Coraggio Consulting Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, September 3, 2024 Date: Tuesday, September 3, 2024 Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia Length: 4h 1m (video) Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3540 Official Board of County Supervisors page (Prince William County): https://www.pwcva.gov/department/board-county-supervisors Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting. Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-31. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- [00:24:40] Check 1-2. [00:25:31] Testing. [00:32:47] All right. [00:39:59] Welcome back, everyone. School's back in session. It was nice to have a little break, but let's begin. It is 2 o'clock on Tuesday, September 3rd. We are going to begin with a moment of silence. [00:40:20] Thank you. I ask that you please rise if you are able for the Pledge of Allegiance. Public foundation, under God, THC. [00:40:51] All right. Thank you so very much. We are now on to agenda item number three, the approval of minutes. We are looking at 3A, 3B, 3C, approval of minutes from July 2nd, July 9th, and July 16th. I'd like to entertain a motion to approve our minutes. [00:41:08] So move, Madam Chair. Second. All right. Any discussion? All right. Let's take a vote. Vote unanimous. [00:41:24] Supervisor Bodie absent from vote. All right. Thank you so much. We are now on to agenda item four, accommodation proclamations. We have proclamation to declare September as National Hunger Action Month. [00:41:41] We have another to proclaim September 2024 as Kinship Care Awareness Month. We also have one to proclaim September as Recovery Month and another to proclaim as National Preparedness Month in Prince William County. [00:41:58] We also have a proclamation for September 15th, the 21st, Forensic Science Week in Prince william county um and another to proclaim um september 17th the 23rd constitution week and the final the seventh one is september 20th um pow mia missing in action recognition day um so i would like to entertain a motion um for 7a through 7g move for approval madam chair second all right any discussion if not let's take a vote i'm sorry for a i'm sorry for a through seven [00:42:34] so 4a through 4g i'd like to be on vacation vote unanimous all right thank you um we are going to i'm going to move down to the podium and i ask um if supervisor were here if you would join me for [00:43:05] 4a and also if we can have um who would you like to have join you who's up here to group for join [00:43:35] this one over ladies of course they give me the long proclamation couldn't do the short form oh i got the short form i like the short form even better uh this is to proclaim november excuse me, September 24th, 2024, as National Hunger Action Month to recognize the needs to address food insecurity in Prince William and the impacts poor nutrition has on residents' health. [00:44:08] Nutrition deficits are known to cause heart disease, diabetes, and high blood pressure, and children facing hunger experience additional developmental delays impacting their education and socialization. With recent inflation, nearly a quarter of all American adults face food insecurity with access to health healthy foods lower still in service of a future where no child is hungry and all of our residents have access to healthy and affordable food the board recognizes this month as national hunger action month and we thank our partners at north northern virginia food rescue for all the work they do for our community recognizing the key role relatives and [00:44:45] other extended we're done oh that's the next one okay that was short i'd like to thank the food Rescue for everything that they do. Thank you guys so much for having us. My name is Alexa Anderson and I am our partner relations coordinator here at Northern Virginia Food Rescue. [00:45:06] We currently partner with over 500 non-profit organizations as well as over 250 donors within Prince William County to combat hunger. In 2023 alone we rescued over 1.9 million pounds which equates to over 1.6 million meals that were fed throughout the community last year. Now not all the food that we rescue is consumable. So instead of letting that food go to waste, we partner with our local farmers so that the food can go to compost or be used to feed livestock. Last year, 2,100 pounds went to our local farmers and stopped going in the trash. For those of you who are not [00:45:45] familiar with our Food Rescue Hero app, we use it to be able to connect the food from our donors to our partner pantries so they can distribute fresh food to the community weekly. This wouldn't be possible without our 3,700-plus Food Rescue Hero volunteers. If you're wondering how to become a volunteer, all you need to do is download our Food Rescue Hero app, sign up, and then find local available rescues near you. Thanks so much. Here's Chrissy. This month and every month, we call on everyone, individuals, businesses, and organizations, to engage deeply within our own districts. Each [00:46:21] pantry, school, community center, library, and park is its own community within its unique needs. It's essential that we not only address food insecurity at the county level, but also focus on these smaller, vital areas of our community. At Northern Virginia Food Rescue, we've directed millions of pounds of food from waste to families in need, thanks to a large network of partners. [00:46:42] But the reality is all pantries embedded in our neighborhoods need more support, especially now as COVID funding diminishes and we return back to pre-pandemic challenges. Through our work at the warehouse and through engagements with our volunteers, both those who come willingly and those assigned community service, we've learned a great deal about the nuances of hunger. [00:47:04] Hunger looks different everywhere, and sometimes it's hidden in plain sight. We've seen firsthand that when you're not eating well, other aspects of life struggle too. This is the month where you need to ask yourselves, are you willing to volunteer or are you called to action? Each role is crucial, whether you're giving time regularly as a volunteer or responding to immediate needs through specific actions. [00:47:25] Your contributions are the backbone of our community's resilience. I challenge everyone to discover what specific needs exist in your district, your whole district. Engage with your local school board member, community leaders, and neighborhoods to organize food drives, not just during this month, but throughout the entire year. [00:47:44] Every district and every neighborhood can benefit from such grassroots initiatives. Let's remember that taking action to support our local area strengthens the whole community, not just the big names. Look into your own backyard and start there. As funding shifts and the landscape changes, our resolve must not. [00:48:04] We've seen what we can accomplish together, and it's impressive. But the journey doesn't end at the end of this month. Let's use Hunger Action Month to kickstart a sustained year-round effort to ensure no one in our community needs to worry about where their next meal is coming from. I would like to personally invite you to our warehouse on October 19th from 5 to 9 for our Hunger is Scary annual fundraiser. [00:48:27] Your call to action could be to purchase a ticket and help us with ticket sales. See you on the 19th. Food insecurity. It's a problem. It's a problem that often goes unnoticed by those who have enough, but its effects are deeply felt by those who struggle to put meals on the table every day. [00:48:50] Today I'm here to talk about how together we can change that. Northern Virginia Food Rescue is on a mission to eliminate food waste and fight hunger in our community. Every day, perfectly good food is discarded. Food that can nourish the thousands of families and individuals right here in Prince William County. [00:49:06] Your neighbors, your children's classmates, people you work with, you may never know who's still unsure about where their next meal will come from. Since our inception, Nova FR has successfully rescued over 30 million pounds of food from going to waste. That food has instead filled the plates of our neighbors in need. [00:49:25] But let me be clear, we cannot do this alone. The work we do is powered by the collective effort of our volunteers, parents, community members, local business owners, people just like you, who understand that food is not a basic necessity, but a human right. [00:49:43] However, passion and dedication alone are not enough. To continue and expand our efforts, we need financial support. Without sufficient funding, we won't be able to rescue as much food, support as many families, or serve those who need our help in Prince William County. That's why we need your financial contribution. [00:50:01] And it's not just appreciated, it's essential. Imagine a community where no child goes to bed hungry, where every parent can confidently provide for their family, and where we can all take part in the fight against food waste and hunger. That's the future Northern Virginia Food Rescue is working for tirelessly. [00:50:18] And with your support, it's a future we can achieve. Your generosity will directly impact our ability to rescue more food and feed more families. Whether it's a one-time gift or a recurring donation, every dollar you contribute will make a difference. Your financial support will help us expand our programs, increase our reach, and ultimately create a stronger, more caring, and more resilient Prince William County. [00:50:41] So today I'm asking you, go beyond just hearing our message. I'm asking you to take action. Please consider making a financial contribution to us. Your donation will ensure that tomorrow another family has enough to eat, another child can go to bed with a full stomach, and another neighbor knows that their community cares. [00:51:05] Good afternoon. Thank you for having us. If I haven't met you yet, I'm Dr. Megan Franco. I'm the Executive Director of Northern Virginia Food Rescue. As you've heard, my staff, they share some very staggering statistics when it comes to hunger. But something I want to bring to our attention is our youth. [00:51:23] Let's place ourselves in the shoes of a child for a second. Yes, I eat breakfast and lunch at school, but what do I do nights, weekends, extended breaks? And then think about the difficulty that comes with trying to focus on your homework and so on and so forth. [00:51:40] That's where we step in at Northern Virginia Food Rescue. We have a backpack initiative. We stuff bags with non-perishable food items to help those families stretch those meals out. Last school year, we served nearly 17,000 children. This past summer, we rolled it into the summer. [00:51:56] We said, let's keep it going, guys. And we partnered with summer school locations, libraries, boys and girls clubs, and we served nearly 3,100 kids. So if you want to figure out how to get involved, yes, Chrissy invited you to our warehouse and come party with us. But realistically, it's an opportunity for us to reflect on the idea that hunger is scary. [00:52:17] And what are we going to do about that? So please join us. And if you can't come that night, it's not the end of the world. Find one of us and figure out how to get involved. Thank you. Hi, thank you for having us. My name is Julia Biggins. [00:52:33] I'm the new president of the Board of Directors for Northern Virginia Food Rescue. And as some of our staff has said, I invite you to come out to the warehouse. I know several of you have been there already, and thank you for your time and your interest. But I ask each one of you to bring you and your staff out to the warehouse, see what we do, help us sort some of our donations and see how it all goes, or even do a rescue yourself. [00:52:58] go pick up the food so that it doesn't have to go into the landfill, bring it to our warehouse, and just become engaged and involved. We absolutely cannot do our work that impacts the entire county without you and without your support, and so we ask you for your help. Thank you. [00:53:31] The next proclamation is 4B. [00:54:00] Proclaim September 2024 its Kinship Care Awareness Month. If I can have Phyllis Jennings-Holt from Social Services and anyone else who wants to come down for this one. [00:54:22] Recognizing the key role relatives and other extended family members, related or otherwise, play in providing safe and loving environments for children, especially those who might otherwise be in foster care, those caring for a relative's children, make so many personal and financial sacrifices for those children's well-being, and we thank them for embodying this county's values of family, community, and the welfare of children. [00:54:50] I am proud to proclaim September as Kinship Care Awareness Month in Prince William County. Thank you, Madam Chair and members of the board. My name is Phyllis Jennings-Holt, and I am the Acting Director for the department. Today I have with me Lori Wilson, who is our DSS Advisory Chair. [00:55:10] Van Washington, who is the Assistant Director of Protective Services. Holly Handy, who is the Deputy Director for the department, Acting Deputy Director for the department. Crystal Ferguson, who was our human services manager, and Kanitha Grant, who was our senior human services worker. [00:55:27] I just wanted to say a few words today. DSS is proud of the work done by our staff to keep children safe with their families. When that isn't possible, they do their best to make sure that children are able to stay with relatives or fictive kin. Data shows that children tend to do better when they are able to live in the home of a relative or fictive kin if they're unable to be with their biological families. [00:55:51] Currently, we have 23 kinship families that are providing care and support, which means 23 or more less children in foster care. We appreciate all the family members and fictive kin who step up as caretakers, advocates, and role models in the lives of children. [00:56:08] DSS will be celebrating our kinship families in conjunction with Christ Chapel on September 27th at Christ Chapel from 6 to 8 p.m., and we hope you can join us in this celebration. We thank you for your continued support in this recognition. And I believe our DSS chair, Lori Wilson, has words to share. [00:56:27] Good afternoon, Madam Chair, and the members of the Board of County Supervisors. I just want to echo what Phyllis has already said, and just to remind everyone that kinship care is the best care for our children, and that all children deserve the opportunity to grow up safe, supported, and loved, and we believe that starts with kin. [00:56:51] So thank you again for the population. [00:57:13] Next is item 4C, proclaimed September 2024 as Recovery Month. [00:57:38] Georgia Bachman Community Services, and if anyone else wants to come down here for this one. Okay. [00:57:58] Recognizing the impact of mental health and substance use disorders on communities across the county and across the country and across our county. A quarter of Americans report having some form of mental health or substance use disorder, but with commitment and support, over 22 million Americans have recovered. [00:58:18] During Recovery Month, we celebrate those who have successfully overcome substance use, as well as those just starting out on their journey towards resilience and a happier, healthier life. We also encourage residents to recognize the signs of substance use and disorder in people around them and help and encourage them to seek recovery services. [00:58:41] Change is possible, and it starts with community. I am proud to proclaim September as Recovery Month in Prince William County. Would anyone like to say anything? Yes. I'll keep this brief. My name is Lanelle Moselle. I'm Behavioral Health Program Manager with Prince William County Community Services. [00:58:57] And this year we will be hosting a recovery event for the community on Friday, September 13th at the Falazo Building. SAMHSA every year has a theme for Recovery Month, and this year the theme is the art of recovery. So we're taking that and expanding it for our community. And we're going to have an event called Let's Rise, Recover, and Rock on Together, Recovery Rocks. [00:59:16] It is from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. again at the Falazo Building on Friday, September 13th. We will have rock painting, recovery thing rock painting. We will have storytelling, folks that receive training on how to tell their story about their recovery, as well as other engaging activities for the community to participate in, and we will also be offering lunch. [00:59:38] Thank you. Do you have anything to say? Thank you, Madam Chair. It's a pleasure to be here today. Community Services will be participating in D.C., the Walk for Recovery, this week, and we'd love for everyone to join us representing Prince William County. [00:59:57] We have several initiatives in place to end opioid use in the area. Outreach campaigns, marketing, radio, public awareness campaigns, and we are serious about ending this in our county. [01:00:14] We are on to item 4D, proclaim September 2024 as National Preparedness Month. [01:00:48] Mr. Chief LaBelle, if you're able to come down here. And anyone else you'd like to have join you? [01:01:02] Recognizing the importance of emergency preparedness in the event of natural disasters, acts of violence, or chemical spills and other hazards. The Office of Emergency Management encourages families and businesses to take steps to ensure that they can be self-sufficient for at least 72 hours in the event of an emergency. [01:01:22] All month, the Office of Emergency Management will host activities to inform and encourage residents to build emergency kits. make and practice emergency plans, access key information, and many other potentially life-saving skills. Together, we can build a strong, resilient community and keep each other safe. [01:01:42] I am proud to proclaim September is National Preparedness Month in Prince William County. Do you have anything you'd like to say, Chief LaBelle? Good afternoon. Thank you very much. I'll be brief. We are very lucky to have with us today both Brian Meisner and Katie Katzmiller from Emergency Management. [01:02:02] They work daily but really focus this month on making sure our citizens, our businesses, our community as a whole is prepared before the emergency happens. An ounce of prevention is indeed worth a pound of cure, and we really are lucky to have the team we have, and we appreciate the proclamation. [01:02:18] Thank you. Not to be outdone. [01:02:49] Item 4E, proclaimed September 15th, the 21st, is Forensic Science Week. Chief Newsham. And if you have anyone else you'd like to bring on down. I know you did. [01:03:04] This is like half the board chamber, sorry. All right, recognizing the contributions of forensic science to the criminal justice system and celebrating the professionals that provide scientific information and conclusions to investigators and court officials. [01:03:28] These efforts help keep our system just and assist our police department in building and maintaining criminal databases so they can respond quickly and efficiently in times of need. I am proud to proclaim September 15th to September 21st, 2024 as Forensic Science Week in Prince William County. [01:03:47] Chief, do you have any comments? Thank you, Chair Jefferson. Members of the board, my name is Jacques Poirier. I'm a major with the police department. Thank you for recognizing the Forensic Services section. As you may know, these folks behind me go out on some difficult scenes, yet they maintain a level of professionalism, and they often stay well they stay behind long after the detectives and the patrol officers have left to make sure that all the evidence is properly collected and they do it with a level of [01:04:20] compassion for not only the community but for the victims that deserve justice in in this case and so i just want to say thank you for recognizing them today supervisor vega if you can come down [01:04:37] for the next ones we're on to item 4f we're proclaiming september 17th through september [01:05:26] 23rd as Constitution Week in Prince William County. Do we have anyone who wants to join us at the front for this? Thank you, Madam Chair. We're going to proclaim September 17th through September 23rd, 2024 as Constitution Week in Prince William County, whereas Constitution Week is observed each year beginning on September 17th and ending on September 23rd. To commemorate the signing of the Constitution on September 17th, 1787, and to recognize all who, by coming of age [01:06:04] or by naturalization have become citizens and whereas the constitution is not simply words written on aging parchment but a foundation of government and a protector of liberties and whereas we commemorate the legacy passed down to us from our nation's founders through their wisdom and the sacrifices of those who have defended our country we enjoy unprecedented freedoms and opportunities now therefore be it resolved that the prince william board of county supervisors hereby proclaims September 17th through September 23rd, 2024 as Constitution Week in Prince William County and urges citizens to reflect on the importance of active citizenship and recognize [01:06:42] the enduring strength of our Constitution. Do we have anybody present for 4G? Proclaim [01:07:20] September 20th, 2024 as POWMIA Remembrance Day. Whereas from World War II to the present, more than 80,000 Americans remain missing in action. No loss is as painful to a family as the loss of a loved one who honored the nation's call. [01:07:37] Served their country, yet never returned from foreign battlefields. And, whereas, by presidential proclamation, Americans assemble each September on POW MIA Recognition Day to honor those who served, recognize those who are missing, and reaffirm our commitment to seek the fullest possible accounting of all Americans who died in defense of our nation. [01:07:59] And whereas Prince William County stands in solidarity with members of the armed forces, veterans, governmental agencies, and the loved ones of prisoners of war and soldiers missing in action. