Third public meeting tonight Sept. 24 on PWC Rural Preservation Strategies and staff recommendation

Prince William County Planning Office will hold a third community meeting on the implementation of the Rural Preservation Study. The meeting will be from 5:30-8:30 p.m. tonight, Tuesday, Sept. 24, at the Hylton Performing Arts Center, which is located at 10960 George Mason Circle in Manassas.

The initial meeting, in June, focused on adopting a vision for rural preservation. During the second meeting,  held in July, the Planning staff gathered input from those attending regarding a variety of alternatives for rural preservation, which included a “no-action” alternative, said Planning Director Rebecca Horner. “We asked participants to fill out a comment card that had participants rank how well each alternative achieved a variety of criteria. For example, participants were asked to indicate how well different alternatives permanently preserved open space. That information is being compiled, so we can analyze the results.”

Tonight’s meeting will recap the discussions laid out in the other meetings and present the staff recommendation. Horner said. “We will present the staff recommendation, which is based on the Rural Preservation Study recommendations, input from citizens and research into preservation tools. This will be an opportunity for the Planning Commission and the public to receive staff’s recommendation, more than a month in advance of the second Planning Commission work session, scheduled for Oct. 23 in the Board Chambers.”

Public hearings will be scheduled later in the year.

The Planning Office will continue to accept comments up until the final public hearing. Citizens can continue using the Planning Office comment form https://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/planning/Pages/Submit-a-Comment.aspx or by calling 703-792-7615, Horner said. “We always welcome comments. We recommend comments are submitted in a written format. This will allow us to better track the comments we receive. “

There is also a rolling “question and answer” page on the Comprehensive Plan Update webpage, which allows citizens to post questions and staff will reply to each. All questions and answers are displayed for the public to review. The page is for the Comprehensive Plan Update and all Rural Area Study Implementation questions are welcomed in that format and location. The page is found https://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/planning/Pages/Comprehensive-Plan-Update.aspx

For more information, visit the Planning Office’s website at pwcgov.org/planning and view https://www.pwcgov.org/government/dept/planning/Pages/Rural-Area-Plan.aspx