Public Will Speak Tonight on Contentious Development

By Stephanie Tipple

Lake Ridge, Va. — Prince William Supervisors tonight will hear from the public about a developer’s contentious plan to construct an office building at a busy intersection in Lake Ridge.

Supervisors ultimately will decide whether or not to rezone a property at Tanyard Hill and Old Bridge roads, outside Occoquan, to make way for a 32,500 square foot office building. This proposed commercial rezoning has met with opposition from elected officials on the Occoquan Town Council who do not support the project.

Occoquan Mayor Earnie Porta has expressed two main concerns: the negative impact the project will have on storm water drainage which leads into the town, and the increased traffic the development will bring to the already congested area.

Town officials also said the development will impede their attempt provide economic growth opportunities to residents, and that by approving of these development project, the county will be “rewarding a developer for just the kind of behavior the county should be discouraging,” according to a resolution drafted by town officials denouncing the project.

But the Oaks III developer, Ken Thompson, a Virginia resident and longtime Lake Ridge community environmentalist, said the development on his piece of property will in fact provide many benefits to the community. As per the most current rezoning request, 76 percent of the property owned by Thompson will be left untouched, instead being placed into a conservation easement.

Thompson also said all of the studies and assessments of the property that have been done in preparation for this rezoning request, addressing the concerns that the town of Occoquan has thus far expressed.

A public hearing will be held tonight at 7:30 p.m. at the Prince William County Government Center on Prince William Parkway in Woodbridge.

The proposed building
Plans call for the buildings to look similar to nearby Oaks office buildings previously built by Thompson in the past. It will be three stories, like the older buildings, with the addition of six windows on either side of the building, three more than the older buildings. There are also plans to plant several trees on the site, to tuck the office building away and preserve the natural aspect of the area.

Flood concerns
The Ballywhack Creek which runs through the middle of the parcel and into the small Occoquan town flooded recently causing damage to the buildings in the small village. The town fears developing the land would lead to more flooding from the creek.

But a study conducted on the safety of the stream rezoning request was being developed found the expansion would have low impact development techniques like cisterns and infiltrated ditches that they will have the ability to make the run off of the parcel even less than the flooding that the land is currently experiencing, according to Thompson.

Traffic concerns
There was also a traffic impact analysis completed in this planning period, and this was done in conjunction with the county’s transportation department and the Virginia Department of Transportation, which would not be heavily impacted. This study is on file and was submitted to the county and accepted. “We feel like we have an excellent application,” Thompson said of the recent rezoning request.

Neutral Board of Supervisors
On the whole, the members of the Board of County Supervisors remain neutral on the plans defined in the rezoning request, waiting until tonight’s meeting to hear both sides. Prince William Occoquan District Supervisor Mike May, who does not represent the Town of Occoquan but rather a magisterial district in Prince William County by the same name, has expressed some concerns that mirror those of the town’s. May said the entrance of the development and modifications that have been discussed, but said he will remain neutral at the present time.