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims September 20, 2024, as POW MIA Remembrance Day in Prince William County and pledges never to forget their service and sacrifice to the United States of America. [01:08:46] We had a lot to get through. [01:09:08] It's always great to acknowledge people in the community. We are now going to move on to the consent agenda. Madam Chair. Yes, sir. Thank you, Madam Chair. Before the board votes on the consent agenda, I need to declare a personal interest in item 5H to accept budget and appropriate funds to the schools. [01:09:25] My wife is a school's employee. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in it because I am able to do so fairly, objectively, in the public interest. Madam Chair, before the board votes on the consent agenda, I need to declare a personal interest in item 5 hotel to accept budget and appropriate funds to the schools. [01:09:47] My wife is a special education instructional aide with the schools. As a school's employee, my wife and I are members of a group which is affected by this matter. I will be participating in it because I am able to do so fairly, objectively, and in the public interest. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so very much. Before we move on, I just wanted to see if anyone had any questions for staff or any concerns or would wish to move an item from the consent agenda. [01:10:14] Remember, this is only for questions or for additional clarification or if you would like to vote against an item. Hold on. I have one speaker, Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. I have a quick question on item 5P. Not sure who's here for safe and Secure Communities. Hello. So should the Supreme Court of Virginia not continue with this program, [01:10:43] what happens to this FTE position? Thank you. Yes. Good afternoon. My name is Tamadri Thomas, and I'm the Deputy Director at Criminal Justice Services. And if this position was not funded, we would not be able to continue, you know, increasing the services that we have currently, that we're currently utilizing our current positions for. [01:11:14] We do not have a case manager at this current time, so the work would basically fall on the coordinator, which means that it would not increase the level of services that we could provide at this time. Could I note something, though? [01:11:32] Sure. I will note that the Supreme Court did fund this position as a part-time position, between the months of April 1st, 2024, through June 30th, 2024. We were not able to actually fill the position, though, because we got approval by the Board of County Supervisors on June 4th, which was at the end of the fiscal year, and the grant was only going to go through June 30th, 2024. [01:12:01] We have since been awarded a full-time grant in the amount of $90,099. And so we're pretty hopeful that this will continue to be funded by the Supreme Court of Virginia. [01:12:17] Thank you for that. It is something that we do have to apply for, though, every fiscal year, yes? Yes, and we intend to. All right, thank you. Thank you. Thanks, Madam Chair. All right, I don't see any other questions in the queue. So I would like to entertain a motion for 5A through 5T. [01:12:37] So moved, Madam Chair. Second. All right, hold on. I have speakers for discussion. Supervisor Franklin? Sure, just want to highlight items 5D and 5K. For 5D, this is the execution of an agreement for the Colchester Road sidewalk improvement project to budget and appropriate roughly $2 million in federal funds and approximately $1 million in general use funds to go towards Colchester Road and the Woodbridge District for their sidewalk improvement. [01:13:11] So again, kind of the North Woodbridge area, helping to modernize, make it more safe, and hope this board can support that. For item 5K, this is to authorize submission of a Virginia Museum in History and Cultural Commonwealth History Fund grant application by the Department of Parks and Recs for the development of the historic site exhibit at Ripon Lodge. [01:13:32] And so this is for a $20,000 grant award, and this is to develop an exhibit on colonial Prince William County transportation routes to be installed at the Rippon Historic Lodge. So continuing to invest in our historic sites here in Prince William County, particularly in the Woodbridge District. [01:13:52] So thank you. All right, doesn't look like we have any other speakers, any other discussion. Let's vote. Vote unanimous. All right, before we get into public comment time, Supervisor Angry, you want to make a motion to reconsider? [01:14:13] Yes, ma'am. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to make a motion to reconsider last meeting, item 9A, I believe it was. 9A? Okay. Yes. [01:14:31] Yeah. It was my second. Yeah, so 9A last board meeting was the vote that Supervisor Gordy made a motion to approve on, I'm going to mess up the name of this, I'm trying to pull it up actually. [01:14:50] Yeah, McGraw's Corner. I don't know if we got the details to it, if you need any more to that, or is that enough of an explanation for the board that it was McGraw's Corner from 9A that was approved, it was a motion made by Supervisor Gordy at the last meeting. Hold on. For the county attorney, is that enough language for him for a motion to reconsider? [01:15:14] If the board understands what they're moving to reconsider, and he said it's that item from that board meeting and the title, that's sufficient. All right. Is everyone here? I think we all understand what it is he's looking for. Okay. All right. Hold on. No. We do have Supervisor Gordy who wanted to speak. [01:15:34] Just to clarify, the motion was to initiate a comprehensive plan amendment to remove McGraw's corner from the comprehensive plan. This has been a road that has been a subject of discussion for quite some time in the Gainesville area. [01:15:56] I've supported the initiation of this comp plan amendment so that we can have a public conversation about this. We've been talking around it, but we need to have a serious community conversation about what to do about it. [01:16:12] I do have tremendous concerns about the traffic on Route 29, as we all do, and I'm hopeful that this will help us move forward to a solution in this corridor as we look at different alternate routes, potentially. [01:16:30] There are some significant costs associated with the McGraw's Corner extension. But this is something that we definitely need to have a public conversation and help us get to a solution in this corridor. Supervisor Weir. [01:16:49] Thank you, Madam Chair. As most are aware, I've had issues with the original CPA process, and quite frankly, the intent of the CPA from its initiation. And given the parties involved and how the last vote went and communications that I've heard have occurred since the vote, Um, I'm not going to support the motion to reconsider. [01:17:13] I think it sort of paints us in a bad light if we go back down this road, um, given present circumstances. So I am not going to be in support, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so much. [01:17:29] I don't have any other speakers, so we can go ahead and take a vote. Motion passes five to three. Supervisors Bodie, Vega, and Weir voting nay. [01:17:47] All right. Thank you so very much. We are now going to move on. I'm sorry. Oh, no, we can do that. Okay. All right. Are you making the motion, Supervisor Ingrid? Yeah, I want to make the motion to approve, I guess, item 9A, the Comp Plan Amendment. [01:18:07] Yes. All right. Any discussion? We don't see any. All right. Motion passes 5 to 3. [01:18:24] Supervisors, Vody, Vega, and Weir voting nay. Thank you. All right. Thank you so very much. And so we are going to move on to item 6, which is public comment time. Just a reminder for people, I will be calling you up. [01:18:42] You have three minutes to speak. If you're an organization, a verified organization, you have five minutes. I want you to make sure that when you get up, say your name clearly and state your magisterial district or where you generally live right now. [01:19:00] We have one person signed up for public comment time, and that's Mr. Carl Gretton. Yes, please. I guess this will be a quicker speech. [01:19:20] Hello, I'm Carl Gretton of the Gainesville District. We've seen today there's been many situations with our monthly resolutions. It appears there's another problem within Prince William County. Seems like an odd one compared to everything else today. What do we do with data center dirt? [01:19:37] What about dumping our dirt in the Potomac River? We can make islands like the Chinese in the South China Sea and build affordable housing and place small modular reactors on the islands. This is just a joke, folks. It appears that many U.S. companies are eliminating their DEI initiatives. [01:19:56] These include John Deere, Meta, Harley-Davidson, Microsoft, and Google. Tractor Supply stated it is recommitting to being good neighbors in our hometowns and representing the values of our communities and customers. Please save Prince William County hundreds of thousands of dollars and purge DEI. [01:20:16] Incorporate merit, excellence, and intelligence. There appears to be discussion regarding Harris's proposal about unrealized capital gains. There is another unrealized tax that Prince William County citizens pay, and that is called the property tax. [01:20:32] Please understand the hatred regarding the unrealized capital gains tax that is being charged or planned to be charged nationally, and offset the Prince William County property tax by using the proposed Prince William County income from data centers. The main topic today at my speech is about why do we want to destroy our environment with solar panels. [01:20:54] The next generation of solar power can fit in the palm of your hand. With the Waterloo Solar application, have all technological possibilities been explored. [01:21:14] The next generation of solar power can fit in the palm of your hand. With the Waterloo Solar application, have these possibilities been explored? Commercial solar panels span over 6 feet, but WAVJA's photon energy systems can provide 20 times more power while being 30 times smaller. [01:21:35] Please evaluate the possibility to eliminate the 200-acre solar facility included in the Waterloo Solar proposal. Statements have been made by the supervisors that Prince William County needs to protect agricultural land. Attorneys can twist around the terminology of solar agriculture, yet we do not know if that includes animals or farming. [01:21:58] From data center growth, we have seen the decline of M1 zoned areas. What is happening now is that small businesses with needed storage of their trucks and tractors are now moving out of county because the space is not available and the costs are too high. [01:22:15] It is always amazing how the BOCS approves plans without knowing all the particulars. Do not destroy naked land. Without the improvement of technology, we request from Waterloo Solar to be re-evalued to include new solar technology. [01:22:34] Thank you and have a sunny day. All right, and we are now going to, unless do we have anyone else signed up for in person? I don't believe, I'm just going to let you guys do a quick check. All right, so we are now going to move to remote comment time, and I'll turn it over to Supervisor Bode. [01:22:57] Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Madden, Ms. Phan, anyone online for this afternoon? Yes, you have one speaker. All right, let's proceed. Your speaker is Jared Mitchell. Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Hello, everybody. Florida County Supervisors, my name is Jared Mitchell, and I live in the Coles District. [01:23:16] I am speaking on behalf of myself, my family, and my neighbors in the newly constructed townhouse neighborhood of Bradley Square off Old Dominion Road. For over a year, we have been tormented by relentless noise from the commercial air conditioning unit at Bennett Elementary School, which is less than 100 yards from our property line. [01:23:33] The AC unit produces a loud, high-pitched whine that is extremely disturbing. The noise is inescapable, penetrating into our homes and disrupting our daily lives. In a desperate attempt to find some peace, we resorted to placing white noise machines around the house to drain out the unit's compressor. Many of us have trouble sleeping, including young children who attend Bennett Elementary. [01:23:53] Our decks, backyards, spaces where you should be able to relax and enjoy our homes have been rendered uninhabitable. We feel trapped in our homes. We do get a short break in the cold winter months, but the unit is on the majority of the year. Countless emails have been sent to Prince William County Public Schools, pleading for industry-stranded noise solutions. [01:24:10] Although the responses have been polite, no action has been taken to alleviate the problem. The unit produces decibel readings that far exceed the county ordinance. In April 2024, Prince William County Police conducted noise readings of the unit. Three readings were recorded, 84 decibels at the unit, 70 decibels at the school's property line, and 73 decibels at my property line, all well above the limits outlined in the county ordinance. [01:24:35] Frustratingly, the police officer who came to my home incorrectly stated that the unit is exempt from the noise ordinance, leaving us with no immediate recourse. When asked to come back to take another measurement, the dispatcher incorrectly stated that they won't send any officers due to the unit being exempt. It wasn't until I contacted Supervisor Vega and she reached out to Dr. McDade that the school system finally took action. [01:24:55] The Assistant Facilities Director, Mr. Al Rebir, contacted me last month stating that the unit is within industry standards, but to appease us residents, his department would look into noise mitigation solutions. He also refused to acknowledge that the unit exceeded the county noise ordinance or that the noise it creates is disruptive. [01:25:12] Their solution was to haphazardly place six noise-reducing blankets along the fence in front of the ACE unit. This inadequate measure did absolutely nothing to lower the noise. Later that day, I received an email from Mr. Dabar claiming that the noise blankets lowered the decibel reading to 55 decibels and that this matter was settled. [01:25:28] Conveniently, 55 decibels is the maximum loud decibel level during nighttime hours. This was a blatant attempt to silence the affected residents without truly addressing the noise problem. A reduction in over 20 decibels with their solution is simply not possible, as multiple industry leaders in sound mitigation state noise blankets, when installed correctly, only reduce unwanted noise by 10 decibels. [01:25:48] There are a host of noise mitigation solutions that are designed to address noise problems exactly like our neighborhood is facing. The facilities department chose not to explore those options. For me and my neighbors, our dream of purchasing our first home has turned into a living nightmare. Many of us are considered selling, as we are losing hope the county will do anything to help us escape this daily torment. [01:26:05] We are even concerned that no one will want to buy our homes if we choose to sell due to the noise. We have been let down by almost everyone I've turned to for help. I urgently implore the Board of County Supervisors to help us and hold Prince William County Public Schools accountable to implement industry noise standard solutions. [01:26:21] Thank you very much for your time and consideration. Thank you, Mr. Mitchell. Thank you, Ms. Van. Thank you, Ms. Madden. Back to you, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so much. That is all that we have for public comment time. Thank you, everyone, who has come and spoken before us. [01:26:37] We are now moving on to our public hearings, and that is for item 7A through 7E. I am going to open the public hearings for in-person and remote comments. [01:26:56] We have two people who are signed up, both from LOCA. And with organizations, civic groups, you generally, one person will have five minutes to speak. The other person will have three minutes. So I'd like to call up Dr. Jack Kamoyan and Clancy McQuake to the microphone. [01:27:30] And which one of you wanted the five minutes to speak? Yes, I would respectfully like to take the five minutes as president. All right, thank you, sir. Good afternoon. I just wanted to, as president of LOCA, just outline an overview fashion. [01:27:50] So I will get the five minutes and not the three. Yes, I was going to say we're going to reset the clock. Okay. We sent a letter to, I'm Jack Kuyamjian, president of LOCA, to speak on Ashburn Glen. Ashfield Glen, sorry. It's in the landing at Prince William Small Area Plan. And at the outside, by the way, I want to thank Kenny Bode's staff, Emily Guerrero, and Julia Cottrell, because we had some very, very meaningful discussions. They're very attentive staffers, very professional, [01:28:27] and very helpful. And they suggested that LOCA could write this letter, which we did. So we had the discussion on August 26th, and the group just whipped around August 30th and got the letter done. [01:28:43] It's amazing. But it was teamwork, I think, on all our part. And we were concerned about the greater good of the future residents that will move in to this project, if you will. It's this development, which is part of the landing at Prince William. [01:29:02] And so we want it to set a very high bar for the other developers that will come in and so that we will have something to look toward, toward upgrades and quality of life. And particularly for the affordable housing component, we want it to be thoughtful. [01:29:20] But one of the points in there we detected in our review in the proffers that a possible ADU unit could be in an area where there may not be as much windows and there may be noise from the cars and or the stairwell coming from other units. [01:29:37] So the thought was in the committee, we should probably focus on that for extra sound insulation and better lighting package to make it a brighter, you know, a better environment for whoever moves in to that. [01:29:54] That's one of the points that we had here. But the big points, what I'd like to do is just touch on it. The letter that we sent to Ms. Rassus June 26th, we were hoping to meet with Toll Brothers and their council prior to this meeting, but LOCA was on recess. [01:30:13] We just didn't get our collective acts together to do that. There's no ill will intended at all by the parties. But I will say that what we did was we generated this letter just to focus on nine items for your consideration. [01:30:29] One being, we want to have, for the community roadways, an HCOD setback as much as possible. Like, that would mean, on this case, on Minneville Road, to make sure that we've got plantings that mimic what we did at the Kaiser Permanente and the Fairfield Homes product right next to it. [01:30:51] That was a request that came from one of our community members that lives across the street. And so if, I don't know if Julia is here, our county arborist, or if the council can explain how they're handling that setback. [01:31:08] The other one was the proffers for Penny's Auto. That Penny's Auto is an auto salvage facility. It's been there for over 70 years. We've worked with them. They're grandfathered. But now that we will have people living there 24-7, we want to make sure that it's safe for them. [01:31:26] We don't want people to have illnesses. We want the proffers to be tight. And we have other proffers in Prince William County specifically that are better than what we have, the Toll Brother proffers. So I would like to have a discussion of that this afternoon and see if we can resolve that and come up with a better package. [01:31:49] The other thing is we were unimpressed with the architectural renderings in the early meeting that we had in 2022, and we remain unimpressed in the meeting we had in 23. [01:32:04] We got the package of all the vinyl and such, but we just felt there was too much vinyl, too many horizontal lines, not an inspiring architecture. So we would like to see more placement of brick, fenestrations, balconies, alcoves, interesting architecture. [01:32:30] And then we also wanted to have a community interior space, a community room for them to meet. Because they're going to have clubs, they're going to have exercise class, they're going to have a lot of different things. And livability is really important. [01:32:48] And I'm going to leave it at that and let Clancy offer his commentary. So we think it may be judicious to take a delay to make sure we get all these proffers correct. And so that's where we are right now. The group asked me to extend that request to make sure we get the proffers correct. [01:33:09] If it means a slight delay, we're very comfortable with that. Sorry. Thank you. Good