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A N A D V I S O R Y S E R V I C E S P A N E L R E P O R T

Potomac CommunitiesPrince William County, Virginia

Urban LandInstitute$

Potomac CommunitiesPrince William County, VirginiaA Strategy for the Rebirth of the Historic U.S. Route 1 Corridor

February 17–22, 2002An Advisory Services Panel Report

ULI–the Urban Land Institute1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W.Suite 500 WestWashington, D.C. 20007-5201

An Advisory Services Panel Report2

ULI–the Urban Land Institute is a non-profit research and education organiza-tion that promotes responsible leadership in the use of land in order to enhance

the total environment.

The Institute maintains a membership represent-ing a broad spectrum of interests and sponsors awide variety of educational programs and forumsto encourage an open exchange of ideas and shar-ing of experience. ULI initiates research thatanticipates emerging land use trends and issuesand proposes creative solutions based on that re-search; provides advisory services; and publishesa wide variety of materials to disseminate infor-mation on land use and development.

Established in 1936, the Institute today has morethan 17,000 members and associates from 60 coun-tries, representing the entire spectrum of the landuse and development disciplines. Professionals rep-

resented include developers, builders, propertyowners, investors, architects, public officials, plan-ners, real estate brokers, appraisers, attorneys,engineers, financiers, academics, students, andlibrarians. ULI relies heavily on the experience ofits members. It is through member involvementand information resources that ULI has been ableto set standards of excellence in developmentpractice. The Institute has long been recognizedas one of America’s most respected and widelyquoted sources of objective information on urbanplanning, growth, and development.

This Advisory Services panel report is intendedto further the objectives of the Institute and tomake authoritative information generally avail-able to those seeking knowledge in the field ofurban land use.

Richard M. RosanPresident

About ULI–the Urban Land Institute

©2002 by ULI–the Urban Land Institute1025 Thomas Jefferson Street, N.W. Suite 500 WestWashington, D.C. 20007-5201

All rights reserved. Reproduction or use of the whole or anypart of the contents without written permission of the copy-right holder is prohibited.

ULI Catalog Number: ASP047

Cover photos courtesy Prince William County, Virginia.

Prince William County, Virginia, February 17–22, 2002 3

The goal of ULI’s Advisory Services Programis to bring the finest expertise in the realestate field to bear on complex land use plan-ning and development projects, programs,

and policies. Since 1947, this program has assem-bled well over 400 ULI-member teams to helpsponsors find creative, practical solutions forissues such as downtown redevelopment, landmanagement strategies, evaluation of develop-ment potential, growth management, communityrevitalization, brownfields redevelopment, mili-tary base reuse, provision of low-cost and afford-able housing, and asset management strategies,among other matters. A wide variety of public,private, and nonprofit organizations have con-tracted for ULI’s Advisory Services.

Each panel team is composed of highly qualifiedprofessionals who volunteer their time to ULI.They are chosen for their knowledge of the paneltopic and screened to ensure their objectivity.ULI panel teams are interdisciplinary and typi-cally include several developers, a landscapearchitect, a planner, a market analyst, a financeexpert, and others with the niche expertiseneeded to address a given project. ULI teamsprovide a holistic look at development problems.Each panel is chaired by a respected ULI mem-ber with previous panel experience.

The agenda for a five-day panel assignment is in-tensive. It includes an in-depth briefing day com-posed of a tour of the site and meetings with spon-sor representatives; a day and a half of hour-longinterviews of typically 80 to 100 key communityrepresentatives; and a day and a half of formulat-ing recommendations. Many long nights of discus-sion precede the panel’s conclusions. On the finalday on site, the panel makes an oral presentationof its findings and conclusions to the sponsor. Atthe request of the sponsor, a written report isprepared and published.

Because the sponsoring entities are responsiblefor significant preparation before the panel’s visit,including sending extensive briefing materials toeach member and arranging for the panel to meetwith key local community members and stake-

holders in the project under consideration, partic-ipants in ULI’s five-day panel assignments areable to make accurate assessments of a sponsor’sissues and to provide recommendations in a com-pressed amount of time.

A major strength of the program is ULI’s uniqueability to draw on the knowledge and expertise ofits members, including land developers and own-ers, public officials, academicians, representativesof financial institutions, and others. In fulfillmentof the mission of the Urban Land Institute, thisAdvisory Services panel report is intended to pro-vide objective advice that will promote the re-sponsible use of land to enhance our environment.

ULI Project StaffRachelle L. LevittSenior Vice President, Policy and Practice

Mary Beth CorriganManaging Director, Advisory Services

Nancy Zivitz SussmanSenior Associate, Advisory Services

Jason BellPanel Coordinator, Advisory Services

Geoffrey BoothDirector, Retail Development

Gerri TennysonCoordinator, Policy and Practice

Nancy H. StewartDirector, Book Program

Julie D. SternManuscript Editor

Betsy VanBuskirkArt Director

Martha LoomisDesktop Publishing Specialist/Graphics

Kim RuschGraphics

Diann Stanley-AustinDirector, Publishing Operations

About ULI Advisory Services


Both personally and on behalf of the ULI–the Urban Land Institute, the panel mem-bers and staff wish to express their deepappreciation to the Prince William County

Board of Supervisors and its staff for their lead-ership and support during this assignment.

Specifically, the panel acknowledges the leader-ship and contributions of Sean Connaughton,chair of the Prince William County Board of Su-pervisors; Hilda Barg, Maureen Caddigan, JohnJenkins, and Ruth Griggs, county supervisors;Craig Gerhart, county executive; Melissa Peacor,assistant county executive; Richard Lawson,planning director; Nimet El Alaily, deputy plan-ning director; Thomas Eitler; John White; and

Elaine Pugh, in organizing and managing thepanel’s on-site activities.

The panel members also wish to thank the privatecitizens, public officials, military personnel, busi-ness leaders, and representatives of nongovern-ment organizations and interest groups who par-ticipated in the interview process and offeredinformation and perspectives from their experi-ence on issues before the panel.

Acknowledgments


ULI Panel and Project Staff 6

Foreword: The Study Area and the Panel’s Assignment 7

Overview and Summary of Recommendations 9

Market Potential 12

Planning and Design 19

Development Strategy 28

Implementation 35

Conclusion 41

About the Panel 43

Contents


Panel Chair David LelandManaging DirectorLeland Consulting GroupPortland, Oregon

Panel Members Donald BauerOwner and FounderBauer Planning ServicesTustin, California

Michael BeyardSenior Resident Fellow, Retail and EntertainmentULI–the Urban Land InstituteWashington, D.C.

Charles BurgePresidentEland Development CorporationHouston, Texas

Arun JainPrincipal ConsultantUrban Design ConsultantsPiedmont, California

Christopher KurzPresident and CEOLinden Associates, Inc.Baltimore, Maryland

James MeadowsPrincipalMeadows and AffiliatesSan Francisco, California

Julia TrevarthenAssistant DirectorSouth Florida Regional Planning CouncilHollywood, Florida

Walter Winius, Jr.Managing DirectorIntegra Winius Realty AnalystsPhoenix, Arizona

ULI Project Director Geoffrey BoothDirectorRetail Development

ULI On-Site Coordinator Gerri TennysonCoordinatorPolicy and Practice

ULI Panel and Project Staff


ULI Panel Chair David Leland summed upthe problem facing the US Route 1 corri-dor in Prince William County when hesaid that the drivers of “approximately

50,000 cars pass along this section of U.S. Route1 each day in ignorance of the potential of the Po-tomac Communities because they are not invitedin and because the road is perceived as littlemore than an unattractive retail strip instead ofthe gateway to the surrounding communities.”

The current invitation to ULI to convene an Ad-visory Services Panel resulted from the successful1996 ULI Advisory Services panel report, Inno-vation Prince William County, Virginia, whichpresented a development strategy—subsequentlyadopted and implemented by the county—to cre-ate a technology park surrounding the PrinceWilliam Institute of George Mason University.The current assignment, as set by Prince WilliamCounty leaders, required the ULI panel to:

• Examine and give direction to what uses mightbe included within the U.S. Route 1 corridor, inlight of the future widening of Route 1;

• Recommend new development patterns thatwould improve the economic viability of theRoute 1 corridor;

• Propose ways to stop and to counter the in-creasing visual blight and the general overalldecline of the corridor; and

• Provide both a strategy and an action plan forthe future.

The panel reviewed a substantial briefing bookprovided by the county staff, made numerousstudy tours through and around the corridor, andinterviewed in confidence more than 40 citizenleaders from the corridor and the county.

On the basis of this analysis, the panel concludedthat this strategic planning effort was not too

late. Unless immediate action is taken, however,the pattern of development and the rapid pur-chase of remaining vacant land are nearing apoint at which the revitalization of the Route 1corridor could well be lost if immediate action isnot taken. Lack of action will result in further andprobably permanent loss of both the quality of lifeand the environment within the corridor.

To address these problems fully, the panel con-cluded that the key to the revitalization of theRoute 1 corridor within Prince William County isto reintegrate the road and its frontage parcelswith the surrounding communities, which includeWoodbridge, Dumfries, and Triangle (and withinwhich are found neighborhoods such as Belmont,Marumsco, Featherstone, Rippon Landing, New-port, and Graham Park). The longer Route 1 is al-lowed to continue turning its back on these com-munities, the more intractable current problemswill become.

To develop a strong, workable strategy for thecorridor, the panel believes that the corridor mustencompass all of the land between I-95 and the

Foreword: The Study Area and the Panel’sAssignment

Potomac River

ChesapeakeBay

1

70

95

95

495

270

66 ARLINGTON

CLARKE

CULPEPER

FAIRFAXFAUQUIER

RICK

KINGGEORGE

LOUDOUN

ON

ORANGE

PRINCEWILLIAM

PAHANNOCK

SPOTSYLVANIA

STAFFORD

WARREN

WESTMORELAND

ANNEARUNDEL

CALVERT

CAROLINE

CHARLES

DORCHESTER

HOWARD KENT

MONTGOMERY

PRINCEGEORGE'S

QUEENANNE'S

ST.MARY'S

SOM

TALBOT

WICOMIC

BALTIMORECITY

JEFFERSON

Baltimore

Annapolis

Washington, D.C.

