Coraggio Consulting
Prince William Board of County Supervisors Meeting, Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Date: Tuesday, February 4, 2025
Place: Prince William County Board of County Supervisors, Virginia
Length: 2h 40m (video)
Official meeting video (Prince William County, Granicus): https://pwcgov.granicus.com/player/clip/3599
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 2026-10-30. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:00:00] We wanna create communities where anyone can live. If they wanna live in a particular community, they should be able to find some place that's affordable to them. And so affordable housing and providing more affordable housing, as part of the development that's coming to the county is really, really important for that purpose.

[00:00:17] We are already, actually, let me take a step back. So when I started working for the county almost a year ago, I actually used to live in Prince William County a number of years ago, several years before I started working here in the county. And, you know, at that time, Prince William County had a reputation of being, you know, relative to, you know, across the D.C. region, one of the more affordable places where you can find a home.

[00:00:43] But when I started my job almost a year ago, one of the things that I heard right away was Prince William County is becoming too expensive. that there are residents or employees who work here who are moving to Stafford County or other counties because they can't afford to find a place or they can't find a place here that they can afford. And so that was actually really surprising to me that Prince William County was now facing those same type of pressures. And so that really highlighted the importance of making sure that this county can have more units, more homes, more apartments, what have you, whatever type of home

[00:01:21] resident wants that they can find a place that they can't afford so that they can stay here rather than having to move outside of the county in order to find a place within their budget and joni can you tell us a little bit more about what your department does and how people can find out about the services that you offer i can tell you a lot about our department what we do how much time do i have um we have a very robust housing program we have an amazing staff we offer not only

[00:01:56] housing assistance but other affordable housing options we have our largest federal program that is funded is our housing choice voucher program you may have heard of it as section eight so we have a lot of vouchers we have a lot of voucher programs that we use special vouchers that serve all of our programs serve our very low low and moderate income households in our community Our special vouchers assist elderly, disabled, our veterans.

[00:02:33] So we work really hard to try to meet the needs of all the people in the community. We also have state vouchers. Our state vouchers are also for a special population, and they allow us to have both tenant-based and project-based housing for persons in the community.

[00:02:51] We also administer through Northern Virginia Regional Commission our voucher program for persons with AIDS. so that we are meeting the housing needs of all the people that we possibly can. We also, in our community development department, we administer a program, very robust also, is our neighborhood housing rehabilitation program, where that helps us to help people to stay in their homes.

[00:03:23] Our average rehabilitation project is $122,000. It promotes health, safety. It also assists with ADA modifications, energy efficiency, so that people that are of low and moderate income that cannot afford to make those rehabilitation items on their home can through our programs.

[00:03:48] It's for owner-occupied. We also assist our first-time homebuyers. This is a program very dear to my heart. We assist down payment and closing for low and moderate income families. Our average assistance is $104,000 per household to help build these communities and have that affordable housing and that stability for families.

[00:04:20] We were very fortunate. I know I asked for more money, and I actually got more money this year. For our Virginia, we are allocated funding through the Virginia Housing Authority, and that money helps with lower interest rates for first trust financing.

[00:04:40] We were allocated $6 million in 2024. We spent the $6 million. We asked for $8 million in 2025. We have just about spent all of that, and they gave us another million. So we have $9 million that we're using. All right.

[00:04:58] What are your biggest priorities, and does that include asking for more money? Yes, it does. Well, I'm really excited about the Affordable Dwelling Unit Division this year. We've been working housing development services, planning.

[00:05:14] It's been a real ride. And to the board for having the insight, I said, you know, people are saying, we need this, we need this. And I'm like, look, this is the first time in how many years we've been talking about it. We've got something tangible on paper.

[00:05:32] We've started with something. So that's really exciting. And that the board has allocated money for the trust fund. So my division, we are opening the new division, the Affordable Dwelling Unit, been talking with developers and other people in the industry to try to gain that knowledge and do it the right way.

[00:05:55] I know that the board is taking their time. It's important. We want to get it right the first time. We want to make it work for the community. We want to make it work for all the people that we serve. So I appreciate that. And we're getting there. We're going to get there.

[00:06:11] We're almost there. And the fact that they have funded the housing trust fund so that we'd be able to help developers with gap financing for these developments so that they can create more affordable units so that I have one of my fans in here I talk about so that there's housing for all.

[00:06:34] That's what we're working towards. So we are in the process of hiring staff, doing a lot of research to make sure that we get it right and serve the community. So I really thank you guys a lot. All right, planning.

[00:06:54] What are your plans for 2025? Sure. We always have lots of plans. So, you know, certainly one of our biggest projects is one that I just mentioned. We're looking forward to bringing to the board initiation of the comprehensive zoning ordinance update.

[00:07:11] that's going to be a major major project and we definitely plan to engage the community as well throughout the project so definitely stay tuned for that we also have a number of other initiatives and projects underway a couple that started in last year that are continuing one is the thoroughfare historic overlay district initiative to create a new historic district for the historically African American and Native American thoroughfare community. We are also currently working on an update to the build-out analysis, which we hope to complete this spring. And as part of that,

[00:07:48] instead of producing, you know, an updated report in sort of a PDF format that we've done in the past, we are actually creating an online version that will be interactive and that will be updated more frequently. We are also working on a sustainability and resilience integration into the comprehensive plan. That will be a comprehensive plan amendment, but it will actually be a very significant initiative that will help to integrate the county's community energy and sustainability master plan, but also as a way for us to have better guidance so that

[00:08:25] we can have more sustainable and more resilient development in the future. And we also are working on sort of some internal efforts as well really doing a comprehensive look at the entire land use entitlement process we actually started that last year and we've already started to make some changes both internally as well as working with with applicants something that we actually sort of created as a new expectation last year is an expectation for all land use applicants for rezoning special use permits to conduct community engagement before coming to a public hearing

[00:09:03] that was something that wasn't really being done consistently across all applicants so we set out that application that expectation last year and just a few days ago we just released some guidelines on community engagement to really help advise applicants on how they could do that engagement this is really intended to make sure you know when land use cases come to a public hearing at the planning commission that should not be the first time a community member has heard about that project or the first time that they should have the opportunity to weigh in on that project so that is something that we're continuing to work with applicants uh to make sure that the

[00:09:40] community could be more engaged and you know have those conversations directly with applicants so that by the time we bring something to public hearing it will reflect that feedback and we can hopefully get you know better projects out of that so that's just kind of a flavor of some of the things that we're working on this year all right thank you ladies so very much thank you all right guys I hope this was worth it I know where I've been really trying to keep track of time because again I value your time and I thank everyone for coming out today for me this is vitally important

[00:10:14] it's vitally important to connect with the community community engagement I've got to say local government is so critically important because we are the ones who are most intimately touching your lives the property taxes you pay how much money is going to your school whether potholes are getting fixed. That's local government. And I want to make sure that everyone here knows that you have a direct line to local government, that your concerns are something that we want to address. So please continue to engage with each of us, you know, engage with your school

[00:10:51] board members for issues related to our schools. Engage with the board of county supervisors for issues within your community. So again, thank you all for coming and joining for the inaugural synagogue event. This is something that I hope to repeat. You know, I hope that we, you know, take tonight's, you know, feedback from tonight and that we continue to grow. But I really have some people I absolutely have to thank for helping put this together because this took a lot of time and it took a lot of effort. I want to begin with county staff with Nikki Brown, communications

[00:11:22] director. If you can come up here, Nikki. I don't know where she hid. We have, she'll be up here. shane sears all right we have mina um hababi all right come on up i don't know where the rest of your compatriots are they're hiding some of them are up there i know they're still working hunter

[00:11:57] ekvall all right ayaz amjed and i want to have members of my staff come up my sorry my chief of staff virginia douglas my senior legislative aide allison greenday my communications director is not

[00:12:29] present but i'll name him eric parker i have my executive assistant david kennedy and langston Carter, who grew up in this community and handles community engagement. I want to thank each of you for all of the hours and the work that you put in to making this run as smoothly as you can.

[00:12:55] I hope I didn't disappoint you too much. But I also want to give another round to all of our panelists, everyone who participated today. If you could all stand up. And thank you again to my colleagues on the Board of County Supervisors. Thank you to my colleagues on the school board.

[00:13:16] And thank you, you know, Superintendent McDade, Mr. Shorter, for all that you do. So thank you all very much. I hope everyone had fun. Let's do this again next year. Thank you.

[00:14:03] Contracting, I've done it for more than 20 years. And that gives me an insight to what government contractors need. Getting them either their place that they're looking for or the location that they're needing or the proximity to being outside of the D.C. market or right next to the base.

[00:14:21] Whatever their needs are, I like to be able to help them with that. The federal government contracts with a number of different organizations for everything that they use. From cloud storage, to boots, to equipment, to services, to professional services, IT services, everything.

[00:14:40] Northern Virginia is a hotbed for government contractors. The best thing about being in Prince William County is that we are right there in that Northern Virginia region. And you are so close, 30 miles outside of the D.C. marketplace. And Quantico is right here in our county.

[00:14:58] And we love it because we have 44,000 veterans here in our county. That's a huge population of people who know federal contracting. What Prince William offers to a government contractor is that proximity.

[00:15:14] Plus, we have the workforce. The workforce to support whatever needs it is that you have. What Prince William also offers is that low cost of entry. I'm looking forward to continuing to build this community with government contractors, because that means our government's not only getting served better, our military's getting served better, but that means more thriving businesses here, right in Prince William County.

[00:15:40] And that's the part that I love.

[00:15:54] As you've driven around the Ocasional District lately, you might have noticed some replantings in key parts of our district. This is part of our new roadside beautification project

[00:16:31] that we approved last year as part of the budget and is being spearheaded by the Department of Public Works here in Prince William County. You know, we've looked at this for a very few different reasons, one of which, and the most important one, is because of your feedback. This is not only just a beautification and aesthetic thing, this is also traffic safety that I know is near and dear to my heart and all of yours as well.

[00:16:52] A lot of this overgrown brush in the past has created sightline problems for motorists that have been driving, pedestrians have been, they've been crossing roadways, and so we've been really digging in and putting in plants that are not only easy to maintain and natives, but have a certain height to them so they can clear out those sight lines while creating a much more beautiful project out here.

[00:17:11] This has been for both visitors and those of you that live in the community already, but also for businesses and folks that are seeing the county for the first time. Because guess what, here in the Occoquan Disc, we have two of the most important gateways in the county. Here on 123 and Gordon Boulevard and down at Prince William Parkway in 95.

[00:17:29] We know that the first impression people get of our county is what they see when they drive through. So we like to have beautiful plants, green spaces, things like that. So that's the first impression you get when you visit our community. Again, thank you for your advocacy. This could not be done without you.

[00:17:44] And thank you so much to our Public Works Department for this beautification program.

[00:22:04] All right.

[00:24:54] Good afternoon, everyone. Good afternoon. Thank you so much. Welcome to our Tuesday, February 4th meeting. I actually want to begin with a moment of silence, particularly in honor of what happened last night. I mean, last week with American Airlines and the Army helicopter. That is a tragic loss, and it hits so close to home.

[00:25:12] So a moment of silence, please. Thank you. Please rise, if you are able, for the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:25:32] And to the Republic for which it stands, by nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. All right.

[00:25:48] Thank you so very much. Next, we are on to agenda item number three, approval of the minutes. Can I get a motion? So moved, Madam Chair. Second. All right. It's been moved and seconded. Any discussion? I think not. So let's go ahead. vote unanimous all right we are now on to agenda item number four proclamations and accommodations we have one item and that's to proclaim february 2025 is black history month

[00:26:26] can i get a motion so move manager second all right it's been moved and seconded any discussion all right if not let's take a vote vote unanimous all right if miss carletta sims and sharon

[00:26:45] richardson if you can meet me at the podium all right thank you so very much and this is item 4a to proclaim February 2025 as Black History Month in Prince William County.

[00:27:14] February is nationally recognized as Black History Month when the nation is encouraged to celebrate the history, heritage, and accomplishments of Black Americans' past and present. The observance of Black History Month calls our attention to the continued need for education regarding the Black experience in our county and the Commonwealth at large.

[00:27:34] Prince William County has long been enriched by the many Black residents who have lived and worked to make our county what it is today. And I would also like to note, because this shows how far our county has come, that a majority of our elected officials on this board and our Richmond delegation are African-American.

[00:27:51] So with this in mind, Prince William County, the Prince William County Board of, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors hereby proclaims February 2025 is Black History Month and hereby encourages citizen participation in the activities recognizing the past and present accomplishments, history, and heritage of African-Americans.

[00:28:10] Podium's now yours. Thank you, Madam. Thank you, Madam Chair, and the Board of County Supervisors. Thank you for having us here today. Since 1990, Prince William County government has celebrated Black History Month through the creation of events and activities that celebrate the diversity of this county and of the United States.