afternoon. I'm Clancy McQuig, treasurer of LOCA. We have a principle at hand here, the way it's very unusual for us to not get negotiated proffers on the development. [01:33:33] But in this case, we have not been able to do that. And as a consequence, we're asking you all to defer this thing for at least 60 days so we can work this out to the benefit of the future residents, since they're not here to represent themselves. And that's LOCA's thing, covering the benefit of future residents. [01:33:52] This is nowhere near as good a project as it could be with a little thought and a little dialogue. We don't want to have unthoughtful, undialogued projects in this county. We want good design, good development, and healthy communities. [01:34:11] We don't see it here. This needs to be worked out, and we ask you humbly, please, delay this thing for 60 days so that we can negotiate with Toll Brothers, who has a reputation as being responsible, but so far they haven't responded to any of our requests. [01:34:30] And I think it's time that the Board of Supervisors said, hey, get out there and talk, open the dialogue, and don't close this thing down now. Thank you. Thank you. Now, I just had a procedural question for the clerk before we move forward. You know, I would like to ask the applicant to come up to respond. [01:34:47] Should I do that after the motion? Will we have discussion in the motion or now? - All right, so if the applicant would like to come up to speak or address any concerns, we appreciate that. - Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson and members of the board, welcome back. My name is Joanelle Cameron with Walsh Colucci, Lubulai in Walsh, and if you don't mind, I know this is on the consent agenda. [01:35:08] I do have a couple of slides just to walk through specifically Loka Pelt's concerns that we heard today. I do want to say that we did meet with Loka Pelt before we submitted the application and again last year. LOCAPELT let us know that they had some concerns and that they would be submitting a letter. [01:35:25] We had been asking for that letter since we met with them in October and did not receive it until before the Planning Commission public hearing. We have addressed the concerns, and we do, I'll start off with, this mouse isn't working, I'm sorry, Andrea. It's okay. [01:35:44] We did do a courtesy review, so we have proffered a courtesy review with LOCAPELT. So this is Proffer 28 as part of the proffers to review such things as architecture, landscaping, and lighting with Loca Pelt during the site plan process. [01:36:03] Our building designs, they do have masonry. So on some of the buildings, these are the triplex units. There's masonry to the first level. And then for our rear load townhome units, we have masonry either to the water table or to the first level. [01:36:20] The front load units in some of those areas, they also have masonry to the water table. I do want to note that the front load units are interior to the site only. So those front load units do not face either Telegraph Road or Miniville Road. [01:36:38] Also, the applicant as part of this proposal proffered to design guidelines. Those building elevations that we provided to you all that I just showed on the screen, those are included within the design guidelines. And finally, we heard from Supervisor Bode after the meeting with Loka Pelt that he wanted language regarding remediation cleanup of Penny's auto prior to the buildings being constructed. [01:37:04] This proffer that you see on the screen is included in the proffers dated August 30th, 2024. A red line of those proffers were handed out to the board for you all to review at the beginning of this hearing. Just to show you that we did add this remediation language into those proffers. [01:37:21] This is very similar language that was approved with the Rays Regard rezoning a few years back, and I think I hit all of Dr. Jack's concerns, and I can answer any questions you all may have if I did not. All right, Supervisor Pote. [01:37:39] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Cameron, for addressing those concerns. Thank you to both Mr. Brickquig and Dr. Jack for airing those, not only now, but also to my staff. like uh dr jack said uh they and my staff had a really good conversation around a lot of these issues so mr cameron i appreciate that um just for clarity though are the proffers dated september 3rd or i'm sorry the proffers are dated september 3rd 2024 i appreciate because what we have in front of us is september yes i apologize september 3rd 2024 and just wanted to thank the community and also looking forward to the courtesy review that they will have with you all to make sure we're working through this collaboratively as it goes forward thank you madam chair thank you [01:38:16] Ms. Cameron. All right, Professor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. I actually concur with a lot of Loca Pelt's issues, and I understand their frustration. Ms. Cameron, Ray's regard is probably not a good exemplar to use with me, and I also don't appreciate getting a modified proffer the day of the meeting. I'm pretty consistent about that. I'd like to see the proffer significantly advance of us taking the seat up here in the future. To Loca Pelt, I too have issues with [01:38:51] the density, especially since you're requiring a height waiver to accomplish it. But I'm not going to, Loka Pelt's been much more eloquent about that than I could possibly be in a short period of time. However, I do notice that we are increasingly getting proper language with respect to ADUs that has changed over the last couple of months, where you're putting a time restriction on the ADU offering. And I have not been in favor of it in the past. I'm not in favor [01:39:22] of it now. And I am concerned regarding where we will stand in the relative near future with respect to what the current density is right now and what the current density might be in the future if the applicant desires to take advantage of any affordable dwelling unit we pass between now and the time of actual construction or site plan. So I'd like some sort of proffer or assertion from both county legal staff and the applicant's attorney that additional density will not be [01:40:02] afforded or requested subsequent to any approval by this board. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. I see Ms. Cameron, her team, are you ready to come back or do you have anything you would like to respond to before? I wanted to answer Supervisor Weir's question specifically regarding density. For the density range for this project, the comprehensive plan is mixed use three, which is 8 to 24 dwelling units an acre, and the applicant is proposing the lower end of that density range at 9.2 dwelling units an acre, but the applicant is not seeking to have any more [01:40:38] density. We can actually only fit what we're showing on the plan, so we are not going to ask for more density. I'm not sure, and I'm not the county attorney, about the draft ADU ordinance, but i don't think that you can buy an adu ordinance trump proffers and that's what we've been told by the zoning administrator on other overlay districts that the proffers if they're more restrictive the proffers would trump madam chair i would i would assert that given that the proposed adu ordinance has never been implemented by any other jurisdiction there is their own case [01:41:16] law and it has significantly different language with respect to density bonuses and who grants them, i.e. not the board. If you're willing to proffer that you're not going to take advantage of any changes to the ADU, I would be comfortable with it from a density standpoint, but I'm still not going to support the project as currently constituted. Well, a couple of things. We are still working on our affordable dwelling unit, you know, or ordinance, and it feels like we have quite a ways to go on that. And so I don't know when that's going to be finished. I don't know [01:41:51] when you know what um where this project will be at that time but i did want to turn because we had a legal question and i'd like to turn to the county attorney madam chair members of the board uh first of all i believe we need to close the public hearing well i so we still no we still in public hearing and this is one thing i did get it irritated because we've gotten kind of soundtracked um but i would like to have this discussion i we still have to do remote do we have any remote there is no remote speaker there is no remote speakers okay if there are no remote speak remote speakers then I can go ahead and close if that's cleaner so I will since that we had our speakers we don't have anyone remote we will close [01:42:31] the public hearing and I will we have again no additional speakers so I will let the county attorney before it madam chair members of the board as you stated the adu ordinance is still in draft it has not come final to the board yet the board has not considered it or adopted it so my recommendation is you need to act on this application before you without consideration to an ordinance that has yet to be adopted. When and if it is adopted our office will provide legal advice with regards to different types of projects that are out there but until that happens it's premature to consider that. Alright do we have any [01:43:08] other questions from the dais? Supervisor Gordy. Madam Chair one of the issues that Local Pelt brought up number nine in their letter was in regards to the alleyways and the distances of the driveways of five and eight feet um i could the applicant speak to the what is the distance um what i'm concerned about is the ability of a fire truck to get through this alleyway if people are parking their vehicles and they're sticking out into the into the alleyway um and so [01:43:45] just trying to understand what is you know what is the the width in this area for public safety Thank you, Supervisor Gordy. The driveways are long enough to fit a vehicle in which it would not impact or impede fire safety, and as part of the site plan application, the Fire Marshal's Office and the Fire Department are part of that review to make sure that there are no issues with the driveway widths and that the fire truck could accurately circulate the site, and we believe it can, but it will be triple-checked at site plan with the Fire Marshal's Office. [01:44:21] Okay, thank you very much. You're welcome. All right, any other questions for the dais? All right, then we don't have anything. Thank you so very much for the applicant for getting up. [01:44:41] All right, so looking at where we are at, I think it would be easier. I know that there are, it seems like there are some questions around 7C, so I'm going to go ahead and hold that one to the side. I would like to have a motion to move forward with 7A, 7B, 7D, and 7E. [01:45:04] So moved. Second. All right, any discussion on those items? All right, I have one. I have Supervisor Gordy. Madam Chair, on item 70, this is a relatively new type of project in Prince William County. [01:45:20] It is a battery power storage facility. It's going to be located on Reed Lane in Noakesville. I want to thank the applicants. They have proactively gone out to do noise testing, and then will do further testing once they install their units to ensure that there's not a negative impact on the community. [01:45:46] And if the noise levels do generate noise beyond the property line, they are proffered to put fences in to hold that noise back. So I wanted to thank the applicants for taking a proactive step in addressing that issue. [01:46:04] And I know we have a couple more of these that will be coming up, these battery storage facilities in other parts of the county. but uh just want to make that comment thank you all right thank you supervisor gordy i don't see [01:46:18] anyone else so we can move forward with a vote on 7a b d e can you give me a voice vote yes vote unanimous all right thank you now we're going to move on to 7c the rezoning for ashford glenn can [01:46:53] i get a motion yes supervisor voting thank you madam chair i would like to move uh 7c for approval with the updated proffer statement from september 3rd 2024 with the following change for the new a18 proper remediation the applicant shall apply for participation in the virginia voluntary mediation program or vrp administered by the virginia department of environmental quality or deq prior to site plan approval accepting the vrp the applicant will further investigate and if necessary remediate the property as may be required by deq under the vrp second all right [01:47:30] any additional discussion all right here we go hold on supervisor voting thank you madam chair Again, wanted to thank our friends from Loka Pelt for looking at this and working with my office on it. Wanted to also thank Ms. Cameron, and it looks like you want to say something. Did you read the proffer as written, or did you add to the proffer? [01:47:49] I just want to make sure we give you the right signed copy. Thanks. Thank you. I want to thank Ms. Cameron and the folks at Wallace Colucci for working with us on this, as well as the applicant. I know there are some concerns about this. One, I wanted to reiterate that in terms of density, this is on the lower end of what was in the long-range land use plan for the Lending at Small Area plan. [01:48:10] Two, we had actually had conversations with the applicant a few months ago about the density and wanting a little bit more different kinds of housing stock, which may have made the application a little bit denser. However, as was said by the applicant, this is a very constrained parcel. [01:48:26] It's sort of oblong. It sort of straddles Mindyville Road and Telegraph, so there's not a lot more they could have put in there anyway. so wanted to add that as well in terms of some of the buffers just for context as a general level Kaiser Permanente which just is just down the street is at 30 feet this application at 35 feet so there is actually more generous buffers being given under this application what's on other facilities on the on the corridor so wanted to just reiterate that a lot of this was under consideration wanted again thank local help for their letter obviously my staff and I reviewed it we worked with the applicant as much as we could and again knowing there's gonna be a courtesy [01:49:01] review and to the point of alleyways supervisor gordia i appreciate that that also be looked at at the fire marshal's office to make sure we're doing everything we can to keep people safe so for those reasons i'm going to be continuing to support this project and looking forward to more uh conversations with folks in loca community about the small area plan and one final thing is i know that there's been con uh conversations about uh community solar in in the process i know that we've talked about solar on various applications moving forward, so not requesting on this one, but wanted to just give the applicant a heads up that as we continue to build out the small area plan in my district, we'll talk about HOAs not allowing [01:49:40] for solar on buildings, so we can continue to have those kind of conversations. Thank you, Madam Chair. - Supervisor Weir. - Thank you, Madam Chair. I just want to reiterate my issues with Proffer 5C. [01:49:57] Seems like we are increasingly going down this road of, saying we're going to support affordable housing, we're going to demand it to some percentage, and then it's being limited to a certain period of time wherein if that rather de minimis period of time is not, the unit is not sold, the product then goes on to market rate. I'm not comfortable with that. I don't believe that it really meets the intent of the board or in the policy. And I think we need to take a long, hard look at any application that doesn't have what has become the [01:50:35] relative standard prior to the last couple of months with respect to the offering and the management of those ADU offers. Thank you. All right. Do we have anyone else? All right. If not, let's, I don't know if there's any other discussion. All right. If not, let's go ahead and take a vote. Motion passes seven to one. Supervisor Weir voting nay. All right. We are [01:51:11] now on to county agenda item eight, county executive time. Mr. Shorter, the floor is yours. All right. Thank you very much, Madam Chair, members of the board. As others have said, welcome back. A few items I wanted to quickly go over, and then I want to show a video. [01:51:33] One, I just want to acknowledge and really give credit to our Department of Public Works and Facilities and Fleet Management, who just went through their reaccreditation process. So they are now accredited through the American Public Works Association. I'll tell you, I know firsthand how difficult that process is and how much it means for the agencies. [01:51:57] That accreditation really signals excellence in operations and management, and I just want to, again, acknowledge the team for the great work and for, again, being accredited through the American Public Works Association. Second, I wanted to just lift up and acknowledge that the 2024 Start Smart Small Business Series hosted by our Virginia Cooperative Extension, Economic Development, and the Financial Empowerment Center, will start this month. [01:52:29] So September 24 through December 17th, on Tuesdays, 6 to 8 p.m., small businesses, entrepreneurs could take this class for free of charge. It ends with a culminating event or pitch, if you will, for resources at the end of the program in December. [01:52:51] great opportunity for small businesses and for entrepreneurs. Last but not least, I wanted to just acknowledge our finance team, economic development and tourism, and just everyone who participated in the credit rating agency's visit to the county. So many of you know that the credit rating agencies do not always come to the jurisdiction. In most cases, those agencies hear us on the phone or we go up to New York to visit them. This year they came down to us and we [01:53:25] had an opportunity to tour them around the county. The finance teams and economic development and tourism teams did an amazing job hosting the agencies and the communications team along with economic development and finance put together I think of just a phenomenal video highlighting the County and all of our assets and resources, I'd like to show that video this afternoon so that the board and the public could see really just how well our team highlights our community. [01:53:59] So with that, we're going to pull up the video if we can. Prince William County, Virginia is a vibrant community with a strong and diverse economic foundation, which makes it ideal for families, individuals, and businesses to thrive and succeed. [01:54:21] We are located just 25 miles from the nation's capital and less than 80 miles from the state capital of Richmond. As the second largest county in the Commonwealth and the 10th most diverse jurisdiction in the country, we are an integral part of Northern Virginia's economic engine. [01:54:37] Our local government is nationally recognized for its strong financial management. We adhere to rigorous principles of sound financial management, operate with a balanced five-year budget, and execute a robust capital investment program. We are a community that values our residents, visitors, and businesses alike, and offers an unparalleled quality of life. [01:54:58] In Prince William County, there are housing options to suit every lifestyle, including suburban planned communities, high-density and mixed-use developments, and even the rural countryside. The opportunities are endless, with housing available at every price point. Prince William County also provides educational opportunities at all levels. [01:55:17] Our public school system is the second largest in Virginia, and oftentimes, our programs, administration, staff, and students are cited as positive models by regional, state, and national organizations. Three years in a row, the county's public schools ranked among the nation's 100 best communities for young people by America's Promise Alliance, NING. [01:55:39] And the Washington Post High School Challenge ranks our high schools among the top 9% in the nation. The county is also home to George Mason's Science and Technology Campus, two Northern Virginia Community College campuses, and several vocational and technical schools. [01:55:55] Prince William County has a highly educated workforce with 44% of the population with a bachelor's degree or higher and is one of the nation's most affluent communities with exceedingly low unemployment due to the uniquely diverse, widely skilled, and highly educated population and workforce. [01:56:12] With two major highways, rail, bus, and easy access to airports, the county offers multimodal opportunities to get around. I-95, the region's primary north to south corridor, and I-66, the primary east to west corridor, run through Prince William County with major four-lane divided highways connecting both interstates. [01:56:34] There are two major airports, Washington Dulles International Airport and Ronald Reagan National Airport, within 20 minutes of the county. Manassas Regional Airport, located within the county's borders, is the largest executive regional airport in Virginia, which provides convenient corporate travel to and from the D.C. region and plans to expand to offer commercial travel in the near future. [01:56:56] Mass transit options are easily accessible for county residents. Potomac-Rappahannock Transportation Commission offers bus service in and around the county and throughout the region, including