M A R Y L A N D

V I R G I N I A

M A R Y L A N D

V I R G I N I A

Location map, top; studyarea, above.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTYStudy Area


Potomac River, including all such land withinPrince William County from the Occoquan Riverat the north to the southern boundary of theQuantico Marine Corps Base.

The panel sets its recommendations in the contextof new beginnings for the area, which will requirea significant shift in the corridor’s identity and inthe way it is perceived.

County Long-Range Plan-ning Chief Thomas Eitler(pointing) explains topanel members the extentof the town center devel-opment under construc-tion at Belmont.

Prince William County, Virginia, February 17–22, 20029

Having defined its study area, the panel ap-plied the principles outlined in ULI’s 2001publication Ten Principles for Reinvent-ing America’s Suburban Strips to the

briefing material, interviews, and information onthe local area. Using this as a foundation, thepanel developed a new vision for Prince WilliamCounty’s U.S. Route 1 corridor. This vision is con-sidered to be the essential foundation for an inte-grated development strategy and action plan—the Potomac Communities Initiative—that willdramatically transform community perceptionand create pride in the Potomac Communitiesand, in so doing, unlock the economic, social, andenvironmental potential of the Route 1 corridor.

The panel’s recommendations seek to arrest thecorridor’s spiraling decline into an obsolete andunattractive commercial blur of highway strip de-velopment. The panel believes that this currentimage is not just undermining investment in thecorridor but also creates a negative perception ofPrince William County. The panel feels that ifPrince William County acts boldly and expedi-tiously to adopt the panel’s development strategyand implement its recommended action plan, theRoute 1 corridor can be transformed.

A New Vision for the U.S. Route 1Corridor Too often, a major road becomes a transport can-yon lined with vision-obscuring noise barriers orhighway strip development through which motor-ists pass, but which they do not explore. The roadand its edges fail to respect, enhance, and showcasethe personality and character of the communitiesand places through which it slices. In time, theroad and its frontage parcels decay. It becomes aclogged artery condemned by tunnel vision, nei-ther a scenic gateway nor an enticing path, butrather something less than pleasant that must beendured to get somewhere else.

Many motorists and passengers traveling alongRoute 1 are oblivious to the community assetsand scenic beauty nearby. The blur of competingsigns, utility poles, used car lots, and decliningstrip centers hides what lies beyond. Rather thanproviding its users with reasons to stop, explore,and enjoy the place, Route 1 has the opposite ef-fect. It gives travelers the impression that this isspace through which they must pass, preferablyas quickly as possible. It is not, nor do most desireit to be, their residential, retail, educational, cul-tural, work, or recreational destination of choice.

As traffic congestion continues to increase onI-95, the Virginia Department of Transportation(VDOT) is looking to upgrade Route 1, whichoften serves as a reliever or alternative route toI-95. In the absence of a wider vision, plannersare likely to seize this as an opportunity just toremove obsolete highway strip development. Thepanel believes that there is a real danger thatthis opportunity will be reduced to little more

Development along Route 1 currently fails torespect, enhance, andshowcase the personalityand character of the com-munities through whichthe highway slices.

Overview and Summary ofRecommendations


businesses, to educate children, and to enjoy a se-cure, affordable, and inclusive quality of life as wellas a wide range of recreational and cultural expe-riences. A diverse housing stock will serve all in-come and demographic groups. The corridor willboast a critical mass of new places where peoplecan live, work, shop, play, and stay in well-plannedcommunities that promote repeat visitation, re-duce commuter-generated traffic congestion, andcreate the desire to enjoy to the fullest extent allthe interconnected residential, environmental,cultural, educational, recreational, and employ-ment experiences this locality can offer. All pathswill lead to the newly branded Potomac Commu-nities, Prince William County, Virginia.

Recommended Development Strategiesand Implementation Initiatives Having carefully evaluated the market potentialof the study area and recommended a planningand design approach that can be teamed with thismarket potential, the panel concludes that thereare ten development strategies and nine implemen-tation initiatives that together will work to crys-tallize its vision for the Potomac Communities.

The development strategies are summarized asfollows:

• Develop east/west, not north/south.

• Emphasize the connection to the PotomacRiver.

• Concentrate commercial growth in three activ-ity centers.

• Plan smaller retail nodes.

• Develop mixed-use centers in well-designednodes.

• Diversify housing stock.

• Reduce the amount of retail-zoned land.

• Amend the comprehensive plan and reformzoning regulations.

• Revitalize both ends of the corridor and controlwhat happens in the middle.

than a road capacity upgrade at worst, or a cos-metic civic beautification exercise at best.

A real opportunity exists to harness this road im-provement program. The panel believes that thecounty, by acting decisively to make Route 1 theroad that provides access and interest in easternPrince William County, can convert it from a sig-nificant liability into a strategic asset for thePotomac Communities. By integrating all of thecommunities’ transportation assets—I-95, Route1, east/west road connections, the railway andother transit routes, and local networks of bicycleand pedestrian paths—with an improved built en-vironment and land use mix, the Route 1 corridorcan be reborn.

If the panel’s vision is realized, Prince WilliamCounty’s U.S. Route 1 corridor will no longer be afragmented collection of dormitory suburbs anddiscount shopping centers. It will become a desti-nation rich in opportunities to incubate and grow

Daily traffic volumeswithin the study area(1995).

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

II

III

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II

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II

II

II

IIIII

136,000

159,000

14,500

13,000

18,400

12,100

115,000

20,000

111,000

104,000

30,800

Legend:

100,000 Route 1 daily traffic volumes

100,000 I-95 daily traffic volumes

100,000 Daily traffic volumes on other roadways in the study area

10,900

6,300

6,800

14,100

16,100

42,800

43,000

33,700

31,500

35,700

29,800

27,000

17,300

11,300

Featherstone Road

NeabscoRoad

CSX

Rail

Line

Horner

Road

Cardinal Drive

Joplin Road

Dale Boulevard

Opitz Boulevard

Route 253

Route 123

I-95

I-95

Route 234

Route 1

Route 1

Jeffe

rson

Davis

Highw

ay

PossumPoint Road

Fuller Road

Cherry Hill Road

Russell Road

N


• Act now to ensure transportation choices.

The panel’s recommended implementation initia-tives are as follows:

• Change the role, character, and perception ofRoute 1.

• Implement the South Gateway Initiative.

• Activate the North Gateway Project.

• Focus community development on the PotomacRiver waterfront and its relationship to tourism.

• Initiate right-of-way acquisitions immediately.

• Fund the action plan innovatively.

• Rely on place making rather than zoning.

• Create a development agency and a citizenscommittee.

• Adopt new ideas on community engagement.


The last thing likely to strike people enteringPrince William County after crossing theOccoquan River on U.S. Route 1 is that thePotomac Communities are proud of their

history. One’s first impression is dominated by aconcrete batching plant and a burned-out cementsilo, followed in rapid succession by obsolete com-mercial strip development—a vista so visually un-attractive that National Geographic magazine usedit as a jarring image of roadside signs and unco-ordinated strip development along Route 1 inPrince William County to highlight the problemsof highway development in America in the 1960s.

Since then, Route 1 has continued to age and de-cline in a way that provides a major disincentiveto new investment and frustrates the corridor’sreconnection to the surrounding Potomac Com-munities. If Prince William County wishes to takeadvantage of the U.S. population’s migration tothe eastern coastline, it will have to act urgentlyand decisively to transform the image of its Route1 corridor.

Defining the Problem Focuses theSolution Having read a briefing book prior to its arrival onsite, the panel concluded that the current specificproblems facing Route 1 in Prince William Countyare as follows:

• Jobs are located elsewhere.

• The jobs/housing imbalance heavily favorshousing, thereby increasing commuter traffic.

• Inexpensive land, a significant resource in thearea, is being developed quickly and at lowdensities.

• The Potomac River is disconnected from thepeople.

• Strip commercial development and infrastruc-ture along Route 1 are deteriorating rapidly.

In the course of its site inspections, on-site brief-ings by area experts, and confidential interviewswith business, civic, and community leaders, thepanel confirmed the veracity of its initial assess-ment of these problems.

Condemnation Blight Plans to widen Route 1 are approximately tenyears old. Given the time required for road im-provements and the current fiscal stringency atthe state level in Virginia, it likely will be at leastanother ten years before implementation of thewidening program commences.

Meanwhile, property owners and tenants alongRoute 1, who face a potential land taking, have a“condemned man” mentality; they feel like theyare “on death row.” The result of their plight is“condemnation blight.” These property ownersand tenants live for the present, not the future,and their real estate and business presentationconsequently suffer. The public sector likewisehas done nothing to improve this situation, rein-forcing the private sector’s perception that Route1 is a very risky location for real estate investment.

The community suffers as the blight persists. Thedevelopment of approximately 5 million squarefeet of retail space in the Potomac Mills Mall areajust west of I-95 has had a major negative impacton the retail space located along Route 1. Coupledwith condemnation blight, the new focus of retailhorsepower at Potomac Mills overshadows anddrives investor perception of the Potomac Com-munities. Prince William County feels the nega-tive impact of this circumstance not only east of I-95, but also along the entire Route 1 corridor,from the Occoquan River south to Quantico. Muchof the commercial development along Route 1

Market Potential


dates from the 1930s through 1950s and thus iswell past its economic life.

Prospective users and investors see the lack ofoutward community commitment and low levelsof existing private sector reinvestment and writethe area off. As the corridor’s physical assets de-cline, so do their market size and penetration.

The panel believes that Prince William Countymust act now to redress this perception. It mustarrest the decline in the Route 1 corridor by at-tracting an increasing share of the Washington,D.C., metropolitan region’s population and jobgrowth to the Potomac Communities.

Tackling the Four Key Markets The panel believes that Prince William Countyand its economic development program mustfocus on the following four key markets withinthe Potomac Communities: employment (particu-larly the office market), retail, tourism/recreation,and residential.

Employment The Potomac Communities has a negligible inven-tory of office space, with limited demand genera-tors, other than the Potomac Hospital. The littleoffice space that does exist outside of the hospitalcomplex primarily is limited to aged, small, func-tionally obsolete buildings.

Before the events of September 11, 2001, therewere no other major demand generators for officespace. No visible, ready-to-move-in Class A officebuildings exist east of I-95, although there is a re-cently serviced parcel suitable for office develop-ment north of Potomac Mills and on the west sideof I-95.

