PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY -- With Silicon Valley thousands of miles away, where can a tech startup go for advice and investment?

One local app developer says it’s a great idea to stay right here and take advantage of the area’s surprisingly supportive tech community.

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PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — As Prince William County Public Schools experiences its smallest enrollment increase in recent history, plans for a fifteenth high school and two new middle schools have been nixed from the school division’s Capital Improvements Program.

The Capital Improvements Program (CIP) covers 2019 to 2028, and budgets projects to meet demands driven by enrollment growth and student population shifts.

The fifteenth high school was originally planned for 2027, with a capacity for 2,557 and a projected cost of $165.3 million. The two additional middle schools were planned for 2024 in the West-Linton Hall area and 2026 in an undisclosed area. These will be revisited in a future CIP.

The schools’ removal from the 2019-28 CIP is partly “due to planned additions to existing middle schools,” said Prince William County Public Schools spokeswoman Diana Gulotta. Under the current CIP, 13 classrooms will be added to current elementary schools while 57 classrooms will be added to current middle schools, including Lake Ridge and Stonewall middle schools.

That additional space might be enough to put a dent in the school division’s crowding issue. Over-capacity of students has led to widespread usage of portable classrooms — or trailer classrooms — which has been a source of concern for residents and officials over the years.

Gulotta said that the school division has a “portable classroom reduction plan” in place as well, which is anticipated to reduce the number of trailer classrooms in the future.

These plans dovetail with a dip in student enrollment — the smallest numerical increase in recent recorded history, Gulotta said, dating back to 1990. Between 2017-18 and 2018-19, PWCPS experienced a growth of 0.4 percent or 342 students.

Gulotta noted that these numbers are in keeping with overall residential development for the County, which has slowed down as well.

CIP plans also include two new elementary schools and two auxiliary gyms in Woodbridge Senior and Gar-Field Senior high schools.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY -- A Prince William County firm is leading the way on the cybersecurity battlefield. It’s ammunition -- a mastery in sensory artificial intelligence.

Manny Rivera founded RiVidium in 2008 and the company is at the forefront not only cybersecurity but also sensor security, developing secured communications with a deployed series of small sensors.

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MANASSAS -- A potential solar farm project at Manassas Regional Airport is being put on hold, as staff continues to research options to keep it cost-effective.

The farm would be placed on a portion of property identified as a flood plain, which makes traditional development on it challenging.

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STAFFORD COUNTY — Another winter storm is potentially on its way to cover the region in snow and ice mid-week, and schools in the area are looking to recoup lost days by using holidays and exam days.

“This year has set a precedent,” Thomas Nichols, chief secondary officer for Stafford County Public Schools (SCPS), told Potomac Local. “We usually don’t miss this many days before the end of the semester.”

For the 2018-19 school year, SCPS has already used up eight days for inclement weather closings — six full days and six two-hour delays. They only have ten snow days built into the calendar, which they calculate by breaking the days into hours.

“Historically, we use the majority of our snow days in January, February and March,” said Nichols. As a result, SCPS superintendent Dr. Scott Kizner is “trying to be proactive.”

Nichols said that Kizner made the call to turn three early dismissal exam days in January into full instructional days. Additionally, although this past President’s Day was supposed to be a day off, it was used as a full instructional day.

Through these measures, SCPS has recouped one and a quarter days, leaving them with three and a quarter remaining days before they fall under state requirements.

But as the potential for more lost days due to inclement weather looms, SCPS is looking into the option of turning Memorial Day into an instructional day, as well as using early dismissal exam days in June as full days.

Another option Kizner is considering is adding time to current school days. “We might add five minutes to a typical day to make up for the losses,” Nichols explained.

If all else fails and a school has followed every measure to make up for weather losses, Nichols said the state has a waiver that schools can fill out that will turn two lost days into one, so the pressure to recoup days is lessened.

The Commonwealth of Virginia requires schools to have a minimum of 990 instructional hours, spread out over a minimum of 180 school days each year. Additional hours are typically built in to the calendar to make up for weather closings.

Manassas City Public Schools (MCPS) has lost six days of instruction, but “does not anticipate a need to add days to the school calendar,” Dave Lyon, director of assessment and accountability for MCPS, said. “Typically, there are enough total instructional hours in the school year to meet the state’s requirement of 990 hours without having to add school days to the calendar.”

“Manassas Park City Schools has closed only three days this school year as the result of inclement weather,” Deanne Perez, executive administrative assistant to the superintendent, told Potomac Local. Perez added that sufficient hours are included to allow for weather closures, and they do not foresee the need to discuss extending the school year at this point.