[00:28:34] And each year, the county's observance takes for its national, takes for its theme, the national theme of the Association of the Study of African American Life and History. This organization founded Black History Month, and it takes as its mission to promote and preserve and disseminate information about the history and culture of African Americans and their experiences to the global community.

[00:28:59] This year's theme is African Americans in Labor, and this theme focuses on the various and profound ways that work and working of all kinds, including free and unfree, skilled and unskilled, voluntary and vocational, intersect with the collective experiences of black people.

[00:29:19] And it seeks to highlight the fact that work is at the very center of the Black experience and Black history and culture. And be it agricultural labor of enslaved Africans, debates among Black educators on the importance of vocational training, self-help strategies and entrepreneurship in Black communities, or the role of organized labor in fighting both economic and social injustice, black people's work has been transformational throughout the United States, Africa, and the

[00:29:53] diaspora. And this theme just seeks to highlight the potent impact of work. So this year, the Black History Committee, in observance of Black History Month, will host a program next Thursday, 13th of February, from 11 until noon at the Hilton Performing Arts Center. And on behalf of the committee, I invite all of you to participate and to join us at that celebration. It is the mission of the Prince William County Black History Committee to celebrate the diversity

[00:30:33] of the county by creating opportunities for us to understand one another and for us to collaborate together. And the committee thanks the Board of County Supervisors and the county government for your support and participation in this endeavor and in our mission thank you very

[00:30:52] much all right before we go on to our consent agenda i know some folks got some statements

[00:32:07] thank you madam chair before the board considers and votes on the consent agenda and public hearing items i have i need to declare a personal interest in the following agenda items 5b which transfers budgets and appropriates funds of the schools 7b and 7c which modify the school crossing zone posted speed limit at various schools and 7n which is an sup for a telecommunications facility at a school 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 these matters i will be participating in them because i am able to do

[00:32:43] fairly objectively in the public interest thank you madam chair madam chair before the board considers and votes on consent agenda and public hearing items i need to declare a personal interest in the following agenda items 5b which transfers budgets and appropriates funds to the schools 7b and 7c which modify the school crossing zone post its speed limit at various schools and 7 november which is a sup for telecommunications facility at a school 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 these matters i will will be participating in them because i am

[00:33:22] able to do so fairly objectively and in the public interest thank you all right thank you guys so very much now with that does anyone have anything that they want to pull from the consent agenda madam chair supervisor vega thank you 5b 5b all right we're gonna separate out 5b anyone else all right so if i can get um a motion for 5a so move madam chair second all right any discussion

[00:33:58] around 5a all right i see supervisor gordy thank you madam chair um as i was reviewing this um i was uh i saw where part of the funding goes to what is called a polystyrene campaign um and so i was trying to understand what that was all about um and i've uh went to the keep prince william beautiful's website to try to understand you know what what's going on with the polystyrene because if you go to Balls Fort or any other sites, you cannot recycle styrofoam.

[00:34:33] You've got to throw it away and throw it in the trash. So I was really trying to understand that. And working with my staffs reaching out to keep Prince William beautiful and then also with reaching out to the Department of Public Works to try to understand where this money is going, what is it accomplishing, what is it trying to do because I had never heard of this program before.

[00:34:57] And so my understanding is that it is for communications to restaurants to no longer use styrofoam in their cups, in their storage, you know, takeaway boxes and things like that.

[00:35:14] Unfortunately, the large, just I would say the large amount of polystyrene that we face in this county probably comes more from packaging in boxes of things that are being shipped to us. And so while I appreciate all that effort, the effort on the part of DEQ and the Keep Prince William Beautiful, I know personally for someone who gets packages at home, whether you buy a printer, you buy a piece of furniture, you buy a lamp, any of those things, it's mostly styrofoam inside those boxes.

[00:35:49] So I'd be interested in seeing at some point how we can better address the concerns related to the polystyrene that is still being brought into the county, because a lot of this is beyond our control. But again, I appreciate the work that's been doing and appreciate everyone being responsive to my office's questions.

[00:36:09] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you. I don't see any other speakers, so let's go ahead and take a vote. Vote unanimous. Supervisor Weir abstaining from vote.

[00:36:26] All right. Thank you so very much. I know that you want to pull off 5b did you have any questions for school because we do I believe we might have someone from schools yeah if somebody from the school division is here as they make their way up I want to thank the county executive and Dave Sinclair for their hard work and ensuring that I had all of my questions answered prior to today as that is going to greatly reduce the number of questions that I have so I only have one question and just it's out of curiosity and for me to better understand your process and how you all allocate funds. So the question is, why do you wait so close? Because I asked for information

[00:37:06] and we got a certain amount of unencumbered funds back in December. We're closing in on budget season and these items were not encumbered until recently. So is there a reason? Is that normal practice for you all? Good afternoon, Ms. Chairman and the Board of County Supervisors.

[00:37:27] So we typically wait for the completion of our audit, external audit for FY24. And this year we were substantially complete in November. So December was the first opportunity we had to bring because that's when we finalize our numbers.

[00:37:49] And we work very closely with the county finance department to make sure that, you know, if there are any adjustments that they have on our books. so there's a lot of coordination that goes on with that okay that's the only question I had thank you supervisor weird did you have a question I have a question just a comment and if you have a I want to I would like to have all discussions within the motion so if you don't have a question then let's go ahead and have a motion so move madam chair second all right discussion now now you're

[00:38:26] on I'm gonna continue to make this comment every time it comes up we fully funded the school division beginning of the year to their budget request and to our capability and this is yet another indictment of why the revenue sharing agreement doesn't work we don't know where the money's going we don't know what it's being used for it's outside of the budget cycle and we're just shirking our fiscal responsibility and fiduciary duty to manage the monies of this county in my view and at some point in time we're going to have to address proper school funding what they need, what needs to be done, but it needs to be transparent, open, and we have to

[00:39:02] have a discussion about it rather than simply writing a blank check and saying, here you go, come back next year. All right, I don't have anyone else. I am just going to say a few words. I know that categorical spending, some counties use that, maybe perhaps more than that. A lot of us do revenue sharing. My concern is even with that, I don't think we're going to have the accountability or that, you know, that we're seeking or that, you know, perhaps, you know, you think we should have. For me, schools is the most important investment we make besides public safety. I want to make sure that our schools are funded. I want them to get even more money than

[00:39:41] what they're asking for because I see revenue sharing as the floor and not the ceiling. And I'm just simply saying that because, you know, schools are what make people want to live here. That's what makes businesses want to come here. I would suggest we go in the back and duke it out, but you are stronger than me, Supervisor Weir. So I'm just going to limit to my comments on the dais with that if there's no one else let's take a vote motion passes six to one supervisor vega

[00:40:14] voting nay and supervisor we're abstaining from both all right we are now on to agenda item number six that is public comment time so when you hear your name come on down or go actually really just go to the mic um i'm going to call people in groups of five which is great because we only have five people signed up in person please state your name and the magisterial district and where you reside. You don't need to give me an address. I see that you put yours down, Randy, so if you see me coming to dinner, that's why. I know where you live. So first up, I have Martin Jeter, then Randy

[00:40:46] Freed, Chris Griffin, Russell Bryant, and Charles Grimes. I called you, Charles. The overhead, please.

[00:41:10] Good afternoon, Chair Jefferson, members of the board. My name is Martin Jeter. I live in the Occoquan District, and I'm here today with my Sustainability Commission hat on. I'm the chair of the Sustainability Commission. Vice Chair Randy Freed is here today to talk to you right after me.

[00:41:34] We're here in our established role to advise the board on the implementation and improvement of the Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan. So I copied you earlier on an email to my friend Kay Wallace and her team that are working on the new strategic plan.

[00:41:50] The Sustainability Commission also sent you a resolution last October that detailed the issue I'm here to talk to you about today. I'm feeling familiar with the strategic plan development process since I was on the committee that formulated the current strategic plan for the county four years ago. So that was a great experience working with Kay and the team, and it was very collaborative and very productive.

[00:42:10] Kay did a great job of herding us cats and keeping us all going in the right direction for months and months. I think the team's doing a great job. I really like what they've done with the strategic plan so far, particularly in the smart growth and the environment goal areas. These were my major areas of interest the last time.

[00:42:26] The minimum natural open space guidelines and preservation of natural areas in the smart growth goal area are particularly important. There is, however, one key goal that I would add, and that is to follow the Metropolitan Washington Council of Government's recommendation that 75% of new development be less than a half mile from activity centers that are near high-capacity transit.

[00:42:47] And that's what you see on your screen here. This is a snapshot of Prince William County's activity centers. This would position us to incentivize and promote high-capacity transit, such as expanded and improved VRE and metro service in the county. The high-capacity transit language is key.

[00:43:03] This means future or current planned availability of Metro, VRE, et cetera. These are the people movers that really make a difference in us achieving our goals. The 75% of all new development within a half mile of high-capacity transit may be a stretch goal. We may not quite get there, but I think it's something we really have to work towards.

[00:43:23] Transportation is the number two contributor at the data centers for greenhouse gas emissions in the county, and it's the one that the board has control over. The key to achieving our greenhouse gas goals that you all said a few years ago, I should say this is key to achieving your goals that you adopted with the CESMP.

[00:43:41] It's also a key to our sustainability moving into the future. If we're going to get vehicles off the road to reduce congestion and the constant need for more lane miles of road, transit's going to have to be a big part of that. If we don't plan ahead for transit, we'll never achieve it. Following the same old paradigm over the last 50 years just isn't going to work to get us there.

[00:43:59] So please work with staff in the community to make sure this foundational goal is in our strategic plan and aligned with our comprehensive plan, DCSM, and zoning ordinance. Thanks for listening. Have a great meeting. Thank you. Next speaker. Good afternoon. I'm Randy Freed. I live in the Occoquan District. You have my address and you're welcome to come by anytime. I'm going to need extra for my son. Okay. If you've been paying attention to the news lately, you'll have seen plenty of signs that the climate crisis is getting worse. There are wildfires in California,

[00:44:37] hurricanes in western North Carolina, and apocalyptic droughts and floods all over the place. Still, according to climate scientists, we ain't seen nothing yet. The news also tells us that if we're waiting for Uncle Sam or Richmond to save us, we're going to be waiting for a long time. Federal climate programs are being gutted. Today is crossover day in the GA, and the few clean energy bills that have survived so far have poor odds of escaping the governor's veto pen.

[00:45:08] So it's a good thing that back in 2020, the BOCS committed to do our part by setting climate mitigation and climate resilience goals. And then in 2023, you approved the Community Energy and Sustainability Master Plan with 25 specific actions.

[00:45:25] As Martin mentioned, I had the privilege of chairing the Sustainability Commission for its first three years, and I had the honor of nominating Martin to succeed me as chair in our meeting last month. I'm now serving as vice chair, and I'm here to reinforce the message you just heard from Martin. Carbon emissions from cars and trucks are our second biggest source in the county.

[00:45:47] If we're going to reduce those emissions, we need smart growth. As you make decisions on future residential development, the Sustainability Commission is asking that you embrace the recommendation of COG and concentrate that development near existing or planned high-capacity transit.

[00:46:06] The Commission's most recent resolution explains why and how to do this. While I'm at it, I'd like to make three other points. First, our climate mitigation goal is to cut our carbon emissions by 50% by 2030. But the huge growth in electricity from data centers has us on course to increase emissions by a factor of four.

[00:46:28] If you're serious about hitting our goal, the only way to do this, the only way to do this, is to figure out a way to get data centers to commit to use carbon-free electricity. Second, the Sustainability Commission understands that no matter what we do about carbon emissions in the county, climate change is going to happen.

[00:46:49] And that's why we need to put a priority on climate resilience measures in the CESMP so that when the fires and floods come here, as they will, we're ready. Finally, you're about to agree to a budget for the county. We got a late start on sustainability planning compared to our sister jurisdictions, and we're lagging way behind them on implementation and resources.

[00:47:13] the commission supports adding four FTEs so we can start to catch up thanks for your consideration thank you next speaker good afternoon board and community my name is Christopher Griffin I'm a Coles resident I'll be talking specifically about 10a on the agenda today in regards to the right 28 bypass as a 35-year resident of Prince William County and a small business owner licensed and registered for 13 plus years I will try to make this brief the county has spent too many

[00:47:48] resources, time, land money for a project that is a stalemate and has been for some time. Both high costs, displacement, environmental impacts of sensitive areas are a few concerns. For the low income and minority community, I'm advocating and I'm asking for the board to cancel and close out the Route 28 bypass and focus on other plausible alternatives for quick results on improvements.

[00:48:15] You have put the directly affected constituents and members of the community through a roller coaster of emotions with this project specific. No progress still to this day. Years later, please stop wasting everybody's time. The website has a copyright of 2021.