Route 1 does not present itself, at this time, as anattractive location for Class A office space. Thepanel understands that General Dynamics, whenit sought to locate a defense-related facility rea-sonably proximate to the Quantico Marine CorpsBase, found a lack of suitable accommodations andwas forced to lease a vacant retail warehouse inthe Potomac Mills area. The lack of suitable spaceis a significant disincentive to any corporationsseeking to locate in the Potomac communities.

Retail With the emergence of Potomac Mills as a mega-regional retailing center, retail demand alongRoute 1 dropped dramatically, leaving only theneighborhoods east of I-95 and commuter trafficas demand generators. The panel believes thatRoute 1 cannot at present—nor will it likely inthe future be able to—compete with the PotomacMills area for regional and national tenants.Route 1 occupancy has begun to rebound only re-cently, as a new generation of local retailers leaseinexpensive space to start new businesses.

The uncertain nature of pending condemnationssignificantly increases the investment risk for po-tential retailers and developers. Local brokerstold the panel that the present vacancy rate for

Potomac Mills Mall andthe surrounding area onthe west side of I-95 havecreated a dominant alter-native location to Route 1for big-box and nationalbrand retail tenants.

The buffering of thiscement batching plantnear the Occoquan Rivercrossing would be an in-tegral component of theNorth Gateway project, as proposed by the ULIpanel.


the approximately 1.5 million square feet of retailstrip development along Route 1 is about 15 per-cent, while rents are about 50 percent or less ofthe levels required to warrant construction ofreplacement buildings. Not all existing retailersalong Route 1 are worth retaining, and virtuallyall would benefit from relocation to better-mixedand better-configured retail nodes.

Tourism/Recreation The Potomac Communities have numerous histor-ical, ecotourism, and recreational venues, and soonwill be home to the Marine Corps Heritage Cen-ter and the Belmont Bay Science Center (a divi-sion of the Science Museum of Virginia), both ofwhich are scheduled to open in 2005. Quantico isproposed as one of the venues for the Washington/Baltimore area’s bid for the 2012 Summer OlympicGames. There is little to no existing synergy amongthese facilities or with Potomac Mills.

Other than Potomac Mills, no single area attrac-tion is powerful enough to capture a significantmarket share. The obsolete and declining image of Route 1 constitutes an impediment to any syn-ergy and creates a disincentive to its use as atourist route to the area’s attractions. The Po-tomac River, while a recreational amenity, largelyhas been ignored as a tourism opportunity.

Residential The Potomac Communities residential market hasbeen strong, but not because it has focused on thearea’s competitive advantages. Except in the newBelmont development, where the standard ofhousing is designed to appeal to business ownersand managers, product offerings are homoge-neous, consisting of plain single-family houses,townhomes, and garden apartments. In the southend of the study area, both Southbridge andRiver Oaks subdivisions have seen only mod-erate growth over the past five years, despite themetropolitan region’s robust housing market andthe significant price increases it has triggered.The panel believes that the relative lack of choicein executive housing stock within the PotomacCommunities has constrained significantly thearea’s office market potential.

Making One Plus One Equal Three (orMore) Once the panel had penetrated the unattractivefacade of Route 1, it found a rich bounty of eco-nomic, social, and environmental offerings in thePotomac Communities. However, like the manyreports and studies that comprised the panel’sbriefing book, all the individual elements failedto integrate and build on each other to create astronger whole. Sadly, the parts became sepa-rated over time. The panel believes that the sumof the parts—both of the existing offerings ofthe Potomac Communities and the potential de-scribed in all the reports, proposals, and studies itreviewed—can be leveraged and bonded into anintegrated whole, the aggregate value of whichwill exceed significantly the individual value ofits parts.

Heritage as an Asset As the U.S. population ages, travels internation-ally, and becomes more affluent, the value of itshistory and the sense of satisfaction, security, andbelonging this history provides also has begun toappreciate. History constitutes a major elementof the character and attraction of a locality andcan strongly brand the local community. Thepanel found that Rippon Middle School, built onthe historic Rippon Lodge Estate within the Poto-mac Communities, proudly draws on its heritageon its Web site, http://www.pwcs.edu/pwc/schools/rippon_ms/history.htm:

In 1725, Richard Blackburn left his home inRippon (now Ripon) in Yorkshire, England,and settled in northern Virginia. He builthis home, which he named “Rippon Lodge,”on a high knoll overlooking the mouth ofNeabsco Creek and the Potomac River.Crossing the property was King’s Highway[which later became Route 1], once knownas the Potomac Path, which was the mainpost road between the northern and south-ern colonies. This historic road was oftentraveled by George Washington, GeneralLafayette, and French and Americantroops during the Revolutionary War.

Rippon Lodge, the oldest home in Prince WilliamCounty, was acquired by the county government


in 1999 and currently is being restored with a mixof public funds, private donations, and the help ofcommunity volunteer organizations like HistoricPrince William. With the assistance of an excel-lent publication prepared by the Prince WilliamCounty Historical Commission, Prince WilliamCounty Historical Marker Guide, the panel foundmany of the 18 historical markers that are lost inthe clutter along the historic Route 1 corridor.These markers record the rich history of the Po-tomac Communities and the contribution theseareas made to the building of the nation. Asdemonstrated by the school Web site, these her-itage elements can be powerful community rally-ing points and significant place-making assets ifthey are linked and marketed as a Potomac Com-munities offering.

Know and Meet Your MarketIn a detailed report published in July 2000, USAToday found that an estimated 41 million people—more than one in seven Americans—now reside ina county that abuts the eastern or southern sea-board of the United States. In a migration storyequal to the last generation’s exodus from theFrostbelt to the Sunbelt, Americans are movingto the eastern seaboard. As Edward Hill, profes-sor of urban studies at Cleveland State Univer-sity in Ohio, concludes, “Improved technology,greater wealth, and better transportation are giv-ing people more choices about where to live. Theyare choosing the coast.”

Not surprisingly, booming metropolitan regionslike the Washington, D.C., area are feeding thismigration. The panel notes that despite the cur-rent recession, the Washington metropolitan re-gion largely has been insulated from the economicslowdown, as a result of increased governmentspending on defense and homeland security in thepost–September 11 environment. The panel alsonotes that the Quantico Marine Corps Base ishome to the U.S. Marine Corps and has a majorFederal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. DrugEnforcement Agency presence. Both of these fed-eral agencies play a prominent role in ensuringhomeland security and in the war on terrorism.

Another major driver of the growing trend in pop-ulation migration to the East Coast is the questfor a better life with less congestion, crime, andpollution, as well as better weather and scenery.The 78 million baby boomers in the United Stateswho are entering their preretirement years arelooking for more pleasant surroundings in whichto spend their postworking years. Accordingly,the growth dynamic along the East Coast likelywill continue for at least another ten to 20 years.

Regional and Local Demographics In its year 2000 report, Growth Trends in theWashington Region, the Metropolitan Washing-ton Council of Governments found that the 1990ratio of population to jobs was 1.57 persons perjob across the region, but 3.1 persons per job inPrince William County. By 2025, the persons perjob figure was projected to fall to 1.52 across theregion but to only 2.7 in Prince William County,suggesting that the county’s significant popula-tion/employment imbalance will improve onlymarginally by then. The panel concludes from

County Executive CraigGerhart (left) and CountyPlanning Director RichardLawson brief panel mem-bers on developmentwithin the Route 1 corridor.

Historical markers canbecome powerful com-munity rallying points andsignificant place-makingassets.


these figures that pressure will mount to cre-ate more jobs in Prince William County, or elsetraffic congestion will worsen significantly as resi-dents are forced to leave the county each day togo to work.

According to the county’s demographic briefing,the Potomac Communities population has grownfrom 41,040 in 1990 to 55,216 in 2000. This growthis in line with the rest of Prince William County.The Potomac Communities are home to approxi-mately 20 percent of the county’s population. Thecounty projects that the Potomac Communitiespopulation will grow to 75,497 by 2020.

The panel noted that the ethnicity of the PotomacCommunities recorded in Census 2000 is 55 per-cent white, 28 percent African American, and 15percent Hispanic. Only 57 percent of the PotomacCommunities dwellings are owner occupied (com-pared with 72 percent countywide); 43 percentare renter occupied (compared with 28 percentcountywide). The Potomac Communities have asignificantly higher percentage of nonfamilyhouseholds (23 percent) than the county figure of6 percent. The median household income in thePotomac Communities is about $8,000 per annumlower than the $62,892 median for Prince Wil-liam County.

The panel concluded that the current workforceprofile of the Potomac Communities provides asignificant employment resource for the retail,hospitality, and service trades necessary to sup-port the growth of the communities’ tourism andecotourism offerings. Broadening this employ-ment base to include office and other tertiaryemployment will require the future provision ofhigher-end executive housing within the PotomacCommunities.

Transportation Choice, AffordableLiving, and Real Estate Sales At present, most trips within the Potomac Com-munities are by car. An OmniLink weekday-onlylocal bus service is proving popular; the VirginiaRailway Express also operates on a weekday-onlyfixed schedule. The panel supports a proposedferry service that would link Prince WilliamCounty with downtown Washington, D.C. The

Route 1 study area:undeveloped land and resource use.

Undeveloped land and resource useRoute 1Town of DumfriesU.S. Route 1 Study Area

Route 1 study area:parcels sold from January 1, 1999, to December 31, 2001.

Parcels sold from January 1, 1999,to December 31, 2001Route 1Town of DumfriesU.S. Route 1 Study Area


provision of transportation choices is becoming amajor consideration in residential and employerlocation. To justify the addition of new transporta-tion infrastructure, the Potomac Communitieswill have to increase residential densities and linkall of their educational, recreational, environmen-tal, cultural, and tourist assets to maximize visita-tion and transit patronage.

The Potomac Communities have a large supplyof undeveloped land, but many parcels were soldbetween January 1, 1999, and December 31, 2001,suggesting that this land supply is being taken upat a rapid rate. (See the maps on the precedingpages.) Significantly, statistics provided by thecounty show that the cost of living in Prince Wil-liam County is 10 percent lower than in metro-politan Washington, D.C., and the cost of housingis 20 percent lower. If Route 1 is revitalized andmore transportation choices are provided, thequality-of-life advantages of the Potomac Com-munities should prove to be a powerful attractionto homebuyers.

