HAYMARKET — Sailors from USS Gravely greeted students and volunteered in classrooms at Samuel L. Gravely, Jr. Elementary School on students’ first day back at school for the 2018-2019 school year.
At the start of the school day, sailors lined up outside the building to greet families. They also handed out stickers to each student to remind them, and their teacher, if they were car riders, walkers or bus riders.
PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY — U.S. officials were taken by surprise when China announced this year that it will no longer accept most plastics for recycling.
Prince William County and Manassas residents were equally confounded.
In February of this year, the United States Tennis Association Mid-Atlantic (USTA MAS) announced it will locate its new headquarters and state-of-the-art tennis facility in Innovation Park, in Prince William County. The Board of County Supervisors approved an agreement between USTA MAS and the Industrial Development Authority (IDA) of Prince William County and agreed to assign a $100,000 Economic Development Opportunity Fund (EDOF) grant as an incentive for the project, which is due to be completed by 2021.
The USTA Mid-Atlantic Section, one of 17 sections of the United States Tennis Association, is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization serving more than 33,000 members in the D.C. metro area. According to the USTA MAS, tennis players of all ages and skill levels are involved in leagues, tournaments and programs sanctioned by the section. Over 300,000 visitors are anticipated to visit the new USTA facility per year.
STAFFORD — The Stafford County Board of Supervisors met with Transurban to discuss the expansion of Interstate 95 E-ZPass Express Lanes.
The E-ZPass lanes will be extended to milepost 134, just prior to Route 17, extending it from where it ends now at exit 143, Garrisonville Road. Transurban, operators of the E-ZPass lanes on I-95 and 495 in Virginia, plans to provide all funding for the new project so none of the money, $277 million, will come from Virginia or Stafford County.
STAFFORD — Germanna Community College (GCC) and Central Rappahannock Regional Library (CRRL) have teamed up to provide Stafford County with a joint-use library for the Community College students and Regional Library members.
The library will be located at the Stafford Center of Germanna officially known as Barbara J. Fried Center, located at124 Old Potomac Church Road. The library will officially open August 20 with a “Welcome Back Students” event planned for August 18.
With the Haymarket Town Council’s 5-1 decision to rezone 9.94 acres from business commercial to “Residential Moderate Density” land use designation, schools in the Gainesville District will become increasingly more crowded.
?“We don’t run the schools,” said Haymarket Vice Mayor Susan Edwards just before voting in support of a rezoning request that would allow 79 new townhomes to be built in The Crossroads Village Center Haymarket.?
STAFFORD — The Board of Supervisors met Tuesday, August 14 to discuss the idea of a “Downtown Stafford.”
Such a development centered around the county’s iconic courthouse could provide an identity for the Stafford community. It’s location would be across the street from the courthouse and across from the County Government Center.
