So, some people dislike [northerncrown.com] environmental activist Kim Hosen [www.pwconserve.org], who also is a Prince William planning commissioner. Seems now that maybe Hosen has given them some more ammunition.

In an effort to "preserve" a piece of land [www.washingtonpost.com] in the county, "mistakes were made" and potential conflicts of interest were not noted. Hosen did at least recuse herself from the Planning Commission vote on the affair.

Widowed for five years, Mary McDowell has found herself in dire financial straits -- even though she has been sitting on more than 300 acres of prime real estate in Prince William County.

...

So this fall, McDowell -- with the help of a prominent environmentalist who also is a Prince William planning commissioner -- asked the county to lift the zoning restrictions early and open the land to development. They were successful, and the value of McDowell's property rose from $184,300 to $2.6 million.

The environmentalist, Kim Hosen, executive director of the Prince William Conservation Alliance, then asked a state agency for $2 million to exempt the property from development.

But now, the elaborate plan has unraveled, and Sean T. Connaughton, the Prince William Board of County Supervisors chairman, is calling it a scheme to inflate the farm's value and use taxpayers' money to buy and preserve it as open space.

...

On Sept. 20, Hosen, acting as the conservation alliance's executive director, applied for the $2 million state grant. In her proposal, she stated that the land's sale was imminent and points to a vote of the county Planning Commission scheduled for the next day.

There is no indication on the application that Hosen is on the Prince William Planning Commission or that she is a family friend.

In an interview yesterday, Hosen said she had been in a hurry to complete the application and was tired. Her most important goal, she said, was "to convey a quantitative sense of urgency" because of the upcoming planning commission vote, in which she did not participate.

While certain facets of this are a little troubling, especially the $2M handed out by the state, this doesn't rise to the level of scandal. Bad judgment and opportunism yes, "scheme", for certain, but scandal is probably too strong a word for it.

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I've mentioned before how vicious some people can get, seeming to foam at the mouth when faced with a indigestible opinion:

Robert Molleur Nov, 23 2005

Kim Hosen is a Marxist that wants everyone to live by her decree. When she makes statements like, "It's all about balance: What would be lost and what will be gained, she isn't talking about herself. Just look at Hosen's attempts to get taxpayers to purchase the 302 acre McDowell Property next to the Quantico Marine Base so her PW Conservation Alliance can establish an "environmental" indoctrination center and staging area for anti-war protesters in DC.

...

I'm sick and tired of Hosen and Horn using this newspaper, that fails to balance their B.S. with facts from others, as some sort of Marxist Pravada telling us how to live our lives and preserve the resource according to them. The PA Conservation Alliance is a farce organization that wants to dictate what they'd never subscribe upon to themselves. Buy the McDowell property with your own money Ms. Hosen and live with the economic consequences of the strict environmental regulations you and Horn want jammed down our throats.

*wipes away the spittle*. Wow.

"Marxist Pravada," now that's comedy gold, Jerry!

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Update: The Wife tells me that the link to this on MSNBC has gone stale. Here's the link for the original Washington Post story.

And there are a couple of letters on that story.

My Google News filters grabbed this little jewel from MSNBC. With a steady increase in prosperity and average incomes making them affordable, home sizes have steadily increased since the 1950's. I see the houses mentioned in this article every day on my commute. Towering houses, often with a brick facade and beige siding, the houses that mysteriously fell from the sky. More often than not, the yard is relatively sterile, closely clipped and empty, ten acres lonesome for its residents. They must all be at work with the kids in daycare or enjoying the media room, because they certainly aren't outside.

And so when Alyson Skinner wanted a bigger house on 10 acres in western Prince William County, there it was.

For just under a million -- and with the equity from her smaller home -- she was able to get more space for roughly the same mortgage payment to accommodate the lifestyle she envisioned for her family. Instead of going out into the world, she preferred to contain the world inside her 5,300-square-foot home.

