, compared with $134,901 from 2003 through 2009.

Back in the old days, Stewart  prided himself on not taking developer money.  That was then and this is now.  The most cursory glance at VPAP tells the story.  Cory Stewart is running on developer money.  He even says:

“Some of that comes with the maturity of being in office and having to govern,” he said of his shift on development issues. “When you become chairman, you get a broader perspective. You understand . . . ‘We cannot provide for increased prosperity and increased job growth without promoting and helping businesses to grow.’ ”

Stewart says that in a free market, developers have a lot of latitude: “The only way is to work with [developers] and cut deals with them.” [emphasis mine]

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Kipp Hanley of the News and Messenger did a great job explaining the recent developments of the proposed Wartime Museum that some day will be over in Dale City.  So far, the County dealings with this endeavor have been shrouded in the haze of politics.  Kipp held up the torch and uncovered a few things.  For starters, and most importantly, the museum wants $200k from us, the taxpayers, for the next 5 years.  Secondly, the CEO hired to oversee all the fund-raising etc. is no longer at the helm  the organization.  However, it does appear that he still sits on the board.  Thirdly, and this becomes a question, why is the director of operations, the same person who is in charge of doling out the arts money in Prince William County?

Hanley’s article, Wartime Museum gets financial reinforcements, managed to unearth all sorts of information most of us had questions about but couldn’t find the answers to.

Taxpayers were once again bamboozled by the a “land deal.”  Apparently the Hyltons donated the land in exchange for a zoning swap deal.  NO plans have surfaced yet for that parcel of land.  Why was the county even involved?   If the Hyltons want to donate land, have at it.  They shouldn’t get anything in exchange for their generosity from the county.

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Have you ever heard the old adage,” if you believe this, I’ve got some swampland in the desert to sell you ” !

Classic Concepts Developer, Mark Granville-Smith is trying to sell us some swampland in the desert.  He will be asking tomorrow, March 20th, to initiate a full study into trading his 306 acre parcel in the Rural Crescent for high density housing.  He would request that 30 homes be turned into 102 homes.  And what, I know you are asking, is he willing to exchange for this quadrupling of homes?  A “park” that he can’t build on anyway!

Exhibit A clearly shows, in green, the high density housing in the middle of the parcel of land.  Surrounding this area is a creek with various streams running through the edge of the proposed deveopment area.  This area is called an RPA(resource protection area) and you cannot legally build on an RPA.  He is “giving” us land that he can’t use.

This proposal includes running a major road plus a lengthy and hazardous alternative sewer system through not only an extremely environmentally sensitive area, but through multiple streams and a large creek which create the headwaters to the Occoquan Reservoir watershed and your drinking water supply.

However, what taxpayers WILL be able to do is pay for the degradation that is sure to come when this area is disturbed by a road and over a hundred houses.  Why will taxpayers be footing the bill?

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. –

Prince William County is preparing to play its part in the cleanup of the Chesapeake Bay Watershed.
The problem is, officials don’t know exactly how to prepare due to a lack of guidance from the federal and state governments, Prince William Watershed Management branch chief Marc Aveni stated.

The state has placed a Feb. 1 deadline on how the county will tackle this issue, which also includes reducing impervious sub­stances (i.e. parking lots) and deciding who will foot the bill.  There is also a potential financial impact to the county should it not comply. Penal­ties could be several thousands of dollars per day, per violation, Aveni said.

Several homebuilders active in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed have been hit with penalties in the last few years. The Ryland Group Inc. was fined $625,000 to resolve alleged Clean Water Act violations at its construction sites, including those in the watershed.
“The county is looking what it can reasonably do with its resources towards [meeting] this goal,” Aveni said. “…We are doing everything we possibly can, and at the same time, not bankrupting our citizens.”

 

I have an idea how to prepare, DON’T approve projects like Mid County Parks and Estates as a starting point!

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So the truth is out.   Confirmed, via the most recent article in the in an interview with The Washington Post that he plans to introduce a policy next year on the concept of “clustering,”a new approach to managing the county’s rural area.

Allow me to interject some facts here.  There IS a “cluster ordinance” in the comprehensive plan for allowing clustering of homes on large tracts of land.  I will put a copy of the ordinance  up on the rural crescent website and link to it so people can become better informed.   I am hopeful that maybe even Corey and Peter Candland will visit the link in order to educate themselves on the current cluster ordinance.

Lo and behold, Peter Candland is already finding ways to do Corey’s bidding!   I don’t think that Peter has a full understanding of land use or else he would understand why Corey’s proposal is bunk.

“That, I believe, succeeds at nothing,” Stewart said. “I think that we need to look at better ways of preserving very large areas of rural ground as well as promoting more commercial office space and high-end retail. We have to take the emotion out of this debate and give it a cold, hard, objective look.”

Stewart said his argument is that having a hodgepodge of 10-acre lots doesn’t make sense. Better, he said, to have a development on 100 acres, where 30 acres are developed and the other 70 are open space, he said. Stewart said that such a policy would take a long time to develop, and the board would do so “in conjunction with the community.”

Candland said he rejects the commonly used term “slow growth,” saying “managed growth” more adequately describes his philosophy to encourage growth along with adequate infrastructure. But he largely agrees with Stewart’s philosophy of bringing the county more high-end retail and office space, he said, adding that improving the county’s quality of life will drive economic growth.

“Plain and simple,” Candland said, “we need to bring business to Prince William County.”

The level of ignorance astounds me.    I wonder if Corey and Peter are aware that there is plenty of undeveloped land in the “Development Area” that has YET to be rezoned for its allowed long range use.  There is not a lack of opportunity for high end retail and commercial (anyone heard of Innnovation?) in Prince William County.  There is a lack of those high end retailers and Corporations CHOOSING to do business here. 

Busting open the Rural Crescent will only have one sure fire result, higher taxes for everyone.  Gotta love those conservative values.

I wonder if Michael Neibauer from the Washington Business Journal will have a follow up article to citizens of Prince William County affirming his pre and post prediction on Canlands election being the “game change” for development in the western end.

Not that there’s some massive push to build new homes in Prince William County, especially the western end. But when a proposal does come along — and it will — Candland’s victory may give the developer a narrow opening.