[00:48:34] No updates as of October 2023 to the public. Families and children have been on the edge with fears of where they can afford to go, which in most cases is not an option, even with assistance from the county. long term affordability afterwards is futile i'm asking that the same initial vote that was on this project which was a unanimous against the bypass by the board members for those who have forgotten to bring this to an end and put your objective or your collective resources to another path that's more feasible and close out and cancel the route 28 bypass please come together as a whole do the

[00:49:11] right thing i could go on and on but ultimately we are looking for you as the chosen leaders to make this a reality cancel and close out the route 28 bypass the community in each of your jurisdictions i've had the opportunity to live in would like to see the board unified once again with this specific project as originally for a no i'll close in this after years and millions spent even your department of transportation rick canazales stated march 21st after town hall meeting in yorkshire quote the route is a little too impactful we are just seeing that it's becoming

[00:49:47] too much too much end quote prince william times april 1st 2024 jill palmero and as an article that came out early this morning the department of transportation is recommending canceling the route 28 bypass that's the prince william times evelyn mejia please end this please stop stalling listen to both your own staff and overall constituents that are unified currently be fair be firm understand the few and honor the forgotten thank you thank you our next speaker

[00:50:20] Good afternoon, Chair, Supervisors, County Executive, County Attorney. My name is Russell Bryant, and I still live in the Woodbridge District after living here for 37 years plus.

[00:50:38] My topic this afternoon is about funds reprogramming. There has been the cancellation of an event center in the eastern section of this county, and you have before you a chance to reprogram some mobility money to a different area of mobility.

[00:50:55] Parks and Recreation includes trails, blueways, and streams. One of the challenges for receiving trails from proffers is that they don't include any tail for maintenance. Last year in the budget cycle, you approved funding for maintenance of trails.

[00:51:17] The opportunity with the cancellation of several projects is that the out-year funding programming can be reprogrammed and placed in other priority areas. Community assistance, community vitality, and health is supported by maintaining trails, building new trails, and providing connectivity between our various parks and greenways.

[00:51:43] I recommend in the order of a total of $3 million to be reprogrammed from the event center and the potential cancellation of the 28 bypass to go into additional maintenance funds for trails.

[00:51:59] Thank you very much. Thank you, Doug Speaker. I'm Charlie Grimes from the Gainesville Magisterial District. If you're coming for dinner, give me fair warning because I'm a terrible cook and I've got to go order some food. I would like to encourage you, when you get to your strategic plan next week, to think about actually implementing the strategic plan.

[00:52:24] To walk the talk is going to require spending money. As Russell has just indicated, there's an availability for money if you cancel the Route 28 bypass. I think the opportunity for us to invest in a bike-pedestrian infrastructure is way overdue.

[00:52:40] We've been building roads since the Shirley Highway got to the Occoquan River. 70 years 75 years ago we have not built nearly enough bike pedestrian capacity and so we're shoving cars on the highway for people to take short trips and they've got tailpipes and we're creating greenhouse gas emissions the opportunity for us to create that walkable bikeable community that we talk about in the strategic plan is in front of you now no it's not easy to find money it's never easy to find money and it won't be easy this year compared to last year and it'll

[00:53:15] get harder in the future. But you're elected to the tough jobs. You're the ones who can placemake this county to shape the development of this county. We encourage you to invest in our bike pedestrian infrastructure. Give kids a chance to get to the park without needing mom and dad to give them a ride. Make it possible for people to get to retail outlets without having to park a car on a parking lot. If you get there from here, it's going to require you to spend money. It's a good investment thank you thank you now i was going to turn it over to vice chair bailey but i don't

[00:53:54] think we have any we have no remote speakers so all right thank you everyone who came out in person all right we are going to move on to agenda item number seven and i believe that we may have a statement madam chair yes before the board holds the public hearing and votes on agenda item 7m rezoning number 2024-00042, I would like to make a voluntary disclosure.

[00:54:26] Giff Hampshire represents NOVAC in this matter and is here to answer any questions. Mr. Hampshire is my legal counsel in a separate matter. I have consulted with the county attorney's office, and they have advised me that I am not prohibited from participating in this matter, and I am not required to make a declaration before I participate in it.

[00:54:42] However, I think voluntarily disclosing it best serves the board's interests, helps ensure transparency and fosters the public's trust in the board because i am able to participate in this matter fairly objectively and in the public interest i will be participating in the board's discussion and vote on this matter all right thank you and before i move on does anyone have anything that they want to pull off the consult i'm sorry we're going into the hearings um but i know people are going to want to pull stuff off so i'm going to open the hearings and then after we close and I won't give people an opportunity if they have something that they want to pull off.

[00:55:19] So I am going to open the public hearings for 7A through 7-0. Do we have any speakers? There are no speakers signed up at this time. All right. In full transparency, everyone, we're taking bets earlier about what time we might get out.

[00:55:35] I think I'm jinxing it right now. But let's go on. So for the consolidated land use. Will you close the public hearings? Let me close the public hearings. I am closing the public hearing, seeing as we don't have anyone signed up in person or online.

[00:55:51] With that said, Supervisor Bailey. If I may, please, I'd like to pull 7G. There's a correction that we need to make. Yes, ma'am. And I'd like to call Alex Venegas up to make that correction, please. Madam Chair, Supervisors, I met with the applicant.

[00:56:10] We have to make a correction to, it's a minor change to condition 4A signage. The correct date identified on sheet A2 should be January 7th, 2025. So I just need to make that clarification.

[00:56:27] So when the motion gets approved that it includes the correct date. Thank you. All right. So I just wanted to quickly go to my parliamentarian because everyone likes to jump in. But I'm going to go to Andrea. Yeah, so for 7, you said it was 7G.

[00:56:45] Do we need to pull that or do we need to just, we can still include that? You can include that in the motion. Okay, all right. Is there anyone who has anything that they would like to pull off? I see Supervisor Franklin, then Bailey, then Weir. Yes, I'd like to pull off Item 7K.

[00:57:05] All right, 7K, that's for Gordon Plaza in the Woodbridge District. Supervisor Bailey, I really appreciate it, thank you. And Supervisor Weir. All right. Thank you for 7K, L1M. 7K, 7L, and 7M. All right. So I would like to have a motion for 7A through 7J. So move, Madam Chair. 7. Hold on. I got more. Thank you. 7N and 7O.

[00:57:39] So move, Madam Chair. Second. All right. So it's been properly second for 7A through 7J, 7N, and 7O. Is there any discussion on those items? Supervisor Franklin? For item 7N, just want to flag the special use permit for a cell tower that will be located at Rippon Middle School on school property and leased from Prince William County Schools. The structure and ground equipment will be designed to accommodate Verizon and up to three additional wireless telecommunications providers. The proposed telecommunications facility will improve data speeds and capacity

[00:58:19] within the coverage area to commuters retail stores and customers as well as residents it aligns with the policies and the technology and connectivity chapter of the comprehensive plan thank you supervisor bode thank you madam chair just very quickly 7a i want to thank rick and his team and richard wyman for their support on getting that um raised intersection on seminole road it's sort of an interesting one it's sort of a try it's a three-sided uh intersection but really happy that we're getting some more walkability in that part of the district so wanted to thank them for their efforts thank you madam chair supervisor gordy thank you madam

[00:58:59] chair uh on item 7d uh increasing the maximum permissible sound levels generally or addressing the maximum permissible sound levels generally uh related to construction i want to thank supervisor weir for the work uh on bringing this we've been having some issues um in the Brentsville District with hoe ramming starting at 6 a.m. in areas near neighborhoods and this is something that brings us in alignment with many other localities to move the start time for construction from 6 a.m. to 7 a.m. and so really appreciate the county staff working to get this

[00:59:37] done in an expedited manner to help protect our citizens from what is becoming a almost incessant construction of both data centers and residential in areas in the Brentsville District.

[00:59:55] So really appreciate that. Also want to thank Walmart. We have many cases here as they are addressing their pickup and their expansion. You know, in this world of online shopping, Walmart has found a way to maintain their brick-and-mortar footprint, keep those jobs going, while at the same time expanding and growing their business um online so um and in order to accommodate that growth and that that strategic uh the strategic opportunities um they are finding a plan that uh i believe is is very

[01:00:32] um what i love is the fact they're not taking up parking spaces out in the in the front um that they're moving this around to the side so that you don't have to park way out in the back in order to get into the store um and and they're they're they've really done a great job on this and i really appreciate again their commitment to prince william county to keep their businesses and their brick and mortar footprint here and keeping those jobs uh for our citizens um and uh so that's all i have ma'am thank you supervisor bailey thank you ma'am chair i i appreciate your accommodating

[01:01:05] uh my second request um to what my uh colleague is saying supervisor gordy in terms of walmart i concur with you this is an opportunity to keep jobs within our community the Walmart in my area is very old but it's a community Walmart as we all know that's our Walmart everywhere and so it does increase the level of service to the community so I just wanted to thank them for that and then secondarily with the change of the date for the for 7g I really appreciate the accommodations that the staff made to make sure that we get that done today I really appreciate that

[01:01:44] and then and then thirdly improve communications at Potomac in the Potomac Shores area and surrounding area by instituting what we're the tower that we're gonna have there via AT&T on the Cherry Hill in the Cherry Hill area which is an older part of my district and so I think this is a another step towards the right direction and just opening up and improving Potomac Shores so thank you madam chair all right thank you so much we don't have any more people queued up so

[01:02:15] let's go ahead and take a vote vote unanimous all right we're going to move on to 7k that's rezoning for gordon plaza in the woodbridge district madam chair supervisor franklin yes i would like to make a motion to approve the executed proffers in the staff report dated june 18 2024 second all right any discussions hi supervisor franklin sure i'm not sure supervisor wants to speak first but i did want to um thank supervisor weir for working with our

[01:02:53] office and planning staff on the issues with regards to what is allowed to be placed in front of our home improvement stores including the home depot that that is supposed to go to go to gordon plaza and making sure that we cleared up the language and expectations so thank you supervisor weir for that and also just want to point out that this project involves a home improvement store with the garden center, nursery, seasonal cell area, motor vehicle rental, curbside pickup parking, and open space located along Annapolis Way and Gordon Boulevard in North Woodbridge.

[01:03:26] The project meets the intent of the North Woodbridge small area plan. The proposed retail services will support the large community in North Woodbridge and the surrounding area. And just want to point out, if you're familiar with the shopping center, it is in great need of repair. I just want to thank Kimco for stepping up and saying that they want to help revitalize this area and really beautify it. It's going to go really beautifully with the rest of the work that we're doing in North Whipbridge to revitalize our corridor.

[01:03:57] I just want to thank everyone and hope for your support. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm not sure if this question is for staff or the county attorney, but I just want to confirm that the issue with the interpretation of outside storage and merchandise display has been put to bed once and for all and will not be a recurring issue good afternoon supervisor we're uh yes we believe that that has been adequately addressed and as we continue to move forward with our zoning ordinance update we can make sure that

[01:04:34] all the language uh you know addresses so we don't have this situation again thank you thank you all right i don't see any other comments so let's go ahead and vote vote unanimous thank you so very much we're now going to move on to 7l that's for a special use permit related to gordon plaza madam chair my questions were for both i'm i'm good now you're good now all right supervisor

[01:05:09] franklin yeah and i guess i should have asked before the motion but um i guess moving forward now that this has been resolved we don't have to have two separate motions moving forward do we for a special use for outdoor storage i'm assuming moving forward it can all be wrapped together madam chair members of the board there are two separate applications and items but you can do one motion for two different items just as you do with the consent agenda so this is more of a process questions um so for 7l we've already did 7k so we're just going to do obviously 7l separately um so we haven't you know had a motion yet but would you like to make one supervisor franklin

[01:05:48] so move second all right any further discussion on this all right thank you so very much let's go ahead and take a vote vote unanimous all right we are now moving on to 7m i know that that again was also pulled supervisor weir did you have any questions or if you want to make a comment then we'll do it in the motion okay um can i get a motion for 7m so is there a second

[01:06:20] second all right and let's go with the discussion supervisor weir i'll keep it brief because you know what I'm going to say. Here we go again. Six more waivers and mods. I've said it before. I'm going to say it again. I'm not doing one more square foot of data center. We've got 10 million under roof or operational right now. We've got tens of millions more. We don't have the power, the infrastructure, the generation, or the transmission. We are doing a disservice not only to our residents, but the residents of the Commonwealth, potentially other jurisdictions throughout the Mid-Atlantic.

[01:06:57] The craziness needs to stop. All right. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Is somebody here for the applicant to answer questions? Can you tell me what the distance is to the school?

[01:07:16] Thank you for asking that question. I can get the distance. Give me one moment. Okay. Is there another? I'm just curious if you guys reached out to the school to talk to them about this project, and if so, what was their feedback, if any? I will get that answer for you, too. Give me one moment. Supervisor Gordy.

[01:07:37] I'll let her finish up answering these questions. Supervisor Weir. One last thing I forgot. Given the nature of data center applications, I'd appreciate it in the future that we didn't have data center applications on the consolidated agenda when you know there is going to be dissent.