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My Google News filters grabbed this little jewel from MSNBC. With a steady increase in prosperity and average incomes making them affordable, home sizes have steadily increased since the 1950's. I see the houses mentioned in this article every day on my commute. Towering houses, often with a brick facade and beige siding, the houses that mysteriously fell from the sky. More often than not, the yard is relatively sterile, closely clipped and empty, ten acres lonesome for its residents. They must all be at work with the kids in daycare or enjoying the media room, because they certainly aren't outside.

And so when Alyson Skinner wanted a bigger house on 10 acres in western Prince William County, there it was.

For just under a million -- and with the equity from her smaller home -- she was able to get more space for roughly the same mortgage payment to accommodate the lifestyle she envisioned for her family. Instead of going out into the world, she preferred to contain the world inside her 5,300-square-foot home.

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The Manassas Journal-Messenger reports that the Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the route for the Tri-County Parkway.

The proposed 10.4-mile north-south parkway would connect Manassas with the Dulles corridor.

The road would run west of the Manassas Battlefield Park from north of the Interstate 66 and the Va. 234 interchange into Loudoun County, said a Virginia Department of Transportation press release.

"The board took a significant action today to improve mobility in a heavily congested region of the state by approving a location for the Tri-County Parkway," said Acting VDOT Commissioner Gregory A. Whirley in the release.

The PWC BoCS doesn't agree with the route. Chairman Connaughton notes:

We supported the alignment that was in all three counties' comprehensive plan.

Related Posts: 4 Nov 2005

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The PWC Board of Supervisors and our roads:

The Board voted Tuesday to endorse the eastern route of the Tri-County Parkway.

That route starts at the intersection of Route 28 and the 234 Bypass in Manassas and runs northeast through the city to Bull Run Regional Park in Fairfax. From there it veers west, clipping the northeast side of the battlefield and turning north through South Riding in Loudoun and on to Dulles Airport.

It is that option, which was the preferred alternative in a citizen survey, that has run into problems because the Federal Highway Administration has said it may refuse to allow federal funds to be used for a segment of that route for environmental reasons.

The Board prefers "Option D" for the routing of the proposed Battlefield Bypass, which would handle the traffic after Rt. 29 is closed in the Manassas National Battlefield. [Gainesville Times]

The idea for a Battlefield Bypass was conceived in 1988 when Congress ordered a study of the feasibility of closing Route 234 and U.S. 29 inside the battlefield in order to preserve the historic park. Traffic would be rerouted onto a beltway around the battlefield.

The northern route around Manassas National Battlefield Park was the one backed by federal planners but opposed by many citizens. It was the third and final idea considered by supervisors on Tuesday, only after they had rejected the only two other feasible alternatives.

I've blogged before on the Battlefield Bypass.

One interesting wrinkle is the idea of building in protection against massive development in the new corridor:

Opponents of that option have expressed concern that it would encourage development around the county's Rural Crescent.

In order to prevent that from happening, the supervisors attached an amendment onto their endorsement of the northern route. The amendment states that the endorsement is conditional on the bypass being a limited-access road. It is also conditional on the creation of a historic bypass overlay district around the battlefield. Connaughton said the board could create a district that would ensure that the property will remain zoned for 10-acre lots. That should stop high-density development around the battlefield and keep the bypass from becoming a "developer's road," Connaughton said.

With the understanding that they will come back later to adopt the overlay, the supervisors voted 6-2 to endorse the northern route. Stewart and Stirrup opposed the resolution.

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The perceived likelihood of a collapse in the housing market seems to be on the rise among the econo-pundits. Even if it's not our fate, it seems we may very well talk our collective selves into a painful "correction" in the housing markets. The stories I've collected over the past few days.

Editorial:Property values have risen too high

Prince William County used to be considered a "bed and breakfast" community, where those who worked in or around Washington, D.C. could afford to raise their families, enjoy quality schools and live in a comfortable, affordable home or apartment.