trips to Washington, D.C., Amtrak, and the Virginia Railway Express provide commuter rail service to and from Prince William County. [01:57:15] CSX and Norfolk Southern provide commercial and industrial rail shipping and receiving opportunities for our local businesses. The I-66 Mobility Lanes infrastructure offers significant advantages to e-commerce, providing efficient and reliable transportation routes for supply chain logistics. [01:57:33] So whether you choose to work in the nation's capital, or you choose to work in Virginia, or right here in your own backyard, diverse commuting and infrastructure options are readily available. Because of the infrastructure we continue to invest in, as well as our commerce-friendly environment, businesses continue to locate and thrive here in Prince William County. [01:57:53] Our primary targeted industries include distribution and logistics, advanced manufacturing, information communications technology, and the life sciences. We are home to Innovation Park, Northern Virginia's premier life science and technology business park. [01:58:08] We are proud that a number of major corporations and international businesses within these industries call Prince William County home. We are also proud of our support for startup businesses and entrepreneurship and providing opportunities for success within our community. [01:58:24] Being in close proximity to Washington, D.C. also means that we are home to many federal government agencies and contract organizations, providing a stable economy and opening opportunities for other government-related agencies to locate here. In addition to a thriving business environment, Prince William County is experiencing revitalization through new mixed-use development centers along major corridors in the county. [01:58:48] The county also offers a thriving retail and tourism market, providing access to a wide variety of retail options, including town centers, malls, high-end boutiques, local shops, and restaurants. This includes Northern Virginia's first destination brewery campus. [01:59:04] What began as a restoration of a long-abandoned barn is now widely known as Farm Brew Live, an innovative dining and entertainment venue that draws more than 35,000 people a month to the county. Prince William County also offers opportunities to enjoy world-class visual and performing arts right here in our community. [01:59:23] From modern concerts and events at Jiffy Lube Live Amphitheater to experiencing dance, theater and musical performances at George Mason University's Hilton Performing Arts Center, which has received international recognition and praise for its acoustics and design. [01:59:40] You don't have to go far to find incredible experiences of art and culture. And while the county celebrates its many cultural amenities, it also recognizes its historical ones. With approximately 15 historic sites in Prince William County, we serve as stewards of the county-owned historic structures, cultural and natural resources, historic landscapes, and artifacts. [02:00:02] We build community identity alongside our local partners by telling the story of the people of Prince William County. and we show the connections between our history, our present, our future, and our growth as a community. Looking for recreational opportunities? Prince William County has that in spades as well. [02:00:21] The county is home to the internationally renowned National Museum of the Marine Corps. The museum, known for its stunning architecture and interactive displays, attracts hundreds of thousands of visitors from around the world each year. It offers an opportunity for visitors to discover how the Marine Corps has protected our freedoms. The county boasts more than 4,000 acres of parkland, more than 100 miles of trails, blueways, lakes, six marinas, nine public golf courses, and various indoor recreation facilities. Our parks and community centers are true hubs of [02:00:55] the community, offering diverse amenities like sports fields, trails, pavilions, pools, marinas, and many others, along with recreation programming. With such a wide range of options, there is always something to do in Prince William County. So whether you're a business seeking an ideal location, a visitor eager to explore the vibrant attractions of the Washington, D.C. area, or someone searching for the perfect place to call home, Prince William County invites you to experience all that our community has to offer where remarkable opportunities and quality of life come [02:01:30] together. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. So for me, and I hope you all see it too, I was just blown away and impressed with the production of this video. You know, we often talk about the future of the county, as we should, but as you can see, we are already here. There are so many assets and so many things for us to be proud of across the county. So I wanted to show this video and really thank the team for all the work that they did to put it together. Supervisor Bode. [02:02:09] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to the county exec and for the team that put this together. Also wanted to give you another kudos because I saw it either streaming or online a few days ago, but advertising for the Solheim Cup. We had, you know, award-winning LPGA person that was on there. [02:02:26] So I know that you are doing a lot more to try to put our name out there. So I wanted to give you kudos for that as well. All right, Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. That was a fantastic piece. It really was. And it just speaks to how we are growing and expanding and trying to serve on a stretched kind of level. [02:02:47] And so it's very impressive. And just thank you for incorporating all of the districts in that piece. It doesn't go unnoticed, but it speaks to how we are growing. So we appreciate the visit from the financial folks coming to us this time. That says that we are on the map. So thank you. [02:03:04] All right. I mean, it was excellent. And I know that, you know, Mr. Charter, you and your team have worked very hard with the rating agencies here last week. So kudos to you and everyone in executive leadership. The final question, Supervisor Vega, if you want to go now. [02:03:20] Yes. I'm just upset I wasn't featured while shopping because I'm like always at the store, but I'll forgive you guys for that. Anyways, my question has nothing related. It's not related to the video. I've been asking for quite some time. I continue to get emails from constituents because obviously it's an issue that is impacting I think everybody's district where are we in terms of opening the landfill again on Sundays do you have any updates in regards to that we we so what we are doing right now around the landfill as you know we've started with the hazard the the [02:03:56] household hazardous waste pickups we've done we've organized for I believe four this this year that has certainly helped we we will likely have to do this by way of budget and so it's going to be a significant cost I think to the county to bring on the additional staff and what I would want to do is do this through the budget process so that the board can essentially put this alongside some of the other financial decisions that we have to make and so I have certainly received your request and know that we definitely have an interest in opening up on Sundays. [02:04:35] There are a number of considerations, including hiring the additional staff and making sure that we have the resources to do it, don't want to start it, and then stop. So what I will likely be doing in February is bringing this as a budget proposal along with the others so that you and the board can make a decision. [02:04:59] I don't know how my colleagues feel about this, but I would actually like to see something before February, only because that's a ways away. And I don't think that hazard waste is an issue, although I appreciate the initiative. The complaints I'm getting is folks not being able to access the landfill because it's closed on Sundays. [02:05:16] And so I'm just curious also, because last time that I asked for an update, I was told that we just couldn't get people to apply, that we were short-staffed. I inquired about possibly, you know, seeking the assistance of the private sector. And you told us that the private sector was facing the same challenges in terms of getting, you know, personnel. [02:05:36] And so now I'm hearing additional costs. I mean, I think that we, you know, deserve a report of some sorts, an update. But I think that February is too long from now in order to be able to provide answers to our constituents who keep inquiring as to why the landfill is not open. [02:05:54] and i believe that we closed sundays because of the pandemic yes i i do not recall because prior to that the landfill was open seven days a week i think that was before his time i do remember but that said i want to just acknowledge that i mean i certainly hear the request this is yes a recruitment issue but we have made a lot of adjustments in how we you know pay our employees and that sort. I will say I have not done research on the private sector opening up [02:06:31] the landfill for us. We would do that work internally, not through the private sector. Mr. Schurter, with all due respect, I ask that, and on this day, as that's the response that I was given when I inquired about the private sector. Well, certainly with CDL drivers, I think there is a comparison because we do compete with the private sector as it relates to CDL drivers, but we would, I would want to bring a proposal back to the board, and what I'm hearing and I'm happy to do this, I will bring this back by way of resolution to the board before the budget season. Now this is going to come as an off-budget cycle item, but if that's what the request is, then I'm happy to do it. I know, I don't know if you want [02:07:11] to be on this supervisor, but I would like to see what the estimates are. I mean, we certainly can have the discussion because, you know, there is, I mean, it would be nice to have landfill open on a sunday again this predates you i mean i'd love to see the estimate so and i just want to last comment i'm going to make on this is you know we're increasing fees for services that folks don't have access to as they used to before and so as a supervisor it's a little unsettling you know to be saying we're going to increase fees here and there and everywhere but your level of service is diminishing because it is you know folks are off on the weekends and that's when they get their yard work done or whatever the case may be they should have access to the facilities [02:07:50] that they once did seven days a week seven open seven days a week sure i certainly understand i will say that our if i remember correctly our hours of operation at our landfill is certainly more generous than our neighbors but that said if we can get to seven days we certainly will come will and we'll come back with a proposal if the board i will likely send that proposal by way of email in the way that I always do these memos. If I don't hear back from the board to not bring this forward, then I'll bring it forward by way of resolution and ask for your consideration [02:08:28] collectively. So to put a pin in this, I would like to see the proposal as well. But we also, I know we talked on this dais about, you know, opening a week and maybe possibly if there's another day during the week that's not as busy. I don't know. I'm just making this up, say a wednesday give us some options let's see what it's going to take to you know sorry what yeah okay so give us a couple options let's see how much it's going to be for seven days a week let's see how much it's going to be for six days a week again if there's a day during the week that it's not busy um where you know if it's a wednesday a tuesday if there's a day then it makes sense to [02:09:04] have reduced hours or to not be open at all but you know definitely would appreciate if you can give us some options. Will do. All right, we have a full queue. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I'd like to concur with Supervisor Vega, particularly given the increase to everybody's residential trash bill created by the new tip fees, or I guess it's now 18 months, which have in some cases doubled everybody's trash hauling fee. That being said, I too would like something in the very near future, hopefully before October and hopefully at next month's meeting [02:09:40] Mr. Shorter, if you're possible. I would like a staff presentation on this year's vehicle assessments, given assertions with respect to the valuations that were given to us during the budget cycle. Apparently, according to the emails that I'm getting delused with, the assertions that vehicle valuations would decrease this year now that COVID is over or the supply is up apparently are not bearing as much fruit or being close to what is being seen [02:10:18] in people's assessments. I've got numerous emails from people, one including a valuation that went up $13,000 on a 2022 vehicle. So if you can squeeze them in, I know our calendar is jammed, but I would like something from finance to address the vehicle valuations and the assessments for this fiscal year. [02:10:41] Thank you. Thank you very much, Advisor. We are scheduled in November to come back and talk a number of taxes based on directive. And so with your consideration, instead of October, I'd like to, in November, so that we are consistent, bring back that discussion generally, B-pole, food and beverage, and personal property. [02:11:07] I would generally accede to that. however everybody's tax bill is due in October, and I'd like to address it publicly and deal with it prior to the due date of their bill so they know what they're paying for? I don't know what the rules are for extensions. I don't know if that's a discussion that we should have now or have at a later date. Personally, I feel comfortable, more comfortable talking about all of the taxes at the November date, you know, sticking to that date. Certainly, if people have surprise bills. You know, I am very understanding of people who live on fixed [02:11:44] incomes. Perhaps the discussion should be extending the deadline for the tax. Would you welcome such a resolution at the next meeting? I would welcome such a resolution. I will have it ready for you. All right. Good, sir. Thank you. All right. If there's nothing else, Supervisor Franklin. I just want to go back to the discussion around the landfill. I do think it's important to manage expectations there I think we've all been getting the phone calls about the challenges with regards to hours at the landfill but whether we're operating it or whether it's a private entity [02:12:23] operating it you still need the workforce and this is a workforce issue and so I think Mr. Shorter was trying to be diplomatic but I'll just say it more directly we need the employees to be able to extend the amount of time that the landfill is open so that is our key issue here and so until and i know our staff is working hard and quite frankly the private sector is having the same challenge and mr shorter kind of alluded to we're competing with the private sector for these truck drivers and for employees generally with regards to the waste management [02:13:00] industry. So until we can find the workforce, and I know that everyone is trying to provide as many competitive salaries as possible to gain those employees, it's going to be a challenge. So I don't want us to think, certainly Mr. Shorter, come back with those numbers, but I don't want us to think that there's a magic pill to this. It's a challenge that we've been dealing with over the past several years because of the way the economy has been so turbulent because of COVID. So I just want to manage expectations and be a little bit more direct than what I think Mr. Shorter is [02:13:34] probably comfortable doing, but this is a workforce issue. We need the actual human resources to be able to get additional hours at the landfill, and that's been the challenge. All right, Supervisor Gordy? I'd also like to comment on that and thank Supervisor Vega for bringing this up. [02:13:56] We've had, throughout this year, we've discussed numerous times the challenges of trash on the roads. And I believe these things are tied together. If you're going to the landfill on a Saturday and it's taking you an hour, hour and a half to get into the landfill, a lot of people are abandoning and just dumping stuff on the side of the road. [02:14:19] I know Joplin Road, through Supervisor Bailey's district, when you drive through that road, it is trashy. It has become a dumping ground for many people. Not because, you know, Joplin's a beautiful road, and I love driving it. But what's become disappointing is the amount of dumping that's taken place on that road. [02:14:38] And so I don't know that I can't say that one is directly tied to the other, but we've certainly seen an increase in dumping. And so that also requires personnel. And so all these things, there is a cause and effect. [02:14:54] And so while we may be trying to address one issue at the landfill, we may be causing additional problems having second and third order effects somewhere else. So I think it is something that we need to figure out how do we make the landfill more accessible for our citizens when they have the availability of time to go to the landfill. [02:15:18] I've been out in like Warren County. They're closed on Wednesdays, but they're still open only six days a week, but they're closed on Wednesdays. So, you know, those options, if that helps address the personnel issue of having another day closed, but one that gives our county citizens the maximum capacity to use the landfill. [02:15:41] And then I'd also want to thank Supervisor Weir for bringing up the issue related to the assessments because we're also receiving a tremendous number of emails on the value of vehicles that are increasing and look forward to learning more about that process. Thank you. [02:15:57] All right, Supervisor Bailey. If I can just respond. I appreciate you, Supervisor, bringing that up. I will say last year I do recall, and this was thanks to Supervisor Vega's push, the Department at Public Works did extensive work to make sure that that line getting into the landfill was not backed up. [02:16:22] And so that is certainly still the case. And so I agree we had work to do last year, and we certainly have done that work. You all, as a board, provided for some additional FTEs associated with litter control and abatement. [02:16:38] And so that's why my original thinking was I will bring this in the same way. But I'm, again, happy to do this now, to really think internally about how we could make Sunday service a reality. [02:16:54] and we will certainly come back with some recommendations. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. And, Tom, maybe you and I may have to take a drive down Joplin Road because last time I did this weekend, it looked pretty good. It's been a couple of months since I've been there. [02:17:09] Okay, yeah, it looked pretty good. It was pretty bad. Yeah, and the grass was cut and everything. So I just want to let that record show for Joplin Road. But I'm going to segue to something different. I just saw your e-mail today in reference to the Crisis Receiving Center. And if you could please update the board or have, you know, an update for the board in terms of us staying on schedule with that. [02:17:33] There has been a change, and that is a project that is moving forward in a positive trajectory. This may have a tweak to that, and so I think we owe the board to have a more in-depth kind of explanation as to why. [02:17:52] Sure. What I'll do, I'll ask Lisa Madren, if she's not here, I will certainly have her come to us for the next board meeting. We are absolutely continuing on the construction side of this. [02:18:08] Our timeline has not changed. We are moving forward with construction. The email I sent earlier was really about Medicaid billing and the designation of the CRC. And so happy to kind of have Lisa come answer questions publicly and make sure that everyone is aware of this, really this conversation we are having with the state right now about how the facility will be designated. [02:18:34] Thank you. Sure. Thank you, Madam Chair. And I appreciate that because that is going to be a very interesting discussion. So thank you everyone for addressing their concerns. Do you have anything else for us, Mr. Shorter? Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. So then we are going to move on to 9A, county attorney time. [02:18:53] Ms. Robo, the floor is now yours. