County's Planning Is in Budget Pinch

Parks Proposal Would Eat Into Funds

Prince William is faced with making long-term decisions about the future of the county while it faces an immediate, and some hope short-term, budget crisis.

The Board of County Supervisors had a work session Tuesday on its plan to expand parks, open space and trails by $1.26 billion.

The board, however, faces a $51 million shortfall next fiscal year, which begins in July.

Supervisors considered a Planning Commission recommendation of 25 acres of open space per 1,000 residents. This goal would require $790 million in additional funding, which would not include program, staff and maintenance costs.

County staff preferred a goal of 15 acres per 1,000 residents, which would cost $336 million. The county has less than 10 acres of open space per 1,000 residents.

Those numbers do not include upgrading park facilities, which would cost an additional $472 million over the next two decades.

There hasn't been much opposition to the plan, according to Charles Grymes, the chairman of the Prince William Conservation Alliance. What there have been are a lot of delays, he said of a process that began more than a year ago.

The board deferred discussing changes to the county's parks and open space comprehensive plan in October, when the plan landed on the same agenda as Prince William's illegal immigration crackdown.

Supervisors "need to get off the dime and start taking action and start conserving what they say they want to conserve," Grymes said. "We've had rich years, we've had poor years. But if you don't have vision, you aren't going to get there."

As part of the changes, the county clearly defined open space in an attempt to achieve its goal of preserving 39 percent of Prince William as "protected open space." The plan also includes creating a countywide network of trails.

Lofty goals are great, said Mark Granville-Smith of the Prince William Chapter of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association, but the county also needs to focus on fiscal responsibility.

"We have competing demands for limited resources," he said. "When we talk about issues of funding, we have to consider how we come up with the money."

Prince William already falls short of its goals. The county's $27 million parks bond from 2006 has not been sold because the county cannot take on more debt.

Chairman Corey A. Stewart (R-At large) said the county shouldn't set its long-term goals based on its "short-term fiscal challenges."

"It's easy to get caught in the weeds on this," he said. "We have to preserve land and open space for succeeding generations. We have to set the standard high enough that we have something to strive for."

County Executive Craig S. Gerhart cautioned the board that "vision is an important statement of intent."

"Recognize we are all held accountable for achieving the standards that you set," he said. "As it stands, we are woefully behind."

A public hearing on the proposed changes is tentatively scheduled for Feb. 26.