Prince William Board Approves Site for St. Katharine Drexel Church

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Site dedicated for St. Katharine Drexel church and school. Site dedicated for St. Katharine Drexel church and school.

After 15 plus years of meeting in a middle school auditorium, the St. Katharine Drexel Catholic mission in Haymarket will finally get its own church site.

Tuesday evening, the Prince William Board of Supervisors met to vote on several land issues. Among  the applications they approved was a site for St. Katharine Drexel Church and school at the corner of Waterfall Road and Route 15 in Greater Haymarket.

The issue of whether to approve the church site was controversial as the 28-acre site was located in the county’s Rural Crescent, and a special use permit was required. Should the parish have requested a small church, the issue would likely have passed without controversy. However, the proposed church is more than 92 thousand square feet. According to residents, who argued it should not be built on the site, it is 20 times larger than other churches in the area, about the size of the local Walmart.

There were other factors neighbors questioned. Not only would the site be used to house the church but also a rectory, sanctuary offices and eventually a preK-8 school. Additionally, the site plans were being put before the board before architectural designs for the church, rectory and school had been completed. Without the architectural plans in place, the elevation of the church is also unknown.

The parish said they were still fundraising to create the architectural plans. The attorney for the Arlington Catholic Diocese said the Diocese plans for the church to have a stone or similar façade. The applicant’s attorney also said the buildings would be clustered to reduce visual impact.

Elizabeth Ward, Prince William County’s Director of Soil and Water had reservations about the project as well.

The proposed church and school will cover over 20% of the land with buildings, parking, walkway and other impervious surfaces that will forever change the hydrology of the site reducing ground water recharge in the area around the school at the same time that the school and church will increase groundwater use to an estimated 12,500 gallons a day (3-4 million gallons a year) according to the Pacific Institute. This is equivalent to building around 50 homes on the 28 acres. With reduced groundwater recharge in the immediate area of the school from all the paving, there is a real possibility that the pumping from the school will create a large cone of depression to draw water from adjacent properties or greater depth that could cause nearby existing wells to go dry, and people will have homes without water — worthless. This is a risk that has not been examined, studied or modeled. This has happened elsewhere. Once the hydrology is destroyed, it cannot be restored.

Nonetheless, supervisors praised the church members for not requesting sewer hook up as it was more congruous with the Rural Crescent zoning. Additionally, the majority of supervisors found the landscape design for the grounds to be sufficient. They also received approval from county staff and the Planning Commission.

Ground plans include a 50-foot buffer along Route 15 to preserve the historic Hallowed Ground route, commemorating Civil War battles. There would just one right in/ right out entrance and egress onto Waterfall Road. There would also be a left turn lane into the church. The church will have three signs. The third sign is further north on Waterfall Road before a turn to directs parishioners to the site.

The applicant proffered sidewalks along Route 15. Gainesville Supervisor Pete Candland said he believes the location of the church will help to make the overall area safer for traffic and pedestrians.

The applicant also noted that part of the land had already been cleared by loggers, so the church would not be disturbing pristine forest or natural habitats in that area.

Additionally, the congregation argued the church is needed as the congregation holds three masses in the Bull Run Middle School auditorium.

Father Murphy, a pastor of St. Stevens in Middleburg, said, “It is your community that draws me. We have 1400 souls that congregate that needs a church…This is all north of Haymarket.”

The church’s congregation consists of people living north of the town of Haymarket as well as those from surrounding areas.

Parishioners argued the church has already solidified its commitment to the community by being one of the biggest supporters of the Haymarket Food Pantry.

The applicant’s attorney said they expect to break ground within 18-months and be open within three years or sooner.  When they open the church, they hope also to have a few offices, perhaps a rectory and one space for a preschool class.

The school will follow a few years later. They expect it would have only one class per grade and would be capped at 260 students.

Former Gainesville Supervisor John Stirrup advocated for the placement of the Catholic church. This struck some of the opponents of the application as hypocritical since he voted against a similarly large Baptist church coming into relatively the same area when he served as Gainesville Supervisor; that church was to be located across from the intersection of routes 234 and 15.

Supervisor Candland emphasized that while a religious institution requires a Special Use Permit, it is not uncommon for churches to be built within the rural area.

“We have to look at the land use. This is in the Rural Crescent, and the rural Crescent was developed many years ago because people felt that we were just having out-of-control development,” said Candland. “ did not say was that we were never going to build another thing within that Rural Crescent.”

He further emphasized that the church is not requesting a sewer hook up, and he said he believes the applicant is offering significant improvements.

Chairman Corey Stewart explained that he valued houses of worship.

“Yes, we need to build houses of worship for our growing community,” Stewart said, explaining that spiritual underpinning would help the youth of the community. “The more places of worship we can build the better…we have continuously made exemptions for places of worship in the Rural Crescent.”

Delegate-elect John Bell sent a letter, asking that the vote be delayed, but Candland denied his request.

“With all due respect to Delegate-elect Bell, to somehow suggest that the applicant has not been forthright with the inform and had somehow tried to hide information is just not correct,” Candland said.

The only supervisor to vote against the church was Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson, who said she struggled with the decision.

Lawson said she was partially responding to citizens who during citizen’s time opposing a mosque being built within the Rural Crescent along Schaeffer Lane. Their reason was that it would bring too much traffic to the Rural Crescent.

Lawson felt the large church might do the same, and said it is not a matter of but one of “land use.”

“I’m concerned about the scale of this facility,” Lawson said. “I can’t quite get there today. I suspect I’ll be a minority vote on this one.”

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