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Author: Rick Horner
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This one’s for the people who really care about local news.
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[caption id="attachment_58999" align="alignleft" width="150"]
Richie-Folks[/caption]
Dimeria[/caption]
Richie-Folks[/caption]
Manassas will have races for two constitutional officers in November.
The Manassas and Manassas Park Cities Democratic Committee (MMPCDC) have put forward candidates for two constitutional offices for this election year.
The committee announced their candidates via a press release which also announced the cancelation of the caucus, which would have been used to officially announce the candidates:
[caption id="attachment_165645" align="alignleft" width="150"] Dimeria[/caption]
“The MMPCDC has canceled the unassembled caucus for the constitutional offices of Treasurer and Commissioner of the Revenue scheduled for April 24 due to the proper filings by only one candidate for each of these offices.
MMPCDC congratulated Patricia Richie-Folks, the nominee for Treasurer, and Tim Demeria, the nominee for Commissioner of the Revenue. Richie-Folks is the current Treasurer and is seeking her second term, while Demeria, (who serves on the city School Board) is seeking his first term.”
Both offices are full-time positions that the winning candidate will hold for four-year terms. The offices are mandated by the Virginia Constitution.
According to GOP committee chairperson Andy Harrover, announcements for candidates from the Republicans will be announced at their caucus, held on May 1.
One person -- Stacia Jennings -- has announced her intention to run for the Commissioner of the Revenue on the Republican ticket.
According to her webpage, Jennings is a native of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, who settled in Manassas in 2014. She is a licensed real estate agent, owns a small business selling pocket knives, and served in the U.S. Military for 28 years as a Marine and later as part of the Army Reserves.
There will also be a special election to fill the City Council seat vacated by Michelle Davis Younger, who was elected mayor last fall. The council appointed David Farajollahi (D) to temporarily fill the seat until an election could be held.
Farajollahi is running for the seat. A Republican has not yet announced their candidacy for the seat.
Voters will head to the polls Tuesday, November 2.
Stafford County will hold a public hearing that will consider amending the county code regarding the Elderly and Disabled Tax Relief Program.
The County will discuss whether or not to allow a tax exemption for the elderly and the disabled to reflect the cost of living increases and the effects of inflation that have occurred in the county since the last time the program was amended over a decade ago. Stafford County is allowed to exempt or defer taxes for the elderly and disabled according to Virginia law.
Should the County decide to go through with the amendments for an exemption than any real estate owned by someone who is age 65 or older and deemed to be permanently and totally disabled will be exempted from county real estate taxes amounting to $3,000 a year.
One major condition of the new amendment is that the combined net worth of the property owner and the owner’s spouse must not exceed $400,000 a year. This net value would not include the value of the land or any dwellings built on the property. The property itself could not exceed more than 20 acres.
The changes to the program were first brought to the attention of the board in 2020 but were put on hold due to the coronavirus pandemic. The changes to the program are said to have been developed by Commissioner of the Revenue Scott Mayausky and George Washington District Supervisor Tom Coen.
If the amendments are passed then recipients of the program could be saved a combined $45,000 a year.
The public hearing is scheduled to take place at the Stafford County Board of Supervisors meeting at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, May 4. The Board meeting is held at 1300 Courthouse Road, at the county government center.
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The Manassas Railway Heritage Festival is coming down the tracks this year.
This year’s event will mark the 26th time the festival has been held in the city, which celebrates the history of the railroads. The festival will include model train displays, memorabilia, specialty vendors, as well as live performances.
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A new cemetery to be built on Garrisonville Road won't have turn lanes into the property.
Original plans for the All Muslim Association of America cemetery slated to go in just west of Joshua Road included installing turn lanes onto Garrisonville Road's property.
Turn lanes are usually required by county ordinance whenever land is being developed on a high-traffic street. But the Stafford County Board of Supervisors recently voted to grant a waiver to the Muslim association that would relieve them of paying for the addition of those turn lanes.
According to information from Stafford County, the decision to grant relief was made based on research that showed that such turn lanes may be unnecessary due to the lack of traffic the cemetery may get.
Stafford reviewed data provided by the Institute of Transportation Engineers via their Trip Generation Manual. According to that data, while a typical cemetery generates 181 vehicles per day, this may not be the case for the new cemetery.
Observations made at the Muslim association's existing cemetery on Brooke Road in Stafford County, about 15 miles from where the new cemetery will go, found about 20 vehicles per day visit that cemetery.
Due to that information, the board voted 5-0 to not require the turn lanes.
The cemetery development has been a constant source of controversy for the county since 2015 when the association bought the land. Since then, the association had to deal with changes in ordinances that stymied the cemetery development and led to lawsuits filed by the association and the U.S. Department of Justice against Stafford County.
That lawsuit between Stafford County and the Muslim Association of America is ongoing.
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