Town Hall Scheduled to Discuss Potential Transportation, Park Bond Referendum

Potential athletic facility. Image by Prince William County Government website

The Prince William Board of County Supervisors recently received staff input on potential mobility and park bond referenda. If authorized by the board, the bond referenda will be placed on the November 2019 election ballot and citizens will be able to vote on whether to authorize the board to debt finance the mobility and parks projects through general obligation bonds.

The board will host a public town hall meeting on Tuesday, May 21, from 6:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. at the Hylton Performing Arts Center to inform the public of the potential projects and receive public input. 

To develop lists of proposed projects for the referenda, the county's Department of Parks, Recreation and Tourism and the Department of Transportation conducted needs assessments and studies. 

The recommended park projects are designed to improve and address community recreation needs. Most specifically, the projects will address the lack of indoor athletic space, including indoor track and field, court sports such as basketball and volleyball, wrestling, and indoor turf space for field sports. The parks projects also include passive and active use parkland, existing field improvements, and a number of trails, open space and general park improvements.

The recommended transportation projects will address major areas of congestion throughout the county and provide 50 new lane miles of roads along with 22 miles of bicycle and pedestrian facilities. 

The park bond projects currently under consideration would require up to $200 million of general obligation debt to fund the costs for acquisition, design, construction, equipment and improvements for the following parks facilities: 

• Tourism and Indoor Sports Complex in Eastern Prince William County
• Indoor Athletics Field House in Western Prince William County
• Howison Park Improvements
• Long Park Improvements
• Neabsco Park Development
• Fuller Heights Expansion
• Aquatic and Fitness Center in Eastern Prince William County
• Countywide Trails, Open-Space and Park Improvements

The road bond projects under consideration would require up to $400 million of general obligation debt to fund the costs for acquisition, design, construction and improvements for the following projects: 

• Devlin Road Widening
• University Boulevard Extension
• Route 28 Bypass/Widening
• Sudley Road Intersection Improvements (such as roundabouts at the Catharpin Road/Sudley Road Intersection and the Pageland Road/Sanders Lane/Sudley Road Intersection; includes Pageland Road Realignment)
• Route 55 Widening
• Minnieville Road/Prince William Parkway Interchange
• Old Bridge Road/Gordon Boulevard Intersection
• Old Bridge Road/Prince William Parkway Intersection
• Summit School Road Extension
• Van Buren Road Extension
• North Woodbridge Mobility Improvements (such as the Route 1/Route 123 Interchange, Horner Road/Marina Way Extension and Annapolis Way Connection)
• Countywide Safety/Operational and Bicycle/Pedestrian Projects

More information can be found on the Board of County Supervisors website.