Building Better Burbs with Tom Eitler

"Prince William [County] (PWC) is a great place, it still has great value in its land, it has an exceptional school system, it's close to the influence and power of DC, it has great interstate access, growing bus to rail access the list goes on," explains Tom Eitler from the Urban Land Institute during his recent talk Building Better Burbs. He continues with an implicit but, "Prince William has a reputation issue, it's perceived as a suburban county...[rather than] the most dynamic place in the region." 

Eitler argues that moving forward, Prince William should focus on infill and redevelopment opportunities to design walkable, multi-use, multi-modal communities with housing choices that will attract and retain young talent. 

During the first poll of the talk, it was clear that "Quality of life" was the most important characteristic living/working in PWC. While Quality of Life can mean many things, in terms of design it's clear that many don't want to become Tysons Corner. "We want more village center, not city center. If people want to go live in the city they can live in the city," shared one participant, Lori Fenn. 

New developments have impacts. The 50 participants polled during this discussion made it clear that Impact on the Environment was what we hated most about new development. Disturbance during construction as well as impacts after are concerning especially in instances where forested land is cleared rather than infill or redevelopment-type projects. 

  

Tom explains that infill development and redevelopment is difficult, compared to a green field. "That's why you have this pressure now out in the rural area," he continues with a note of urgency in his voice, "Yes it's hard to do, but it's the right thing to do and the value of that property is going to go up dramatically if you do the right type of infill or redevelopment." He adds that if the county spends its resources developing the rural area, then places like the Rt. 1 corridor, near Manassas mall, up and down Neabsco and Blackburn Rd. will be forgotten. "There's not enough people working at the county level to work on all this stuff," informed Tom. 

He does see some hope and added, "What's happening up in North Woodbridge has the potential and if that's successful they'll be busting down doors." The "they" he's referring are developers willing to work with us to create communities where people want to live in. 

Check out the full presentation and community discussion below!