Sound County Government and a StrongSchool SystemPrince William County stands like a beacon of fis-cal strength and responsibility among the metro-politan region’s cash-strapped and tax-challengedstate and county governments. Its school boardenjoys an excellent relationship with the county,in contrast to the turmoil and decline in local edu-cation being experienced in some other jurisdic-tions. In its current budget, the county providedfor a 15 percent—$33.6 million—increase for its57,800-student school system, which is the secondlargest in the Commonwealth of Virginia. Threeout of every five of its students earn a bachelor’sdegree within five years of graduation. In May2001, Time magazine named Stonewall JacksonHigh School its High School of the Year. Signifi-cantly, 90 percent of all homes in Prince WilliamCounty have a computer and 70 percent of thecounty’s residents access the Internet at leastonce a week. These factors are very attractive toemployers and real estate investors.

Harnessing the Market PotentialGiven the enduring strength of the population,employment, and housing growth pushing outfrom Washington, D.C., Prince William County,with its strong fiscal position, can provide strongleadership to encourage private sector investmentin the Potomac Communities. The panel recom-mends the following actions:

• To encourage job growth, move to zone sew-ered and watered Class A office sites ready fordevelopment in target areas close to I-95. Meetwith staff from the Quantico Marine CorpsBase and the U.S. General Services Adminis-tration to identify and qualify these demandgenerators. Undertake a sophisticated marketstudy to determine the competitive advantagesof the Potomac Communities as an office loca-tion. Match these competitive advantages withtarget companies ripe for relocation or expan-sion into the Potomac Communities. Organize aseries of brokers’ tours to put the word out andliaise with residential developers’ marketingteams to ensure that their advertising spreadsthe word about the lifestyle assets for thosewho choose to live, work, shop, play, and stayin the Potomac Communities.

• To consolidate retail facilities and services, rec-ognize and promote the natural attrition of re-tail real estate on Route 1 between distinct de-velopment nodes. Plan, through overlays, forthe reuse and redevelopment of this real es-tate. Create multiuse zoning districts. Estab-lish and promote an automobile dealership zone(an auto park) and stringently enforce countyregulations to ensure that all Route 1 frontage

A major competitive ad-vantage of the PotomacCommunities is the high-quality school system andthe partnership betweenthe county and the schoolboard.

is developed, maintained, and operated in anaesthetically pleasing manner.

• To enrich the range of housing options offeredand significantly increase residential density,promote new housing types with higher pricepoints and greater densities. Intermix thesewith some high-end development of lots withwater views. Differentiate the housing prod-ucts available in the Potomac Communitiesfrom those found in competing areas.

• To capture tourist dollars and multiplier ef-fects—and to leverage the value of repeat visi-tation and its lifestyle effect—create a criticalmass of activity and tourist attractions bypackaging existing facilities and new assets todevelop an overnight-stay market built aroundshopping, history, ecotourism, and recreation.Implement an ecotourism plan that includes anecology education center adjacent to the Rip-pon rail station with greenways (biking, walk-ing, trams) that connect all major facilities,including the planned Belmont Bay ScienceCenter, the Ospreys Golf Club at Belmont Bay,the Potomac River marinas, Prince William


Forest National Park, Leesylvania State Park,area wildlife refuges, Rippon Lodge, the plan-ned Marine Corps Heritage Center, historicQuantico Township, the Quantico NationalCemetery, and the historic markers locatedthroughout the Potomac Communities. Thecounty should implement the Potomac RiverPublic Access Plan expeditiously.

Summary The market potential exists to:

• Build communities as the focus of Route 1 rebirth;

• Reverse the job/housing imbalance;

• Enhance the environment as the centerpiece ofcommunity building;

• Use the principles of place making and smartgrowth to guide development decisions;

• Better connect western Prince William Countywith the Potomac River and its communities;

• Create family-wage jobs as well as housingchoices and diversity;

• Strengthen and brand the critical mass of edu-cational, historical, and ecotourism assets; and

• Lay the foundations for transportation choicesand land use excellence that will make PrinceWilliam County a preferred destination in theWashington, D.C., metropolitan region.

Wildlife refuges and stateparks help to make thePotomac Communities a more livable area andattract tourists to this partof the Washington, D.C.,metropolitan region.


Planning and Design

County Board of Super-visors Chairman SeanConnaughton (center),County Executive CraigGerhart (right), and ULIpanel member DonaldBauer discuss optionsavailable to reinventRoute 1.

Communities form and consequently arerecognized where individuals come to-gether and connect with each other. Theproblem with the Route 1 corridor is that

the development of each frontage parcel has beendesigned as a standalone piece of rentable space,not as a community-building element that createsa special place.

The jarring competition of tired, once functional,but now largely obsolete retail developmentsmust go. The area is overretailed and competingfor markets that have been usurped by the ap-proximately 5 million square feet at PotomacMills and its surrounding retail development.

The individual retail properties along Route 1have turned their back on the surrounding com-munities. Their sole reason for existence is tojockey for position in capturing the passing tradegenerated by vehicular traffic along Route 1. Theresult is an indistinguishable blur of development,much of which is now obsolete and of decliningeconomic, social, and environmental value. Visu-ally, it conveys to potential investors the messagethat the Potomac Communities are not a prime in-vestment location in the Washington, D.C., metro-politan region. The challenge is to transform dis-connected rentable space into a valued place and,in so doing, deliver a place-making dividend.

Reinvent Regulations to Deliver aPlace-Making Dividend The panel believes that a place-making dividendis the pride and satisfaction that accrues to a com-munity when districts possess a strong sense ofplace that, in turn, results in high levels of repeatvisitation and increasing rents, retail sales, leasingdemand, and real estate capital value. A place-making dividend occurs when individual real es-tate projects are so well designed and intercon-nected that they create one integrated place. For

the community, the place-making dividend meansa special place that the community adopts as itsown and from which it reaps the benefits of repeatvisitation. For government, the place-making div-idend takes the form of secure tax streams; forreal estate developers and investors, it meansrepeat patronage and tenant or buyer demand,higher rents, increased sales, and enduring realestate values. Place making is the essence of best-practice real estate development, communitybuilding, and county government.

Establishing new places for people to live, work,shop, play, and stay in discrete, accessible, andtransit- and pedestrian-friendly nodes along Route1 that create a sense of place constitutes a com-munity need as well as an aspiration. Places thatare desirable appeal to all the senses—sight, sound,smell, taste, and touch. They offer a rich mix oflocal activities, aesthetic design, quality, and price.All of these elements currently are concealedfrom view on Route 1.

The panel believes that people’s senses are con-stantly assessing a place, deciding whether it iswelcoming, engaging, stimulating, exciting. Theperception of how one fits into a place relates tohow well individual real estate developments inte-grate into a cohesive whole and to that place’s


form, configuration, balance, synergy, proportion,and symmetry.

Successful place making lies in configuring spaces,structures, and the interconnections between andamong them in a way that facilitates and encour-ages human activity and interaction—an environ-ment of which people want to be a part because ithas been designed, built, and maintained withthe goal of satisfying the full spectrum of humanneeds and aspirations, from the mundane to theinspirational. A successful place appeals to all thesenses, engaging visitors and inhabitants alike ina voyage of discovery of enticing sights, sounds,and scents. On all these criteria, the Route 1 cor-ridor currently achieves a very poor rating. Notsurprisingly, many real estate rents are belowthose that justify replacement cost, property taxreturns are at risk, and the community is not re-warding many obsolete and poorly designed areaswith repeat visitation and community pride.

The panel believes that the county’s zoning ordi-nance and comprehensive plan both have provento be inadequate place-making tools and that thecounty must reinvent both its land use regula-tions and its government and intergovernmentalprograms to better deliver and encourage the cre-ation of place in the Potomac Communities. Thepanel believes the county’s visual model of theRoute 1 corridor should be transformed into aninteractive digital planning instrument and place-making code for the Potomac Communities.

This instrument and code—which should use bothvisual and auditory media and techniques cur-rently used in the motion picture and computersimulation industries—must evoke all five senses.

Such a model would allow the county to assess thetrue quality of the proposed places that might re-sult from future private and public investments inthe Route 1 corridor. Each county regulation andbudgetary program should be assessed, refocused,and integrated to achieve community building inthe Potomac Communities.

The panel recommends that the county progres-sively move from black letter zoning law to sen-sory law, as an integral part of its strategy totransform the Route 1 corridor into the PotomacCommunities, Prince William County, Virginia.Residents, developers, and public officials will un-derstand readily this innovative and evocativedigitally based planning instrument, which can beused for community consultation, developmentimpact analysis, community visioning, and mar-keting and implementation of the county’s eco-nomic and community development programs. Itsdigital form will allow cost-effective transmissionthrough the Internet.

Link Place-Making Assets to Create aDestination The panel strongly endorses the Prince WilliamCounty Park Authority’s proposal to complete thePotomac Heritage Trail from the Occoquan Riverto the Quantico Marine Corps Base. This hard-surfaced, multiuse trail along the Potomac Riverwould constitute a greenway network of pedes-trian linkages among state and county parks, afederal wildlife refuge, wildlife managementareas, and wetlands. It also could connect har-bors, marinas, schools, commercial areas, and theresidential neighborhoods of the Potomac Com-munities. The benefits of this Potomac HeritageTrail would include:

• Linking new recreational and environmentalareas to the waterfront;

• Providing pedestrian access to recreational,community, and commercial facilities;

• Promoting tourism and economic development,as well as community belonging, pride, andidentity; and

Making the enforcementof county regulations apriority is necessary toensure that all develop-ment along Route 1 isconstructed, maintained,and operated in an aes-thetically pleasing manner.


• Reconnecting people with the Potomac River, alost historic connection.

The panel endorses the suggestion that the loca-tions of 18 historic markers within the PotomacCommunities should become the focus of commu-nity way finding and place making. Residents andvisitors alike could stop and read the markers,and relate to and celebrate the history of theseplaces. The panel believes this should be an im-portant element in the plan to link and market—as one brand—the rich heritage, ecotourism, edu-cational, and cultural assets of the PotomacCommunities.

