The Prince William County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Tuesday to initiate a comprehensive-plan amendment (CPA) for a 41-acre property identified in the request as "Haymarket Crossing." Planning staff said the applicant seeks to change the long-range land-use designation from agriculture and forestry to Residential Neighborhood 2 (RN2) with Transect 2 to support a single-family, age-restricted active-adult community.

Tanya Washington, director of planning, introduced the item and said Mark McCaskill of Long Range Planning reviewed the application details. McCaskill told supervisors the subject property, described in the application as being on Heathcote Boulevard, abuts the Haymarket activity center and is currently zoned A-1. He said the applicant intends to file a concurrent rezoning application after initiation and that transportation staff requested that the future rezoning address pedestrian facilities, interparcel emergency access and applicable design standards.

Supervisor comments focused on preserving adjacent agricultural lands and on traffic and infrastructure. Supervisor Vega characterized the site as "prime example of urban sprawl" and urged staff and the board to consider protecting agricultural space when reviewing CPA requests. Supervisor Weir and others noted the history of adjacent parcels and potential infrastructure constraints, including the Heathcote extension and costly road or bridge improvements that would be required to extend county infrastructure through the area.

Staff recommended initiation so the county could evaluate the request for conformity with the comprehensive plan; the motion to initiate the CPA (agenda item 10a) carried unanimously.

Why it matters: initiation begins a formal review process that will produce staff analysis and, if a rezoning follows, public hearings and recommendations. The change would remove an agricultural/forestry use from the long-range land-use map and potentially enable a private development of age-restricted single-family homes.

Next steps: planning staff will study the CPA request, coordinate with transportation staff about road and pedestrian improvements and accept the applicants pending rezoning application if submitted.

Direct quote: "This is a request to amend the comprehensive plan long range land use from agriculture and forestry to RN2, in order to support the development of a single family detached unit active adult community," Mark McCaskill said during the presentation.