[01:07:59] And I would just ask staff to put it on the regular agenda with a presentation so that we can delve into it more deeply. Thank you. So I guess while we're waiting, maybe we can have that arm wrestle, you know.

[01:08:22] All right, thank you. I was getting ready to start playing Jeopardy music. Sorry, no, don't do that. I know you guys have a bet on how long, so I'll be quick in answering. So from the school, property line to property line is about 700 feet, but building to building is more.

[01:08:42] And STAC has been coordinating with this school on all of the projects that they have, and this area has actually done a lunch and partnered with them on their ROTC program, so they are aware of the proposal. And what came about the meeting? I don't think there was any discussion about any changes that were needed about the meeting.

[01:08:59] just notified them of the projects that are coming online and that was the extent of it yes okay thank you so very much i don't see any additional speakers so madam chair yes sir okay so um i appreciate um the concern that that supervisor we're i when i was on planning commission i never wanted to have a data center case come on expedited because i believe it is something that we should, I agree that we should have a robust discussion. I did watch the planning

[01:09:35] commission hearing and a lot of the issues surrounding this data center was related to the historical issues with the Gaskins family. We have since had two meetings. One was held yesterday with Ms. Gaskins to begin working on the historical aspects of this. Now you may know that there's a cemetery that's part of uh it's actually on the novek property um but uh stack is working to within their proffers to help provide for protection and access to

[01:10:08] uh the cemetery uh for the gaskins family and miss gaskins um said and and she her statement was um as long as stack does what they said they're going to do i'm good um so uh yesterday there was a second meeting in my office sorry I was unable to attend but that those meetings are continuing to take place those conversations are working forward because we know as we dealt with a and b of this development and now we're on c that those are all intertwined into the master

[01:10:46] development in this area so I just wanted to highlight the work and appreciate the work that the applicant has done to continue to address those concerns from our community um that's it thank you madam chair all right thank you i don't see anyone else so let's go ahead and move forward with the vote thank you motion passes seven to one supervisor we're voting nay all right thank you so very much we're now moving on to agenda item number eight and that is county executive time

[01:11:21] mr shorter take it away thank you very much madam chair afternoon members of the board just a few items for updates at our last meeting there was one directive issue to advertise a public hearing to extend the sunset clause for the noise ordinance this was assigned to the clerk's office and deputy county executive wade hugh the clerk's office has already submitted the information for advertisement we have closed three directives since our last meeting a directive to purchase the ned distiller home a directive to provide comprehend a comprehensive listing of all parks and recreation

[01:11:58] monetary contribution, proffers, and a directive to provide recommendations for amendments to the county's tax relief program for the elderly and disabled. By way of legislative updates, as many of you know, today is crossover at the General Assembly. This is the last day each house can act on its own legislative items except budget bills. You received an email with an update on the status of the county's bills from our legislative liaison last week and you will soon receive an

[01:12:33] update on the state's proposed budget items. Once the detailed information about those individual items are available we will review and then send them to the board and of course we will keep you updated on the status of the bills as they make their way through the legislative process. The chair mentioned it a bit earlier I want to certainly give a recognize and give a moment of appreciation to all of the fire and rescue staff who supported the incident response at Reagan International or Reagan National Airport last week. Our thoughts and prayers are certainly

[01:13:08] go out to the families impacted by the incident and the loss of life. I certainly want to be very, I want to recognize the fire and rescue staff that were supportive. We always appreciate that our personnel is called to support, especially in our region.

[01:13:30] Finally, I want to make one note on a couple of the items that I've sent by way of email to the board, provided you with an update on the affordable housing or affordable dwelling unit ordinance timeline by way of email, noting that we are moving forward, scheduling public hearings, and that we are closely monitoring what happens with the proposed legislation in the General Assembly and also sent an email to the board regarding the strategic plan and discussion points for your consideration at our February 11th work session next week.

[01:14:05] And with that, Madam Chair, that is all for me. All right, thank you so very much. And we are going to move on to the county attorney. Sorry, I didn't say that. We have a couple folks. Supervisor Franklin, Supervisor Weir.

[01:14:20] Yeah, on the affordable housing email, I just want to thank you for that. I think for my part, the timeline is very long. Would love to see some action on that way before June.

[01:14:39] And obviously, we can talk about that kind of on the staff level. But, you know, we've been working on this for about three, four years now. So I know we want to be very surgical in our approach to making sure that we get it right. But we'll hope that we can act with some level of urgency with regards to the Affordable Housing Ordinance.

[01:15:01] I'll also just say, just got word that a bill passed by or introduced by Delegate Henson, the Affordable Housing with regards to counties with executive form of government, HB 2781, did pass, at least in the House.

[01:15:18] And so we'll continue to follow that. But I just want us to kind of move with some level of urgency with regards to our housing ordinance. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Shorter, I would like it if at some point in the time you could arrange a meeting between our office and senior staff with respect to the Kamoyne consultant that I just became aware that we hired in November to determine data center square footage in the county.

[01:15:53] I guess it's now being characterized as validation of the EnerGov data. And as I'm seeing from an email this morning, it's now taking considerably longer than they thought. I could have told you that in November. And I would have appreciated, given the gravity of the situation, that the board had been informed of this, because we could have had some input with respect to parameters, what we wanted to see, outcomes, that sort of thing.

[01:16:21] and we had a variety of data points that we could have provided that would have made their job easier three months ago. So if you get the opportunity to head on out to Gainesville, we'd like to sit down and talk to you about it at some point in time in the near future. Thank you.

[01:16:38] - Supervisor Bode? - Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to echo some of Supervisor Franklin's comments around frustration with the timeline. Thank you, Mr. CXO, for sending us that timeline, having us have concrete benchmarks. However, I'm frustrated too, because I know that we as a board gave a directive in November to schedule the public hearing, and we've been working through and waiting on this process for literally years at this point.

[01:17:01] So unfortunately, it's also come to the perception of the public that every time we say we're going to be having public hearings on this at a given time, that timeline has moved farther and farther out, and it's happened that way. I'm not going to blame anyone. I'm going to point fingers. I'm just saying that that's the perception that I've been given by members of the public that have been following this and been requesting us do something about affordable housing for the last couple of years.

[01:17:24] So I just wanted to leave that with you and hoping that, as Supervisor Franklin said, we can look at hoping to tighten that timeline a little bit. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. I concur with the previous remarks from my colleagues as well. I think we should have a sense of urgency with how we're focusing on the housing ordinance.

[01:17:44] But I wanted to share on a lighter note good news in terms of Delegate Sewell's HB 2534 addressing the regulations on the Crisis Receiving Center, that it has been successfully passed through the House's Health and Human Services and Social Services subcommittees with an 8-0 vote, which is good for us.

[01:18:06] And then Senator McPike's companion bill for the CRC, 1304, passed unanimously with a 5-0 vote. And so just wanted to make sure that everyone was aware of that. And it passed in the full state education and health subcommittee with a 13-0 vote.

[01:18:25] So we are well on our way with the CRC. All right. Thank you so very much. We good, everyone? All right. Let's go to the county attorney. Thank you, Madam Chair, members of the board. We have no items for closed session this afternoon. All right.

[01:18:41] No. So here's the thing. Some of y'all think we get out at four. We'll see. We'll see. All right. I'm going to throw it back to you, Mr. Shorter, for agency time. Thank you very much, Madam Chair.

[01:18:57] For item 10A, we're going to have Rick Canazales and his team come down to provide both a presentation and there's a resolution associated with this item, but we will have a presentation and discussion first. Director, Board of Shorter.

[01:19:16] Thank you, Mr. Shorter. Madam Chair, members of the board, Rick Canazales, your Director of Transportation. Here to – oh, technical – okay.

[01:19:34] Sorry about that. Technical difficulties there. My apologies. I'm here to talk to you about the Route 28 bypass project today. Just a little bit on it and just to remind everybody, we started this project back in 2017 and looking at the Route 28 corridor feasibility study.

[01:19:52] And at that point in time, alternatives 2B, 2A, and 4 were ranked the three highest alternatives to move forward into looking into a location study. We then had seven public hearings held for those reports that came out of that as we did the alternative study for the four different alignments that we had recommended.

[01:20:12] And as we did that environmental study, we saw that Alternatives 2B was the best alternative. On June 2018, the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority took action along with all its members, including Fairfax and us, recommending partial funding of the Route 28 bypass into their six-year plan at a click of $89 million.

[01:20:39] On June of 2019, the board approved placing a $355 million road bond question to the public that included the Route 28 bypass or Route 28 widening.

[01:20:55] On November 19th, Prince William County voters approved that $355 million mobility road project that included the $200 million for the Route 28 project. And then finally, in September of 2020, the board did vote for Alternative 2B to move forward as a Route 28 bypass alternative and allocated those $89 million so we could move forward with the design of that facility.

[01:21:20] After looking at those facilities, we did a lot of design work on them, and we started seeing, you know, we started having a lot of public meetings because, as we knew, this was a very controversial project, taking upwards of 70 homes in Prince William County for the purposes of the road, total taking.

[01:21:38] So we had a lot of public hearings, as you see there. We did award the task back in January 2021. We did award the contract. The board awarded the contract to move forward. As we moved forward and as we continue to look at design and as I continue to update the board, we continue to see some challenges with this.

[01:21:55] Some of the challenges, including getting some of that right-of-way that I mentioned before in our county, but also getting right away outside of our county. We did notice that we had more significant impact to the environment as well as utilities and historic impacts as part of the project that were going to cost more to deal with.

[01:22:15] And we saw there were some challenges in dealing with additional bridges and bigger bridges that we were initially going to do, which brought the cost of the project up significantly. After taking all this into consideration and doing all the design work that we've done, At this point, we come to the board and let you know that as staff, we believe that Alternative 2B is not viable because we don't have enough money and we don't have enough support in some of the challenges we're facing.

[01:22:44] Route 28 bypass, when we saw that this was coming, we started looking at another alternative, which we considered as Alternative 2A. We saw at this time that this alternative was also not feasible. It took additional homes in Prince William County and took three additional businesses. So this was also considered not viable because of its impacts to the environment, historical impacts, and right-of-way.

[01:23:07] At this point in time, it is our recommendation as staff that we do cancel and close out the Route 28 project. Closing out this project and terminating it as a project in Prince William County will allow us to look at other alternatives for this corridor that may be more cost-effective or other alternatives that may help operations in the Route 28 corridor itself.

[01:23:27] With that, I do have a resolution in front of you to see if we can move forward with the cancellation of this project. It also allows County Executive and myself to talk to NVTA and negotiate the financial closeout of this project. With that, Madam Chair, I'll take any questions.

[01:23:42] All right, before we have a motion, I want to see if anyone had any questions for Mr. Conizales. Supervisor Franklin, then angry. Yeah, thank you. um so the last discussion we had on the day is when the directive was given i asked about that last public meeting or public hearing that fairfax has been requesting um now i know that you've said in our meetings we've had and you just mentioned here a number of public hearings but you know my stance on that was if we're going to close it out we should be able to say that we've done

[01:24:16] every single thing that our regional partners have asked of us so where are we on on this last public hearing, or at least public meeting. Public hearing may be too formal of a word, but public meeting. Ma'am, at this point in time, I know that Fairfax has requested a public hearing. That request was done with no guarantees that they would move forward with the project. At the same time, it is not just a Fairfax public hearing or Fairfax approvals that we need at this point. We need additional funding for this project, and it has to be local funding for this project. It cannot be state or federal funding that we do not have at this time. So it's just become unfeasible

[01:24:51] to move forward, not only because of the Fairfax issues that we have, but also because of the funding aspect of the project. Yeah. And then I guess my second question in terms of a longer-term solution. So if we cancel out the project, then what's the road improvement plan? As I mentioned, we did do studies on this and recommended a higher, or what we thought was the highest-ranking alternative. There are other alternatives in that study. There was a second choice to widen Route 28. That's something we can look at. There was another choice to do alternatives underneath let me modify that i'm sorry ma'am what what what are

[01:25:26] our long-term solutions for a road improvement plan where we can get money from the state because the way i look at it now if we you're saying that we basically can't afford the project anymore correct but it sounds like even if we cancel this project any solution we have moving forward we're going to pay for ourselves likely so either way i go we're going to have to pay for a road improvement plan and so the question is do we pay for 100 ourselves or do we get regional funding to help us with it i i you don't know the answer no no no i i do i i know the answer

[01:26:04] but the answer is we don't know because we don't know if we will we can after including something like the route 28 bypass and move moving forward with something like that project if we can go out to the region or to the state to get monies for that, and that could be a possibility.

[01:26:22] So there is a possibility of additional funding coming for an alternate project. But the alternatives really is a widening or a different bypass, and NVTA, at least as far as I understood, has been clear that we will likely not score high for a widening.