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. We have two items for discussion in closed session this afternoon. We will have a personnel discussion relating to the appointment of the director of the Department of Libraries, and we will have consultation with legal counsel and briefings by staff members regarding specific legal matters requiring the provision of legal advice by such counsel pertaining to First Amendment law, hand-handling ordinances and traffic ordinances where such consultation discussion or briefing in an open meeting would adversely affect the bargaining position negotiating strategy or litigating posture of the public body and these items are appropriate for closed session pursuant [02:19:28] to 2.2-3711 a 1 and 8 of the virginia code vote for approval madam chair second all right let's take a vote vote unanimous all right thank you very much we're moving on to agenda item 10 supervisor's time before we go around the horn i would like i'm going to split it up um i would like a resolution from 10a through 10e and then we're going to do 10f separately in case there's any discussion on that one so for 10a through 10e so those are um our standard appointments [02:20:08] do i have a motion so move madam chair second all right i don't think any discussion seeing none let's take a vote on those first ones vote unanimous all right now i'd like to do i have a motion on 10F and that was to amend our 2024 meeting calendar to add a meeting on December 2nd for the purpose of meeting with the state delegation and the school board and in doing so we are going to remove the 6 p.m. meeting on December 10th. May I have a motion? So move Madam Chair. [02:20:41] Second. All right looks like I have discussion. Supervisor Vega. Madam Chair what what exactly is the purpose of the meeting? It's our yearly meeting where we meet with the school board and our state delegation okay and we talk we have food you've done this more than I have right and respectfully in the past they've been a waste of time and so I'm asking what the purpose of it is because you know it's in December we're adding another one and so just wanted to know if there's going to be you know an actual agenda or if it's just for us to socialize there will be an agenda [02:21:19] we're actually removing a meeting this is something we do every year I don't think it hurts for us to have those discussions but also importantly for me i feel that we need to make sure that we're building strong rapport and strong relationships with our other elected officials so that is our state delegation and our school board um you know i went to my first one um as chair elect last year you know i think there was some good discussion to be had and i would really like for us to continue to build a rapport so you're gonna be there you're out man and i'm bigger than you All right, Supervisor Weir. [02:21:54] Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you, Supervisor Vega, for stealing my thunder. Because I, too, don't see the purpose, at least with respect to the school board. I'm better than you, too. Typically, they haven't taken any direction from us. [02:22:10] They haven't provided us enough information on their spending, their budget. I mean, they couldn't even give me the proper budget documents this year. I, like Supervisor Vega, view it as somewhat meaningless and, quite frankly, a waste of time, although I don't have an issue with meeting with the delegation, and I find that I would suggest that that's much more important than meeting with the school board since we exercise little to no authority over the school board, but the delegation can provide the opportunity for legislation that would help us. [02:22:42] So if we stripped out the school board and just kept it to the delegation and had a meaningful conversation with the delegation, I would be happy with that. All right, Supervisor Bailey. Don't laugh, Madam Chair. he's a hoot I tell you um I um I just want to put a plug in that I think that the school board the joint school board meeting is very important because just a reminder when we had our retreat this this year we talked about how we need to really air some vast concerns that we had and I I think we lose uh momentum and we lose effectiveness and relationships if we don't [02:23:22] have the discussion and so I think it's important that we keep though we don't have direct navigation on the funding. We just give them the funding. I think we lose an opportunity when we don't have honest discussions in those meetings. It's not just about eating. We may not agree, but I think it's an opportunity for us to agree to disagree. All right. Very well said. [02:23:45] Supervisor Bailey. Supervisor Franklin. Actually, one thing I was going to point out, and I'm not sure when we're having a public discussion around our legislative agenda, but certainly i think that this meeting would be a good time and i think our school board actually appreciate making sure that we're all on the same page and pushing members of the general assembly to push the governor and his administration to really change the funding formula for how they fund public schools throughout the commonwealth and quite frankly when we shift to a different [02:24:19] formula that will lessen the burden that localities will have to put in for education funding. Prince William County has been doing an incredible job over the past several years in providing billions with a B of funding to our education partners, and we will continue to do so. [02:24:37] But as we found out through that JLARC study, the way the Commonwealth of Virginia has been funding education has been quite frankly woeful there are probably I think two to three other states that fund education the way Virginia does which means that our students are receiving less money per pupil than most other states in the country and so I think our school board actually appreciate having that discussion with the general assembly I know certain members of our general assembly actually agree with that um but there has to be kind of a mind shift around how we do [02:25:15] formula funding for education here in the commonwealth and i think this is uh this meeting will be a great opportunity for us to actually be on the same page uh with the school board and pushing our general assembly for that all right thank you supervisor franklin we don't have anyone else in the queue um yeah if there's no one else let's go ahead pick a vote we'll find you Vote unanimous. [02:25:52] Supervisor, we are abstaining from vote. All right. Thank you so very much. Now we get to go around the horn. I'm going to start with Supervisor Bailey, you know, with providing your updates. Thank you, Madam Chair. Well, good afternoon to Madam Chair and everyone at the dais. [02:26:10] We're back. Past events. This summer is over, and it's time for us to just get back to work. And so I want to welcome Superintendent McDade and the facility and the students all back in order and just looking forward to partnering with them to make sure that we're moving in a positive direction with that. [02:26:33] But since our last meeting, I want to thank those individuals who met with me and my staff to pave the way forward for the Potomac District, specifically those like Chief Newsom, Chief LaBelle, and Assistant Chief Smolsky, Senator McPike, County Exec Shorter, Mayor Brown, and Delegate King. [02:26:51] We had robust conversations that I sincerely appreciate your interest in the district in making sure that we are aiding the citizens as we go forward. I had the pleasure of attending and participating in the following Council of Government Leadership Retreat. [02:27:07] My chief and I went to the, I want to thank Chief David McCoy at Station 23, and an amazing ride-along we had this summer. It was so much fun. I got to do the hose with the water, and we did good. It was fun. And Howerson Soccer Complex Expansion, congratulations again, Supervisor Vega, for a great event and citizen focus. [02:27:32] That was a lot of fun. To the recruit graduation class of 24-1, and I had the awesome opportunity of attending two Eagle Scouts Honor Guard, and it was great to see two gentlemen become Eagle Scouts. My son was one, so that was fun. [02:27:49] 2024 Youth Career and College Excellence Summit. Staff participated in the Potomac Shores National Night Out. I was on vacay. Thank you for that, Madam Chair. VACO 2024 County Official Summit and Summer Board Meeting, which, as you will see once the county exec brings Lisa back to talk about the Medicaid piece with CRC, how that's rolling out and how that partnership with VACO works. [02:28:17] Collaborating with Delegate King, Supervisor Franklin, Mayor Nickerson, Dr. Gaddis, from the Prince William County Community Foundation for our, again, annual back-to-school Community Day in Garrison Park. And then lastly, upcoming events, Potomac District Annual Community Town Hall on August 25th will be held on that, excuse me, September 25th. I've realized it's September. [02:28:44] And Madam Chair, you'll be getting an invitation to that from us. Special events in September 4th, Indigenous Literacy Day, September 10th, Suicide Prevention Day, and the 11th Patriot Day, we have to remember those important things in our communities as we serve. [02:29:03] And as we are moving forward with the vision to serve at a higher level, I always say that I encourage our constituents in the Potomac District to continue to reach out to my office, participate in the events, and give me your concerns. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. Supervisor Weir? [02:29:19] Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I'd like to speak to the concerns of many of the residents of the Gainesville, particularly the Brentsville districts, we hear you with respect to the impacts you're suffering from the dirt farmers. However, the board's hands are somewhat tied, and I'm working on untying them. [02:29:39] Hopefully, in October, we'll have a solution or at least a partial solution, and I would just beg your indulgence until such a point. Then, as a function of being second to speak, I'm going to bigfoot both Supervisors Vega and Gordy. [02:29:56] There will be a joint talent hall Monday, September 16th, hosted by Supervisors Vega, Gordy, and myself. And I believe the two top topics, and I'll let them expand on it, are DIRT and the Affordable Dwelling Unit Order. And that will be 7 o'clock at Unity Reed High School. [02:30:12] Which leads me to the last thing, which is with respect to the Route 15 pedestrian bridge. I actually have a directive for it, but I need to preface my directive with a statement. I understand how this project, or what this project means to many members of the community, however, I believe that those most passionate about the project were, quite frankly, sold a bill of goods. [02:30:41] A bill of goods exemplified by the expanded scope of the project footprint and design, mandated by VDOT, as well as a final price tag several orders of magnitude higher than what was originally proposed, $25 plus million. [02:30:58] Thus, I take no pleasure in making the following directive, but in good conscience, have no other choice, and the directive is as follows. Last October, the Department of Transportation staff was directed to conduct an analysis of pedestrian traffic at Route 15 adjacent to Battlefield High School and similar schools across the county to determine how to proceed with the Route 15 pedestrian bridge project. [02:31:25] In addition to Battlefield High School, staff collected pedestrian counts at four additional schools, Unity Reed High School, Woodbridge High School, Garfield High School, and Colgan High School. The study showed that the school-related pedestrian counts and overall pedestrian traffic ranks are lower in comparison to other comparable schools across the county. [02:31:48] The current data collected at Route 15 adjacent to Battlefield High School does not support or warrant a pedestrian bridge based on the study. Based on the overall project estimate, available funding, and results of this study, staff is being directed to cancel the Route 15 pedestrian bridge project and allocate remaining project funds to a new project that would expand parking adjacent to Battlefield High School in an effort to address the problem with an alternate solution. [02:32:15] Staff is also directed to continue to work with VDOT and Prince William County Schools on identifying measures that can be implemented at the other school study locations to increase overall pedestrian safety. That's all I have, Madam Chair. Madam Chair. [02:32:32] Hold on. Yes, your person, the key supervisor, Franklin. Sure, yeah. So I guess my question, because when we had this discussion probably about a couple of years ago, it was around a couple of incidents that took place. And, of course, speaking with police, I believe, you know, those incidents included not using proper crosswalks perhaps. [02:32:55] But I guess my only question is, if we divert funds from the pedestrian bridge, are we sure that there won't be any additional safety concerns with regards to students going, you know, kind of across the way at that major intersection? [02:33:15] I'm okay to support it if we think so, but I know that that was a big part of why we were looking to support this before. To my understanding, at least with respect to the school traffic crossing Route 15, some portion of it, if not a significant portion of it, if not a majority of it, is created by the students parking their vehicles at the parking lot on the other side of Route 15. [02:33:41] And in allocating a portion, and mind you, a very small fraction of the funding that would otherwise be expended on a pedestrian bridge to expanding a county park or to creating a parking lot next to Battlefield High School that would serve not only Battlefield but also the backside of Long Park, hopefully that would mitigate, at least to some degree, the foot traffic across Route 15. [02:34:15] My takeaway from what has been presented to me by staff is that the original design was sort of a cookie cutter that was just presented. Here's a picture of what we're going to build. And since it's crossing a U.S. highway, you know, VDOT essentially controls the design parameters. [02:34:35] It grew markedly in scope. It grew markedly in terms of design features, including ADA and bike ramp compliance. and as a result required significant additional takings, both from the school division side of the property and the Dominion Valley side and would impact a variety of other things. [02:35:00] I'll be honest, I think the project was over-promised. And given what limited utility it would have at this point in time, given the other things that we have added, we've addressed the speed issue, we've lowered the speed at that intersection, we've put in the cameras. [02:35:20] it's my hope that those will mitigate it further but that's the reason for going with the parking lot option is to reduce foot traffic across the road uh is there any way we're going to eliminate it entirely no um yeah but that's that's what happens when you have a crosswalk on a four lane divided highway sure and um mr shorter i guess i'll just say as you're working on the directive i at least um would like to be kind of briefed on where we were um where we are now um i know [02:35:50] Supervisor, we just mentioned a bunch of mitigation measures, and those may well be the answers to making sure that Route 15 is much more safe, or much safer, I should say. But if I can at least get a briefing on that as you guys are working on that directive, I think that will make me comfortable. [02:36:09] I'm going to go to Supervisor Voted, but I think that, so for me, this predates me, obviously, this project, and I think that this is something we're going to have to have a public discussion on. i don't know the other appropriate measures you know if this requires any type of hearings or anything um but certainly for those of us you know myself and i'm going to speak for you too supervisor you know gordy because this predates us but madam chair i've been advised by transportation that it just requires a draft or it requires a directive can't turn this on all right even still i would definitely love to have further discussions around this but let me go to supervisor bodie [02:36:43] yeah thank you madam chair i just i guess it gives me a little bit of heartburn for on a couple different levels. One, canceling a project by directive is kind of something that we haven't really done a lot of. We've talked a lot in the past four years about not legislating by directive to me. So canceling a project is a little bit wary. However, the other thing I have concern with is a parking lot as an answer for people walking and connectivity in the county. I know this goes into a much global, more global conversation about providing infrastructure for bike and pedestrian [02:37:20] versus auto-centric infrastructure, such as parking lots. So I'm also a little bit wary there. At the same time, though, the data doesn't lie. I have the directive response in front of me. We're talking about priorities in terms of addressing school populations that need more bike and pedestrian connectivity. [02:37:39] It's very clear that the other high schools that are identified in the memo obviously see a lot more pedestrians. And frankly, if we're talking about prioritizing funding for those crossings, Those other ones that so happen to have my district in them, I know Supervisor Angri's district are in them as well, those obviously have a lot more foot traffic and therefore should be looked at sooner than this one. [02:38:03] So in that respect, I'm going to support the directive, but I just wanted to highlight my concern with canceling a project by directive and also the idea of somehow supplanting pedestrian infrastructure with more parking infrastructure for cars doesn't give me a lot of good feelings. [02:38:18] Thanks. Thank you, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, if I could interject. I would suggest that we need to take a, the board as a whole needs to take a longer look at this and not, trying to accomplish it by one-offs isn't going to address the underlying problem. Because much like Route 15, Old Bridge Road is divided four lanes and then you've got 234. We've got a recurring problem. [02:38:45] How do we fix it? And where do we find the funds to accommodate this? I mean, we're talking about a project that went from roughly eight million to something on a magnitude of three to four times that in a very, very short period of time. And again, a project that was initiated by directive. [02:39:03] I don't think enough, personally, I don't believe enough initial research was done on this. And I would hope that going forward, if we're going to address this problem at Route 15, as well as the problems with the other high schools, and I think it spans almost every district, almost every district we need to be a little more uh deliberate about how we do this and how we how we figure out the funding for it supervisor angry thank you madam chair i just i don't want to you know beat this topic up so i'll be quick and real brief um there's a mother watching this and she lost her [02:39:39] child at that intersection which generated this discussion so we can talk about measures and doing other things but i can tell you the whole topic of pedestrian bridges has always ended with they cost too much again i ask how much is one life all right so i i think whatever we do and we have a lot of schools and a lot of crossings at some point we need to have a real discussion about pedestrian bridges okay and ways of making it safe for our citizens to move across these heavy intersections that four lane divided highways we listen i mean i know we can money's [02:40:17] everything we got to talk about measures and safety and i just pedestrian bridges are safe and i know they cost uh at some point we just need to figure out what that looks like and have have that discussion i've been having talking pedestrian bridges since 2019 because i want one crossing dale boulevard at stone bridge uh in in that intersection and because this is a problem here and i don't need another child or an adult dying when we just need to do everything we can and to create a safe environment. [02:40:48] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, thank you. I don't think anyone, you have any objections to the directive. Again, this is going to be, hopefully, a further discussion. You know, I've seen, actually, a student hit crossing Old Bridge. It was not a fatal accident. It was just someone got bumped. You know, and having, you know, a child, a student, who goes to high school at Forest Park, which, you know, students aren't necessarily crossing 234, but that has its own set of safety issues. [02:41:14] So I'm very sensitive of these issues. Again, I have no objections to the directive, but I would like to have a fuller discussion before we do anything. And it needs to be, again, a very public discussion. So that's my last two cents. Anything else from the supervisor? [02:41:30] That's all I had, Madam Chair. All right. Madam Chair, and if the supervisor would allow, what I'd like to do based on this discussion is just have, and I talked to Wade and Rick, have the staff come back and just present the analysis at a board meeting. [02:41:48] consistent with what you have seen as a board collectively by way of email i appreciate that i think with something of this magnitude that would be good make sure we're all on the same page and make sure it's public for and it's transparent thank you supervisor bode thank you madam chair almost forgot um what we were doing because it was a really good discussion thank you for that supervisor weir for for spurring that um sort of updates for me i'll try to try to be as quick as possible you know over the last month and a half or so i've been to a lot of events including the Lake Ridge Rotary, the Brentsville Road Interchange Ribbon Cutting, which includes back to the topic [02:42:24] that includes the county's first shared use bike pedestrian bridge, graduation for the summer school PWCS cohort, the Session 51 Telecommunicators Graduation Promotion Ceremony right here in these chambers, National Night Out, wanted to thank all the communities that invited me and our public safety folks out to it, attended the ribbon cutting for Bright Works Brewing Company, which although is in the city of Manassas, was actually opened by constituents of my district, so I wanted to give a shout out