Create Density by DesignThe panel believes that unless the county em-braces an increased density of development itwill fail to attract the critical mass of employment,residential, and mixed-use development necessaryto support transportation choices and the rebirthof the Route 1 corridor. The misconception thatincreased density equates only to more gardenapartments and increased traffic congestionmust be replaced with the clear understandingand endorsement that the achievement of a mini-mum residential density of six units per grossacre is essential to providing housing choicesand creating sustainable growth in the PotomacCommunities.

With the current pattern of dispersed develop-ment, the primary means of transportation is thecar. Denser nodes of development at strategicpoints on Route 1 will create activity centers withsufficient critical mass to support new transit op-tions and provide the more urban live-work-shopplaces that many people are now demanding. De-veloping such higher-density, mixed-use placeswithin the Potomac Communities will be essentialfor attracting high-tech office employers, who inturn seek to attract a younger and more skilledworkforce.

The panel believes that these denser activity cen-ters must be pedestrian friendly in design and de-veloped as interconnected places rather than as afragmented group of independent developments.Hence their design can ensure that the predomi-nant mode of transport within these nodes will be

by foot rather than by car, thereby reducing vehi-cle trips and traffic congestion.

The panel believes that a minimum residentialdensity of six units per gross acre still will allowfor the development of a full range of housingtypes. It just means that not all new developmentwill be restricted to only detached houses on largelots or only higher-density apartments. Thus abalance and choice of residential accommodationwill ensure the sustainable development of thePotomac Communities in a way that will protectand enhance their environmental assets. Thepreparation and adoption of a place-making codeas recommended by the panel will play a criticalrole in achieving this density by design.

Separate the Wheat from the Chaff The panel believes that many of the commercialand retail uses along Route 1 can be remixedand relocated into the proposed new pedestrian-friendly nodes shown on the land use concept planon page 22. Failing businesses should be allowedto pass into history as a consequence of the Route1 upgrade. Obsolete buildings should be demol-ished as soon as possible. Facilitating the reloca-tion of viable and desirable businesses to thesenew nodes will create well-mixed activity centersthat enhance community access and promote in-creased sales. The interconnection and synergy ofthis new land use structure will assist communityway finding and focus commercial development atthe Potomac Communities’ most accessible places,rather than spread out along either side of Route1. The panel believes that the introduction of land

Existing higher-densityhousing development inSouthbridge demon-strates that such develop-ment can be very attrac-tive and can providemuch-needed residentialchoices.


use order into the current chaotic form also willensure secure county tax streams.

Integrate Land Use and TransportationThe panel supports the proposed widening ofRoute 1 from four to six lanes of traffic, withsome significant qualifications. The panel believesthat a strategic opportunity will be lost if the landacquired for this upgrading does not include acenter median wide enough to include a futuretransit corridor.

The design of both the vertical and horizontalalignments should enable this transit corridor tobe developed as bus rapid transit or light or heavyrail, depending on future demand and need. The

panel also believes that, consistent with its desireto move the emphasis of the current Route 1 cor-ridor from north/south to east/west, most majorintersections should be at grade, thereby de-emphasizing Route 1’s role as a high-speed com-muter route and allowing its users to both respectand appreciate the offerings of the Potomac Com-munities as they pass through them.

As the panel’s land use concept plan shows, keynorth/south and east/west intersections should bedeveloped as retail and mixed-use nodes, intowhich viable businesses that are acquired as partof the road-widening land acquisition program canbe relocated. Pilot projects at these nodes willneed to be developed early in the road alignmentacquisition program to ensure minimal businessdisruption and reduce the cost of acquisition byrelocating viable existing tenants rather than justputting them out of business. This will be criticalto maintaining newly incubated businesses andthe employment they provide, and to enhancingthe retail offerings and places to be created onRoute 1.

These nodes must be developed at higher den-sities, with the proper mix of uses, and in a pedestrian-friendly form to achieve a critical massof activity and attraction. The panel’s intersectionnode concept plan on the following page shows apotential layout for these developments. Theyshould be designed to create a distinctive imageand identity for these nodes that will reinforcecommunity development and stimulate invest-ment along the Route 1 corridor.

The panel feels that a significant element of thefuture attractiveness of the Potomac Communi-ties will derive from the area’s ability to provide arange of places for people to live, work, shop, play,and stay that offer transportation choices in apedestrian-friendly environment. While initiallycommuters and other travelers will insist onusing their cars, the panel feels that as congestionand residential choice grow, so too will the exist-ing OmniLink transit service—to include busrapid transit and light- and heavy-rail servicealong the Route 1 corridor. Feeder transit ser-vices will link to the surrounding communitiesand a system of pedestrian, bicycle, and possiblybridle trails will expand significantly the trans-

Land use concept plan.

Occoquan River

Residential

Residential

Residential

Residential

Residential

Residential

Civic

Future School

Office

Office

Prince William Parkway

Opitz Boulevard

PotomacMills Mall

Medical

Office Dale Boulevard

SchoolNorthern Virginia Community College

Cardinal Drive

Residential

Route 234Dumfries Road

Town ofDumfries

Prince WilliamForest Park

Route 619Joplin Road

Marine CorpsHeritage Center

Northern Gateway Upgrade

I-95

Occoquan Road

Route 1

North Gateway

Woodbridge VRE Station

Route 123 Interchange

Future Science Center

Occoquan BayNational Wildlife

Refuge

Auto Park

Occoquan Bay

RetailNode

Retail Node

RetailNode

*Existing industrial areasrequiring detailed master plan for adaptive use forhigh-tech employment

Rippon VRE Station

PotomacRiver

FreestonePoint

DeepholePoint

Leesylvania State

Park

Powells CreekTown Activity Center

TownActivityCenter

Future VRE Station

Cherry Hill Peninsula Master Planrequired to address residential density

and nonresidential development

Cockpit Point

Quantico Creek

South Gateway Iwo Jima Gateway Feature

and Office/Services Node

Possum Point

Quantico MarineCorps Base

Town of QuanticoQuantico VRE Station

I-95

Route 1

Belmont

School

Neabsco Creek

Town of Occoquan

Key:

Residential

Office

Mixed-use

Retail node

School/college

Industrial*

Open space

VRE Station

NN

0' 1500' 2000' 6000'


portation choices currently offered in the PotomacCommunities.

While the existing rail line is limited in its use forcommuter rail service by the density of freighttraffic, opportunities do exist to provide a rangeof transit and pedestrian linkages to existing andfuture rail stations on this line within the Poto-mac Communities. Small, planned retail centers atthese rail stations could accommodate a limitedrange of convenience and service retail facilities,but the panel believes there will be insufficientdemand to justify town center developments atthese locations.

The panel also supports the proposal to develop ahigh-speed commuter ferry service linking PrinceWilliam County’s Belmont Town Center, CherryHill, and Quantico to downtown Washington, D.C.A benchmark model for such service is the Bris-bane [Australia] City Council CityCats, details ofwhich can be found at http://www.brisbane.qld.gov.au/getting_around/ferries/citycat/index.shtml.

Focus on the Communities, Not JustRoad CapacityThe panel believes that the initial task in planningand designing the rebirth of Route 1 must be tobreak the corridor into districts—the North, Cen-tral, and South gateways—that then will have theability to form their own characters and identi-ties—their own sense of place—as a way to iden-tify where one is and how one fits into the Poto-mac Communities. It is clear that no singlecommunity on its own has sufficient strength torevitalize the corridor, but as a vital component ofone of its gateway districts, each community candraw on the economies of scale and choice pro-vided in concert with its neighbors to become astrong redevelopment driver. The panel considersit essential that each community’s character beenhanced and not lost in the revitalization initia-tive, and that the east/west connections amongthese communities—from the western part of thecounty east to the Potomac River—no longer besevered by the north/south nondescript blur ofunattractive strip development that is currentlyRoute 1.

The panel feels that the county, in partnershipwith each of the Potomac Communities, must de-velop a place-making code that properly reflectsand reinforces—in both the built form and thenatural environment—the character and person-ality of each gateway district. The panel considersthe following matters to be crucial to the properconceptualization of the place-making code. Thecounty’s Waterfront Plan and its Route 1 Corridor

Intersection node conceptplan, top. The Wood-bridge Virginia RailwayExpress station and park-ing garage (left) provide astrong foundation for afuture multimodal transitcenter for the PotomacCommunities.


Study, plus the Northern Virginia Planning Dis-trict Commission’s Potomac River Public AccessPlan, along with the various agency reports sub-mitted to the panel, should provide additionalvaluable guidance in the preparation of the place-making code. The panel’s land use, open space,and area concept plans, while not parcel specific,are designed to guide the county in the develop-ment of the new planning instruments consideredessential to the transformation of the Route 1corridor into the Potomac Communities, PrinceWilliam County, Virginia.

Reconstruct the North GatewayThe North Gateway cluster of communities in-cludes the distinctive and very different settle-ments around the Occoquan River and the Wood-bridge area, as well as Belmont, the Marumsconeighborhoods, and other nearby residential sub-divisions. These communities are the front door to Prince William County from the Washington,D.C., metropolitan area. By virtue of their loca-tion, they set the initial impression for visitorsand potential investors in Prince William County.

While this district is home to the densest and old-est concentration of commercial development inthe Potomac Communities, several of the shop-ping centers along Route 1 in the North Gatewayare obsolete. Their state of distress sets a mostundesirable tone. Additional store closings can beexpected, which will further fuel the problem.

The panel heard from several long-term residentsabout how upset they become when they cross theOccoquan River on Route 1 and are faced withwhat they described as “an eyesore welcome totheir home county.” This image must be changed

if the county wishes to capitalize on its full visionfor the Potomac Communities. The county al-ready has taken significant steps in this directionby driving the creation of the new riverfront com-munity at Belmont and the planned Belmont BayScience Center, which will be adjacent to the Oc-coquan Bay National Wildlife Refuge. This newcommunity is setting the tone for the high-quality,amenity-driven type of development that thepanel believes will be necessary to revitalize all ofthe Potomac Communities, from the OccoquanRiver to Quantico.

Additional opportunities exist in the North Gate-way, both for redevelopment of obsolete shoppingcenters and for the expansion of a zone of high-quality, full-service automobile dealerships thatalready are beginning to cluster there. The panelbelieves that the more intense and complex retaildevelopment within the Potomac communitiesshould be focused around this section of Route 1,at its junctions with the major intersecting east/west roads. The panel also believes that betterlinkages between the Potomac Mills area and thispart of the county will help draw higher-valueuses across the I-95 barrier, thereby transformingthe North Gateway into a major economic anchorand job generator. This would provide a majorbenefit to all of the Potomac Communities. TheHahn property on the east side of I-95 on OpitzBoulevard is large enough to provide this link ifit is rezoned for office use rather than for a re-gional shopping center (which is unlikely ever tobe built).