As of February 12, Prince William County Schools (PWCS) has had seven closings, six two-hour delayed openings, and one two-hour early release. They are left with just under ten days’ worth of hours remaining (9.75 days) before they would fall under the state minimum requirement. PWCS has “built in the equivalent of approximately 19 days’ worth of hours above the 990-hour requirement,” according to its website.

Potomac Local has issued a correction: The Stafford County School division will not consider Memorial Day as an instructional snow make-up day. Stafford County Schools spokeswoman Sherrie Johnson contacted Potomac Local on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019, to dispute our reporting.

Photo: Stafford County Public Schools Facebook page 

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — The soon to be former home of the Potomac Nationals could be transformed into a multifunctional community center with shopping outlets, recreational facilities, and housing developments in the near future.

A team of four companies, led by DCS Design, suggested the community development idea in their response to a Request for Information (RFI) from the Prince William County Board of County Supervisors.

The board’s RFI was “intended to gauge potential interest in the redevelopment of the [Pfitzner Stadium] sports complex,” Brent Heavner, communications chief for the county parks and recreation department told Potomac Local.

“The integration of civic functions, recreational uses, upscale retail and workforce, age-restricted and luxury, market-rate housing creates an opportunity to craft a place that is unique in the Washington area,” DCS Design’s response read.

DCS Designs would partner with several development companies on the project, including Toll Brothers for luxury, age-restricted housing; Good Works for affordable workforce housing; and Peterson Companies for retail and commercial development.

“This is an opportunity for Prince William County to create a symbolic center for the County,” DCS Designs concluded in their response.

Other suggestions were offered to the board as well. Safe at Home submitted a multifunctional ballpark concept that could be an activity center and event host. Victus Advisors suggested a multi-use indoor sports complex.

Another organization, Complete Game, envisions “a baseball program that develops local talent into refined athletes” with youth baseball, adult softball leagues and college summer teams by designing an indoor baseball/softball facility at Pfitzner Stadium.

Interested parties were asked to maintain “a balance of local resident use/access, economic impact, market competition, environmental sensitivity, and tourism” in their ideas.

County supervisors noted in the RFI that they are “interested in maintaining a semi-professional baseball club” but are also “equally interested in alternative uses that will have the greatest community impact.”

Soon to be the former home of the Potomac Nationals Minor League Baseball team, County Government Center Park has 65 acres of land. Seven of those acres are taken by Pfitzner Stadium, and another 15 are occupied by three public softball fields and a BMX track.

Last year, the Nationals announced they would be leaving Prince William County and moving to Fredericksburg in 2020.

Sports tourism is a growing part of the county’s market. Athletic events and tournaments have been touted as enhancing the county’s appeal, and officials could continue to tap that interest.

“Staff are considering the responses as they work to develop scenarios for future development and use plans for the complex,” Heavner said. “Ultimately, we will look to the Board of County Supervisors to set the direction for the future of the facility.”

MANASSAS — The city council and school board have reached a temporary funding agreement for the fiscal year of 2020 that includes a 3 percent increase to Manassas City Public Schools.

The budget was decided at an annual city council retreat.

“Three percent may not seem like much, but it is 50 percent more than the increase expected for all of our other government functions,” wrote City Councilman Wolfe in a Facebook post. “The three percent also represents a 14 percent increase in the rate of growth from this year.”’

It was not a unanimous agreement.

The vote was reportedly 4-2, with Ken Elston, Michelle Davis-Younger, and Pamela Sebesky in support with Wolfe. Ian Lovejoy and Theresa Coates-Ellis voted against.

“School board members asked for more money and city council had to weigh school funding with all the other city services and debt services that the city has to provide,” William Patrick Pate, city manager, told Potomac Local.  “They voted to direct me to put a 3 percent increase into the city budget for the local school system, for just the year 2020.”

For the last three years, the budget agreement was a 2.625% increase for 2016 through 2019. But school board members have been asking for more funds, citing a host of issues that need immediate financial addressing, such as teacher salaries, after-school activities, and the ever-growing number of trailer classrooms.

And then there is the need for a new Jennie Dean school, which will cost an estimated $30 million.

“While it is not everything that some of my schools’ friends have asked for, this vote reflects the absolute priority that the council places on Manassas having high-quality public education,” Wolfe wrote, adding that the increased funding could help with maintaining competitive teacher salaries and programs.

Another budget proposal that was brought forward in December included an increased school operating budget of 2.625% as well as an additional .5% specifically dedicated to building the new Jennie Dean school, bringing the total to an increase of 3.1% over the next three years. However, it was rejected.

“You could argue that [this budget] is less” than the one proposed in December, Pate said. However, this agreement “doesn’t stipulate how much money has to be set aside for the new Dean building.” That potentially gives the school board more room to maneuver financially.

