The Prince William Chamber will hold its popular MEGA Networking Expo in Woodbridge.
The MEGA Networking Expo takes place Thursday, November 3, from 9 to 11 a.m. at the Realtor Association of Prince William, 4545 Daisy Reid Ave., Suite 150, near the Prince William County Government Center in Woodbridge.
The clock is ticking for businesses in Prince William County, which must complete and file an annual recycling report with the Department of Public Works by Saturday, October 15.
The county requires all businesses to file the report each year. Home-based businesses do not have to file a recycling report.
[Photo by Zbynek Burival on Unsplash][/caption]
Two companies aim to build solar farms in the Hartwood and Falmouth districts in Stafford County.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission held a joint meeting to hear details on the proposals. Members of both bodies had concerns about the facilities based on issues at other solar farms.
The first facility, Enon Road Solar Farm LLC, a project of Florida-based company EsaSolar, would sit on about 16 acres off of Enon Road and Truslow roads, according to documents provided by Stafford County, generating enough electricity to power about 600 homes.
The website for the Enon Road facility offers a timeline where key events are tentatively scheduled to move the project forward. The project's applicants hope the county will approve the development this year to enter an Interconnection Agreement with Dominion Energy as part of its Shared Solar Program, an electrical subsidy program for the poor.
If approved, The Enon Road project developers hope to begin construction of the facility in 2024.
Another company, Kinglet Solar Farm LLC, has also applied to the county to build a 44-acre facility that would generate power for 660 homes and sit off Truslow Road near Interstate 95. This facility would also be part of Dominion Power's Shared Solar Program.
The plans for Kinglet's facility are in their early stages. No company did not include a construction timeline in its plans.
Board of Supervisors members expressed concerns regarding potential hazards that could affect the solar facilities. Griffis-Widewater District Supervisor Tinesha Allen said stormwater runoff could make the ground beneath the solar collectors softer and endanger the soil integrity.
Applicants said that building retaining walls that could prevent stormwater runoff from the collectors is a possible solution. A stormwater retention area is marked in the concept plans for the Enon Road facility.
Elected leaders are also concerned about the fire risk, specifically with the facilities' storage batteries. Stafford County Administrator Randy Vosberg said fire suppressant technology would be installed in the storage batteries. According to Vosberg, this has become a standard practice with solar facilities.
The Enon Road and Kinglet Solar Facilities are not the first time that Stafford County has dealt with the question of solar power. Potomac Local News reported earlier this year an offer to install solar panels on the roof of North Stafford High School.
Nearby Spotsylvania County has also been getting in on solar. Sustainable Power Group constructed a 500-megawatt solar farm in the Wilderness area of the county in 2020. The farm had met resistance from residents since the project was announced in 2017 due to the large amount of land that the farm takes up.
Members of the Stafford County Board of Supervisors plan to send the matter down to the Planning Commission so that a subcommittee can be created to set standards for the facilities.
The Planning Commission will update the Board of Supervisors on the matter at its second January 2023 meeting, which has yet to be scheduled.
Tom Barkin, president of the Richmond Federal Reserve Bank, spoke about rising inflation, jobs, and consumer confidence today in Woodbridge.
The Fed president said that while the possibility of a recession looms, a recent rise in the number of new jobs created seems to negate those fears.
The first Fatburger in the Washington, D.C. region is now open in Prince William County, near Manassas.
The new restaurant is called Fatburger / Buffalo’s Express, and offers burgers and never frozen chicken wings. The restaurant also features a full bar a Fatburger Bar with drinks ranging from signature cocktails such as the Fat Mule and a Two in the Mornin’ Daiquiri to spiked milkshakes made with real ice cream.
A. Duie Pyle opened a new regional distribution center today in Manassas.
The logistics firm held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at its service center at 10461 Colonel Court, just off Godwin Drive. Peter A. Latta, whose great-grandfather Alexander Duie Pyle founded the trucking firm nearly 100 years ago, joined Manassas Mayor Michele Davis Younger to open the new business.
Rapdidflight, an unmanned aircraft systems company, will invest $5.5 million to establish its systems design and manufacturing operations in Manassas.
The company’s 25,000-square-foot facility sits at 9617 Center Street in Manassas, at the former home of the Georator Corporation, where it will create 119 new jobs over the next three years.
The Prince William Chamber of Commerce will partner with 1 Million Cups Prince William.
1 Million Cups Prince William brings local entrepreneurs together to engage, educate, and connect over a cup of coffee. The group meets each week in Manassas.
A new urgent care facility is bringing flu vaccines and much more, to the people who live and work in Woodbridge.
American Family Care (AFC), which provides primary, urgent care, and occupational medicine, opened its newest location at 14087 Richmond Highway in the Marumsco Plaza Shopping Center.
Ribbon cutting ceremony at Stafford Regional Airport [Photo: Rick Horner][/caption]
After 15 years of planning and negotiation, Stafford Regional Airport has completed its goal of extending its runway by 1,000 feet.
The airport held a ceremony in honor of the extension, which included the flight of a blue Boeing-Stearman Model 75 biplane, the first plane that flew from and touched down on the newly extended runway.
The ceremony included former and current members of its authority and various members of the Stafford County government and its board of supervisors.
"It's a monumental day. There are so many people that were involved in getting this project going. We had great leadership, and it was a big collaboration between the municipalities and the FAA on the state and national levels. It's a great combination of everyone coming together to see this happen." said John Eaves, the current chairman of the Airport Authority.
The goal of the extension, according to both Eaves and other members of the authority, was to allow for bigger planes to use the airport. The 1,000-foot extension will also lead to more fuel sales and a greater probability of economic development in the area due to the newly extended, now 6,000-foot runway.
The funding for the extension came from the Federal Aviation Administration, which gave $5.5 million to the airport in July 2021. That funding came from a larger pot of $14 million of transportation funding dedicated to Virginia airports. Construction on the extension would begin in June 2022 and finish in early September.
"We're very excited that the runway extension is complete and that the FAA was phenomenal in this since they paid for the entire expansion. This did not cost our taxpayers in Stafford County any money," said Falmouth District Supervisor Meg Bohmke.
Potomac Local News also spoke to Hank Schapenberg, who was also present at the ceremony and performed the ribbon-cutting duties. Scharfenberg has been a part of the Airport Authority since 2007 and was a vocal proponent of the runway extension when people thought, as Scharpenberg himself puts it "touching the third rail" on the matter.
"The airport can now function as a true economic driver, it can get businessmen in here from either the West Coast or Europe, take off again, and we know that's going to bring economic development," said Scharpenberg.
The next move for the airport, according to Schapenberg adding more T-hangers to house more planes. The airport also wants to pursue more corporate clients willing to park their aircraft at the airport.
The Stafford Regional Airport sits at 90 Aviation Way in Stafford, just off Centreport Parkway.