As shown on the panel’s land use concept plan onpage 22, the immediate priorities in the NorthGateway are the following:

• Improve the Route 1/Route 123 interchangeand upgrade the entry to Prince William fromFairfax County;

• Continue to encourage the development of theplanned Belmont Bay Science Center;

• Establish a retail node at the Prince WilliamParkway/Route 1 intersection;

• Develop a concentration of automobile dealer-ships (an auto park) that would attract car buy-ers from throughout the metropolitan region;

County Supervisor HildaBarg (right) explains topanel members (fromleft) Julia Trevarthen,Arun Jain, and Christo-pher Kurz the critical ele-ments of proposals forthe North Gateway.


• Establish a new employment center off OpitzBoulevard (on the Hahn property);

• Develop a multimodal transit center in Wood-bridge; and

• Prepare a master plan for the Rippon rail sta-tion.

Focus on the Central GatewayThe area that the panel has dubbed the CentralGateway is the opportunity area for a second clus-ter of communities. This area is as much a gate-way as the northern and southern ends of Route1, since it is easily accessed from I-95 on the west.It contains many of the corridor’s public facilities,including the government center’s A.J. FerlazzoBuilding, Potomac Hospital, Potomac High School,Potomac Community Library, and the site of aproposed middle school. The Central Gatewayalso includes a large tract of undeveloped land atCherry Hill/Southbridge.

The panel believes that these large undevelopedparcels provide a prime opportunity to develophigher-value housing designed to entice job-generating executives to reside and base theirbusinesses in the Potomac Communities. As theseundeveloped parcels are converted to housing, theneed will arise for additional civic, county gov-ernment, and private sector office space, whichthe panel believes would be clustered most ap-propriately around the existing civic and educa-tional facilities.

The panel suggests that a concentration of mid-and high-density office buildings be developed inthis district, primarily between Route 1 and I-95.The county needs to create, adopt, and then en-force a place-making code to ensure that a high-quality built environment is developed and main-tained. The Central Gateway, which now ischaracterized by a comparatively pristine road-side along Route 1, needs to be protected as newcommunities emerge.

Ecotourism presents another major developmentopportunity for the Central Gateway, which ishome to Leesylvania State Park as well as the Potomac River and its estuaries. Strengtheningthe linkages among these recreational and envi-ronmental assets and the surrounding communi-

ties will enhance greatly the area’s appeal forhigher-end housing as well as employment-generating activities.

As shown on the panel’s land use concept plan onpage 22, the immediate priorities in the CentralGateway are the following:

• Consolidate nonresidential development innodes at strategic intersections on Route 1 inactivity centers that promote an east/west ori-entation and benefit from a synergy of uses;

• Create residential uses and open space edges onthe remaining frontage parcels along Route 1;

• Relocate the town activity center to Route 1from its proposed location within Cherry Hill;and

• Prepare a master plan to guide the developmentof the Cherry Hill peninsula that addresses thefuture of both the existing industrial and re-quired future residential development of thisarea.

Reinvent the South GatewayThe South Gateway includes the communities ofDumfries and Triangle, as well as neighboringresidential areas. These communities are not onlythe gateway to Prince William County from thesouth; they also serve as the principal gateway tothe Quantico Marine Corps Base.

The base is expected to increase in importance as a generator of economic development and jobgrowth. The events of September 11, 2001, likelywill fuel increased federal government and de-fense contractor demand for office space in associ-

Potomac Hospital onOpitz Boulevard providesboth an essential medicalamenity and the potentialfor expanded medicallyrelated employment activ-ities within the PotomacCommunities.


ation with the base. The communities of the SouthGateway are best located to capture this growth.The panel believes that the main entry to the baseis an ideal location for any federal office develop-ment and that the county should actively pursuethis prospect. The planned Marine Corps HeritageCenter will be a major economic driver in the SouthGateway. The panel strongly endorses the partner-ship that the county has formed with the MarineCorps to ensure that this project is constructed asa matter of priority.

This museum will be a major anchor in the Trian-gle/Dumfries area and will create a major nationaltourist attraction in the South Gateway. Togetherwith the office development proposed by the

panel, the museum also could create a market fora range of small specialty shops and lodging anddining establishments such as those that alreadyhave begun to appear in the Dumfries area.

The panel endorses the place-making initiativebeing developed by the county in partnershipwith the town of Quantico to enhance the town’smain street. This could become a delightful lunchor shopping destination for those taking a high-speed ferry ride down the Potomac River toPrince William County.

As shown on the panel’s land use concept plan onpage 22, the immediate priorities in the SouthGateway are the following:

• Implement the South Gateway initiative, focus-ing on the rebirth of Triangle, the constructionof the Marine Corps Heritage Center, the relo-cation of the Iwo Jima monument, and associ-ated development in partnership with theQuantico base;

• Integrate the Dumfries town activity centerinto the Potomac Communities; and

• Support the town of Quantico’s main street ini-tiative.

A renewed vision for Triangle, Virginia.

ULI Panel Chair DavidLeland (left) is briefed by County SupervisorMaureen Caddigan (cen-ter) and Laurie Wieder,president of the PrinceWilliam Regional Cham-ber of Commerce, on thework required at theSouth Gateway.

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SummaryThe panel’s planning and design approach for thePotomac communities is to:

• Reinvent regulations to deliver a place-makingdividend;

• Link place-making assets to create a destina-tion;

• Create density by design;

• Separate the wheat from the chaff;

• Integrate land use and transportation;

• Focus on communities, not just road capacity;

• Reconstruct the North Gateway;

• Focus on the Central Gateway; and

• Reinvent the South Gateway.

An Advisory Services Panel Report

The panel’s development strategy for the re-vitalization of the Route 1 corridor seeks toboth integrate and maximize long-term in-vestments and programs with short-term

actions and successes. In the broadest sense, it isa strategy that builds and revitalizes communi-ties—the Potomac Communities—because this isthe key to revitalizing Route 1.

The panel believes that market forces once againare directing opportunities back toward the Poto-mac Communities. To seize these opportunities,however, the county must act resolutely and in-vest its resources in the creation of more livableand sustainable communities.

The panel believes that if the county fails to act ina timely manner, it could be overwhelmed by thekind of disconnected growth that will create anew set of problems to replace those already fac-ing the Route 1 corridor. The current opportunityto create and strengthen the Potomac Communi-ties—and, in so doing, revitalize Route 1—will be

jeopardized or lost if the county fails to take im-mediate action.

Today, most of the first-generation, standalone,retail strip developments in the Route 1 corridorare obsolete. They are struggling to compete withnewer retail space that is better suited to Amer-ica’s changing demographic profile and market de-mand. While this phenomenon is not unique to theRoute 1 corridor, the study area does representone of the clearest manifestations of this problemin the United States.

While Potomac Mills has drawn away much of theretail horsepower from Route 1, a variety of otherfactors (as described elsewhere in this report)also have contributed to the development of thecurrent situation. The panel stresses that there isno single “silver bullet” that will lead to the revi-talization of the Route 1 corridor, but rather anintegrated set of long-term strategies supportedby immediate short-term initiatives that PrinceWilliam County can implement to better shapethe destiny of its Potomac Communities.

Develop East/West, Not North/SouthThe goal of breaking up the commercial highwaystrip development along Route 1 involves thecreation of multidimensional places along the cor-ridor rather than the current north/south, elon-gated, nondescript, single-purpose, pedestrian-unfriendly environment, which has grown tiredand obsolete. The development of the PotomacCommunities along several east/west axes shouldemphasize linking community centers with sur-rounding residential neighborhoods, employmentgenerators, and environmental and recreationalassets along the Potomac River, I-95, and theVirginia Railway Express (VRE) commuter railstations. This reorientation should recognize, re-spect, and celebrate the fact that each community

Development Strategy

The Potomac River is potentially the most im-portant amenity and at-traction the Potomac Com-munities has to offerresidents and visitors.

28


in the corridor is unique and should encouragethat uniqueness and community pride to thrive.

Emphasize the Connection to thePotomac River and Its EstuariesThe Potomac Communities have an asset that fewcommunities enjoy: the Potomac River and its es-tuaries. Yet the county has not capitalized on thisasset and the competitive advantage it offers. I-95and Route 1 run closest to the Potomac River inPrince William County; consequently, access tothe river in this county could rival or exceed thatprovided by Fairfax County along the Mount Ver-non Parkway.

The panel believes the provision of a high-speedferry service linking the Belmont Town Center,Cherry Hill, and Quantico with downtown Wash-ington, D.C., would lead to an important redis-covery of the beauty and value of the PotomacRiver by Prince William County residents andprovide a major stimulus for employment attrac-tion. It also would appeal to ecotourists, thosevisiting the planned Belmont Bay Science Centerand the Marine Corps Heritage Center and, withthe proper linkages, Potomac Mills shoppers.

Each of the Potomac Communities is connectedto the river by estuaries that are underutilized asboth environmental and recreational assets. Theseestuaries could become the focus of community-building and design efforts and could entice bothresidents and visitors to Prince William County.

Most motorists driving along Route 1 and I-95 failto appreciate the great recreational resourcethat they are passing. This perception needs to bechanged. The panel proposes that the county inte-grate its environmental assets and its ecotourismand educational resources to create a focus forthe Route 1 revitalization strategy. This strategyshould create a unique identity for the PotomacCommunities by celebrating and improving accessto the Potomac River—Prince William County’spotentially most important amenity and attrac-tion for both residents and visitors.

Concentrate Commercial Growth inThree Activity CentersAs discussed earlier, the panel recommends thatthe county concentrate retail growth and consoli-dation at strategic east/west intersections inthree activity centers along the Route 1 corridor.In support of this recommendation, the panelnotes that public investments already have beenmade in these areas. These are the places thatmost need revitalization, that provide the great-

Open space and circula-tion plan.