The end of the affordable "era" has come and gone in recent years, with many new home prices (and used homes) now exceeding $500,000. Prince William County residents are living "Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous" on paper but their bank accounts and living conditions don't reflect such a style.

But is this even a bubble?

... a wholesale crash means a wholesale retreat from fundamentals. Fundamentals like supply and demand ? there's still far more demand than supply and still far more willing customers than greedy speculators.

Even the Weekly Standard has noticed

Perhaps we are seeing only "a little froth in the market," to borrow the phrase used by Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan in his recent speech to the Economic Club of New York. The man who is famous for saying that if anyone understands what I am saying, I must have misspoken, handed down this model of clarity, "Without calling the overall national issue a bubble, it's pretty clear that it's an unsustainable underlying pattern." Froth, it seems, consists of "a lot of local bubbles." Meaning: In some areas prices are due to come down, but there will be no nationwide collapse in house prices.

More troubling perhaps is the sketchy financing:

More and more Americans--two-thirds of new buyers, by one estimate--are opting for variable rate mortgages, or choosing to pay only the interest due in the early years, leaving repayment of the loan for a later date.

Jim Bacon agrees:

This kind of flimsy financing is a sure sign of a market top. I was warning about the real estate bubble in November 2003, but I didn't have a sense then of imminent danger. I do now.

Vodkapundit has this pair of postings: Pop Goes The LIBOR and I Told You So

Atlanta first. Driving around here and seeing signs for houses ranging from "upper $400's" to "$750's" and up--and this is not in the fancier sections, mind you--I've been asking for years, "Who the hell buys these places, and what do they do for a living? How can that many people afford the mortgage on a house like that?" The answer may be, "They can't--unless it's floating on a cheap ARM or LIBOR."

More Fuel For The Fire:20,000+ homes in Dulles South?

New development battles brew in Loudoun almost daily. Both the rural and suburban halves of the county feel the pressure of prosperity -- more jobs, more residents, more houses, more conflict.

A new group has formed to fight for the middle ground ? a large swath of land known to planners and developers as Dulles South, running on both sides of U.S. 50 between U.S. 15 and Route 659.

Current zoning regards it as a low-density ?transition zone? between the urbanized east and rural west.

Read all of the comments.

And you might ask, isn't this all rather precarious? Jim Bacon quotes the WaPo:

Sayeth the Post: "Foreclosure rates rose in 47 states in March, according to Foreclosure.com, an online foreclosure listing service. The rates in Florida, Texas and Colorado are more than twice the national average. Even in New York City and Boston, where real estate markets are white-hot, foreclosures are rising in working-class neighborhoods

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A triplet of land-use items:

Nokesville residents are not so fond of new quarries.

Neither water supply assurances nor $2 million in roadwork could convince the Nokesville Civic Association that it should welcome Vulcan Material's quarry as a new neighbor.

Vulcan Materials officials offered a few ways the company and its proposed quarries could be neighborly to the town of Nokesville at a civic association meeting Thursday.

Even so, 75 of the 79 Nokesville Civic Association members said they didn't want the quarries to come to town.

...

The company has promised to give $2 million toward the widening of Va. 28.

Jake Hosen comments on balancing property rights with community rights. Personally, I'd say the community has no rights, but perhaps some needs and allowances may be granted by citizens to ease the burden of living together. Don't confuse this with a "right".

Originally, the creation of the Rural Crescent was predicted to destroy property values within its boundaries. Yet this has not happened. Property values in the crescent have risen at parity with, or faster than, the rest of the county. This means that landowners still turn a tidy profit building houses with large lots or in cluster developments, fulfilling the zoning requirements of the Rural Crescent without adding the punishing traffic and tax burdens to the rest of the county and the region that come with high-density developments.

A proposed rifle-range in Fauquier is opposed, at least by some 236 signatories.

We, the people of the Elk Run, Midland airport area, do not want the proposed rifle range on A.W. Patton's farm on Midland Road in Cedar Run District. It would be hostile to the entire environment of this quiet country community.

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