Questions on wells, cell towers, safety, schools at Candland’s town meeting

Gainesville District Supervisor, Pete Candland, held a town hall on Wednesday, July 20 at Park Valley Church to answer questions from residents about a variety of issues facing the county.

Among those joining Candland included School Board members Alyson Satterwhite, Will Deutsch, and Gil Trenum; Police Chief Barry Barnard; Fire Battalion Chief Curt Brodie; Strategic Plan Team members; PWC Planning Office Director, Chris Price and PWC Transportation Division Chief Rick Canizales.

Candland joked in the beginning as he introduced panel members that he was sitting amongst School Board Members to “dispel rumors” that the two boards do not get along well.

Each panel member introduced himself or herself. Barnard boasted PWC’s “great police department” where it is an “honor to serve” the residents of PWC. Satterwhite asked for patience as the schools’ website was being changed and updated and asked to remember students who will not be provided with proper school supplies.

Candland reiterated his purposed to watch over taxpayer dollars and ensure that money is spent well and suggested topics of education, transportation, public safety, and a topic on the minds of many residents in Candland’s district, power lines.

To start of the questions from those present, a resident asked about a possible bridge going over the train tracks on VA 55 leaving Haymarket and how traffic was measured. The answer given by Canizales is that traffic is measured over a 24-hour period and that there is no estimated time frame and no budget for the project.

Another citizen was very concerned about private wells and a potential drought–citing residents in Loudoun County who faced a similar issue with concern about big projects in the rural crescent. Most recently in the Gainesville District is Saint Katherine Drexel Mission. Candland answered that the Board passed a certain square footage site plan with maximum capacity.

Still, frustrated with an unanswered question, she asked “What will you do, Pete, when people have no water?” The resident argued that without water, the homes have no value.

Other comments made concerning development in the Rural Crescent included that the whole idea of setting aside the land would mean that residents would not have to worry about development or water loss included asking about zoning in the rural crescent.

The answer included the fact that 52% of Prince William County land is in the rural area, but there are no policies in place to promote agricultural development.

Concerning the power line issue that has been plaguing many citizens in the Haymarket area for the last few years, it was asserted that since it is the Prince William Board of County Supervisors’ responsibility to protect the citizens of the county, why would they allow a data center in the Haymarket area without the infrastructure there?

Residents understood the desire of the BOCS to attract data centers to the county; however, they were not happy with the placement of the Haymarket data center.

Candland insisted that the county has put aside thousands and thousands of acres that have the infrastructure established for data centers.

When asked about meeting with Dominion Power and NOVEC concerning their plans, the answer was that the power companies do not share “a lot of their future planning” with the county, insisting they “follow the growth.”

Along with that, residents expressed concerns over cell towers in or near neighborhoods.

Candland expressed concern over the need for balance between needing the towers and aesthetics–citing examples of other communities that used towers to put high school mascots on or made to look like trees. Residents also suggested finding a way to make revenue from the towers or using power towers for dual purposes.

There were several comments, complaints and recommendations concerning the revenue sharing agreement the BOCS has with the School Board.

Candland explained that the agreement gives 57.23% [of county revenues annually] to the school board.

A resident raised the question about what the percentage was even based on–insisting it was an arbitrary number, and questioned the School Board’s ability to spend appropriately pointing to the piano that had been purchased for $125,000 and the Superintendent being one of the highest paid in the state.
Satterwhite underscored that as soon as she heard about the piano, she spoke to Steven Walts, school superintendent, “quickly,” but did not reveal the content of the conversation.

Candland explained that the BOCS’ intention to give additional money that would be used toward reducing class sizes as long as the School Board signed an agreement that the money would be used for such purposes, thereby adding a level of accountability. He says, of course, the School Board could say “no” to the agreement.

A resident asked why the 12th wealthiest county in the United States, Prince William County, is underfunding its schools and asked if there is a long term plan to invest in schools. Better schools would result in attracting businesses to the county, it would be good for the students and good for the population, the resident said.

A resident accused the revenue sharing agreement of allowing no one to do his or her job and said he would refrain from further comments to the school board because there were small children present and they would be directed to Ryan Sawyers, Chairman-at-large of the PWC School Board.

There was also concern expressed about affordable housing the in county. Candland echoed the sentiment that there are many people are struggling and insisted that there are pockets of affordable housing within PWC.

Annemarie Landry took the opportunity to tell the attendees and Candland about her non-profit, HUGS, that builds small homes for the homeless and pleaded for a variance to allow them to build the homes.

A representative from the Strategic Planning team admitted that whenever they bring up the issue of land use they get their “knuckles” smacked by the Board of Supervisors.

When asked about the status of the county’s strategic plan and when it would be updated, it was explained that they plan is updated every 20 years and the last update was in 2008; therefore, it would be updated in 2028.

A resident asserted that the strategic plan had the “consistency of jello” insisting that they do not stick to it. He scolded them saying that it is “their job” and if the staff didn’t like it, “too bad.”

Concern was raised about perhaps purchasing body cameras for the police department. Barnard commended his department on the high marks they receive from the public and highlighted the cost of body cameras which would include purchasing, retrieval, redacting, and cloud storage of information.

A young man expressed concern over safety of students and the preparedness of the police department in dealing with school shootings.

Barnard reassured him that the PWC police department practices and plans for scenarios all of the time revealing they were doing such a training on that day. He reassured him that resource officers are in the schools which should give him a sense of comfort.

Candland chimed in that he asked the same question and they provided him with specifics that reassured him that students were safe. Satterwhite also reassured him that the schools and police work closely to ensure safety of the students that attend PWC schools.