No analysis for overlay district proposal

Overlay district proposal will be considered without an economic analysis

Date published: 7/12/2008

BY KAFIA HOSH

Stafford County officials will not study the economic impacts of a proposal that would guard part of the Potomac River basin from development, but they will also limit uses for some pro-perty owners.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors nixed the $25,000 study that was meant to evaluate how property values might be affected by the proposed overlay district.

The proposed Potomac River Resource Protection Overlay district covers 24,600 acres east of U.S. 1.

It requires buffers around sensitive waterways and certain slopes adjacent to streams. The buffers would improve water quality in streams and rivers but would also restrict what some property owners could do with their land. New developments and changes to existing lots would be subject to the restrictions.

Several dozen property owners protested the overlay district during a May public hearing. At that meeting, board members delayed their decision on enacting the district and agreed to consider the economic analysis.

But during a quiet work session last week, supervisors voted 4-3 to proceed without the analysis.

Griffis--Widewater Supervisor Bob Woodson said in an interview that the analysis was not the best use of county funds, especially during a tight budget cycle that has forced Stafford to cut its spending.

"We think our latest proposal was a good one, and we think that the county has enough resources to make a good determination of what may be the economic impact," he said.

But Aquia Supervisor Paul Milde said the analysis would have shown how the overlay district could limit the county's tax revenue from future development.

"That means high-paying jobs won't be here, that means the commercial tax base doesn't expand there," Milde said. "It will certainly reduce our commercial tax base and therefore further burden our residential tax base. The question is, how much?"

The overlay district includes both Milde's and Woodson's districts.

County staff is sampling about seven parcels in the proposed overlay district to see how the proposed buffers could affect properties.

The staff also supported the economic analysis.

"I think that any information that can be made available to the Board of Supervisors during the decision-making process is a good thing," said County Administrator Anthony Romanello.

Without the analysis, Rock Hill Supervisor Cord Sterling said, it will be difficult to make an informed decision on the overlay district proposal.

"I don't know the cost-benefit analysis," he said. "I have not seen a demonstration of enough data to support this."

The supervisors will consider the overlay district after the completion of the sampling studies, sometime in November.

Kafia Hosh: 540/735-1977
Email: khosh@freelancestar.com

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Date published: 7/12/2008