Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare Receives Award

Prince William County Human Rights Commission recognizes Frank Washington and the Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare for their work to protect historic African-American and Native American cemeteries in Thoroughfare, Va.

Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare Receives Award
Prince William Living; January 22, 2022

Remarks from Frank Washington, Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare

As founder of the Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare, we all thank you for this honor. It is a privilege as well as a duty to stand firm for the preservation of thoroughfare.

Life can present many challenges. Sometimes those challenges can be complicated. Sometimes those challenges can simply be a matter of what is right and what is wrong. We can never stop believing in the worth of fighting and standing for what is right. And we can never give in to what is wrong. In Thoroughfare, Virginia. We have been striving to give voice and to assure that our ancestors continue to rest securely in our cemeteries.

More Data Centers Proposed in the Rural Crescent

by Chris Carroll

While it’s hard to keep track of the many data center applications throughout Prince William County and the Rural Crescent, it is important to realize that multiple data center proposals are currently under consideration in Nokesville. 

One of these, the 279-acre House Farm Data Center application, proposes to remove several hundred acres from the Rural Crescent; this would allow for industrial sprawl and development into the rural area. No commercial or industrial ventures are nearby, the land is surrounded by residential housing, and the land is outside the Data Center Overlay District. 

View the application submitted in May 2021 here. View the map showing CPAs here.

Shock and Awe on the Bluebird Trail

By: Ashley Studholme  

Learning about wildlife through experiencing it firsthand fosters a deeper connection than is possible otherwise. Sure, reading a book written by experts is a helpful way to round out your knowledge, but through first-hand observation, you collect stories and memories that are uniquely yours. 

Through monitoring, nature reveals its ability to adapt and endure. On April 14, one volunteer monitoring Eastern Bluebirds encountered a shocking sight.

Protecting the Occoquan Reservoir: Our Shared Water Source

The quality of our reservoir and the quality of our watershed are interconnected. “It doesn’t take a lot of development to start to see impacts,” explained Dr. Stephen Souza. 

That’s because development changes hydrology, i.e. how water flows during and after storm events. As land is developed, impervious surfaces replace farmland and forests, resulting in an increase in stormwater runoff and a decrease in groundwater recharge.

[Source EPA]

Land Use, the Occoquan Reservoir Watershed and You

"The streams in the downzoned area are amongst the most pristine highest quality in [Fairfax] county. So it is a protection strategy.” -- Greg Prelowicz, Fairfax Water

Prelowicz was referring to the 41,000 acres within the Occoquan watershed that were downzoned in 1982 to 1 house per 5 acres in Fairfax. 

As part of a series on Source Water protection, we were joined on Monday, September 13th, by Greg Prelewicz, Planning Dept. Manager, and Nicki Bellezza, Watershed Protection Specialist from Fairfax Water.

Join us next week for an in-depth look at how development within the Occoquan Watershed affects the water quality, aesthetics, recreational uses, and ecological balance of the Occoquan Reservoir and the streams that drain to it. Register here!

Thoroughfare: A Town Under Siege

Alexandra Johnson, a freed slave, founded the Little Zion Church in Thoroughfare. It was a simple structure that provided community space for residents to come together, to support and uplift each other and pass down a tradition of perseverance in the face of hardship and oppression. That physical space was held together by a cord, a fiber called oakrum. 

Today stands Oakrum Baptist Church, the namesake of that same cord. Frank Washington, the youth director and spokesman for the Coalition to Save Historic Thoroughfare explains, “the binding cord of that little shack was the initial Oakrum Baptist Church and it became the center of our community and that same analogy of that cord binding us together...is the work we're doing in this community.”

Data Centers Here, There... in the Rural Crescent?

 

On Tuesday, July 20th, Prince Williams Board of County Supervisors will vote to initiate two Comprehensive Plan Amendments (CPA) located outside the County's Data Center Opportunity Zone Overlay District.

CPA2021-00004, PW Digital Gateway would change the long-range land use for approximately 801 acres from Rural Crescent and Environmental Resource to Technology/Flex, for the purpose of developing data centers. This application covers 27 individual properties that are located on both sides of Pageland Land and adjacent to Manassas National Battlefield Park. Read staff report here.

CPA2021-00005, Compton Property/Amazon Data Services, would change the long-range land use designation for approximately 77 acres for the purpose of developing a data center and electrical substation campus. Read the staff report here.