—–Original Message—–
From: Ralph Stephenson…
To/Bcc:  [multiple names withheld] Cc: BOCS, Prince William County <BOCS@pwcgov.org>; Stewart, Corey <cstewart@pwcgov.org>; Covington, Wally <wcovington@pwcgov.org>; Nohe, Marty <mnohe@pwcgov.org>; Caddigan, Maureen <mcaddigan@pwcgov.org>; Jenkins, John <jjenkins@pwcgov.org>; May, Mike <mcmay@pwcgov.org>; Principi, Frank <fprincipi@pwcgov.org>; Candland, Peter <gainesville@pwcgov.org>
Sent: Wed, Jul 11, 2012 11:09 pm
Subject: Brentswood (aka Stonehaven) Is Back, And Look Who’s Behind It

My kids have all graduated from the PW County Schools, I’m only a few years from retirement, and I’m not too concerned about my home’s resale value in a glutted market because I intend to retire here.

  • But for those who face many years of horrible daily commutes and having their children in overcrowded schools …
  • For those who would like to sell their homes some day but face falling home resale prices and accelerated decline of older neighborhoods because of a continuously glutted real estate market …
  • For those who are concerned about high property taxes at least partly due to an increasingly unbalanced county tax base (way too much residential, not enough commercial)  …
  • And for those who are weary of the hypocrisy and corruption of local politicians who arrogate to themselves the mantle of fiscal conservatism while forcing taxpayers to indirectly subsidize unnecessary housing (think of police, fire, roads, and other taxpayer-funded infrastructure for housing developments, which are only partially offset by increased property tax revenues) …

For all those who feel that these problems are a threat to their families’ well-being, they might want to protest the latest gambit by certain members of the PW Board of County Supervisors to resurrect Brentswood.  Brentswood, as you may recall, was the infamous 2005-06 attempt by the PW County Board of Supervisors to cram housing for over 20,000 people into a two-square mile area bounded by Linton Hall, Devlin, and Wellington roads.  And it’s back.  Its new name is Stonehaven.  (To send e-mails to the Board advising them of your opposition to Stonehaven, use cc addresses above.)

Leading the charge to add more unneeded homes — at the behest of the big landowner and developer friends who finance their political campaigns — are Corey Stewart and Wally Covington.  (Even by Wally’s admission in the 2011 Republican primary, the county has at least 30,000 already-approved-but-not-yet-built homes.  So why is it so important, so urgent that even more new homes be approved and built?)

About Corey Stewart
Corey Stewart fought Brentswood in 2005-06 and capitalized on his opposition to it to become chairman of the Board of County Supervisors in an emotional campaign in which he pledged to always protect the community from such massive over-development.  But now Corey is running for higher office.  His latest quest (after previous failed US Senate and VA lieutenant governor campaigns) is, once again, focused on becoming lieutenant governor.  He needs campaign cash, and lots of it fast.  Corey’s heart, mind, and integrity is clearly for sale, and the price is relatively cheap:  any large housing developer can afford him.  See http://pwcbg.org  for more info thru Aug 2011 on Corey’s voting record which, in a 180-degree reversal, has become staunchly pro-residential-developer in recent years.

About Wally Covington
Wally Covington, who first campaigned in 2003 with slogans saying that PW County is not for sale to residential developers, has proven to be the most residential developer-friendly of all the supervisors.  See http://pwcbg.org  for more info on his voting record through the 2011 Republican primary, which he barely won by 4-5% percent only after what  amounted to a massive vote-buying campaign.  Wally’s corruption has become so brazen — on the order of what often happens in DC City Government — that he recently tried to donate $100,000 in taxpayer funds to a charity run by his wife.  The only thing that subsequently prevented him from doing so was a public outcry.   (See  http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2011/nov/28/2/covington-criticized-rainbow-center-donation-ar-1498738/ )

About Stonehaven (formerly known as Brentswood)
Here’s what a couple prominent members of the community, whose names I have withheld, have to say about Stonehaven and Wally Covington’s role in it.

1.  “Wally is up to his old tricks…  He has aligned himself w/ a crowd of Victory Lakes parents who are still quite bitter over the Patriot/Stonewall HS boundaries.  He’s now convinced them he can get a high school site out of of Stonehaven [as long as thousands of new homes are built as well.]  They of course have taken his bait…

“Anyway, [we] caught wind of a ‘public input’ meeting this Thursday night [12 July] at Piney Branch elementary.  Apparently the county planning dept sent letters to only [developer-friendly] Linton Hall HOA Boards and just sent them around the 4th of July; right out of Wally’s playbook — when people are not paying attention because they’re vacationing…  I’m afraid he’s going to have the Grizzly/VSA organizations there in addition to the Victory Lakes folks all pleading for more fields and schools.”

2.  “Thursday July 12 7-9 pm [at] Piney Branch elementary [there will be a] county meeting on Hunter Tract/Brentswood property….to discuss what citizens would like to see for that property…  No one was really notified about the meeting except for [developer-friendly] HOAs.   This is [supposedly] the Linton Hall citizen’s chance to voice what they would like to see done with that parcel in the comp plan.  [When] citizens don’t show up and voice their opinions [because they didn’t know about the meetings in time], the ‘public opinion’ will be crafted by the developers who’ve proposed Stonehaven.”