[01:26:41] Once we remove the bypass from our plan, if that is something that we do do, or once we identify a Route 28 widening project, NVTA will have to look at that project and its merits on its own compared to the rest of the projects in their plan. I would suggest to you that on a Route 28 widening, we would still score high on the congestion relief compared to other projects in the region. Now, compared to the way we were going to do it before, obviously, yes, four lanes will score higher than two lanes in any analysis but i still think that we have a viable project

[01:27:19] in widening route 28 that could get congestion that does create congestion relief and could apply for regional state or federal funds and then to that point my last question is about if we have representatives here from mvta because um you're right there's possibility to get funding for anything but it's my understanding that a widening versus a bypass I mean the idea of getting a score higher than a bypass would be almost zero again so I think I don't know the answer that overall we do need to think about if if

[01:27:58] we cancel out the project today we need to think about a viable solution for road improvements in that area I don't think canceling a project and then doing nothing uh is a real solution we we got to figure something out yes ma'am i think those discussions are being had as well yeah thank you i think i'll just say that whatever discussions are being had it seems to me to be a lot of miscommunication still taking place and i don't know why that is um but i can tell you the fairfax people are saying very different things than our prince

[01:28:34] in county people and it makes this a very uh i'm sure they are difficult difficult situation so well thank you supervisor angry then we are so um let me just say this here um i don't think it's your position to tell us that you don't have enough money for this so i wish i would rather you have brought something to this board and said we need to spend 300 million dollars and then the board bolts down 300 million dollars and then it's done i just think in your position your drivers to down roads you do that great you bring us a number we tell you if we can do it or not and we move on from there to me that's the way this should be canceled and not just you saying

[01:29:13] cancel because we don't have money or that there's no support now on no support just going to say i've got manassas city telling me we need to throw the entire council i've got fairfax telling me a whole bunch of different versions of the story and if it's in fact about million dollar homes That whole quick take could be an issue that they want to do.

[01:29:33] But there was more they said they needed, more than a 30% design. I'm just simply telling you what I'm hearing. So, you know, you kind of shit your head. I'm just simply saying, like, I hear that. I know this is a Coast District project and it ran through Supervisor Vega. I'm just simply saying on the outside of everything else.

[01:29:49] All I know is on that 28 route up to the Fairfax line, it's horrible. Like, that is a quality of life issue for anyone that drives that corridor. And something needs to be done. And anything done after this, if this isn't done, is going to cost even more than $100 million that you're talking about.

[01:30:07] I can pretty much guarantee that. I'm sorry, do you have a question for Mr. Gonzalez? I don't have a question. Well, then if we have, then we'll do that within the motion. Thank you. Supervisor Rear? Afternoon, Rick. I do believe it's your responsibility to bring us the fiscal impact and whether or not there's a good return.

[01:30:23] However, is it not correct that Fairfax County, and particularly Chairman McKay, has stalemated us for months and we have been spinning our wheels? Sir, I've been talking to Fairfax about how we do the right-of-way and how we get endorsement from their board for the last two and a half to three years.

[01:30:43] And they have not responded affirmatively or in the negative, correct? Correct. Okay. And that's not likely to change? At this point, the chairwoman has been involved with discussions with their board and their chair, and that started about a year ago, and we have not been able to move forward since.

[01:31:01] Is it also not clear that the Manassas City Council has flip-flopped on this project numerous times over the last couple of years? And last I heard, there was no affirmative vote in support of it. In fact, I think they stopped supporting it. The city of Manassas were the initiators of the project, that NVTA, and they were the ones who asked for the grant that we initially got to look at the studies that we saw.

[01:31:25] And last but not least, the NVTA funds that we would have to return are restricted funds that can only be used for Prince William projects, so we would get it back in the next project we do? That is negative, sir. We would be returning those funds to the regional NVTA 70% pot, and then we would have to go in and apply with a justified project to get either all or some of that money back.

[01:31:52] But nevertheless, that percentage is Prince William's percentage of the pot, correct? We do have percentages that we do have to meet on every 10-year basis according to the code. So it's a net-net game at the end of the day? I'm not sure that would be the case, sir. We would have to see what NVTA would then come back and give us from that pot.

[01:32:13] So I wouldn't say that, but I would say that I would hope that the county would receive some of that money back for another project. All right, Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Rick, when did the ask for the public hearing come about from Fairfax?

[01:32:28] Was it before our meeting or after our meeting? It was after, I'm sorry, I'm not sure which meeting you're speaking of about our meeting. So when the last meeting that we had with the chairman of the Fairfax Board of Carey Supervisors, the district supervisor of Fairfax, Matt and Chair, myself, and our team of Department of Transportation, did the ask for the public hearing come before that meeting or after that meeting?

[01:32:51] After that meeting. After that meeting. Thank you for that. And during that meeting, did Chairman McKay say that he would bring this for a vote to his board, yes or no? No, ma'am. Thank you for that. Now, we keep talking about the importance, right, of this project for regional leaders or for the leaders in the region.

[01:33:08] How much skin in the game have the cities or Fairfax County put into this project? None, ma'am. None. Who has borne full responsibility of this project since day one? Prince William County. Thank you. Supervisor Bodie.

[01:33:24] Thank you, Madam Chair. And thank you, Rick, for all your long years of work on this project. Thank you, sir. Thank you for continuing on. Just a couple of questions. I know that you highlighted it very well earlier when you said that the two sort of dilemmas we have is working through with our regional partners on that right-of-way to make the alignment feasible, but also the money.

[01:33:46] And from what I've seen and from where I've been sitting, that money is frankly the biggest piece because I believe that we could be able to work things out eventually with Fairfax. but still there's that giant question mark of about $100 million delta. Is that correct? That is correct, and continuing to grow as we wait for any Fairfax action.

[01:34:04] So can you talk a little bit more about that piece, too? The longer we keep this going, what's going to add to the cost of the project? The additional inflation. Obviously, when we gave you the estimate back in 2017, 2018, we were not in the middle of a housing crisis.

[01:34:20] We are now in the middle of a housing crisis, which has increased the right-of-way on 70 total takes, at least 30 percent or so. The additional environmental impacts, the bridges, the walls that we have to do. And again, sir, the reality is that we cannot move forward without the Fairfax approval, endorsement of the plan, as well as the right-of-way they would have to get for the project.

[01:34:45] Sure. And my last question, Madam Chair, what mechanisms at this one? And it's a very broad question, but I want to just talk about it a little bit. What mechanisms would we have right now? Because we don't currently have enough bond authority, right, to fully fund the project.

[01:35:01] Correct. So what mechanism would we have if we had to fund this project between the NVTA money that we already have and the bond authority that we have? What could we do to bridge that gap? We would have to come up with somewhere between $80 to $100 million of local funds.

[01:35:18] And when I mean local funds, it would either be MBTA, funds that we have, general fund, anything that's from our jurisdiction or comes from a local jurisdiction. Again, we did this project thinking we were doing a local project with MBTA and ourselves, so no federal requirements were followed on the way.

[01:35:37] So if we get state or federal dollars, it would be a start over, and it would probably increase the price even further. And last one, Madam Chair, thank you, if I could. And so we're in a place, Rick, where there's that giant question where you just illuminated realistically that money, that delta, we would have to find that money somewhere.

[01:36:08] And what is the deadline on us finding that money in order to make, like, let's say, again, if we get Fairfax to come to the table, we'll get folks to say, hey, we're all in, we're great. What's the deadline on us trying to find that money in order to fund the project? Again, sir, there is no deadline, but as we continue to wait either for Fairfax or continue to wait to get the funding, the delta grows.

[01:36:28] Thank you. All right, Supervisor Frank, I'm going to ask you to indulge me because Supervisor Bailey hasn't asked questions, nor have I. So, Supervisor Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair and Supervisor Franklin. With all that has been said, most of the questions I have, but there are several more that I want to ask.

[01:36:47] You are very good at what you do for our Department of Transportation. uh we this is not our first rodeo this started uh about four years ago uh even longer than that 2017 and we had a former supervisor that worked very diligently to bring this money this project to the fore and then it was given to a new board uh in 2021 yes ma'am okay and uh we had this a similar conversation that we're having right now in terms of the 89 million dollars that you negotiated with mvta am i correct in saying that yes ma'am and we had the president of mvta and

[01:37:27] the chair of mvta come and explain to us in very detailed terms what it meant to keep 89 million dollars grant funding correct yes ma'am okay and so go with me because i believe that and help me with this i believe that when the county gets money um to support a project grant funding especially we should not give money back that's Supervisor Bailey's assessment and you and I have had that discussion because in so many terms it's free money and it's not a burden that we put on

[01:38:05] our taxpayers to pay for projects am I the only thing I would say there ma'am is that it's not free money because it comes with a commitment of 300 million dollars from Prince William County to get that money for the future yes that you projected you and your team projected with a regional view am i yes ma'am okay with your level of expertise that's what i'm saying so when i say free money i'm saying money that will support the vision that you had to get rid of a a local slash regional problem that we have here in the county am i am i okay with what that is correct

[01:38:40] okay so with that uh i also believe that help me with this giving the money back based upon 2017 up to now and how we negotiate to get the money. There is a reputational impact that we'll have to get additional money based upon the relationships that we have in securing money and the relationship that we have in getting more money to complete the project.

[01:39:10] Am I right about that? Ma'am, I would say that our relationships have been built throughout years. I understand that. There is a project that can get... Let me clear it up for you. Yes, ma'am. I know our relationship has been built through years, but I'm talking about the trending of this project and where we came from and where we are now.

[01:39:32] It's based on the relationships that we have to show the importance of a project, be it regional or local, that with a problem that we have now, that with your skill set, you and your team created to assure that we complete the project.

[01:39:49] We set forth in 2017 with trying to complete this project with the funding that we mentioned at that time. I have failed, and you said I'm good when I said I have failed to be able to move forward with that proposal the way it was established back in that time.

[01:40:07] And I am here to tell you today that we are dealing with some issues that are both fiscally related as well as situational related. And I appreciate that, and I understand that. But I do know the level of creativity that you and your staff have to get things done.

[01:40:25] And my question to you, based upon the trending of the funds that we have that we voted on to support this project, when you say local funding, are you talking local funding from our pocketbook?

[01:40:44] Are you talking going back to NVTA to negotiate for additional funding for this project? Describe what that means. Our funding is capped at NVTA, so we cannot go back to NVTA. And, yes, it is exactly what you said. We would then need local funding, which is our own funding, to complete the delta of that project.

[01:41:02] And I'm here today that without that and without the support of Fairfax County, we are not going to be able to complete this project at all. It just has become an unviable situation. So you're saying that only the money can come from Prince William County's power. It cannot come from any other entity.

[01:41:19] It can come from Fairfax. It can come from Manassas. I'm not talking about Fairfax. No, I'm just talking about some of the other jurisdictions involved that have local dollars. You asked me where it can come from. So with that opportunity, have we exhausted, with that opportunity, have we exhausted the discussions to get additional funding?

[01:41:39] I know I'm out of time. I've got two minutes. Have we exhausted, seconds, well, Rick's got to talk. Have we exhausted those opportunities? Yes, my opinion is yes, at this point. Yes, ma'am, at this point. So we've had those in-depth discussions. There's no other way that we'll come. I have asked MVTA if they would be willing to fund this on the private or if they'd be open to opening this up.

[01:41:59] They have told me no. Fairfax County is looking for us to do projects for them, not to have give us any funding. Manassas and Manassas Park do not have this kind of funding to be able to give us. Unless the county comes up with this funding, we have exhausted our ways of getting funding for this project, especially in the magnitude of the amount of money it is.

[01:42:22] I'm sorry. I'm going to have to cut. If you want to go for a second, tranche. So put yourself in queue because we have a few other folks. I just wanted to actually get back to the question about endorsement of the route. Because, again, there have been a lot of conversations had, and we've talked about that, you know.

[01:42:39] And I spoke with someone from Fairfax who was saying that, no, they've already taken enough votes. There doesn't need to be a vote on the endorsement route. Please explain what that means and also, you know, why we would need that to move forward. Thank you, ma'am. We would need endorsement from Fairfax County in the route we have chosen, the location of the facility that is chosen.

[01:43:01] That's the first action we need. The second action we need is that they would be responsible and able to get the right-of-way through that endorsed alignment of the road. The reason we need that endorsement is because we can only go a certain – we can only move so far in design before we have to go to the Army Corps of Engineers to get permits, before we have to put this up to VIDA to approve our design, those kinds of things, which cannot be done without having all the jurisdictions involved endorsed and moving forward and being with the project.

[01:43:37] We had a brief talk, and I'm sorry, I'm not, I'm kind of paraphrasing, because you had mentioned, you know, we also have to do work with Army Corps of Engineers, correct? Yes, ma'am. And that's, again, we need to have them endorse this route before that moves on. Before that happens, yes, ma'am.

