Prince William County will spend $53 million on a new parking tower in Woodbridge.
On Tuesday, September 20, county leaders approved the final design for the seven-story, 1,400-space parking garage to sit between Wegmans grocery store and Sentara Northern Virginia Medical Center.
Democrat and Republican leaders said the structure is the future of commuter parking in the county.
Yesli Vega (R), representing the Coles District and seeking a seat in congress on November 8, 2022, General Election, was the dissenting vote. Yoga took issue with a Virginia Department of Transportation report showing barely 20 percent of existing commuter lot spaces near where the tower will sit are full.
“Help me understand how this makes good fiscal sense,” said Vega to Prince William County Transportation Department Director Rick Canizales, who is working to construct the garage.
Since the pandemic of 2020, more people are working from home instead of commuting to offices in Washington, D.C. The idea for the parking tower was born in 2012 when commuter parking lots were overflowing with cars. The prospect of a new Potomac Nationals Minor League Baseball stadium being built next to the parking garage was high.
Under the original plan, commuters would use the parking tower on weekdays and baseball fans on evenings and weekends. In the end, the Potomac Nationals built the stadium in Fredericksburg, and commuter patterns have not returned to pre-pandemic levels.
“Commuter parking will be increasing here shortly. Will it ever return to the levels they were before? I’m not sure,” said Canizales.
Canizales said it would be unwise to abandon the project now, following the Board’s vote in March to award a design-build contract to the Whiting-Turner Company in March, when the cost of structure skyrocketed by $16 million due to inflation.
“It would be very problematic to break our contract and give the money back to the feds,” said Canizales.
The federally-funded project mandates the county use the cash to build a 1,400-space parking garage. The lot will become a hub for commuters and bus riders who take OmniRide, which plans to relocate the center of its operation to the tower from its transit center headquarters at nearby 14700 Potomac Mills Road.
Canizales reminded the Board of County Supervisors that Transburban, the firm that manages the Interstate 95 E-ZPass Express Lanes, will build a new ramp next to the tower, giving drivers and buses access to the toll lanes.
“I think this needs to be the future of commuter parking in Prince William County,” said Gainesville District Supervisor Peter Candland (R). The county should build garages instead of paving large swaths of land for commuter lots, as was done at University Boulevard and Balls Ford Road on I-66, he said.
Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin hinted at the possibility of a new recreation facility to be built near the parking tower behind Freedom High School on Neabsco Mills Road. Franklin offered few details, saying she’s been in talks with a development firm interested in the land and that the facilities’ customers might use the parking tower.
The Board of County Supervisors in 2019 removed plans to build indoor sports facilities in eastern and western Prince William from a list of projects listed on a $200 million parks and recreation bond referendum. The east-side facility was rumored to be built near where Franklin noted, at the Nothern Virginia Community College Woodbridge Campus.
Neabsco District Supervisor Victor Angry suggested the county work with the Virginia Department of Transportation to reclaim the smaller, underused parking lots, such as the one at the Dale City (Hylton) Boys and Girls Club at 5070 Dale Boulevard. A series of schedule changes implemented during the pandemic have re-routed OmniRide buses away from smaller lots.
“If the buses aren’t going to serve those lots, let’s think about what else we can use them for,” said Angry, who also serves as Potomac and Rappahannock Transportation Commission (OmniRide’s governing Board) Chairman.
The parking tower will include new pedestrian improvements on Opitz Boulevard near the parking tower. The county may also choose to build a new government facility, medical office, or hotel on about two acres of property abutting the tower.
