Chairman At-large of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, Corey Stewart, advertised the public hearing on the Devlin community without first receiving approval from his board.Everyone can ignore those public hearing signs along Devlin Road. The controversial hearing on the Devlin Road community in Bristow will not be held on Dec. 3. It is undetermined as to whether it will be held before the end of the year, or after the new Prince William Board of County Supervisors is seated.
Read more about the Devlin Road community public hearing here.
The vote to hold the land-use meeting on Dec. 3 was rescinded, Tuesday, after a discussion in closed session. Supervisors needed to discuss with the county attorney whether Chairman Corey Stewart acted legally when he advertised a public hearing without the consent of his board.
At this time, the controversial land-use issues, including Devlin Road in Bristow and Dar Al Noor Mosque expansion along Hoadley Road in the Coles District, have not been rescheduled. Chairman Corey Stewart (R) is of the opinion they should be held before the end of the year. Supervisor Marty Nohe (R) of the Coles District agreed. Both Stewart and Nohe will not be returning in January.
Victory Angry (D) of the Neabsco District, who will be returning, brought forth the motion to schedule the public hearings on Dec. 3, following a meeting with the state delegation.
Reelected Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R), said she was caught off guard by the public notice and only found out on Thursday, after signs were already posted in her district. She spent the weekend responding to concerned phone calls from constituents.
She did not want the process to be rushed and criticized both Stewart and Nohe. Stewart for acting alone, and Nohe for allegedly being unresponsive to his constituents concerns about the effects on Hoadly Road.
“This wreaks of poor governance. While politicians- elected officials- act like this, no wonder people lose faith in elected official,” Lawson said.
Since the Chairman would want to also have the Al Dar Noor land-use public hearing on the same night, Lawson explained that it would have her constituents up until 3 a.m. She also did not want to rush the meeting with the state delegation.
She had further concerns that she shared with Bristow Beat, believing that the Devlin Road community project needs to go through all the proper vetting once again, especially if it changed significantly in the past four years.
But before voting, Lawson questioned the legality of Stewart’s action. The board decided to address that in closed session. Upon returning, Angry rescinded his motion.
No official date had been set, the supervisors said. The board was yet undecided as to when to hold those public hearings.
Stewart had said he wanted to schedule the meeting for Dec. 3 because Maureen Caddigan (Potomac-R) is not able to attend the Nov. 26 meeting. There are other land use items on the agenda for Dec. 10 and only so many meetings left in the year.
Nohe said they were elected to serve out their terms, and he felt the representatives of the mosque had waited long enough.
Frank Principi (D) of Woodbridge and Pete Candland (R) said they were okay with the new board hearing the land-use issues. Candland said he would hear it either way, but felt it should not be rushed through.
Caddigan said while she supported the mosque, she would hope that some issues such as traffic could be mitigated by the applicant before going forward, so perhaps the delay is a good thing.
Unlike Dar Al Moor, the Devlin Road discussion seems to reappear out of nowhere. The applicant has been petitioning the board for a residential neighborhood off Devlin Road and south of Wellington Road for nearly a decade, but it had not been discussed before the board this year, Lawson told Bristow Beat.
Lawson was opposed granting the special use permit that would allow at least 1,000 homes on the property. That was back in 2015. Angry is the only new member of the board since then, but the board will get five new members in January. Only the Brentsville, Gainesville and Neabsco seats will not change hands.
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