Prince William Parkway

Opitz Boulevard

Dale Boulevard

Cardinal Drive

Route 234Dumfries Road

Town ofDumfries

Prince WilliamForest Park

Route 619Joplin Road

I-95

Occoquan Road

Route 1

Occoquan BayNational Wildlife

Refuge

Occoquan Bay

PotomacRiver

Leesylvania State

Park

Powells Creek

Quantico Creek

Quantico MarineCorps Base

I-95

Route 1

Neabsco Creek

Town of Quantico

PotomacMills Mall

Central Gateway District

North Gateway District

South GatewayDistrict

N

0' 1500' 2000' 6000'

PotomacHeritageTrail

PotomacHeritageTrail

Marina

Marina

Marina

Marina

Marina

FeatherstoneNationalWildlifeReserve

Occoquan River

Town of Occoquan

Belmont Town Center

Key:

I-95 Interchange

Trails

Open space

est public accessibility to the Potomac Communi-ties, and that offer the best opportunities for suc-cessful implementation. The panel does not sup-port the creation of new community centers inlocations away from Route 1, as these would beremote from their markets and would underminefurther the timely redevelopment of the existing,first-generation commercial development thatrequires reinvestment, job growth, physical im-provements (including infrastructure upgrading),and a new role to ensure its future integrationand success within the Potomac Communities.

While the most intensive new activities should befocused in these three activity centers, public andprivate initiatives and actions also should be takento reinforce and strengthen the character of thesurrounding communities in ways that reflect theneeds and wants of their residents. This is likelyto be a lengthy and complex task that will requireall the imagination that Potomac Community resi-dents and county leaders can muster.

As in any mature community, these centersshould be planned to include a mix of activitiesthat satisfy residents’ everyday needs in a conve-nient, enjoyable, and memorable manner to en-courage community ownership and repeat visita-tion. These pedestrian-friendly mixed-use centersshould include the following elements:

• Community services;

• Public amenities;

• Housing options;

• Employment generators;

• Convenience retail and restaurants;

• Specialty retail;

• Civic and cultural facilities; and

• Civic and gathering places.

Pedestrian and vehicular connections from thesemixed-use activity centers to the environmentaland recreational assets of the Potomac Rivershould form the community backbone of the cen-ters’ design and accessibility. The panel sees thethree primary activity centers as the focus ofeconomic growth initiatives within the PotomacCommunities. The panel encourages Prince Wil-liam County to be proactive in planning and offer-ing incentives for development in these centers,so that it can lead by example in the proper evolu-tion of these centers over time. Initially, the cen-ters should not be viewed as precisely definedparcels of land, but rather as multiuse, multi-dimensional areas or places that will serve multi-ple communities. Each one should be planned andzoned to serve the communities that surround it.

Plan Smaller Retail NodesThe panel believes that sites adjacent to the railline at VRE stations within the Potomac Commu-nities but outside the panel’s designated activitycenter areas should be planned for less intensivedevelopment in the foreseeable future. The larg-est town center currently being planned in thePotomac Communities is Southbridge Town Cen-ter on the Cherry Hill peninsula. The panel doesnot believe that this Town Center at Legend islikely to be built. To succeed, retail centers needhigh visibility and accessibility, and this site hasneither. It is a dead-end location, away from thearterial road junctions, with no market on itseastern side. Commuters using the VRE linethrough Prince William County will never addenough market demand to make the currentlyproposed scale of development sustainable.

This situation, however, is not a liability for thecommunity. As the residential population on theCherry Hill peninsula and in surrounding neigh-borhoods grows, demand for most supporting re-tail uses should be redirected into the panel’s pro-


Panel members CharlesBurge (left) and JamesMeadows conduct an ex-tensive on-site inspectionof the Cherry Hill area andconclude that a detailedmaster plan is required to secure the area’s fullpotential.


posed nodes on Route 1, thereby strengtheningthese developments and adding economic vitalityto the corridor. Other sites adjacent to VRE sta-tions, as well as the planned Southbridge TownCenter, do provide opportunities for limited ser-vice and convenience retail space, together withother uses, such as cafés and restaurants thatoffer views of the river. The panel believes thesesites should be designed and sized to serve pri-marily residents of the surrounding neighbor-hoods, ecotourists, and others who come to shopat Potomac Mills and want to add a more fulfillingexperience to their shopping expedition.

Develop Mixed-Use Centers in Well-Designed Nodes The panel recommends that the three mixed-use/retail centers be developed as pedestrian-orientedcommunity gathering places, augmented with non-retail amenities and activities, which could includecultural facilities that are looking for convenientnew locations within the Potomac Communitiesand might attract visitors from among those al-ready drawn to facilities such as the planned Bel-mont Bay Science Center and the Marine CorpsHeritage Center. Between these denser, mixed-use places, auto-oriented shopping will continueto exist until land values increase and marketforces dictate more mature and complex formsof development. When Route 1 is physically up-graded, many smaller tenants likely will be dis-placed. This displacement will provide an oppor-tunity to relocate viable merchants to morepedestrian-oriented locations, where the synergyof other similar tenants will create a more eco-nomically successful environment to which con-sumers will be drawn and in which these mer-chants will be able to thrive.

New, full-service automobile dealers representone of the few segments of the retail market thatare thriving along the corridor; as a result, theyare major contributors to sales taxes in the com-munity. Many of these dealers are at risk, how-ever, because they occupy space that is too smalland too close to Route 1 to allow them to displaytheir products attractively. The panel supportsconsolidating these automobile dealers into an ex-panded auto park that meets contemporary effi-

ciency, design, and environmental standards. Thistype of park likely would draw people across I-95from Potomac Mills and become another anchorfor the corridor’s Central Gateway. As this autopark develops, automotive uses should be chan-neled into the park and should not be permittedelsewhere in the corridor.

Diversify the Housing Stock, OfferingChoicesThe housing stock in the Route 1 corridor is be-ginning to diversify to serve the new upscale mar-kets that are starting to emerge in the PotomacCommunities. Many of these new markets are nottraditional two-parent, two-child families whowant a single-family house on a large lot. The newforms of housing being proposed to meet the needsof these markets are not like the garden apart-ments or townhouses that were built in the 1960s.They are new, upscale housing types that reflectwhat Americans want now, including zero-lot-linehouses, attached housing that offers as much pri-vacy as a single-family home, apartments locatedabove lifestyle-oriented stores and restaurants,homes with in-law/nanny/guest suites or units,and high-end executive housing with water views.

Meeting the demand for these diverse housingtypes is critical to the economic health and attrac-tion of the Potomac Communities for a variety of reasons. Doing so will raise the communities’image and their competitive position. A diversi-fied economy requires housing for a diversifiedlabor force, and such housing attracts new compa-nies. The availability of executive housing also at-tracts new businesses. Finally, a jobs/housing bal-

The county should retainwithin the Potomac Com-munities existing viablebusinesses along Route 1by relocating them as partof the road-widening pro-gram rather than puttingthem out of business.


demand to support it. The current “general retail”designation is inhibiting the redevelopment of thecorridor, and must be changed.

The panel believes that the general retail zoningshould be replaced with more flexible, performance-driven, mixed-use zones that would encourage amix of retail, office, residential, hotel, and culturaluses. This would permit the replacement of obso-lete retail space with newer forms of developmentthat would provide more of the convenience, ser-vices, and amenities that community residentsneed and will enjoy.

Amend the Comprehensive Plan andReform Zoning RegulationsThe panel recommends that the county create aspecial development district along Route 1 thatruns the entire length of the county. This districtwould permit mixed-use development in variousforms and configurations that would vary fromlocation to location. The most intensive develop-ment would be permitted in the three communitycenter areas; allowable uses would vary amonglocations. Maximum flexibility should be built intothe code to allow developers to respond to emerg-ing market demands and provide high-qualityenvironments.

The panel recommends that this new overlay dis-trict be designed to tighten controls—rather thanloosen them—on features such as setbacks, land-scaping, sidewalks, lighting, and design. The panelbelieves that the way to encourage developmentis to raise standards, not to lower them, becausedoing so will show the county’s commitment to anew image, approach, and dedication to quality inthe Potomac Communities. The county’s planningand development efforts must focus increasinglyon effective community building through placemaking and integrated development, and less onthe segregation of land uses and the entitlementof standalone developments stranded on individ-ual parcels. The panel’s place-making code andsensory law recommendations are critical to theimplementation of this development strategy.

The county’s existing priority permit processingprogram should be expanded to include all devel-opments proposed for the Route 1 corridor, where

ance reduces travel times and congestion, withresulting livability and environmental benefits.

The panel recommends setting an average mini-mum housing density in new residential develop-ments in the Potomac Communities at six unitsper gross acre to achieve the necessary housingsupply. The panel further recommends that thetarget average price point for these units behigher than the average housing price in thecounty as a whole. The panel believes that thecounty will not be able to attract the jobs andhigh quality of development that it wants in thePotomac Communities without these policies.

Reduce the Amount of Retail-ZonedLandRoute 1 currently is zoned for general retail usesalong the entire northern part of the corridorfrom the Occoquan River to Neabsco Road andalong major sections of the central and southernsections of the corridor. This is simply too muchretail-zoned land, and there is no longer sufficient

New development at Bel-mont provides a widerrange of housing choicesfor Potomac Communityresidents.

During a working lunch,county staff and ULIpanel members discussstrategies to reinvent theRoute 1 corridor.


such development complies with the proposednew place-making code and advances the imple-mentation of this development strategy. As partof the county’s efforts to raise developmentstandards along the corridor and attract thekind of high-quality development that it wants,codes must be enforced. Serious investors willnot be willing to invest in an environment inwhich high and predictable standards are notmaintained, because this failure will put theirinvestments at risk.

Revitalize Both Ends of the Corridorand Control the MiddleThe panel believes that a strategic opportunityexists to commence revitalization of Route 1 atthe North and South gateways. The panel thusfeels that the first phase of improvements alongthe corridor should begin in the South Gatewaywith the Triangle upgrade and in the NorthGateway with the screening of the concretebatching plant, the construction and beautifica-tion of the Route 123/Route 1 interchange, thedevelopment of the Woodbridge multimodal tran-sit center and Belmont Town Center, and theacquisition of obsolete highway frontage prop-erties from the Occoquan River to the Route906/Route 1 intersection.

