Media Reports on Balanced Growth Issues

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General Reports on Balanced Growth Issues

2007 Citizen Survey: PW citizens "generally dissatisfied with the coordination of development and roads, growth in the county, and planning and land use"

("Supervisors Get Survey Results" by Keith Walker, Potomac News, 9 Aug 2007)

The top seven: Citizen satisfaction with:	The bottom seven: Citizen satisfaction with:
-- Service from Library Staff (98.9%) -- Emergency Medical Rescue (98.5%) -- Fire Fighting in Respondent's Area (98.4%%) -- Security in Courthouse (97.3%) -- Landfill (96.0%) -- Convenience of Registering to Vote ( 94.99%) -- Assistance from 9-1-1 Operator (94.6%)	-- Public Transportation in PWC (57.0%) -- County Efforts to Preserve Open Space (511.5%) -- Appearance of Illegal Signs along Major RRoads (49.2%) -- Land Use Planning and Development (47.5%)) -- Ease of Travel in PWC (46.9%) -- Rate of PWC Growth (44.0%) -- Coordination of Development with Road Sysstems (35.5%)
According to the executive summary of the 2007 County Citizens Survey (full text): 1. "In general, people are least satisfied with development and transportation issues, suggesting that these areas are in need of improvement despite the significant progress with the ease of travel of getting around within Prince William County." 2. In the "Long-Term Trends" section, "satisfaction with the job the County is doing in planning how land will be used and developed is down approximately 6 percentage points from 1993." 3. Again from the "Long-Term Trends" section, "satisfaction with the County’s value for tax dollars is up more than 15 points since 1993."

2006 "Citizen Survey: PW residents still happy with libraries, tired of traffic"
(by Tara Slate Donaldson, Gainesville Times, 10 Aug 2006

The top five: Citizen satisfaction with:	The bottom five: Citizen satisfaction with:
-- Libraries (99.2%) -- Balls Ford Road Compost Facility (99%) -- Landfill (98.3%) -- Fire protection (97.9%) -- Medical rescue (95.7%)	-- Getting around the county (39.6%) -- Growth (44.5%) -- Planning and land use (44.9%) -- Citizen input on development (68.5%) -- Preventing neighborhood deterioration (68.7%)
Other highlights, according to the 2006 County Citizens Survey (full text): 1. "By geographic area, the three lowest levels of satisfaction with the [county's] rate of growth again came from Brentsville, North County, and Gainesville/Linton Hall (22.5%, 29.7%, and 35.3% respectively)." 2. "Perhaps not surprisingly, given their dissatisfaction with planning, development, and growth, residents of Brentsville [District] were also the least satisfied with the opportunities for citizen input (59.8%)." 3. "Satisfaction with transportation in the county" has gradually declined from 62.7% in 1999 to 39.6% in 2006.

"2005 Survey: County roads, growth need work"
(by Tara Slate Donaldson, Gainesville Times, 19 Aug 2005)

The top five: Citizen satisfaction with:	The bottom five: Citizen satisfaction with:
-- Library staff (99.1%) -- Landfill services (98.8%) -- Medical rescue services (98.3%) -- Fire protection services (98.2%) -- Voter registration (97%)	-- Ease of travel around Northern Virginia (24.5%) -- Coordination of development and roads (344.9%) -- Getting around in Prince William County ((38.1%) -- Planning and land use (44.8%) -- Efforts to preserve open space (45.1%)
2005 County Citizens Survey (full text)

	Media analysis and commentary:
	Improvement in housing market partly dependent on "whether builders will slash production, which would reduce the glut of homes" ("Number of Unsold Homes Increases -- Listings Rise 2.5% in 18 Metro Areas; Pending Sales Fall" by James R. Hagerty, Wall Street Journal, 5 July 2007, p. B8)
	Housing downturn largely due to "glut of homes for sale"; housing glut and "surge in mortgage defaults", in turn, largely due to builder "speculation," residential overbuilding, and targeting of uncreditworthy "sub-prime" borrowers as homebuyers ("Ripple Effect -- Economists See Housing Slump Enduring Longer: Downturn is Expected To Keep Growth Tepid; Retailers Feel the Pinch" by James R. Hagerty, Jonathan Karp, and Mark Whitehouse, Wall Street Journal, 9 June 2007, p. A1)
	"Vacant homes for sale cloud economic hopes": "Data pointing to glut are worst in decades; impact of speculators" (by Michael Corkery, Wall Street Journal, 5 Feb 2007, p. A1)
	"Typical supervisor is beholden more to developers than ... constituents" ("Letter": "Board is Wrong To Defer Developers" by Michael Ragland, Gainesville Times, 15 Sep 2006, p A4)
	Negative effects of Prince William, Loudoun housing glut viewed ("Blink and They're Still There - Houses and Condos Are Staying on the Market Longer", by Tomoeh Murakami Tse, Washington Post, 2 May 2006, p. A1)
	Northern Virginians get back "only about 25 cents of every dollar" in taxes sent to Richmond ("Kilgore, Kaine Tax Cut Plans Alarm Locals" by Nicholas F. Benton, Falls Church Press [Online Issue], 24 Mar 2005)

	Media reports:
	Prince William, Loudoun likely to oppose Richmond plan to transfer responsibility for road-building to Northern Virginia regional authority ("A Potential Pothole in Va. Roads Deal - Loudoun, Pr. William Balk at Raising Taxes," by Eric M. Weiss and Michael D. Shear, Washington Post, 20 January 2007, p. A1)
	Chamber of Commerce hears Stewart discuss keys to keeping county economy strong, including continuing to attract new nusinesses and strengthening transportation, education, public safety; tax rate to be set in April ("Stewart Touts Economic Prowess in 'State of County' Talk to Chamber" by Rose Murphy, Bull Run Observer, 19 January 2007, p. 43)
	Big developer sues Loudoun County for rejecting plan to build up to 34,000 housing units around Dulles Airport ("Developer Sues Over Rejection of Housing Proposal," by Amy Gardner, Washington Post, 15 December 2006, p. B9)
	Prince William, Loudoun, Montgomery counties move to restrict development, as traffic congestion becomes "among the country's worst" ("3 Counties Attempt To Put Brakes on Growth - Va., Md. Acts Aimed at Land-Use Limits," by Alec MacGillis, Washington Post, 6 December 2006, p. A1)
	Congressman Tom Davis (7 Sep 2006) says "Gainesville traffic is worst in the state" ("Davis Acknowledges Gainesville Traffic Is Worst in the State," by Catherine Hubbard, Bull Run Observer, 22 September 2006, pp. 1, 3)

	Website's links to related reports:
	Board of County Supervisor Votes and Chairman Candidate, Supervisor Views on Balanced Growth
	Media Reports on Brentswood
	Status of Major County Transportation Projects

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