Step by step, fast-growth Virginia jurisdictions are adopting a philosophy rarely stated in its baldest terms: that new growth should fully pay its own way. But that’s where things are headed. Local governance practitioners are increasingly impatient with development proposals that require existing taxpayers to share in the cost of providing new roads, schools and public services for new development.
The latest evidence comes from Prince William County, where the planning commission rejected a rezoning petition from Wheeler’s Grove LLC and HC Land Company LC to build 1,000 new homes near Gainesville. According to the Washington Post, the developer’s offer to proffer $2.5 million towards construction of a new school was not enough: The developer did not designate any space for the school. Wrote reporter Ian Shapira:
In a county where 16 schools are expected to open or be built in the next 10 years, developers are being pressured to offer school sites with their proposals because vacant land has become so scarce.
“This is a change in direction for us. Before, in the late 1990s, we started to request monetary contributions because we wanted to use the funds to buy sites near where the demand was,” said Sean T. Connaughton (R), chairman of the Board of County Supervisors. “Now, we’re switching back to asking for school sites because the price of land has gotten so high.”
Now, if only we could just convince planners and supervisors to build schools that are integrated into the communities they serve, rather than have them fenced off and surrounded by oceans of parking lot. Wouldn’t it be nice if parents could buy houses where their kids could walk to school?