This budget’s one-year expiration date means that a 2021 budget will need to be decided as well. Pate surmised that officials would look at that in fall 2019 to reach an agreement.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — What should the future of parks and recreation amenities in Prince William County look like? Members of the community will get a chance to answer that in an upcoming forum on January 26.

The forum is just one part of a concerted effort the county has made in hearing what residents want more of in their parks. It is the last planned community forum at this time, so anyone interested is encouraged to come and share their ideas.

“We want to make sure we are making investments where our citizens want them to be,” Brent Heavner, communications chief for the county, told Potomac Local. “We encourage anyone who is interested to join us.”

There will be about 100 electronic response devices in circulation for participants in the forum. General questions will be addressed to the audience and participants can use the devices to indicate agreement or disagreement, and facilitate group discussion.

Consultants will work with participants to determine the appropriate balance of future amenities for Prince William County parks. Playgrounds, sports fields, hiking trails, cyclist trails, green space — all of these are recreational needs that could be made more of a priority if enough residents want it.

As one example, a few years ago many residents started to request more courts and areas for playing pickleball, a fast-growing sport across the country. Since then, Heavner said the County has developed more pickleball areas. It might seem niche to some, but if enough people request a recreational activity, it can gain traction.

The forum will help shape the county’s comprehensive plan, a ten-year vision for service in all aspects of county government.

“This gives us a vision of how the community wants to see their recreation assets develop over the course of the next decade and what their expectations are,” Heavner explained.

“If there are members of the community that have recreational needs that our current facilities and programs are not meeting, then we want to know that,” said Heavner. “That’s something we want to consider over the next ten years.”

Parks play a big role in resident satisfaction and the county’s attractiveness to visitors and new businesses. Open green space where a family can picnic, well-maintained biking trails, sports fields utilized by teams all over the nation, and children’s programs are just a few services the parks provide to the community.

In addition to the forum, surveys will be mailed shortly to a random, geographically representative sample of about 15,000 households in the county, followed by a data collection and summarization process.

The forum will take place on Saturday, January 26, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. at the James J. McCoart Administration Building. For more information, visit pwcgov.org/government/dept/park/Pages/community-needs-assessment-forum.aspx.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Hazardous construction from the “Transform I-66” project has citizens frustrated, but the Virginia Department of Transportation is working to fix unsafe conditions, according to a quarterly mobility report presented to the Prince William County Board of Supervisors meeting on January 8.

Windshields broken by debris, poorly painted lines and other road issues on I-66 are plaguing drivers, Jeanine Lawson of Brentsville District said during the meeting.

Constituents “feel frustrated that things are falling on deaf ears” and “we’ve received many emails, phone calls, Facebook messages,” Lawson shared. “I’ve learned from constituents of broken windshields… There are a lot of complaints regarding lines that were poorly painted. It can be very dangerous.”

“At this point, folks don’t care who’s responsible. They just are frustrated that the roads they’ve paid for are not safe,” said Lawson.

Ricardo Canizales, transportation director for the County, told board members that “it’s a continual effort” and that VDOT is aware of the situation.

“The lines are being redacted and taken away, leaving scars on the pavement and that causes a lot of issues,” Canizales said. “VDOT continually works on repairing… [and] they do have a crew out there on a continual basis trying to fix those kinds of issues.”

Poor weather conditions from frequent rain and the fact that much of the construction must be done during the night were cited as reasons for the road issues.

“We’ll continue to monitor to make sure that we get better results and are able to get to those challenges and issues on 66 quicker than what they do now,” said Canizales.

The construction is part of a larger VDOT initiative called Transform 66 to ease traffic congestion and provide more travel options by adding toll lanes to the highway, between Haymarket and Dunn Loring in Fairfax County. Construction activities are ongoing, including completion of lane shifts, setting barriers, and clearing and grubbing. Traffic impacts and lane closures are available to the public at transform66.org.

Canizales reported that completed county road projects in 2018 include Minnieville Road widening, a pedestrian footbridge at Powell’s Creek, and intersection lighting improvements for Sudley Manor Drive at Bethlehem Road.

Route 28 remains a major focus in 2019

Several projects are underway in 2019 to improve commuter support. VDOT started construction on a 230-space lot for Park & Ride Haymarket (Gainesville), with anticipated completion for spring 2019. OmniRide announced new commuter express service in Haymarket, which began December 17, 2018. The bus service has also applied for additional funding to bring enhanced services to the western end of the County.

Canizales reported that VDOT would not evaluate a Route 28 expansion project this year for funding. “The state has let us know officially that they will not consider this… because we have multiple alternatives and we did not have a preferred alternative as part of our environmental document,” he said.

Route 28 is a persistent issue for commuters, with some of the worst traffic congestion in Northern Virginia.

