Prince William Supervisors Took No Action to Reconsider Devlin Community

Home types for Devlin Road Community from Stanley Martin Homes.

No supervisor motioned to reconsider the Devlin Road Community at the Prince William Board of County Supervisors meeting, Tuesday, Mar. 31. The community of 516 residential homes will go ahead as planned.

The online petition to reconsider the Devlin Road Community neared its goal of 1,000 votes, but supervisors remained unmoved.

A vote to reconsider would have rescinded the board's Mar. 10 approval of Stanley Martin Devlin Community to be located on 269 acres between Devlin Road and Linton Hall Road in Bristow.

The motion would have to had come from one of the five supervisors who voted in favor of the community: Ann Wheeler (Chair), Margaret Franklin (Woodbridge), Andrea Bailey (Potomac), Kenny Boyde (Occoquan) and Victor Angry (Neabsco). All five are Democrats.

During Supervisor's Time, Brentsville Supervisor Jeanine Lawson (R) asked that any supervisor who wants to reconsider the vote, to do so. She said reconsidering would not mean the community was denied. It would halt the process to allow for changes.

Now, according to Robert's Rules, it is too late for the community to be reconsidered.

Lawson was a big proponent of further decreasing the number of homes to be built. She had concerns about traffic, homes that are close together and impacts on public services and schools.

"We have been playing catch up with seats in schools, relieving traffic congestion and addressing stormwater management issues that resulted from out of control approval of residential units, decisions made decades ago. I have said it many times, why would we continue with the same failed formula in our land-use decisions?" Lawson said in a Letter to the Editor. 

The land was rezoned from Agricultural to Low-Density Residential as per the Comprehensive Plan. Designs for a community at the site go back approximately a decade. Stanley Martin put forth its proposal in 2019.

Due to the COVID-19 virus, few citizens attended Citizens Time. Wheeler encouraged them instead to contact board members via alternative means. Going forward, the board will have a virtual means of conducting Citizen's Time publicly during meetings.