[01:43:53] All right, I just wanted to verify that. Thank you so very much. Supervisor Weir. Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple questions, Rick. NBTA funding, that is tax dollar derived? Yes, yes, sir, it's tax dollars. Largely by Prince William County taxpayers? It is derived by the region on a one-cent sales tax.

[01:44:13] And grantors tax and T.O.T. Yeah, all the stuff that we're giving away to PRTC, I know. So we're not talking about returning $89 million. It's $6.5 million, correct? We're talking about returning $89 million.

[01:44:32] But we've only expended $6.5 million. Correct, but we would not be able to use the remaining... For a different project until we reapplied. Correct. No big deal. Does this point to any risk in multi-jurisdictional and multi-agency partnerships or projects in the future?

[01:44:52] I don't think so. We will continue to partner with our joining jurisdictions, with our regional agencies, with our partners at VDOT to continue to get funding. It is also codified that the funding that comes to the county be similar to what we put into the pot, and that gets checked every 10 years.

[01:45:08] So at the same time... Which gets to my earlier question. Last but not least, absent an endorsement from Fairfax? All you could essentially end up doing is, at the end of the day, without their endorsement, you could engineer a dead-end road? I could engineer a road up to the county line.

[01:45:24] Where it would dead-end? It would go into a Fairfax facility that's not capable of handling the volume. Supervisor Angry? All right, Rick. So, because you keep saying, you know, actually a few times that, you know, Manassas City or Fairfax has no skin in the game and help us pay.

[01:45:50] When Fairfax widened their rock 28 all the way out there, did Prince William County pay the money into that? No, sir. Okay. Let me just ask you real quick. If this failed, what is your next trigger to say you feel that we need to cancel this plan?

[01:46:10] Like, I'm hearing about the money. She just mentioned money. You said there's no road leads to any money. And I'll save my comments for after this. But if this failed, what would you bring back to this board saying this project? What's the final straw?

[01:46:26] If this fails, I think we would have to get together with the supervisor of the area and talk options and talk options to the board as to where we move next, whether we move to looking at an alternative study to see what other alternatives are out there, whether we move directly to widening 28 and doing what we have to do to move forward towards that.

[01:46:49] As you know, when you did approve the bond question back in 2018, the bond question was to either fund the Route 28 widening or Route 28 bypass. So the question asks for either or, and that money can still be used for other purposes to deal with 28, whether a widening or a different bypass.

[01:47:09] So do you have right now in your head a drop-dead date of when – I feel you're here prematurely, maybe you're not. But do you have a drop dead date if this didn't happen tonight that you would bring back to say, look, this is our final date that we know that it's going to cost us this much money?

[01:47:28] I mean, you throw numbers out, but A, I just feel like I need factual numbers. What's the hard numbers of the fact that you're saying we don't have this money in the county to pay for this? Because I don't think anybody else paid for any, they didn't help us or we didn't help them in any of their roads. So it's a reasonable thing. So what is that number?

[01:47:44] What is that date if you have one? Well, we, like I said, sir, I don't think we have a date. We're way past our date. I started this project six years down the road from 2019. I expect it to be in either right-of-way utility relocation or construction at this point in time. Like I mentioned earlier, our consultants haven't worked on this project for a full year now.

[01:48:06] They've been on hold for a year. So there's no date because that hold. But, again, we have a $15 million that we have on hold with our consultants for the last year. So I got you on that. So let me just ask this last thing. So you said not everybody had endorsed and there was this stuff.

[01:48:22] So I'm pretty sure after this conversation tonight, you know, all those players that you're talking about in Fairfax that didn't sign up or whatever or Manassas City or whatever, we're going to get some answers and you're going to get some confirmation of where they stand on this. Even if they give this endorsement, it sounds like all roads lead back to you saying it's going to cost too much money.

[01:48:42] And honestly, as I said in the beginning, I'd rather you come in here saying we need $300 million in the board bought $300 million and it just fails versus this. I feel like there's more that we need to do to get to the end of this road before we... I guess I wasn't very clear, sir, but the reality is I'm coming in here to tell you that it's more money, but I'm also coming in here to tell you that we haven't had a solution from Fairfax in two and a half years.

[01:49:07] The chairwoman's been involved for the last year. We still can't get resolution from Fairfax. And right now the resolution from Fairfax is going to take months and months, if there's even one, which will add additional costs to the project. And that's why I came in with my recommendation of canceling and saying that this project is unviable at this time, sir.

[01:49:24] Okay, that's it. I'm done. Very quickly. Vega? Thank you, Madam Chair. Rick, that was a perfect segue into the point that I wanted to make. The bond is still on the table, yes? Yes, ma'am. In order for my office and you, because again, this project is solely in the Coles District, in order for us to start talking about, which we already had, you presented three options to me in the last meeting that we had in terms of how we move forward once this is formally closed out.

[01:49:51] But in order for us to continue to engage in those conversations, we need to close this out to explore the other options that we have on the table, yes? Yes, ma'am. Thank you. Now, remind me again how long we've been at this with the 28 bypass? Since 2020. Well, it was way before I got on the board, too.

[01:50:08] 2017 with the studies, 2020 with the design. 2017. And are we still waiting for the Army Corps of Engineers to render their opinion on this project? We can't because we don't have, we haven't been able to put enough data and we don't have the endorsement from Fairfax to move forward with it. But when things were in the works, the Army Corps of Engineers was still out.

[01:50:26] We were, but we were working with them at that time. But yes, they were not, it was not, a permit was not put into them yet. Okay. That's all I have for now, Madam Chair. All right, Bailey, then Booty.

[01:50:42] Thank you very much, Madam Chair. No problem at all. What are, what are the three options that, can you just give us a round of the three options? because I'm not aware of those three options.

[01:50:59] The three options that the supervisor and I talked about were either if and once the project was canceled, we would move forward with either a small area plan or the Yorkshire area to see what can be done through that 28 corridor.

[01:51:15] We would move with a, and that's if you wanted to look at it very comprehensively and with detail. I said if you want expediency and you want something to go fast, we would do a CPA for the road or a comprehensive plan amendment for the road and just do the comprehensive plan amendment and look at the road by itself. That would move the study a little faster and be able to get some expediency to what we're trying to do. And the third option I said was a more long-term option in that we just wait this out and go into the next comprehensive plan update and wait to see what those facilities do in the comprehensive plan update and make a decision then of what to do with those facilities, whether the bypass or the 28 widening. Those are the three

[01:51:52] options that I showed. I also wanted to mention and I mentioned to the supervisor that as a short-term solution for some of the people that obviously we have a problem on 28 and it's obvious and there are some short-term solutions that we're taking care of right now. VDOT is sponsoring a Route 28 Phase 1 study that's looking at doing operational improvements to the road and we have been awarded a Route 28 Phase 2 improvements that we're going to be implementing to do some operational improvements on the rest of 28 to try to get better traffic.

[01:52:24] So there's some short-term solutions that we're going to be implementing as we look at these medium- and longer-term solutions that may be looked at. So, Madam Chair, I've got two more questions, and I'll do them quickly. So Fairfax is not the determining factor of as we move forward if we kill the project.

[01:52:42] Excuse me, that's not what I meant to say. Fairfax is not the determining factor in this decision. It's not the only factor, ma'am. You're correct. there's there's there's other factors okay you answered my question and then lastly what are the risks in terms of future projects as we go forward because there are other major projects similar to these one is in my district that I'm thinking of what are the risks going forward with NVTA at when we return back funding I hope like I mentioned and in the resolution asks you know before you

[01:53:22] answer yes ma'am the reason why i'm asking you that is because you did make um allusions to the county exec having a conversation in terms of potential negotiation correct ma'am and that's why i meant i was about to mention that again thank you for that uh and that i would be allowed to negotiate with mvta and hopefully it would be an amicable negotiations where we would we would explain the factors behind our decisions they would understand what those factors are they'd understand that we're giving them the additional funding back that we have and we'd be returning some of the funding or or most of the funding that that we used in that case and and we've moved forward uh implementing the rest of the projects like i said this is one of about you

[01:54:01] know 20 projects that we've done for mvta and we've succeeded in 19 so they they know and you've heard monica at many of the ribbon cuttings that she loves prince william county in the way we expedite do complete projects and do this is just the one that again i i have failed on but i will So, you know, again, we will continue as a department.

[01:54:23] Paulo's group and Brittany's group, our programmers, they work hard to work with these agencies to make sure we get a fair program and fair, again, and a lot of this stuff is codified, so we try to get a fair program in every program we get from either NVTA, SmartScale, or any other grant program received.

[01:54:39] So, ma'am, I've got a minute and 11. So this is not a de-obligating and re-obligating. It is not, ma'am. We're going to de-obligate the money, and it's going to stay in a pot, and it's going to be in the NVTA 70% regional pot, and it will be competed for with the whole region to get that money.

[01:55:00] So other regions, including Fairfax, can compete for this funding? That is correct, ma'am. Thank you, ma'am. Supervisor Bode. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just two final questions, Rick. So, ultimately, we're in a situation where the money isn't there.

[01:55:29] We have to find a mechanism for giving this project $100 million more to even say it's fully funded to continue on with the project. And right now, neither the CIP nor the five-year plan have any kind of plan for that money.

[01:55:49] That is correct, and nor are funding partners. And this is currently in the CIP, and I know the CIP presentation for next week was already dispatched, but one of the items in this resolution to remove it from the CIP, correct? Correct. To a question that was asked earlier, would the approval of the CIP be another opportunity for us to remove the project, or would we have to do it this way?

[01:56:13] Is it an F-or? I think the cancellation of the project through the resolution for the specific project, especially on this one where we're going to have to return some money. It has to be specific to the project to make sure that the board is aware of what the next steps will be and what we will have to come back with regarding the cancellation of this project.

[01:56:33] Okay. Appreciate my very last question, Madam Chair. And I don't expect an answer immediately, but as the CXO knows, as you know, Rick, I asked a question over the weekend where on the same September 20th meeting where we endorsed to be, We also initiated a CPA to add the widening to the comp plan for 28.

[01:56:54] As far as my research and my office research has seen, that CPA never went anywhere. We initiated it, the resolution is there, and there's a timeline. Do we have any more intel on what that is and what the timeline would be? We do. I think our planning director is here. She did send me an email today telling her that her group had done some research here on this and had found that that CPA was canceled last year.

[01:57:17] If I could just get more elaboration. Yes, please. Tanya Washington, planning director. With regards to your specific question, I was not able to find sort of further detail. I think I would probably defer to our transportation department in terms of the work that was done on the CPA, but in looking through our records, the CPA was canceled in February 6th of last year, along with several other quote-unquote inactive cases that were brought to the board at that time.

[01:57:50] So there currently is not an active CPA. sure and was and so appreciate that and was it a board action that coincided with the canceling or was it just sort of done administratively by the by the planning office it was brought to the board for their february 6 2024 meeting appreciate that thank you supervisor franklin yeah i just want to point out that if canceling the project we're going to pay out of pocket likely and that is correct for another project and if we keep the project you're saying that we still have to come

[01:58:26] out of pocket so i just want to be clear that either way we're coming out of pocket correct yes madam chair it's your third round what you want can you tell us do you have a number of what the difference is either or i'm sorry how much is needed to keep the project alive and how much would we have to pay back what's the difference we would have to pay back uh right now we have spent 5.9 million dollars of nvta dollars on the design of this facility uh which we would have to pay back we would have to come up with somewhere between 80 to 100 million dollars depending on

[01:59:02] when we come up with the money thank you thank you all right we don't have any more speakers in care i want to keep this moving meeting moving forward um for resolution 10a i'd like to get a motion so moved madam chair second it was properly moved and seconded now we get to have fun all right discussion let's see who jumps in first supervisor gordy thank you madam chair you know I appreciate all the discussion and coming in on the tail end of this, having the previous board really been doing a lot of the work on it.

[01:59:34] But in 2011, I proposed the idea of a bypass to Route 28. And at the end time, the goal was how do we turn the traffic around so that we could get people into Prince William County instead of sending them out of Prince William County for jobs every day.

[02:00:00] At that time, we had 50% of our residents leaving the county for a job in another jurisdiction. Since that time, that has jumped to 60%. We've moved in the wrong direction. In 2017, so fast forward six years to 2017, 2018, 1920, we get COVID.

[02:00:23] We take a look at what's happening in Fairfax County with their office space. They are decimated in terms of their office space. The question I have is right now as Prince William County, and I really want us to, what is it we're fighting for here?

[02:00:44] Are we fighting, continuing to fight for a road to send people out of this county, to send jobs out of this county? Are we fighting for something that helps us create our own economic development, create our own destiny, instead of continuing to be held under the thumb of Fairfax County?

[02:01:05] And I have watched this for over two decades of how Fairfax County continues to treat us like a redheaded stepchild. No offense to the redheads in the room. But what I've observed, you know, over the past 20 years and observed with this project is that regionalism really doesn't work here.

