Occoquan plans for future growth
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By CHERYL K. CHUMLEY
Published: November 15, 2008
Development and growth were far and away the top concerns to Occoquan District survey participants, according to initial results released at a Saturday charrette at Lake Ridge Middle School.
"Seventy-eight percent think growth is too fast," said Joanne Throwe, associate director for the environmental finance center at the University of Maryland. "That's a big number."
Her comments came at the introductory period of a half-day meeting staged by Supervisor Michael May, R-Occoquan, and several others to gauge the community's views of the future and where its land use and Comprehensive Planning policies should head.
"We told you the [district] is going to grow by 2,500 new households and 6,500 new jobs," said May, "and in so doing, we want to be responsible to make sure the type of changes are sustainable."
Those growth numbers are projected for 2030. Currently, said Planning Commissioner Kim Hosen, the district has 13,200 households and 16,000 jobs.
The survey results—the questionnaire was mailed to 12,700 and offered online, and 250 responded—were a bit mixed in some areas, Throwe continued. For instance, she said, while 46 percent said new construction should occur in areas that were already heavily developed, 36 percent opposed mixed-use developments where retail, residential, office and other zoning uses were intertwined.
"There were some mixed signals," she said. "But one thing you were very clear on. You wanted more trees, wanted more trails, wanted to protect open space."
Following the brief Smart Growth presentation, the crowd of roughly 50 broke into facilitated separate groups to find and recommend the means, via maps and Lego blocks, of implementing the anti-sprawl development strategies on Occoquan's untouched areas.
"If we do nothing, we're going to subsidize sprawl," Hosen said. "We want to plan to see how we're going to accomplish this … where do we put those 2,500 new households, where do those 6,500 new jobs go."
Final survey results—the questionnaire is still available on May's website for those who want to participate—as well as findings from Saturday's charrette will be presented for further discussion at a follow-up meeting in January.
Staff writer Cheryl Chumley can be reached at 703-670-1907.
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