to them as well. [02:42:52] We also had a Hoadley Square open house community conversation across the way in DSB. Wanted to thank staff for attending that and supporting that effort. We also have an Office of Elections VIP tour last month, which is a great, under-the-hood, transparent way. [02:43:09] I know the CXO was there for a little while, and I saw Supervisor Vega there as well. It was a great way to show the public what we have under the hood in terms of elections operations and showing folks as a great professional independent staff who's helping us administer elections and make sure folks' votes are secure. Also went last week to an office community safety listening session on transportation, pedestrian safety at Shin Park. For me, it was a great sort of capstone because back last year, almost exactly a year ago, we had one of the office's first looks at our community in terms of having a good [02:43:44] holistic discussion about safety as it comes of soups and nuts so we talk about school safety pedestrian and transportation safety public safety so to have another office of community safety visit their listening tour was great I wanted to give a shout out to to Wesley Dawson and his folks in that office for having that listening session and frankly a lot of folks were wanting to have more discussion, so I'll come to that later. I also got a chance to tour the Micron facility this past week. It was my first time actually going into it. I had a VIP tour with Senator [02:44:23] Delegate Carafoy and some other folks, so really happy to do that. Looking ahead, there has been so much talked about in terms of traffic safety, pedestrian safety. We've had some pretty bad accidents over the past month or so on Old Bridge running around my district, and there was such good discussion around traffic safety that town hall that uh that the office did last week that we're actually going to be hosting my office will be hosting a traffic safety town hall coming in the coming months look for an announcement in the coming weeks about that and going complete other direction uh barktober fest is coming uh my office our annual barktober events uh we had a great [02:45:02] success last year partnering with chin park and their fall festival so this coming october 19th we'll be having our next annual Barktoberfest from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Chin Park on October 19th alongside their fall festival. Last but not least, we had a great proclamation this afternoon about kinship care. We know that the biggest aim of foster care and our foster advocates is to get folks with their family first. A lot of folks don't know this, but in my household, our two [02:45:40] oldest were actually kinship care foster placements with my wife a number of years ago from my wife's sister. So at that time, eventually my wife had adopted our two oldest, you know, our second oldest still lives with us. So it's a testament to being able to house folks with their family first, has better outcomes for community better outcomes for the children that that are in play and better outcome for everyone involved so we just want to give folks a shout out who work in that space who continue to advocate for that space and my wife who in a previous life uh was a foster care recruiter and one of her biggest aims was try to get folks and get uh children paired with their [02:46:20] their uh their family members uh before reunifying them with their parents so wanted to give a brief shout out to that thank you madam chair thank you supervisor angry thank you madam chair uh yeah It was a busy month of events, so I'm not going to backtrack those. But welcome back. Hope everybody had a great summer. [02:46:36] So on Wednesday, September 11th, we've got our September 11th ceremony that we're going to have here. And then I've got another one that evening with Nova Vets that's going to be over at the Manassas Museum, if you're interested. On Thursday, September 12th through the 15th is our Solheim competition, the Solheim Cup. [02:46:57] So please come on out there to Robert Trent Jones and enjoy that. You're going to have a lot of folks out there, and I think it's going to be a great event. Happy that Prince William County gets to sponsor that. That's just another big kudos to that video you just showed. So awesome. On Thursday, September 19th, I'll be hosting a virtual affordable housing town hall. [02:47:16] Link will be made available on all my social media platforms and website. And then on Friday, September 20th, Supervisor Franklin and I will be co-hosting a Latino roundtable at Freedom High School at 7 p.m. I'll let her kind of get a little bit more of that, too, and we'll have food and all this stuff. [02:47:34] I'll let you hit that up a little bit. And then I have a notice of intent to appoint Larissa Miller to the Arts Council, and I believe you have her resume on file. Okay, all right, and that is all. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, as always, I kind of mix it up. [02:47:51] We're going to go to Supervisor Gordy next. Thank you, Madam Chair. To start things off, I'd like to provide notice of my intent to reappoint Steve Daves to the Virginia Gateway Community Development Authority. My staff has sent over his resume and contact info to the clerk's office. [02:48:09] Thank you. I'd also like to make the following directive. Without objection, I'd like to direct the staff to explore the opportunity of acquiring and restoring the Ned Distiller House at 16210 Lee Highway in the historic Buckland District, currently listed for sale for historic preservation interpretation purposes. [02:48:31] Mr. Distiller was a freed black. This was his home, and there is significant evidence that this house was the first house mortgaged by freed black in the Commonwealth, potentially in the country. [02:48:49] And so the opportunity to preserve this home is something of, I think, is of great value to our county, and hopefully the staff can work to acquire that. Just a few updates. Just like everyone else, we've had a busy month, but I just want to point out a few things. [02:49:12] I did have the opportunity to meet with Mr. Michael Carter Sr. from the Virginia State University Small Farm Program and look forward to working with them and helping to educate our community on how you can have a farm on your property, even if it's just as small as one acre. [02:49:32] So looking forward to working with him and having visited a couple of other farms. We met with Sunshine Honey Farm in Noakesville, who raises chickens, turkeys, beef. They also make honey from bees, and so they very much enjoyed spending time with them. [02:49:53] And then last week, attended George Mason University and the Prince William Chambers presentation on the Innovation District, which is currently being evaluated and studied to get innovation in the area around George Mason University refocused back on the things that innovation was supposed to accomplish in support of creating jobs, creating businesses from the activities from George Mason University. [02:50:30] And I've asked Christina Wynn to help to work with Mr. Shorter to provide a briefing to the board on what's going on there. And so we look forward to learning more about that. A few things that we do have coming up. [02:50:48] We, as Supervisor Weir mentioned, we have the multi-district town hall on September the 16th at 7 p.m. at Unity Reed High School. We will be talking about the affordable housing dwelling unit, affordable dwelling unit ordinance, as well as community safety and other issues within the community. [02:51:11] Look forward to engaging the community there. As Supervisor Bode mentioned, the Solheim Cup is coming up next week, starting September the 12th. Great opportunity to showcase Prince William County to the world, and looking forward to a great week next week. [02:51:32] And coming up, I know a lot of folks in the Brentsville district are very excited that the University Boulevard extension is going to be opened up next Monday, September the 9th, finally. and then the university boulevard jug handle interchange will open up on september 19th and we will be having ribbon cuttings for both of those and hope everyone can come out for that and uh and lastly just want to oh i also want to tell the community that on saturday this coming [02:52:08] saturday from 8 a.m to 2 p.m we are having a dumpster day at haymarket elementary school and this will include shredding which will be available on a first-come first-served basis at 9 a.m and for more details you can go to our website and understand the procedures and the requirements related particularly to the shredding. And then lastly I just want to wish all of our students a safe and successful year as they go back to school and then like me I dropped off my daughter to college uh my my first one to go to college it's been a little bit of a [02:52:48] bittersweet month um so i just want to wish all of our parents who and our students who are off at college also a very safe and successful year thank you madam chair thank you supervisor franklin yes uh thank you i had several uh opportunities participate in various events throughout the county during the past several weeks including national night out belmont bay community-wide Open House, Unity Church Back-to-School Supplies Giveaway, the investiture of the Honorable Kia D. Spinks to the Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court of the 31st Judicial [02:53:24] District of Virginia, and a Back-to-School Community Day event in Dumfries. On August 23rd, I also participated in the groundbreaking ceremony for the Featherstone segment of the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. Within Prince William County, the 20 miles of the Potomac Heritage National Trail is plan to link several parks communities and other important historical destination destinations and it is the third national park service unit in Prince William County advancing our unique identity as an outdoor destination and later that night I participated in the ride-along with our police [02:54:01] department so thank you to them was able to see a lot of the areas along route one that we've cleaned up and they've done a fantastic job along with our county services including our social services on august 26 i participated in community safety listening session organized by the office of community safety at chan library very helpful for our residents one thing that i i really liked was the fact that i didn't recognize a lot of people there it was a full house but a lot of times when we go to events or host events you see the same people [02:54:34] I did not recognize a lot of people there, but they had a lot of input, and so I was very happy that members of the community really came out and showed an interest. So thank you to Mr. Wesley Dawson for hosting that. On August 29th, I participated in Community Town Hall at Unity Reed Church alongside Supervisor Angry, where we provided them with an update on what's going on in our community with some of our bigger programs, including affordable housing, some of the newer developments that we have coming up here in the county, [02:55:09] and they share with us some events that they have and some things that they would like to partner with the county on, so hoping that we can get some of those things going. And then I also participated in a ride-along with our fire department, the Station 23 River Oaks, which is the busiest fire station in the county, apparently. [02:55:31] And so I was able to do a number of rides with them, including a boating accident. Everyone turned out to be fine. But to see our boat rescues and just want to also thank, I'll just give a shout out to Terry Hill, who owns the Hampton Marina, where we actually store our boat, who has made it very helpful for our fire and rescue crew to do their business when there is something happening on the Potomac or in Lee Sylvain State Park. [02:56:00] So thank you to Terry. Thank you to our fire department. Got to ride with EMT, see them do their thing. The BIC fire truck, I'm sure there's a name for it. It's huge. It's like a building on wheels. But we got some dedicated men and women there, and it was so much fun being there. [02:56:17] I will say I almost got left because we were eating dinner, And then a call came in and everyone just got up and left and I was just kind of still sitting there. But I got it that I needed to be quick on my toes if I was going to spend the night with them. So I got it pretty quickly. Some upcoming events, September 14th, the Chili Cookoff and Fall Festival at Stonebridge Town Center. [02:56:36] Please join us there. September 20th. Yes, our Latino Roundtable in conjunction with the Neabsco District at Freedom High School. September 28th, we have a dumpster day at Rippon Middle School. On October 12th, we have our second annual Woodbridge District Community Fund Day. [02:56:53] So please go to our website for information on all those events. And lastly, I would like to issue a directive. We're hearing more and more about PFAS, known as forever chemicals, because they do not break down easily over time. These chemicals used in many consumer products can have a detrimental impact on people, including low birth weights, behavioral changes, and put us at an increased risk of some types of cancers. [02:57:19] I would like to receive more information on PFAS and the impact on the Prince William County water supply. The next major issue of concern is salinity, and we've talked about this before in our water supply. So as many of you all know, salinity measures the saltiness of water. [02:57:35] For example, if fresh water becomes too salty, it can cause fish to die or make our water supply unsafe to drink. And there are many reasons at the salinity levels of fresh water changes over time. For instance, when we use road salt in the winter to clear the roads, the salt can get washed away to nearby waterways. [02:57:53] Also, land clearing and disturbance in agricultural products, such as irrigation, can also result in increased salinity. This is a big factor that we need to monitor in our fresh water supply. and so I would like to receive more information on both of these. Therefore, I would like to make the following directive. [02:58:10] I direct staff to arrange for the Prince William Water to make a presentation to the Board of Supervisors about salinity and PFAS in the Occoquan Reservoir and other waterways in Prince William County, in addition to their mitigation measures and how potentially the county can be more helpful in helping them fight the impact of both salinity and PFAS without objection. [02:58:32] So I just wanted to add real quickly, I appreciate that. I believe we've already had discussions with having Calvin Farr come before the board later in the fall. Is this separate from that? No, I think this is a result of that, actually. This is just me formalizing that as I talk to staff kind of behind the scenes about the concerns. [02:58:50] But they said that I would need really a directive to kind of formalize that. Gotcha. I'm sorry for the confusion because I believe we had already talked about scheduling him. And I don't know if it was October or November. November. Okay, gotcha. All right. Madam Chair? Would the supervisor be amenable to a friendly additional amendment? [02:59:08] Depending on what it is. Not only discussing PFAS and salinity, but available volume and shortcomings or shortfalls, potential subjected shortfalls in available water. Yep, happy to add that. [02:59:24] Thank you. And then lastly, just want to do a notice of intent to appoint Patrius Prater to the Human Rights Commission. All right. Thank you, Supervisor Franklin. Move on to Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. It was a really busy month in July. [02:59:40] I met with the Department of Economic Development regarding our agribusiness and agritourism. I also issued a directive on that, and so I'm anxiously waiting to hear back from staff in regards to that. I want to thank my colleagues who came out to the Howison Soccer Complex Groundbreaking and to those that also came out to the Brentsville Interchange Ribbon Cutting Ceremony. [02:59:59] Both of these projects have been a long time coming. We've been working on these since my first term, so it's just really exciting to finally see everything come full circle. we celebrated our high school summer graduates I also had a good time and saw a few of my colleagues at that ceremony as well along with the fire and rescue graduation moving on to the month of August I was able to partake in our very first ever telecommunicator graduation ceremony that was held right here in chambers I know that it was the first one but I look forward to seeing future ones and would encourage my colleagues to also show up because it does mean a lot to folks that have been putting in the work and that finally I get to see [03:00:36] hard work pay off I want to just give a special shout out also to dr. Gattis I know that in one shape wait some way shape or form all of us have directly worked with her she puts on a tremendous event every single year normally I do a back-to-school event out of the Coles district office but this year we decided to join forces and joined her at her event and it was just incredible to see the amount of work that she puts into this one event all of the community partners that she brings together, I mean, I didn't make it through the entire parking lot [03:01:10] because it was just so much going on. But just to see the children's excitement and faces as they come along was really exciting and rewarding. I want to thank Supervisor Tom Gordy for being kind and hosting me at his tent because I did not have one and the sun was beaming hot. But we had a really good time there. So Dr. Gattis, I'm sure you're not watching, but somebody will tell you we are so grateful for you you certainly are a treasure to our community and I want you to know that your hard work does not go unnoticed I want to also say that we had a great time at national night out we have a park that has been [03:01:47] donated to us through the kaboom organization I don't know if my colleagues on the days have heard about them or not but if you haven't at some point they'll come to you really excited I'm to have had our first community meeting where we had children and parents and educators come along and are helping us to sign this project that's going to go in an underserved area of our community which we've been working on revitalizing and it's just really exciting to see the community come together and certainly want to thank the the donor as well. I had a great time talking to a high schooler who was concerned about high taxes and he wanted to engage his local government as part of his boy [03:02:23] scout program so Mr. Shorter and to my colleagues we got to keep lowering taxes per Mr. Edward Lewis So, Edward, if you're watching, thank you for reaching out and for the time that you spent with me. We also had a great time visiting the Office of Elections. Supervisor Bode spoke about it. [03:02:40] I want to give a shout-out to Eric Olson, because ever since he came on board, he's been instrumental in ensuring that things over there have been transparent. And we can't say that enough. I know that people like to complain, but instead of complaining, I would encourage folks to take a part in this opportunity that has been offered and to see for yourself that we're doing our very best here in Prince William County to be transparent, not just in the Office of Elections, but across the board. [03:03:05] I wanted to congratulate Cakes by Happy Eatery for celebrating 40 years of service. To the Wu family, thank you for your hospitality. We had a great time with members of the community who came by to enjoy some of your sweet treats. We had a meeting also with the Fairfax Board of County Supervisors in regards to the 28 bypass. [03:03:25] I know that this is an issue that's very important to folks in the Yorkshire area. So we're going to keep working on this, Madam Chair, and we're going to hopefully here in the near future be able to provide a update. Also want to thank Coach Rice and Coach Reggie for inviting me to speak to the Colgan boys football team before they took the field to the game for their game opener. [03:03:46] It was a really neat opportunity to just be surrounded by what? I think it was like 80 young men who were eager to take the field, but most importantly who have a lot of aspirations and plans for their future. So if my colleagues have the opportunity to do that or if nobody's called you, I would encourage you to call because it's probably been one of the highlights of my time as a public servant. And lastly, I want to thank Supervisor Angry and Supervisor Franklin for supporting the special Olympics fundraiser at Texas Roadhouse. You guys came through I saw Wade although I didn't personally invite you I did mention why we were [03:04:21] there and I know that you also took part in that so Wade thank you and last but not least I know I said that was my last comment but I still have 18 seconds I didn't send my kids off to college just yet but I did cry a little as I watched my babies drive themselves to school so we have a sophomore and a junior in high school and I'm still internally crying as they laugh at mom for crying but uh with that being said you know praying for a successful and blessed school year not just for our students but for our educators who do so much throughout the school year and with that madam chair that is all i have thank you thank you so very much i'm just gonna piggyback [03:04:58] on