Archive for May 2009
Big Chickens at Merrimac Farm
Last weekend I was driving out from the Stone House and saw large birds walking across the road a ways down. Great, I thought, a couple wild turkeys. So I stopped and grabbed my binoculars… and said what the heck is that?
They were about the size of a turkey but chicken shaped, with a red comb and fancy tails. An exotic surprise, akin to seeing a camel walking through the floodplain.
I looked them up and discovered the Red Junglefowl, thought to be the ancestor of all domestic chickens. Originally from southeast Asia, it appears that Red Jungle Fowl have found their way to Nokesville, Virginia. I’d guess they are escapees from a nearby farm, a familiar path that many exotic species have used to transition from pets to problems. Read the rest of this entry »
Who said… (#4 in a series)
…”I just see the whole thing as a waste of taxpayer dollars”?
It was a Roanoke resident, commenting on that city’s investment in a trolley connecting downtown to the medical center in a 2-mile loop. If Prince William commits to a future based on transit rather than more roads/more cars/more taxes/more congestion… our elected officials will have to stay the course and deal with critics who question the expense of transit.
Who said… (#3 in a series)
…”It’s an opportunity to wean ourselves off the stranglehold of automobiles”?
Answer: Will Sessoms, the mayor of Virginia Beach. He was talking about how the second largest jurisdiction in Virginia will reduce traffic congestion, by financing transit that will stimulate transit-oriented development (TOD).
Unlike Prince William, the elected officials in that region are implementing integrated transportation/land use plans designed to reduce additional congestion as the population grows.
You can’t win if you don’t play
County officials are gathering public input now for revisions to the Park Authority’s Strategic Plan.
At the public meeting on May 18 2009, about a dozen people highlighted the need for a network of trails, more neighborhood parks close to where people live, and action on protecting green open space before it’s all developed.
This feedback to the Park Authority matched the findings of the Park Authority’s 2008 Needs Assessment, which verified that people are willing to invest in the future.
After a frustrating year of trying to establish “aim high” goals for the Parks and Open Space Chapter of the Comprehensive Plan, many people might be feeling cynical about the value of participating in another planning effort. But if you don’t play, you can’ win. Read the rest of this entry »
The “epicenter of a tremendous education village”
Where can you find a proposed combination of a George Mason University campus *and* a transit station, where new development would spur healthy growth and provide economic development benefits to the local jurisdiction?
Maybe at Innovation, if VRE expands there – but don’t hold your breath waiting for county officials to stimulate a town center there. Prince William officials are sitting back, waiting for a developer to make this happen.
The Cherry Hill Peninsula
Cherry Hill Peninsula shoreline November 2004
The Cherry Hill Peninsula was nearly 2,000 acres of high quality hardwood forest overlooking the Potomac River, with a network of wetlands and streams that meandered through a rugged landscape. It was our Mason Neck Peninsula, our Crow’s Nest.
But conservation is a hard sale in Prince William County. Despite opposition from hundreds of people, Supervisors rezoned Cherry Hill in January 2001 for high-density mixed-use development and a golf course.
The recent announcement that the Cherry Hill/Harbor Station development project has gone bankrupt and is being foreclosed comes as no surprise to many – but don’t blame it on the recession.
This development has struggled from the beginning. In 2002 the property was sold to Lee Carolina LLC. (KSI/Kettler, Sandler & Sons). Over the next several years, Kettler made a series of changes to the development plan that increased residential densities, relocated residential areas, changed the road network and modified proffered open space.
Watch Wildlife at Vet’s Park
Prothonotary Warblers are at Vet's Park now.
Veteran’s Memorial Park, located in the Route 1 corridor, is a good place to experience wildlife.
You wouldn’t think so at first glance. The Park is jam packed with ball fields, a skate board facility, 50-meter outdoor swimming pool, picnic pavilions and a community center. Every weekend the park is brimming with people engaged in active recreation activities.
With all this activity, how could Vet’s Park be a great place to watch wildlife? Read the rest of this entry »
Now it’s *really* time to open up Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge
Right now, the US Fish and Wildlife Service is blocking public access to the Potomac River at Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge (NWR). The Federal agency’s own website is blunt: “The refuge is closed to the public.”
The President was equally blunt today in his May 12, 2009 Executive Order: “expand public access to waters and open spaces of the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries from Federal lands.”
Region 5 in Hadley, Massachusetts: are you listening? When you create the required “description of agency sites where new opportunities for public access might be provided,” Featherstone NWR is low-hanging fruit.
More tree removal at Manassas Battlefield
The National Park Service plans to remove more trees at Manassas National Battlefield Park.
They’re altering the current landscape to make it more consistent with field/forest patterns in the 1860’s, in preparation for the 150th anniversaries of the First and Second Battles of Manassas in 2011/2012. This time, the trees to be removed are along the “unfinished railroad,” focus of intense fighting on August 30, 1862.
To learn more, attend the open house on May 13, 4:00-7:00pm at the Stuart’s Hill Center (Pageland Lane and Route 29).
Haymarket says “no thanks” to VRE
Who wants to live at the end-of-the-line, the place where commuters transfer from cars to Virginia Railway Express (VRE)?
Who wants a multi-story parking garage that brings a cloud of exhaust twice a day? Who wants massive congestion from Fauquier and Front Royal commuters that will rarely stop to buy even a cup of coffee, in the hurry to git-n-go?
Not Haymarket. On May 4, the Town Council went on record, officially opposing plans to locate a VRE station at Haymarket.