“We are still looking at the widening of 28. If we cannot get the permits, we can still move forward” with other alternatives, Canizales explained. “We are moving forward with additional monies that the NVTA [Northern Virginia Transportation Authority] has given us.”

Marty Nohe of Coles District chimed in to clarify that improving 28 is still a priority, and that the County has more than $100 million of Northern Virginia Transportation Authority funding that can be allocated to Route 28.

“This decision on the VDOT’s part doesn’t actually slow down this project at all,” said Nohe. “We can get through the design phase and get into the right of way phase using the money we have right now on this project.”

“It is continuing to be a top priority for Prince William County,” Nohe assured. “We’ve got enough money to get us through the next several years of this project and I believe this continues to be our top priority for major congestion.”

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — Areas in Prince William County — including the area near Manassas, Dale City, Woodbridge, and Dumfries — are implicated as having a lower life expectancy in the metropolitan Washington region, according to a new report produced for the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (COG).

The report, “Uneven Opportunity: How conditions for wellness vary across the metropolitan Washington region,” was conducted by the Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU) Center on Society and Health.

“The residents of the Virginia suburbs of Washington, D.C. are among the most affluent in the United States,” the report noted. Despite this, life expectancy in the region can vary by as much as 27 years in some areas.

“[C]loser examination reveals clusters of census tracts where residents live in more difficult conditions,” and in many cases, these adverse areas are “separated by only a few miles or blocks” from more affluent ones.

“The health status of the local population is not uniform across the region,” according to the report.

Census tracts are small subdivisions of counties defined for the purpose of gathering information about the members of a given population. The metropolitan Washington region has 1,223 census tracts. By examining these, the study found “striking geographic differences in… health measures such as infant mortality, obesity, heart disease, and diabetes.”

Two prior studies by the VCU Center on Society and Health have documented Northern Virginia’s “uneven opportunity landscape” and identified 15 “islands of disadvantage,” which are “clusters of census tracts with adverse living conditions.”

Included in those 15 “islands” were Bull Run-Manassas, Dale City-Woodbridge, Dumfries and Centreville.

What is causing the disparity? VCU researchers developed a Healthy Places Index (HPI) to find out more details. The HPI was created using census tract data, indicators and life expectancy computation, and used to rate communities on health conditions.

The HPI provides a score, ranging from zero (lowest opportunity for health) to 100 (most opportunity for health), and researchers used it to rank all census tracts in the metropolitan Washington area. Included in that overall score is six “domain” scores: air quality, education, economic/other household resources, health care access, housing, and transportation.

A higher HPI placement often correlates with a higher life expectancy.

Distant suburbs of Northern Virginia, including areas of Woodbridge and Dumfries, “where life expectancy was as low as 75-79 years,” scored the lowest in the HPI. Contrastingly, areas of Washington, D.C. with high HPI score have an average life expectancy of 87 years.

Ultimately, the HPI found that individual health — often interpreted as a personal choice — is shaped by a variety of factors. These include, but are not limited to, economic resources, housing and transportation. Simply having access to quality health care nearby is not enough to raise an area’s HPI score.

“Health is about more than health care,” the report reads. “Doctors cannot solve the socioeconomic challenges or improve neighborhood conditions. Impacted areas have large populations that lack health insurance and localized areas have an inadequate number of primary care physicians, mental health professionals, and other clinical services.”

The report also found a great disparity in the racial population. “[P]eople of color and immigrants were more likely to live in neighborhoods with fewer resources,” or islands of disadvantage, “which lack the conditions for good health.”

In tracts with the highest HPI scores, 64 percent of the population was white and the proportion of black and Hispanic residents was 6 percent and 10 percent, respectively. In tracts with the lowest HPI scores, 63 percent of residents were black, 13 percent were Hispanic, and 19 percent were white.

“Black-white health disparities persist even after adjusting for other factors that affect health such as education, household resources, and housing,” the report said.

Jennifer Schitter, a principal health planner for COG, told Potomac Local that the COG Health Officials Committee “will be engaging various sectors to champion this report in 2019. Sectors may include housing, education, planning directors, and county and city governments.”

“It is important to be aware of where the neighborhoods with fewer resources are in their respective jurisdictions,” said Schitter. “Once identified, elected officials could work with these communities to identify holistic solutions to addressing each community’s unique needs.”

In addition to COG, organizations who funded the report include Kaiser Permanente, Healthcare Initiative Foundation, Northern Virginia Health Foundation, and the Potomac Health Foundation.

“[C]reating healthy communities and closing the region’s 27-year gap in life expectancy require more fundamental social and economic solutions beyond the world of health care,” the report suggested.

“Real solutions require targeted investments in marginalized neighborhoods to improve access to affordable, healthy housing as well as affordable transportation, child care, and health care.