that you as a parent i think the hardest thing is watching your kid get behind the wheel for the very first time and my son took advantage you know i um you know did some travel this summer and he took I gave him the keys so he basically after a week of driving himself to school didn't want me to come back he probably wanted me to come back anyways but he was like you know can you transfer the car over to me because and so now my next step as mom is to find a hybrid for myself this was a busy summer it was great I had a chance I cannot go through the list I did that I did that I did that I did that but most importantly I had time to really talk to people in the community [03:05:38] have a lot more meetings, bone up on some policy issues, reach out to other supervisors. Because, I mean, stepping into this role, you know, it is a lot, and I take very seriously my duties, and I really appreciate the time that people have given me, and being able to work, you know, work with everyone, work across the county, and understand what our issues are, and work with the supervisors to address them. [03:06:03] Now, I have a lot of things to do. I have notices of intent and a directive, so let me start with the notices of intent. I would like to announce my notes of intent to appoint the following individuals to boards, committees, and commissions. Dr. Sarah Pitkin to the Regional Northern Virginia Community College Board, Josh Lee and Phyllis Jennings-Holt as alternates to COGS Human Services Policy Committee, Latanya Buckhalter as an alternate to the Jail Board, Samantha Muir to the Animal Advisory Committee [03:06:35] as the at-large pet owner, Rachel Payne, Joseph Diaz, Joseph Carter, and George Harbin to the Virginia Career Works Northern Virginia Region Board. I would also like to reappoint Joseph W. [03:06:52] McClellan and Michael Kitchen to the Advisory Plans Examiner Board, Stephen Davies, Roy Pavone, Michael Kitchen, John Hetzel, and Michael Sawyers to the Building Code Appeals Board, and Warren Beaton to the Sustainability Commission. [03:07:12] I am also going to have a directive following up on a discussion that we had regarding committees, you know, a board budget committee and an ad hoc committee. So without objection, I'd like to direct the county executive to draft a resolution For the board's consideration establishing a board budget and finance committee, and secondly, an ad hoc interjurisdictional committee with the cities of Manassas and Manassas Park. [03:07:46] The draft resolutions should address, among other things, the committee composition, scheduling of meetings, election of a committee chair and vice chair, and the staffing of committees. The county executive should coordinate with the county attorney's office to draft these items as necessary and coordinate with the chair to schedule the resolutions for the board's consideration at a future meeting. [03:08:08] So I still have two minutes left. I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. And that's all I have. You know, keeping it short in seat, we are now going to go into our closed session. Thank you. Thank you, everyone, for patiently waiting. [03:08:41] We are now on to item 11, to item 11A to certify our closed meeting. So moved, Madam Chair. All right. We have something to report out. I'm sorry, we have the vote. Okay. Vote unanimous. [03:09:03] All right. We have something to report out. Yes, Madam Chair. Madam Chair, I move the appointment of Jennifer Patterson for our library directorship, excuse me, position. Second. Discussion. All right. [03:09:26] Vote unanimous. All right. Thank you so very much. [03:09:42] I'd like to extend the congratulations. Actually, like Chris, I'm going to let Mr. Shorter do the honors. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. I really appreciate your endorsement of the recommendation from the team. [03:09:59] Ms. Patterson, I just want to welcome you to Prince William County. You have gone through a very extensive recruitment process. I want to thank Deputy County Executive Elijah Johnson for all the work he did to lead the recruitment process. I want to invite you to the podium to introduce yourself to the community. [03:10:19] And, again, welcome to Prince William County. Thank you. Well, my name is Jennifer Patterson, and I have served in libraries since, public libraries, since 2013. And I'd just like to thank you all for this opportunity to join this dynamic team. [03:10:40] And I look forward to serving the citizens of Prince William County. Thank you. Thank you. Again, we are very excited to have you joining us. Your credentials are impressive, and it was a great conversation in meeting you. [03:11:00] So with that, we are going to go into recess until our 7 o'clock meeting, which we will pick up with public hearings. So thank you. [03:11:24] We're in agenda item 12 public hearings. Now, and I'm going to do these separately. We have 12A and 12B. I am going to open the public hearing. [03:11:41] For agenda item 12A, do we have anyone? I know we're going to, I know we have presentations associated. I just want to see if we have anyone. But let's get started with our presentation. It's the applicant here. All right. [03:12:03] Jais, I made a mistake. I said we're opening the public hearing. So we are not opening. We are going to start with the presentations. So the public hearing is not open. We will start with presentations. [03:12:28] There we go. Thank you, Chair Jefferson, members of the board. My name is Sherry Akin. I'm a senior land use planner with the law firm of McGuire Woods, and it's a pleasure to be here this evening on behalf of Dominion Energy regarding its Dave Store substation. [03:12:46] With me tonight, I have several members of the Dominion team, and after the presentations, we'll be happy to answer any questions that you may have. Let me begin by first talking about the important need for Dave Store substation. It will serve as a key reliability improvement for the region, which will alleviate energy constraints in the Gainesville area, not only for all area customers, but also meet demand driven by data center load growth. [03:13:13] Dominion is required to evaluate its system on a routine basis to ensure compliance with NERC reliability standards, which are meant to keep the transmission grids running and meet future power needs. A critical need was identified in the Gainesville area and the proposed day store substation is part of a comprehensive project that's necessary to comply with the NERC reliability standards. [03:13:38] The project includes the day store substation as well as a future 230 KV line. It is important to note the transmission portion of the project is separate from why we're here tonight. There are state approvals for that and the CPCN was filed with the state corporation commission this past February. [03:13:57] We are here tonight for the Dave Store substation, which pursuant to the County Zoning Ordinance requires an SUP approval. It also required a public facility review because it is a public utility and we are pleased to be here with a recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission for that public facility review. [03:14:18] The site is in the Gainesville area where I-66 and Route 29 intersect. The proposed Dave Store substation is outlined in pink. In yellow is the existing Heathcote Transition Station. This overall site is a public utility property owned by Dominion, totaling about 10.8 acres. [03:14:39] The area for Dave's store, again in pink, comprises of about 5.86 acres or the remaining half of the site. And then as a bit of background, the existing Heathcote Transition Station was constructed several years ago as part of the underground transmission line project that comes from the Haymarket area. And as a transition station, it serves to do that, transition the underground lines to overhead. Dave's store will be more of a typical substation that serves the area energy needs. This slide also demonstrates why this is an appropriate property for the substation, [03:15:18] mainly because there will be minimal views of the substation from adjacent properties. As you can see, the overall site is surrounded basically on three sides by two major highways, i-66 and route 29 to the west and southwest is the future ntt data center site which is currently under construction for future data center development as you may know ntt is also processing it's a separate sup application for two substation on its property which you'll hear later tonight dave store will provide a transmission line connection to that property then to the south [03:15:57] and southeast is the virginia gateway shopping area views from this area are really non-existent because of the topography and elevation grades of the highway ramps then across route 66 is the heritage village area there is a small commercial area directly across from us and some vacant parcels that abut i-66 the closest residential property is about well over a thousand feet away so again with these vacant parcels in between the buffering and screening that currently exists with [03:16:33] the highway system as well as the screening which i'll talk about in a few minutes for the substation views from 66 and across 66 really will be minimal and then here's a closer look at the project site the dave store sp area is to the left shaded in gray the existing heathcote transition station is is immediately to the right. [03:16:58] The two stations will share a fence line. The existing underground transmission line that I mentioned is on the northern portion of the site. And for substations, the tallest equipment are the backbones. They have the most visibility. [03:17:15] And three are proposed at about 77 feet tall. The good news here is Dominion is placing these taller structures far away as it can from I-66. It's going to be set back even about a hundred feet further than existing heath coats so from the edge of pavement on eastbound 66 they're going to be about 400 feet from edge of pavement. The other equipment in the substation is generally lower up closest to 66 is the bus equipment that's going to be about in the 25 to 35 foot range which will be [03:17:53] mitigated by Dominion security fence as well as the landscape buffers there's also going to be a 230 GIS structure which will because it's a structure will appear more as a building as a proposed as opposed to substation equipment and then since this is already a site developed with public utility uses no new access is proposed we're going to be using the existing driveways that currently exists through the site as well as the driveway that leads to Dave store lane that you see in this pipe stem area also the stormwater management pond is sufficient [03:18:31] for dave store when it was originally constructed for heathcote they designed it to actually have future development in this area and then as far as landscaping we exceed zoning ordinance requirements you can see the required 15-foot buffers shown in this yellow green area around the perimeter of the site but we also have supplemental buffers proposed specifically we have the first one this triangular area shown in aqua it's about 135 feet in width and about 50 feet at its widest [03:19:10] point then we have another supplemental buffer provided along the western boundary that's about 25 feet in width so that coupled with the 15 foot required buffer is going to have about a 40 foot buffer along the western perimeter and then outside of our sup area we're also providing an off-site supplemental planting area right now vegetation is sparse along 66 and so we have in working with staff we did agree to plant some landscaping underneath these transmission lines [03:19:44] and then also right now we're also proposing to add additional trees and shrubs along the existing stormwater management pond so as far as zoning and screening and buffering requirements we meet and exceed those development standards then this next slide is important but i first want to point out that this is a concept plan that was originally shown a couple years ago to the county as part of the original data center development this plan has since been superseded as the data center developer [03:20:20] what is going through its site plan but I did want to show that even several years ago this site was always envisioned as a future data center which I've outlined in pink again then as part of our process we did provide some visual mitigations this view is looking eastward towards the substation there's before and proposed conditions the landscaping here is shown at about five foot I'm sorry five-year growth but then with each year this buffer will become more [03:20:56] substantial and then also keep in mind as I mentioned there's going to be the supplemental planting area and the perimeter planting behind this camera shot so even more mitigation will be provided outside of the property in general here's a bird's-eye view looking at future Dave store you have existing Heathcote and then the two substations on the NTT site which you'll hear about later this evening is also shown on this rendering and then here's another shot [03:21:33] looking westward so just to give you an overview of the timeline we have our board hearing tonight the SCC process for the transmission line is expected to conclude this fall we hope and anticipate SCC approval and about the november time frame but i do want to point out that the dave store substation will be needed regardless of the sec transmission line review so that it can serve the area as such we have filed [03:22:09] our site plan and so that dominion can begin construction hopefully in february of 2025 which then will meet energization deadlines of june 2026 and then just to reiterate this This proposal is consistent with the zoning ordinance and recommendations of the comprehensive plan. [03:22:31] Dominion is utilizing existing public utility property for Dave's store, which is appropriate and meets co-location goals. Because of its location along two major highways and future data center buildings, the site itself will have minimal views from adjacent properties, but it is appropriate location for the substation. [03:22:52] even with that the substation is well screened with the required and supplemental landscape buffers as and the site was designed to as a minimal impact as possible on adjacent properties with Dominion placing those taller backbone structures of far as far away from 66 as it could so we are pleased to be here with a positive staff report and a recommendation of approval from the Planning Commission and with that we'd be happy to answer any [03:23:21] questions all right does anyone I don't see you know here we go supervisor Bailey thank you madam chair good evening and welcome I want there was a slide if you could go back to where the the buffers were the trees I'll tell you where to start go back one more nope go forward go forward forward or go forward go [03:23:56] forward is it one that one that one yes yes that one um help me to understand that slide again please if you if you don't mind you said that and I didn't I kept I caught the tail end of it you were talking about more buffering to mitigate in that area yes so could you explain it again for me I'm going to go back to this so that rendering is taken from about this location on the site Yes. So we're looking right at this corner of the substation and the required 15-foot buffer. [03:24:30] Okay. So this is before existing conditions, and then this is the constructed substation with about a five-year growth of that 15-foot landscape buffer. Okay. But what I was saying is there's also going to be the perimeter 15-foot buffer behind that camera angle, as well as that quite substantial supplemental buffer that we're providing in this triangular area. [03:24:57] So views from 66 and across 66, it's vehicle's approach going eastbound. They're going to be further mitigated with these supplemental buffers that this camera shot doesn't capture. It's kind of behind us. [03:25:13] Okay, that's what I need to hear from you. Okay. All right, thank you. Sure. All right, I don't see anyone else, so thank you very much. We'll have staff come up. [03:25:35] good evening chair jefferson board members my name is alex venegas from the planning office and i'm assisting the case planner with this application it's a for a special use permit with substations they're allowed in most zoning designations with a special use permit and that's the case here the facility location or the sup location use is going to be within [03:26:15] this yellow line. Ingress and egress to it will be through access through Dave's store lane. To the southeast is where we have the Heathcote transition station, which the applicant mentioned earlier. And to the west is where later this evening we're going to discuss the NTT substations associated with the data centers for the NTT. [03:26:48] But this is primarily for Dominion Power at this time. It's also adjacent to the north. We have Interstate 66. We have Lee Highway, and then we have the John Marshall Highway 55 to the west. [03:27:08] Staff is recommending approval for this application. Oops, sorry about that. In the comprehensive plan, the long-range land use classification is I-4 that's compatible with this type of use. [03:27:25] The zoning is A-1, but as I said earlier, the A substations are allowed with a special use permit. We worked closely with the applicant. They did provide us some enhanced buffering, which we felt was important for this application. [03:27:43] So staff is recommending approval of the special use permit with conditions dated June 19th and the SUP plan dated May 3rd. The public facility review was approved by the Planning Commission on July 17th, as well as their recommendation for approval at the same Planning Commission meeting. [03:28:08] So staff feels like this aligns favorable with the county's objective to encourage profitable generating business expansion. It's consistent with the long-range land use as well as the existing strategic plan that the county has. [03:28:28] So with that, we'll gladly take any questions. All right, thank you so very much for your presentation. I'm just looking to see if anyone has any questions. It doesn't look like anyone has any questions. All right, thank you so very much, Mr. Venegas. [03:28:47] So, I am now going to open the public hearing on agenda item 12A, the special use permit for Dave's Dora substation. No one? So, we have no one in person. Do we have anyone online? So, we have no one in person, no one online. [03:29:03] So, I will close the public hearing on agenda item 12A. I'm looking at Mr. Supervisor Weir. Would you like to make the motion? Madam Chair, before I give you my decision on what I'm going to do with this, I think there needs to be a correction to the narrative. [03:29:30] This is not a reliability improvement. This is not an improvement for profit-generating business expansion. This is not an improvement for new development or redevelopment. The sole purpose of this substation is to power the 280-megawatt demand from the Village Place data center. [03:29:53] It is not for the businesses currently in the county. It is not for the residents. So let's call it what it is, substation to supply a data center. the cost of which will be borne by the residents of the county and the ratepayers across the commonwealth. Madam Chair, I've had a long time between meetings to think about this and other applications. Long-term impacts, what they mean for the county, what they mean for the residents, what they mean for development, and what they mean for additional costs, not only to the Gainesville [03:30:29] District residents, Prince William County residents in general, but the commonwealth as a whole. Most of you are aware that I'm a member of the IRP committee for Dominion, and the last thing they considered in the IRP was load demand, despite being badgered for months. And they still don't have a handle on it, or at least not one they're willing to publicly come out [03:31:01] with. Madam Chair, my position is kind of similar to that of a doctor. Do no harm. We're stuck with this. We're stuck with this because of decisions made in the past. And we're going to be stuck with similar decisions going forward. But I'm not making a motion one way or the other. Somebody else wants to do it, go ahead. But I'm not going to make the circumstances worse for the people in Gainesville. All right well I'm going to ask someone [03:31:41] else because I remember we had a conversation last time you felt as a supervisor record you wanted to have the opportunity so is there anyone who would like to make a motion to move this forward? Madam Chair I motion to approve. Second. All right discussion. Oh come on everyone at once [03:32:05] so I don't have anyone who is jumping into the queue so let's go ahead and take a vote. Motion passes six to two supervisors vega and we're voting nay all right thank you so very much we are now going to go on to agenda item 12b special use permit for ntt substations i would like to [03:32:42] ask the applicant to come up to present that's fine thank you good evening chair jefferson and members of the board brian prater with walsh collucci lubili and walsh here tonight on behalf the applicant ntt for a special use permit to allow for two substations on the property that you saw earlier here with me tonight is john foote also with welsh pelucci as well as our [03:33:17] civil engineer johnny limb and then we have several members from the ntt team john rodriguez paul mame and marlon hoffman here to hopefully answer any questions you have and this application received a recommendation of approval from staff as well as a recommendation of approval from the planning commission and like the application before you all it also received a favorable vote on the pfr public facilities review at the planning commission in july and this slide just shows the general area the application area that we're speaking about here is outlined in blue and it's [03:33:56] about 12.7 acres you just heard a lot about this area and are familiar with it so i will spare you the background of where it is and then just a little bit closer on the property itself and the adjacent property. I-66 Route 29 Technology Park was approved several years ago by the board and allowed for over two million square feet of data center construction. That site is approved and under development right now. NTT was not the applicant in that one and purchased it from the landowner and then has since filed this SUP that's before you all tonight for two data centers [03:34:33] adjacent to that or two substations adjacent to that data center campus. And there are two tiny parcels this little rectangle and triangle that weren't included in the original approval that NTT has since acquired and are part of this SUP proposal here tonight. The zoning for the majority of the property is B1, a large portion of which is subject to the I-66 Route 29 proffers, and then there's a small portion of A1. And then the comp plan is I-4 Heavy Industrial, which is the county's heaviest industrial designation in the long-range land use plan. And as staff notes in its staff [03:35:08] report substation is a compatible proposal within that i4 designation and this is a rendering of the site that we have used in some of the community meetings we had two community meetings one in october before the application was filed and then another another in june before the planning commission and shows you where the substations would be located on the larger data center campus so here is dave store lane here the dave store substation is just off screen to the right and these were located in this location for two reasons one proximity to the existing dominion infrastructure off screen here as well as this is the farthest place or the best location [03:35:48] on the site to locate it is far away from nearby residences and schools that are further towards haymarket to the north ntt is also developing this in a phased approach with this first building what's up and what you see on the campus there today and phasing it outwardly towards cat harpen road with the top building being the final building for construction and then this is just the sup plan associated with the application the two substations would be located in this main area here the primary access would come from dave store lane there's 50 foot landscape buffers along dave [03:36:23] store lane and then a portion of which continuing the buffer for the data center in this area and then storm water and that's really it as far as the sup proposal and with a recommendation from of approval from the Planning Commission and staff, we respectfully request the same recommendation from you all tonight, and I can answer any questions you may have. [03:36:46] Supervisor Ware. