Prince William County BOS Updates Comprehensive Plan

On June 24, 2003, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors (BOS) adopted an update to its Comprehensive Plan. (These updates can be accessed on-line at Prince William County's website.) In the Environmental Plan, several significant changes were made that will affect future rezonings.

The most noteworthy items are:

A. EN-Policy 1 – Action Item 2

Mapping of "Significant Environmental" Features:

RPAs
15 amd 25 percent Slopes
Impervious and Pervious Surfaces
Vegetative Cover Types
Conservation Areas
Federal and State Endangered, Threatened, and Species of Concern
100-year Floodplain
Highly Erodible and Highly Permeable Soils
Marine Clays

B. EN-Policy 4 – Action Items 2 and 3

Preservation of certain areas adjacent to perennial streams such as 15 percent and greater slopes with erodible soils, permeable soils, and marine clays.

C. EN-Policy 5 – Action Item 2

Use Low Impact Development (LID) techniques in site design.

D. EN-Policy 5 – Action Item 10

"Encourage" the preservation of a buffer at least 50 feet wide along each side of ALL waterways not already protected as an RPA. (This means all intermittent and ephemeral streams, since RPAs protect perennial streams.)

For more information on this topic, contact:

Mark Headly (mheadly@wetlandstudies.com)
Steve Rottenborn (srottenborn@wetlandstudies.com) or
Dan Lucey (dlucey@wetlandstudies.com).