[02:01:29] Is that there are those that have and then there are those that have not. And those that have want to continue to hold those of us who have not under their thumb. And this is a perfect example of that. And so we are now left to the choices and really at a different time and place as a community as we think about our own future and our own destiny.

[02:01:56] And right now we have Urban Land Use Institute getting ready to prepare a study for us to figure out what the Sudley Corridor should look like. We have the Innovation District doing a study and consultants working on what the Innovation District should look like going forward and the opportunities that lie there.

[02:02:15] And I think given the fact that we have these very strategic opportunities before us, maybe the focus needs to be somewhere else and that we need to take a pause since Fairfax is holding us at bay. Let's take our own pause and let's determine our own future and let's figure this out for ourselves. And if it comes at a cost of $5.9 million, so be it. But where we were in 2011 and 2017 is not where we are today. I'm not saying Route 28 is not congested. I'm not saying

[02:02:54] that at all. But I think from an economic perspective and from a very high-level strategic perspective, I think we ought to have some broader conversations. And so I appreciate all the work everyone has done on this. Again, coming in on the tail end of this, at least as a board member, but what I'm looking at is this thing's just been, you know, in the military we have words for this, which i will not say for the dais um and so i'll just leave it at that and uh i i support

[02:03:28] the cancellation closing out of this project um did you have something supervisor rega because if not then we're going to vote yeah i'll close it out madam chair uh supervisor gordy thank you for that i can't um i couldn't have said it better myself but i do think that it's important to answer a question that you asked what are we fighting for aside from everything that you stated i'll tell you what i've been fighting for for the past five years i've been fighting for the people that live in these communities we talk so much on this day it's about affordability but it's only when it's convenient i've been fighting for the past five years for an underserved

[02:04:07] underrepresented area in prince william county so when we talk about who we fight for i'll tell you who i fight for and why i've been fighting so hard and i want to thank some of those members who are here today because you've been in this fight with me since the moment that i became the district supervisor. Do we have a problem on Route 28? Yes, we do. Are we going to do something about it? Yes, we will, because I gave my word that we would, and I'm a woman of my word, and we're going to follow through on that. The way that we get there has drastically changed. What we fight for

[02:04:42] is for Prince William County's interest, and not that of any other jurisdiction. I was not elected by anybody in Fairfax County. I was not elected by anybody in the city of Manassas or the city of Manassas Park. I was elected by folks that reside in the Coles District and that live in Prince William County. So who I fight for is for this county. Who I fight for is for my people.

[02:05:04] Y para las personas que están viendo en casa que no pudieron venir aquí ahora, por ustedes peleamos. Because they called my office and they said that they would have loved to be here, but they couldn't because this meeting starts at 2 p.m. and they have to work. They have to work to be able to provide for their families and to some this area may be insignificant madam chair and i get very passionate about this because if anybody takes a moment to go over there this to these people is paradise what may be insignificant for somebody else means the world to other people and you have to respect what that meaning has to folks that live in this area so i want to thank

[02:05:43] rick and company for realizing that we can't move forward with this project i want to thank my colleagues on the board for the questions that they have asked. But I want to make it very clear as to why I've been fighting for and for what I've been fighting for for the past five plus years. It's not just the negative human impact, folks. It's not just the environmental impact. It's not just the fiscal impact. I mean, we could go on and on and on and on. And at what point are we going to put our foot down and say enough is enough? We're going to do what's best for Prince William County. I think that that moment is here. It's long overdue. It's arrived. And I would hope

[02:06:18] madam chair that i would have a unanimous support from my colleagues on the board because the people in this area the people of this county deserve no less supervisor bode thank you madam chair um i've struggled with this one for a while and you know i'm not going to relitigate all the timelines and everything else that came up to this point um but as several folks have said we need to do something about the congestion in this corridor it's as simple as that it's been a regional issue for years. It's been a Prince William County, Manassas, Fairfax issue for years. You know,

[02:06:56] a lot of us, I've been over there several times. I have constituents that go on that road every single day, pre and post COVID. I will recall for a second when I first ran for this city in 2019, knocking on doors, first in Occoquan Forest, and then the Yates Ford, which is now in the Coles District, several people telling me that they have two options to try to get to work every day. Either go through the parking lot that is Clifton, or they have to go up to 28 and sit in that parking lot every single day. And that people for, as God knows how long, as long as 28 has

[02:07:34] existed in the way it has, people have promised to do something about it. People in the state, people in the feds, people on board of supervisors around the region have said they're going to do something about it. And I think, assuming the best faith of everyone that's been present in this fight since 2017, that we've all been trying to find the right way to help alleviate congestion in this corridor, not only for the people that are directly impacted, but for people in the western Prince William County that have to drive through that. And Meade County has to drive through that every single day. So I'm not going to poo-poo or get mad about anyone who tried to keep this project alive up until this point. We've had several decision points where we try to keep

[02:08:13] this project alive. We've been trying tooth and mail to try to find an alignment and a price point that would work for this county for us to get this project done the way it was originally designed. The way that people who are a lot smarter than all of us went through the technical assistance and the technical skill of analyzing what they believed would provide the highest amount of congestion relief for the price point.

[02:08:37] We went along with that for literally the entirety of most of our first terms together as supervisors. We're sitting here now in, I would call, the 13th hour, still in a place where we're spinning our wheels if we continue to try to keep this project alive.

[02:08:56] I understand that to some folks, us giving it a little bit more time, seeing a little bit more money, doing a Hail Mary pass, and all these other things will try to help keep this regional idea of this project alive for the relationships that exist here. But I sit here wondering when that $5.5 million becomes $8 million, becomes $10 million, becomes $16 million to get the project through design and all these other things other people are asking of us.

[02:09:23] I want to make a good faith effort, but I feel like we've made that good faith effort the last five years to try to get this across the finish line the way it has been. But this is not the end, even if we kill the project now. I regret that we closed out that CEPA to widen it, to add it to the widening of the comprehensive plan. We can easily rectify that immediately. We can even rectify that in this meeting if we wanted to as a board. But we need to find a solution. And I would love to go through the process doing a small area plan. But frankly, now that we know, based on the

[02:10:00] last two weeks that we will have many more people returning to washington dc to work because the executive orders and other things that happen we can't wait another year and a half how long it's going to take to do a a full uh small area plan for this area so the the way the fastest way for us to get something done if that's the widening i think we need to pursue that i think we need to pivot as quickly as possible because it would also give us the ability to look at like we did on Route 1 and other parts of the county, revitalizing a corridor which would sorely need it, and the opportunity to do that while delivering actual pedestrian and bike facilities

[02:10:39] and other things that that corridor has also needed for years that we currently can't do, also give us an opportunity to look at funding for that as well. So I think that we're at a, it's not a, hey, if we cancel a project now, we'll never see a conclusion or a solution for Route 28 for 10, 15, 20 years.

[02:10:57] I think we have another alternative, and I'll say in my last 30 seconds is I went back, I had the folks in Fairfax send me one of the resolutions that they passed endorsing doing something about 28. Very similarly to what was in the bond referendum, they did not say that they support the bypass.

[02:11:15] They supported having an alternative to the current status quo, which did not say the bypass, did not say widening, and left it open because they didn't want to put their stamp on that yet. So we still have momentum behind this idea of widening. I say let's take it.

[02:11:31] Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, let's go ahead and vote. Motion passes five to three. Supervisors Angry, Bailey, and Franklin voting nay.

[02:11:50] All right, thank you so much. We are going to go to agenda item number 11. And as always, I want to split these out, you know, our appointments versus establishing committees. And then we'll go around the horn. And you know what? We're not going to make 4 o'clock, but we're going to be just a little thereafter, okay?

[02:12:06] I voted for 6 because I don't know. Anyway, so I would like to entertain a motion for 11A through 11C. So move, Madam Chair. Second. All right. Any discussion on the appointments? If not, let's go ahead and take a vote.

[02:12:24] Vote unanimous. Supervisor Vega absent from vote. All righty. So I'm actually going to do 11D and 11E separately just because, you know, discussion or if anyone wants to, you know, vote against one but not the other.

[02:12:43] So I'd like to have a motion for 11D. So move, Madam Chair. Second. Any discussion? Actually, I have a question. Supervisor Franklin? Yeah, have we decided how members are going to be chosen for these committees? Well, I will go to Mr. Shorter, but I had an answer.

[02:13:02] But go up, Mr. Shorter. Thank you, Madam Chair. So two committees obviously are being considered here with these two resolutions. With the Budget and Finance Committee, this is a committee of the whole. and so what we are envisioning is that in the same way that we appoint, based on your recommendation, other representatives for other committees, both regional and local, we would do the same in this case.

[02:13:30] Because it is the committee of the whole, we are expecting that all of you come and participate in those committee meetings, but you all would choose a chair for that committee and vice chair. And everyone would be able to take votes within the committee? Correct. To be clear, the committee is not acting on behalf of the board.

[02:13:49] that the committee would just be making recommendations to the board. In the case of the interjurisdictional committee, I would, if this passes, reach out to the city managers for both Manassas and Manassas Park to let them know that the board has moved in a positive direction to establish an interjurisdictional committee.

[02:14:12] And should I wait on that and just deal with it? Well, actually, I was more so asking about the finance and budget committee, like how that would operate, because I'm assuming no one outside of Prince William will be on that board. That is absolutely correct. Okay. But it will be a committee of the whole.

[02:14:27] We can all take votes and participate. Correct. Okay. All right. Let's see. Supervisor Bailey. Chris, for the item 11E, are we only voting?

[02:14:43] No. For 11E, you're about to speak on that. Can we talk about 11E when we get there? Let's do 11D. Okay. I'm sorry. I thought we were. Okay. No worries. All right. I'm sorry. are you guys okay over here all right all right is this why supervisor franklin you always vote abstain or no when times come times are adjourned you just having a lot of fun all right so if there is no other questions regarding 11 d let's take a vote vote unanimous all right now we're going

[02:15:21] on to 11e i'd like to get a motion a second and then we can have discussion second all right this is beautiful all right discussion supervisor oh we are gotten there first we're and then bailey Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Schroeder, how do you envision the committee makeup being between Prince William Manassas and Manassas Park in terms of members?

[02:15:40] Sure. Thank you very much for that. So what I was going to say is that the board would appoint representatives. You all would appoint those representatives in the same way you appoint representatives for regional committees or commissions, but those representatives would be made up of this board.

[02:15:59] I would reach out to the city managers in both Manassas and Manassas Park, let them know that board action has taken place to establish an inter-jurisdictional committee. I have already reached out to let them know that this was potentially going to happen. They would then work with their governing bodies to appoint representatives.

[02:16:18] Once that happens, then I'll be prepared to come back and work with the board on the first meeting and staffing the committee, as it were. I was just curious if you had given any thought to proportionality. No, we had not.

[02:16:36] I think the way that we had envisioned this is that two representatives will be appointed per jurisdiction and not based on population size, if that's where you were going. So long as they can't take any binding actions, I'm fine.

[02:16:56] Supervisor Bailey. I just wanted to ask, and thank you for your indulgence, Madam Chair. I just wanted to ask, I know we're starting with Manassas City, Manassas Park. Are you considering in the future the towns?

[02:17:13] Thank you for that question, Vice Chair. This was originally brought to the board really to focus on the service agreements with the cities. And so if that expands and the board wishes to establish a body that focuses more on partnership within the county, then we can certainly reach out to the towns.

[02:17:38] But this was really focused on the service agreement, and the meetings will be really focused on that agreement and making sure that we negotiate an agreement that all jurisdictions could support. Just want to remind Vice Chair, you and the board, that I am now meeting with the towns separately on a regular basis, so we are getting that partnership and feedback from towns where there is a need to.

[02:18:06] But, again, we are certainly open if there is a desire. Madam Chair, just in closing, I don't want to change your vision at all. I just, in our efforts and how we are moving forward in such a positive trajectory, just plan to see for your consideration in the future.

[02:18:25] Thank you. All right. Then, Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. And, Mr. Shorter, it says here resources. You are asking for one FTE. Is there, and again, the point that I'm trying to make is that the cost of creating this lies solely on Prince William County, yes?

[02:18:45] Correct. I will say that the service agreements with the cities have them supporting some aspect of the FTE account. They are providing support via their service agreement with us.

[02:19:03] So I wouldn't necessarily want to double bill the cities by charging them for our FTEs. If they decide to staff the committee, for example, the interjurisdictional committee with their own staff, then that would be their decision.

[02:19:20] So if a FOIA request comes in, it's for the entire committee, our FTE is responsible for answering that FOIA? Or are they then going to reach out to the city's representatives and are they going to do the work for their members? If it is a FOIA request asking for information that Prince William County is responsible for, then yes, we would be responsible for responding to the FOIA.

[02:19:42] But we would not be responding to FOIA requests for Manassas Park information or Manassas Park data or the city of Manassas, the Manassas data. Understood. All right. Thank you very much.