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Prater, what is the capacity of the two data centers, or excuse me, the two substations in terms of megawatts? It's 300 megawatts each. So 600 megawatts. Of that 600 megawatts, how many will be consumed by the NTT data center at full build-out? [03:37:06] NTT has requested in its letter 554 of those megawatts. So 40-some megawatts will be left? Correct. NTT is pursuing ways to be more efficient in their energy and the equipment to reduce that overall demand, but that is what the load letter allows for. [03:37:23] Will NTT be constructing the data center, or excuse me, the substations? I'm hooked on data centers. Will they be constructing the actual substations, and will that be left to Dominion? That will be left to Dominion. So, again, the cost will be borne by the ratepayers? Yes, Dominion does socialize their costs across all rate payers, which NTT is a large rate payer. [03:37:45] Socialized being another word for NTT not paying for the cost, but the rate payers across the commonwealth. Yes, and NTT pays as a data center. There's different shares of how the rates are paid, and they would be a highest class of paying towards that. [03:38:03] At a lower power rate per kilowatt because they get a discount deal, or they buy it from some other provider and don't pay Dominion at all? I do not know the answer to that question and can get it for you. Again, a rhetorical question. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right. Thank you so much. [03:38:18] We don't have any other, anyone else with questions? I will welcome staff to come to our presentation. [03:38:32] Good evening again. My name is Alex Venegas from the planning office, and this is a special use permit for NTT VA 10 substation. [03:38:52] The location of these two substations are proximal to the SUP that we just went through for Dominion. It's right along Dave Store Lane, and to the north is where the data centers are going to be built for NTT related to the I-66 Route 29 technology park. [03:39:18] Again, they did purchase these two properties associated. The original application for the I-66 technology part did not include these two parcels, but the current applicant for the SUP purchased them. [03:39:36] Staff is recommending approval. The long-range land use classification for this SUP area is I-4, industrial 4. It's our heaviest industrial use. And then the zoning associated with this SUP is mostly B1 with a small section that's actually A1. [03:40:02] Staff has recommended approval with subject to the conditions dated June 7th, and the SUP plan dated May 29th. And we will gladly take any questions from the DICE. [03:40:17] All right. no one's popping up on my screen any questions well thank you so very much mr venegas for your presentation all right we are going to move on to the public hearings for item 12b they are now open let me see if we have no in-person speakers anyone remote so we don't have anyone in person or anyone remote so i will be closing the public hearing on item 12b all right with that i'm sorry [03:40:57] all right so with that um i do see someone that's coming up supervisor gordy did you thank you madam chair um on this as there's in this corridor in this area we've got dave store which we just talked about um and then we have these two um which would relieve which would have some excess capacity um is anywhere in these proffers did you state uh is there a way to ensure [03:41:35] that any distribution that leaves this property to other sites in the area would go be undergrounded is that for the applicant or for yes for the app if you could just come back up for the applicant supervisor gory thank you um as far as distribution lines going to this data center campus they would be underground from the substation to the nct data center buildings we cannot speak to off-site distribution lines that are on separate property outside of the scope of the application but if [03:42:08] If it's leaving through the property, to what extent, let me ask you, has there been any discussion of providing the excess capacity to any other data center in the area? [03:42:29] I cannot answer that question. That would have to be a question for Dominion. There's Dominion here. I saw Steve back there. Good evening, Supervisor Steve Precker with Dominion Energy Electric Transmission Communications. [03:42:47] To my knowledge, we don't have any commitments to provide it to other data centers. However, that's not to say that we wouldn't with excess capacity. I just don't have that information available as to what we would be providing tonight beyond what's being built for NTT. [03:43:08] Steve, can you speak to the transmission coming into this site? Where is it coming from? Sure. So there will be a transmission line connection between the Dave Store substation into the NTT campus, as well as the transmission line connection from Dave Store heading east over towards the Gainesville substation, Novex Atlantic substation. [03:43:34] So that's the one that's the old ARC site. Exactly, past Jiffy Lube Live. So help me understand that, because when you and I first met on that to discuss the ARC site, the power is coming from Dave's store to that site to support the substations that are over there, that will be over there. [03:43:56] But you're saying now the power will loop back to this site? It's a double circuit, so it's an interconnected grid, the transmission grid. So the transmission lines connect and power flows in all directions. So there will be connections to the substations over there on that ARC site, as well as from Dave's store to the NTT campus. [03:44:21] So the Dave's store transmission line portion of the project does connect to multiple sites. And there's been no commitment to underground that route? For the transmission lines, we've proposed overhead routes. And as my colleague Sherry had said previously, it is under review by the State Corporation Commission. [03:44:42] Okay. Thanks, Steve. Thank you. Supervisor Weir. Mr. Precker, to be clear, the transmission line servicing the Dave's store application is the underground hybrid line, correct? [03:44:57] And these will be powered by a different line? There is no proposed underground transmission for the Dave's store. It's not deriving power from the Amazon, the hybrid line? It was approved several years ago? [03:45:14] No, there are no underground transmission lines being proposed for the Dave Store project. Which transmission line is Dave Store getting its capacity from? So that's what we're constructing. It would be a new 230 kV double circuit transmission line that connects from Dave Store, runs east. [03:45:34] I call it the Wellington Road corridor, although it's north of Wellington Road, just south of I-66 in the industrial. I'm hoping you'll understand my differentiation here. You've got the Dave Store application. It was just approved. Now you've got two NTT substations. [03:45:52] Yep. Are they both going to be on the same transmission line? So there's a transmission line running east from Dave Store and then a transmission line running, I guess, in a west direction that connects to the NTT site. [03:46:08] So if you can picture the Dave Store substation is in between those two transmission lines. it's connected to the new transmission line only, the Dave Store and the NTT? That's right. That is significantly different than the discussion we had in my office not two or three weeks ago. [03:46:25] How is that different? I asked explicitly where the power for the Dave Store line that was just our Dave Store substation that we just disposed of was coming from and I was told it was coming from the hybrid line and that these and three other substations along the Wellington corridor would be powered by the new transmission line. And at the time... [03:46:46] You said, essentially, what we told you last year no longer applies because things change. Have things changed in the last three or four weeks? So it hasn't changed, Supervisor. Again, the transmission, the power flows in all directions. And since it's an interconnected grid, sure, some of the power capacity comes from the Haymarket line. [03:47:08] But it will also draw power from the new transmission line as well, just simply by being connected to the network. Make it as simple as possible. Will the Dave Store substation be connected to both or one of the transmission lines directly? [03:47:36] So directly, it will be connected to, again, I can't say, it's connected to the network. So again, it's all... I understand the network. I also understand network connections. Which line will it be tied to? [03:47:52] I can't say a specific line supervisor. Again, the power will flow into the substation because it's part of a networked asset. So the power from the hybrid line does flow into Dave's store substation through Heathcote, but it will also derive its power from the new transmission line that we're building. [03:48:17] If I understood your counsel correctly in the last application, there was an SEC application for the underground portion to serve the Dave's store line, and I'm assuming there is a separate SCC application to cover the line that's going down Wellington. That's part of the SCC application, the line that's going down Wellington, correct. [03:48:36] Would you also not need a SCC approval to put a transmission line from the Dave store to the end user on the other side of 55? Because I believe that's what your counsel was getting at. [03:48:55] You'd have to be more specific, the end user on the other side of 55. Village Place. So to power Village Place, which is part of the discussion that we had in your office, those would be, my understanding, distribution lines coming from Dave's store into Village Place. [03:49:13] On an underground line? I would presume it would be underground since the distribution lines are undergrounded in this area. And as I recall, the discussion was you weren't sure whether it was going to be a transmission line or distribution line, which is why there's ducting for both? [03:49:32] I don't recall ever having a discussion that a transmission line would be needed. I think at this time, what our understanding is, is that the village place development would be served with distribution capacity coming from the Dave store station. [03:49:48] It's going to require multiple distribution lines at 240 megawatts of demand, if I recall correctly what that was. But the story, what I'm getting at is the story is now changing yet again. Well, I raised this issue in the meeting, but you guys have very little credibility because your story changes every time we meet with you. [03:50:09] With respect, Supervisor, I'm not sure how the story is changing. Well, when we spoke of the NTT project, there were five total substations, including the two at NTT and then three further down Wellington. If you're now going to throw Dave's store in, you're now at six. How are you going to meet the 300 megawatt rule with six substations on a 235 kV line? [03:50:28] So the substations that we're proposing to build, Dave's store, and then certainly Atlas and Gemini, and then the other substations in the area are designed to meet the load that's been requested of us. [03:50:48] I'm not going to beat the dead horse anymore. Thank you, Madam Chair. I was going to see if you won your other five minutes. Is there anyone else? Any other questions for the applicant? All right, then. Thank you so very much. The next thing is to get a motion on this for 12B. [03:51:10] I assume Supervisor Weir is done. Madam Chair, I'm going to simply reiterate that my prior comments apply to this one as well. The only difference being that this also requires a new transmission line that has as yet unknown impacts. Anybody who's been in the western part of the county long enough understands how the SEC works and how proposed transmission line routes often are not what we actually end up with. [03:51:34] We're a long way from being there. Yet again, 600 megawatts of power that's not for reliability, not for new business, and an ever-changing story as to the source and routing of the power. I'm done. I can't support it, and I won't move it forward. [03:51:58] We have Supervisor Vega, but I would actually like to get a motion so we can have all discussion inside the motion. I think that's a cleaner way of doing things. So before I call you, Supervisor Vega, does anyone want to make the motion? motion to approve second all right discussion supervisor vega thank you madam chair just real quick is this in the overlay or just outside of the overlay alex supervisor vega it's in the overlay it's in the overlay district no it's not i'm sorry it's not in the overlay it's not in the [03:52:31] overlay that's why it needs a special use permit thank you all right thank you so very much any other questions from the jas anyone all right then let's take our vote motion passes five to three. Supervisors Vega, Weir, and Gordy voting nay. All right. Thank you so very much. We are now moving to agenda item 13, which is public comment time. I want to see if we have anyone signed up [03:53:09] in person or online. While the clerk is getting that, I just want to remind people that I will call you up in groups of five. Individuals have three minutes to speak on any topic before the [03:53:27] board, and we ask that you state your name and the magisterial district where you reside. All right thank you so very much so um the first person we have is bill mccarty thank you chairman and supervisors i'm here in my capacity as a president of prince william trails and streams [03:54:06] coalition we're a non-profit group you probably i'm sorry if you could speak up a little bit more into the mic can you hear me say your name and where you generally reside thank you sure bill McCarty. I'm on Cheval Drive in Manassas, 9705. But I'm here as president of the Prince William Trails and Streams Coalition. We're a nonprofit. We're a bunch of aging do-gooders. We go out [03:54:38] into the county. We do a cleanup of Maramsko Creek, Neabsko Creek. We have run programs for National Trails Day. We also run the county's Adopt-a-Trail program. Probably not aware, but we have every trail in the county adopted by either a family, a company, some sort of organization, and a lot of scouting troops. And they have to go out twice a year. They go out and [03:55:11] clean up, do maintenance on these trails, provide us with a report. And after they've done that twice, we actually put up a sign, and we pay for that sign. So I'm here not asking for anything other than your support for the Occoquan cleanup, which is our 15th annual Occoquan cleanup, where we have organizations and folks from all over the county accessing the Occoquan from [03:55:42] Bradley Forest Recreation Area, Lake Jackson, Riverview Estates, Occoquan Forest, Cannon Bluff, Lake Ridge marina and who's run the county has provided dumpsters in the past and so I believe I've gotten approval from through the Parks Department for a dumpster and typically that's at Riverview Estates so we thank [03:56:13] you for that but we provide oversight and managerial capacity for 750 people hours per year for all these cleanups at no cost to the county. And all we ask is for your support. I've got some actual river cleanup flyers for each of you. And if you could do whatever you can to help us out for this. We also have penguin paddlers providing free kayaks for different [03:56:48] locations so there's no reason to get out there and to clean up and obviously the occoquan is our our main water water artery that runs through the county so with that thank you very much thank you i'll drop these off up front thank you and i am sorry also alice um aglia i'm sorry murkler i apologize but you do have beautiful penmanship can you hear me if you can you do [03:57:27] need help, assistant? All right, got it. Thank you. Thank you. I know I've been before you several other, wearing several other hats, but long before data centers, long before a telephone on every, in every pocket, we were singing and dancing and creating poetry, and we are the Arts [03:57:59] Council, which each one of you sends an appointee to. They come to our meetings. We ask them to listen carefully and then bring back to you the activities of the Arts Council. Unlike some of the organizations in the county, we also include the City of Manassas and lately, now especially [03:58:31] knew the city of Manassas Park, and all of us are now announcing to you, and I left the brochures up front, but one of the great activities of the year is our annual Arts Alive. Arts Alive, this year we have 27 productions on nine different stages. We have 33 vendors with [03:59:04] um all all kinds of um arts um again performances this is held at the hilton center um i just came out of our eighth meeting getting it together this summer and we'd sure like to have a supervisor or two there i know the park authority can't be there who we are listed under because the park Authority has a meeting out of town, but I hope that you would be able to be there. It's from [03:59:44] noon to five on Saturday this year, the first time we've done it on Saturday in quite a while. We would love to have you there, and I'd like to finish by thanking you for selecting an appointee and for being so gracious to let us be part of your supervising and helping to make the county one of the best arts counties in this Virginia state we all enjoy. [04:00:19] I know that from a lot of things that run through my capacity as the Arts Council Chair. We get complimented all the time. but this annual event arts alive at the hilton center we hope you can be there and if you can't please have an appointee there and thank you for helping share the arts in this great county thank you very much and thank you ma'am for coming out today and speaking to us reminding us about that event so as we come to close out this meeting i just want to let everyone know that we have a [04:00:56] meeting next week on tuesday september 10th at two o'clock it is a work session with that i'd like to entertain a motion to adjourn the meeting so move manager second that's okay we we were a little [04:01:12] slow today with the motion i just motion passes seven to one and supervisor franklin on the record [04:01:44] needs hobbies thank you i'm sorry i'm joking joking i'm saying it was great to see everyone - You know what? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Coraggio Consulting ยท aguyonx.com