Your Piece of the Planet

Ever seen a person on a diet make “just one exception” for a snack between meals, a second helping at the meal, or a cookie after the meal?  Think those dieters lose weight?

We have supervisors who operate the same way.  They approve land use plans with a defined Development Area for new development to accommodate population growth (including small-lot subdivisions) and a Rural Area where new development is limited.  By concentrating growth in the Development Area, we can concentrate schools, roads, fire/police stations, etc. and minimize future taxes to build public facilities.  That’s smart, low-tax growth.

But as soon as developers show up with a project on the edge of the Rural Area, some supervisors fall off the wagon.  “Oh, we can make an exception, just this once.  It won’t set a precedent.”  Amazingly, that’s what the Planning Staff says about the Comprehensive Plan Amendment and the rezoning being considered by the Planning Commission Wednesday, Nov. 4 at 7:00 pm, for Avendale, at the intersection of Vint Hill and Route 28.

After the Planning Commission sends Avendale to the Board of County Supervisors, it will become crystal clear who are the “build Anything, Anywhere, at Any time” supervisors.  There’s no way to pretend this project is consistent with the concept of the Rural Area in the existing Comprehensive Plan.

The Board of County Supervisors is planning to update the county’s Principles of Sound Financial Management.  The revised principles will still include three key statements regarding the financial health of the county.

Those three statements should guide the revision of the Transportation, Land Use, and Environment chapters of the Comprehensive Plan, if we want to emphasize local jobs, low property taxes, and economic stability of the county.

Right now, all three proposed drafts of the Land Use Chapter, and the draft of the Transportation Chapter approved by the Planning Commission, are fiscally irresponsible.   Only the draft of the Environment Chapter is designed to reduce county costs and face long-term economic realities.

If the Board of County Supervisors considered the financial impacts by 2030 of the proposed long-term Comprehensive Plan updates… the need for dramatic revisions in Land Use and Transportation drafts would become clear.

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The Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association will speak at the First Thursday Nature Tales on Thursday night, October 1.  They’ll be discussing the life cycle of bees, how we get honey, what is “sustainable” beekeeping in our region, etc.  It will be a fascinating and fun conversation.

But meanwhile, over in the not-so-weird-scientist labs, the wizards keep expanding the frontiers of knowledge.  According to the Wall Street Journal, doctors – with the assistance of nanoparticles – may be able to direct bee venom to attack cancer cells one day soon.

Sweet, eh?

Our monarch butterflies migrate from Prince William to Mexico every Fall. This week is normally the peak migration season for our area, according to Journey North.

To get to the single forest in Mexico where the insects over-winter, they need a compass and a clock.  The butterflies use the sun to determine direction – but because the sun moves throughout the day, the monarchs also need a clock.

After all, setting your path by the sun at 9:00am will send you in one direction, but if you fly at the same angle to the sun at 3:00pm you’ll end up going in a very different direction.  (Ask anyone who lives west of their job.  They commute east into the sun in the morning – and back home, into the sun again, in the evening.)

Scientists have just discovered that the biological clock that enables monarchs to use the sun as a compass is located in their antennae, not in their brain. Guess there really is something new under the sun, occasionally… (For more, see article in Wired.)

The demographers predict in the March 15 Demographic Factsheet that 165,000 new residents will come to Prince William over the next 20 years.   To absorb the new residents, Prince William will need about 55,000 new residential units by 2030.

The March 12, 2008 Build-Out Analysis says “In summary, there is capacity for 46,336 additional dwelling units to be built.”  Without any changes in the current Comprehensive Plan, we could absorb about 135,000 new residents in those already-planned residential units.

To house the last 30,000 arrivals, we need to build 20% more houses than would be permitted in the current Comp Plan.  Right now, however, we have vast amounts of property ready for developers that could accommodate 15 years of population growth.  (The extra 30,000 more people predicted by 2030 that will need housing?  They ain’t on the doorstep now.)

So why are our planners trying to up-plan and up-zone for even more people?  What problem are they fixing?

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PWCA Green Breakfast — From Your Backyard to the Bay

WHEN: Saturday, February 28 at 9:00 a.m.

WHERE: Wetland Studies & Solutions, 5300 Wellington Branch Drive, Gainesville

REGISTER: Click here to download the flyer and registration form.

SPEAKERS: Tom Davis, Charles Smith and Mike May

Green is in and the benefits of acting locally have never been more apparent. From the Obama administration to the state’s Renew Virginia initiative, there’s lots of noise and even a few details on how we can really make a difference. Read the rest of this entry »

The Potomac River on the eastern edge of Prince William County is a “two-fer” that combines nationally-significant cultural and natural resources.  The Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail was established in 2006 to mark the 1607-1609 voyages of Captain John Smith, when he ventured from Jamestown and charted the land/waterways of the Chesapeake Bay.

The National Park Service is now preparing a Comprehensive Management Plan.  Comments are due by November 7.  Here’s what I had to say: Read the rest of this entry »