[02:19:57] I don't see any other speakers, so let's go ahead and vote. Vote unanimous. All righty. Let's go around the horn.

[02:20:13] I think this time we're starting with Bailey. Thank you, Madam Chair. Get my little notes. I am ready. Good afternoon, everyone. Just want to start out by saying I had a wonderful, wonderful time at Vaco with my colleagues.

[02:20:33] My chief and I attended, and it was wonderful just to have a conversation with our state delegates and senators, but with Vaco as well and learning how we can support the county better. From the 24th to the 25th, I also attended the chairperson and vice chairperson's training class with VACO, and it was very helpful.

[02:20:55] Madam Chair, I'll be there for you. Don't worry. On the 25th, I was the mistress of the ceremonies for one of our community leaders, the Palmer trifecta, honoring a son, mother, and father, ages 60, 80, and 90, and it was a beautiful event, and we appreciate all the work that they do here in the community.

[02:21:21] They live in four seasons, so thank you for inviting me. On the 27th, Madam Chair, you did a wonderful, excellent job in your state of the county, and thank you for inviting me and my staff to attend. It was an impeccable turnout from the community, so we appreciate that.

[02:21:37] On the 27th, I also had a conversation concerning human trafficking with Ms. Chrissy Falls, And that's an opportunity I think that we need to look at going forward because it's across the county. And then on the 29th, thank you to my community for attending my district community town hall for the state of the district.

[02:22:01] And Madam Chair, thank you for attending as well. We had a very good turnout, and we look forward to serving the Potomac District going forward. On the 1st of February, congratulations to Councilmen Brian Fields, Russell Young, and Sean Peete.

[02:22:16] I had the opportunity of conducting their swearing ceremony by being their emcee for the swearing-in occasion. And it was absolutely wonderful. And to our Congressman Eugene Vindman for attending, and Madam Chair, thank you so much for your support for the town of Dumfries.

[02:22:33] Then on the 1st, again, that evening, I attended the Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity Old Gold and Black Gala in Richmond, Virginia, where I supported my husband, your state president of the NAACP, who was the guest speaker for the Social Justice Leading the Way, Inspiring Unity, and Forging a Future Grounded in Equality.

[02:22:56] It was a great event to the county exec. Your fraternity really did an excellent job. On the 6th, I'll be the guest speaker for the mentoring program for OmniRide, and I appreciate the invitation, and that is all I have other than I want to pass out a directive that I'll be initiating that was approved by our county attorney, the verbiage was, but I want to share it with my colleagues that I'll be bringing forth next week.

[02:23:28] So if you would, please pass that down. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. That's all I got. All right, Supervisor Weir. I'm going to keep this very brief since my over-under was 415. And I'm just going to talk about VACO for a second because I think this board needs to determine just exactly what they're getting out of them.

[02:23:53] They made some assertions that they were going to remain neutral on some legislation that we were either in support of or had our delegates carry for them. and lo and behold, they showed up at committee meetings and testified in opposition, and I'm not happy about that.

[02:24:13] And I think at the next VACO meeting, we need to address some of the staff to determine how the position changed from neutral to opposition. If that's what we're paying for, then we're paying too much. Supervisor Bode.

[02:24:32] Thank you, Madam Chair. A couple quick things for me. just wanted to one uh thank uh christina win and the folks over at chin park library um who are currently working on that calibrate renovation over there um it's going to be a very great resource for small businesses in prince reading county especially folks that are in around the occoquan and neapsco districts that they're they're the closest so i wanted to thank the folks over there also working through a plan that's going to be as least disruptive as possible for um for the

[02:25:04] patrons there wanted to again commend uh madam chair uh cxo shorter and the entire team i know it took a village to make sure that state of the county uh forum was a success and it was a very resounding success um as i've said several times i hope it is the first of an annual tradition because i think it was a great way to bring a lot of folks community leaders community members elected officials, together to see where the county has been and sort of the hopes and the aspirations of the county for the year to come. So I want to again thank everyone who made that

[02:25:42] a success. Also wanted to talk about a small forum that I attended here last week with my chief of staff. It was a human trafficking awareness seminar where county staff, community partners even folks in law enforcement came together and talked about all the happenings going on and all the efforts around combating human trafficking are going on in the region especially in Prince William County I hope that at some point not a directive but a request that we have a board meeting that's that talks about some of those agencies so those partners

[02:26:17] and that work that's being done it was really eye-opening I know Chrissy Falls comes here basically every other month to talk to us about human trafficking, but I didn't know the breadth of coalition of partners, whether it was agencies, state, federal, local, and community partners that were really locking arms to really tackle human trafficking and sort of what the challenges are there. So would love for us to talk about that at the board level at some point. Last but not least, I was, unfortunately, I could not make the Vaco local government day. I had two sick toddlers,

[02:26:52] the flu is going around, but I hear that there were some productive conversations and really looking forward to us trying to nail down a process, aka a legislative committee, I will say so again in the future to help tackle that issue. Thank you, Madam Chair. Supervisor Angry. Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I want to send my condolences to Mr. Harry Wiggins, who lost his father. Pretty sure I represent on behalf of the entire board. It's always hard to lose a loved one, And so we just want to recognize that.

[02:27:24] I also want to give my notice of intent to reappoint Kelly Easterly to the animal advisory, I believe. And, Ms. Andre, you should have her resume on file. And lastly, I'll say in kind of tying with the committee discussion, this board should really consider having committees.

[02:27:42] And if that means we should consider these positions being full-time, I really think this is a discussion we should have this year so we can actually figure out how we want to go about discussions of issues that really affect Prince William County and are bigger than our districts. So I would love for us to have that conversation. Thank you, Madam Chair. All right, on to Supervisor Gordy.

[02:28:07] Thank you, Madam Chair. First, I want to thank the Prince William County Soil and Water Conservation District for the outreach event that they held at Windy Knoll Farm in Noakesville on Saturday. They brought in the Cooperative Extension and some other folks in the agricultural community to share all the resources that are available to those who are interested in agriculture. It looks like they had a great turnout. I'm also excited. This morning, I heard some machinery behind my house, walked outside and took a look, and it was the start of the

[02:28:47] expansion of the Brentsville District Youth Baseball Field at the Noakesville Park. They're extending that out so that it is a tournament-capable field, and so I want to thanks our Parks Department for all the work they've been doing and look forward to having that completed very soon. Was that before or after 7 a.m.? It was, yeah, it was after, thankfully.

[02:29:13] And speaking of farming and agriculture, I'm partnering with the Virginia State University on a small farm orientation program that's being held Wednesday, February the 19th from 1 to 3 p.m. at Sunshine Ridge Winery.

[02:29:29] This event is for folks who have zero to five years of agricultural experience, and it will teach them and provide them with resources and instructions on how to start a farm, how to maintain a farm. And so look forward to that. If you have any questions about that, you can contact my office and we'll get you in contact with the registration with Virginia State University. Just want to, I've been getting notices this afternoon. We do have a winter weather advisory coming in. Looks like we're going to have up to an inch of sleet. That's a lot of

[02:30:07] sleet so and then even some ice on top of that so I just want to make folks aware to be careful tomorrow night make your plans I know VDOT's already out spraying the roads today and to trying to get ahead of that and I want to echo Mr. Shorter's comments to our first responders who responded to the plane crash you know that's one thing from a regional perspective I just literally spent the last week out at Luke Air Force Base doing emergency preparedness exercises, both from a joint national perspective as well as from a Navy perspective.

[02:30:44] And, you know, you never know when a crisis is going to hit. And so, you know, Dan, Mr. Alexander, and I have talked about, you know, our emergency operations center. And, you know, in all emergency situations are managed at the lowest possible level.

[02:31:05] And so having the right people at the right place within our own county and then at the regional level, then at the state level and developing those partnerships so that when the crisis happens, you're not trying to trade business cards, that you already have all that established and you're ready to go when the moment hits.

[02:31:22] And so I know our team here at Prince William County does a lot of those types of outreach. In fact, the emergency preparedness COG committee is having an exercise coming up here in a couple of months to sort of exercise these things.

[02:31:41] But the plane crash was certainly a reminder of how important it is that we work together as a region to be able to support one another when a crisis does arise. And so with that, I'll turn it back over to you, Madam Chair.

[02:31:58] Supervisor Franklin. Sure, yeah. Just want to point out, excuse me, on January 23rd, I also attended our VACO Legislative Day in Richmond. And just want to also send our condolences to the family of Mr. William McCarthy, who passed away.

[02:32:17] He represented the Isle of Wight on the Board of Directors. I believe he was our first vice chair, first vice president as well. So our condolences go out to them. Also, just want to point out, Supervisor Will, you're more than welcome to come to our Board of Directors meetings. That's where a lot of those decisions are made in terms of what we support versus what we want to remain neutral on.

[02:32:39] But those are open to anyone who wants to attend for VACO. I also want to just point out that on the 27th, I also attended the state of the county hosted by our chair and wanted to thank for the invitation and the information shared by our various departments, including transportation, economic development, and our public safety officers.

[02:33:04] Also on Tuesday, January 28th, I spoke at the Roe Kappa Social Studies Honor Society program at Freedom High School, their inaugural class, and this Honor Society provides national recognition for outstanding students and encourages and interests in an understanding and appreciation for social studies.

[02:33:24] And so just congratulations to all of those students, very proud of them per usual. And then also later that evening, I attended both the JV and varsity girls basketball game where I had some victories there. And so very, very fun times.

[02:33:41] Also, on the 29th, I hosted the Woodbridge District Community Town Hall. I just want to thank our police department and transportation for being part of those discussions and answering questions around kind of what's going on public safety wise. A lot of our residents are very, very happy with the work that's been done on Route 1.

[02:34:00] So I just want to thank our police officers, our police department specifically for that. And then also want to just recognize Senator Warner hosted a meeting today for state and local officials to talk about some of the changes that's happening on the federal level and just answering our questions specifically with regards to how federal grants are working with the federal freeze that's taking place and how a lot of our agencies are, I'll use the word, evolving.

[02:34:31] And so thank you, Senator Warner, for hosting that. And then also just want to thank our fire and rescue squad, particularly 512, that was out helping with our search and rescue recovery efforts at National Airport. Very proud of our public safety officers per usual and just want to thank them and Chief LaBelle for stepping up and helping out regionally.

[02:34:54] Just lastly, upcoming, I will be hosting our annual Black History Month program February 26th at 7 p.m. We will send more details to come. And then also I will be the guest speaker at Freedom High School's Black History Month program at the end of the month as well.

[02:35:10] So thank you. Supervisor Vega. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a couple of things. I attended the Community Criminal Justice Board meeting, and during that meeting I was also nominated as vice chair and voted as a vice chair. So I want to thank folks that serve on this board for their trust in me, and I look forward to working with all of our stakeholders in regards to matters pertaining to this commission and what it does.

[02:35:33] Also, just want to remind folks that this Saturday, right here at McCourt, we will be having our 2025 Prince William 4-H Contest Day. So if you're free, it's going to start at 10 a.m. I'm actually going to be a judge, so also want to thank the organizers of this event for entrusting me with such a huge responsibility.

[02:35:52] I look forward to engaging with all of the contestants. And again, if you can make it, it's going to start at 10 a.m. That's all, Madam Chair. All right. No picks. So 4.15, was it? I mean, we got four minutes. I don't know. I got five.

[02:36:08] So technically, I can bring... No. All right. So first of all, I want to thank everyone who attended the State of the County Forum last week. It was great. And it was also a celebration of our county. It was a chance for people to hear directly from department heads with questions they actually submitted um and i also had time you know in um closing out january i did joint town joint town hall with supervisor gordy and i also crashed supervisor bob's town hall because those are two districts i prioritized those as those were two districts that i was not able um to um do town hall last year because of medical leave i also of course crashed supervisor bailey's town hall because well i lived down the street so

[02:36:48] why not all right so i want a couple notices of tense a couple or one directive my directive without objection i would like to direct the county executive to draft a resolution for the board's consideration establishing a board legislative committee the draft resolution should address among other things the committee composition scheduling meetings election of a committee chair and vice chair and staffing of the committee the county executive should coordinate with me as the chair to schedule the resolution for the board's consideration at a future meeting um i hear no one so notice is no tent i would like to announce my notice of intent

[02:37:25] and point the following individuals to boards committees and commissions victoria stopley to the human rights commission and jerry brown to the stafford regional airport authority and i would like to reappoint lucy bochamp and clarence hemfield to the board of zoning appeals and keisha strand to the solid waste advisory group and with that y'all come on we know what time it All right, any discussion?

[02:37:54] Wait, y'all, we got to vote. Come on, a discussion. No one wants to talk about their feelings, how they felt. If they want to keep, it's not debatable. It's not, we're not debating. We're just discussing. We're having a conversation. All right. Vote unanimous. Thank you, everyone.

[02:38:11] And we got out of here at 4.13 p.m. Thank you.

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