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From: Sean Cosgrove
Sent: Saturday, January 8, 2022 2:41 PM
Subject: Pageland Data Centers & A Pageland Residents Voice- Please Read
I want to first thank you for taking the time to read my e mail and wish to share why I am in support of the data centers on the Pageland corridor. My wife and I moved to PWC from Centerville in 1993 to the only subdivision on the left side of the entire stretch of Old Linton Hall Road from 29 to 28, a subdivision called Amberly Station. The only thing around us was farmland, Atlas Steel, Joe’s Pizza and a few other small businesses. My wife would have to shop for groceries in Manassas as there were no other options. We watched our children who began their PWC education in first grade through high school bounce from school to school as the maps changed. In 2002 we purchased a small farm off Pageland Lane in Catharpin Farms and 3 years ago purchased the original Alvey farm house behind us. We have now been residents in Cathaprin for 20 years and PWC residents approaching 30.
I share our history with you because it is important for you to know how much change we have witnessed in PWC and most importantly on Pageland Lane. There was a time where I could take my tractor up to Alveys and fuel my tractor up but find myself now unable to do it because I will get hit by traffic. I can’t count the times that I have left our property to turn onto Pageland only to turn around because the road is backed up at times over a mile because of congestion on 29 and 66. We live at the bottom of a hill and my wife is scared of getting rear ended as the traffic speeds over the hill as she is turning. We have had some very close calls. I most of the time have to use Thorton Rd as a cut through to avoid the heavy traffic on Pageland. I have seen our real estate and property taxes rise to a point where in the next year or two I will be paying close to 20K in just real estate taxes alone and I have almost half of my property in land use. Can you only imagine if it wasn’t. We have witnessed the explosion in development all around us and I am extremely concerned about the rise in the cost of living in PWC and the future of our educational system. My family no longer lives in the rural crescent but with the memories of what it once was. We live on a small stretch of road used by thousands as a thoroughfare for commuters and commercial traffic with power lines lining the whole stretch. My children grew up in PWC and now have three children of their own and will be raising their children here. I want the best for my grandchildren and I feel that we need, as responsible individuals to the next generation, to make the right decisions and invest in the future of PWC educational system, road infrastructure, business development and tax relief for our residents.
There is no question in my mind that Pageland lane at some point will be widened to relieve congestion and will be developed. The question is will it be subdivisions like Dominion Valley and Heritage Hunt adding more congestion or data centers that only have 5 cars in their parking lots while generating 700M plus in tax revenue. The data centers would have the least amount of environmental impact as most of the land along Pageland has been farmed for centuries and are already cleared. We need to take advantage of this one time opportunity and look at data centers on Pageland as a pressure relief valve for all PWC residents to help in lowering taxes, improve our school system and make PWC more attractive for outside companies to relocate to PWC and increase employment opportunities within the county.
I understand there is some opposition to the data centers on Pageland but from who? Residents that simply signed a petition because they were misinformed on the facts or simply told to do so because it’s the thing to do? The very same ones that are opposing development from the house they live in that was built on a 1000 acre farm and have only recently moved there? Outside influence from non residents? Our family has vested 30 years in PWC and love our county and if the data centers are approved I can look forward to seeing my grandchildren with a better education and my children with a better future. I have owned and operated a successful business in PWC for 30 years paying BPOL and property taxes and contributing to this county and am proud to be a resident and will continue to be. Just hopefully not on Pageland. I as well as other Pageland Residents look at the Data Center opportunity as our contribution to the future and prosperity of our great PWC.
In closing I ask that you support and pass the Pageland Data Center Corridor for the benefit of all PWC.
Respectfully,
Sean J P CosgroveFrom: Anthony Carpino Sent: Friday, January 7, 2022 4:24 PM Subject: I support PW Digital Gateway for PWC
It’s time to make an exclusionary zone. into an opportunity zone Putting a Data Center Corridor along existing massive transmission lines just makes good sense and offers PWC residents' opportunity. The PEC/PW Alliance /Smarter Growth do not live on Pageland Lane. They are paid lobbyists whose mission is to protect Fauquier from Prince William County and keep Western Prince William County their buffer. The current land use designation offers no opportunity for inclusion or opportunity to help lower PWC’s residential tax burden. We support the PW Digital Gateway.
I know that the above is a "form letter" of sorts, but it is still accurate. I thought the following article from the Prince William Times would be the best way to describe how many residents view the PWC Rural Crescent. The Rural Crescent was created in 1998 by the then Board of County Supervisors. there was no vote of the residents and with a stroke of a pen 52% of the county was zoned 1 dwelling per 10 acres with no access allowed to water and sewer. Landowners saw their property down zoned and devalued, and low-income residents saw little opportunity for affordable housing.
PWC needs to increase its commercial tax base, we need to create jobs within the county for our residents, and we need a mix of housing that includes affordable housing not just expensive homes on 10 acre lots. Please take the time to read the article below. It's short, to the point and relevant. Please support the PW Digital Gateway for PWC.
Sincerely,
Regards,
Tony Carpino
Gainesville, Virginia 20155
Prince William Times
In the “rural crescent” debate some see conservation, others see exclusion
Who's left out of the 'rural crescent'?
· By Daniel Berti Times Staff Writer
· Feb 18, 2021 Updated Oct 18, 2021
There is a line in Prince William that carves the county into two halves. On one side, there is vast, mostly open space that includes the Marine Corps Base Quantico, Prince William Forest Park and the Manassas Battlefield. It’s home to about 27,000 people.
On the other side, 443,000 people live in an area that runs the gamut from urban to industrial to semi-rural.
The line separating the two areas is known as the “rural area boundary,” part of a land-use policy adopted by the board of county supervisors in 1998 to put the brakes on suburban growth when the county had 200,000 fewer residents. It splits the county into the rural area, or “rural crescent,” on one side, where only one home can be built per 10 acres, and the development area on the other.
And while the population in the development area has increased dramatically since 1998, the rural area’s strict zoning rules have kept it sparsely populated.
Now, some local elected officials and community members say the policy is shutting out lower- and middle-income people and contributing to overcrowding in the rest of the county, while rural crescent advocates fiercely defend it as a land conservation strategy. Meanwhile, officials are reaching a key decision point on rural area zoning as updates to the county’s comprehensive plan are expected in the coming months.
Are the rural crescent rules a form of 'exclusionary zoning'?
Some supervisors have used words like “segregation” and “exclusionary zoning” to describe the policy – words that carry with them the long legacy of racist housing policies that proliferated in the United States in the 20th century, some of which continue today.
“If you have a few sections of the county where the only people that can access [it] are people ... rich enough to afford a 10-acre lot, that's already a form of segregation in my opinion,” Supervisor Kenny Boddye, D-Occoquan, said in a recent interview.
Others, like at-large board Chair Ann Wheeler (D) and community activist Rev. Keith Savage, have referred to the rural area policy as a form of exclusionary zoning – a practice historically used to keep racial and ethnic minorities from moving into middle- and upper-class neighborhoods.
Exclusionary zoning often imposes minimum lot sizes and prohibit multi-family dwellings that make certain areas less affordable for low- and middle-income people. But the term is most often used in reference to cities – not exurban and rural areas.