The emerging communities in the Central Gate-way, on the other hand, have the most land avail-able for new development and thus pose a dif-ferent problem. While there is less need forredevelopment in this area, there is a great riskthat the county will lose control of what happenson the large, undeveloped parcels in this part ofthe corridor if it does not act quickly.

The Cherry Hill peninsula demands the urgentpreparation of a new master plan that will opti-mize the strategic contribution this area can maketo the Potomac Communities and that will en-hance its linkages to the Potomac River, thus re-solving issues related to the existing nonresiden-tial development. Should the county fail to seizethe initiative, the panel believes it runs a verygreat risk of losing the ability to bring in the kindof development that would enhance the commu-

nity. This would undermine seriously the eco-nomic, social, and environmental attractivenessnot only of the Potomac Communities but also ofthe entire county.

Act Now to Ensure TransportationChoicesBy having the foresight to act now to provide ad-equate horizontal and vertical alignments alongRoute 1 for future transit, committing to buildpedestrian trails and linkages through (and con-necting) the Potomac Communities, upgradingnorth/south—and, most important, east/west—road infrastructure, and supporting the establish-ment of a high-speed Potomac River ferry ser-vice linking Prince William County to downtownWashington, D.C., the county will create a verystrong competitive advantage over the metropol-itan region’s other transportation-challengedcounties.

Just as the fiscal management and position ofPrince William County stand in stark contrast tothe current fiscal plight of the region’s other coun-ties and governmental entities, so too can a cur-rent investment in preserving future transporta-tion choice pay huge dividends in the short tomedium term for Prince William County. Giventhe inclusion of the Quantico Marine Corps Baseas a venue for the Washington/Baltimore area’sbid for the 2012 Summer Olympic Games, thepanel believes it is particularly important to un-dertake the planning and provision for transit im-provements in the area in a timely manner.

Existing manufacturingactivities in the DawsonBeach Industrial Park arelikely to be replaced intime or supplemented byhigh-technology firms.


SummaryThe panel’s development strategies are to:

• Develop east/west, not north/south;

• Emphasize the connection to the PotomacRiver and its estuaries;

• Concentrate commercial growth in three activ-ity centers;

• Plan smaller retail nodes;

• Develop mixed-use centers in well-designednodes;

• Diversify the housing stock, offering choices;

• Reduce the amount of retail-zoned land;

• Amend the comprehensive plan and reformzoning regulations;

• Revitalize both ends of the corridor and controlthe middle; and

• Act now to ensure transportation choices.

Proposed road designand treatment for widen-ing Route 1, above. The OmniLink bus systemprovides improved transitconnections to employ-ment and retail nodes onRoute 1, such as this cen-ter in the town of Dum-fries, right.

Route 1

Six-Lane Boulevard

Frontage Road (auto park and nonresidential locations)

Provision to be madewithin median for futuretransit and landscaping


The panel’s suggested development strategyand the significant place-making dividend it offers the Potomac Communities will re-main stillborn unless Prince William County

acts now to adopt a coordinated set of initiatives,which the panel has incorporated in the recom-mended Potomac Communities Initiative. The1996 ULI Advisory Services panel report, Inno-vation, Prince William County, Virginia, suc-ceeded because county supervisors and staffacted quickly and resolutely to implement thereport’s recommendations. That report providedstrong leadership by example and offered cre-ative, outside-the-box solutions to traditionaland hitherto intractable problems. Similarthinking is needed to transform the county’sRoute 1 into the Potomac Communities, PrinceWilliam County, Virginia.

Change the Role, Character, andPerception of Route 1 The panel recommends a change in orientationfrom the Route 1 corridor’s current north/southorientation to an east/west orientation that em-phasizes the ecosystems that are a major positiveelement of this planning area. Road additionsneed to bring people to areas near the PotomacRiver; east/west roads need to become the corri-dor’s main focus and greenbelts must be addedto bring tourists and users to the river and linkthe river to the park system of Prince WilliamCounty and beyond.

Implement the South Gateway Initiative The relationship between the Quantico MarineCorps Base and Prince William County is excel-lent and is expected to improve. Enhancing its re-lationship with the base is in the county’s best in-terest, since projected growth at Quantico willhave beneficial impacts on the county. The countyshould explore the new “facilities sharing”

The relocation of the IwoJima statue at Quantico to the center of the pro-posed traffic circle onRoute 1 will be the sym-bolic centerpiece of thereinvented South Gateway.

Implementation

arrangements that the U.S. Department of De-fense (DoD) is testing in conjunction with commu-nities surrounding bases and posts. The panelrecommends that county officials contact theircounterparts in the city of Monterey, California,to discuss its ground-breaking agreement. Thecounty also should explore Congressional politicalsupport for growth at Quantico. Although thebase is in no danger of being closed, every effortmust be made to assure DoD (and the base itself)that the Quantico Marine Corps Base is a valuedpart of the Potomac Communities and PrinceWilliam County.

The northern boundary of the base forms an an-chor or gateway entry to the Potomac Communi-ties. Property adjacent to the base is convenientlylocated to accommodate development activityneeded to service the base. The planned MarineCorps Heritage Center offers an unusual oppor-tunity to draw a large number of travelers from I-95 into the county as destination visitors. Thecounty’s and the Marine Corps’s plans for the areaalso offer a realistic opportunity to transform thispart of Prince William County.


The county should support financially the designand construction of the traffic circle and center-piece for the relocated Iwo Jima monument tocalm traffic and provide good access into and outof the base. In exchange for providing the right-of-way for the traffic circle, the county shouldseek land opposite the Marine Corps HeritageCenter from the base to provide a site for one or more U.S. General Services Administration(GSA) buildings. (Use of excess base land by adja-cent communities through long-term land leaseagreements is permissible under DoD rules.) Thepanel feels that the GSA is likely to prefer landwithin the base rather than in Triangle for secu-rity purposes.

The county should create an office-zoning overlayon the two northern corners of the intersection atTriangle to provide for integrated ancillary mixed-use development serving the base, the museum,and their users. Controlling the environment im-mediately outside the gate and across from theMarine Corps Heritage Center will enhance visi-tation to the museum as well as opportunities forjob creation. The Quantico Marine Corps Baseshould be encouraged to upgrade its entrancegate significantly—to a standard consistent withthis international facility—in a way that will rein-force the new, improved image created by theMarine Corps Heritage Center, the traffic circle,and the office-overlay zoning.

Activate the North Gateway Project Many of the people interviewed by the panel calledRoute 1’s northern point of entry into Prince Will-iam County a “major eyesore.” The element thatfirst greets motorists is a cement batching plant—a fixture that is not likely to go away, due to lo-gistics as well as economics. Between I-95 and thebatching plant, however, lie sites with delightfulOccoquan River frontages. If appropriately buf-fered, these sites could accommodate mixed-usedevelopment and provide the impetus to softenthe view of the batching plant.

The panel supports suggestions made by resi-dents that the use of mid-rise apartments in thisarea should be studied further. The panel also rec-ommends short-term actions such as berming and

Local Marine Corps iconssuch as the Globe andLaurel restaurant (right)should be incorporated inthe reinvention of theSouth Gateway.

Scale 1:100

Fountains

ExpandedRoute 1 Boulevard

and Greenbelt

Inn Street

Iwo JimaMonument

Squire Lane

Tria

ngle

Stre

et

Post Road

Amid

on R

oad

FutureCommercial

Fuller Heights Road Fuller Road

N

CENT

ERBR

OOK

ARCH

ITEC

TS A

ND P

LANN

ERS,

LLC

Schematic layout to trans-form the South Gatewayalong Route 1.


landscaping to screen the cement batching plantand demolishing the burned-out silo that cur-rently dominates the Route 1 entry to the countyfrom the north. The North Gateway project alsoshould include the construction and beautificationof the Route 123/U.S. Route 1 interchange, thedevelopment of the Woodbridge multimodal tran-sit center and Belmont Town Center, and the ac-quisition of obsolete highway frontage propertiesfrom the Occoquan River to the intersection ofRoute 906 and Route 1.

Focus Community Development on thePotomac River and Ecotourism

The Potomac Communities suffer from the lack ofa real relationship with the environmentally sen-sitive areas and water elements on or near thePotomac River, yet the area’s estuarine featuresare among its most predominant and beautiful el-ements. If the county takes the following actionsto correct this relationship, they will have a boun-tiful place-making dividend:

• Create roads and paths—and complete thePotomac Heritage Trail—to connect the wet-lands and estuaries and allow local residentsand visitors to enjoy the area’s natural beauty.

• Enhance and interpret these environmentallysensitive areas, to add a critical mass of inte-grated ecotourism and recreational attractionsthat will help the county create new jobs andsecure future tax income streams.

• Create an environmental critical mass by de-veloping an ecotourism and educational centeradjacent to the Rippon rail station with green-ways (biking, walking, and equestrian trailsand transit) connecting the planned BelmontBay Science Center, the Occoquan Bay Na-tional Wildlife Refuge, Rippon Lodge and thecorridor’s other historic sites, Prince WilliamForest National Park, Leesylvania State Park,the planned Marine Corps Heritage Center,and the Quantico National Cemetery.

Initiate Right-of-Way AcquisitionsImmediately The panel recommends that the county immedi-ately initiate right-of-way acquisitions on Route 1that will improve its vertical and horizontal align-ments, to accommodate (in the future) six lanes oftraffic and a center median wide enough to allowa full range of transit options, from a dedicatedbus rapid transit route to a hard-rail extension ofthe existing Metrorail system. The county shouldact in advance of any Virginia Department ofTransportation (VDOT) action, which, in all prob-ability, is years away. The panel notes that anyimmediate VDOT program for Route 1 has beenput in grave jeopardy by the Commonwealth ofVirginia’s current fiscal shortfall.

The potential exists tobring together severalsuccessful automobiledealerships currentlyspread along Route 1 intoan integrated auto park.

The center-line acquisitionof the widened Route 1will provide the opportu-nity to acquire and removeobsolete buildings.


the Potomac Communities. The panel under-stands that private investment will only followpublic commitment, and accordingly recommendsthat the county take the following specific actions:

• Adopt a tax increment financing arrangementas a vehicle for funding county planning ac-tions. The current tax revenue creates a base-line. Additional tax dollars received from in-creased valuation due to improvements—or forany other reason—would be dedicated to theactions required by this plan.

• Set up a transportation improvement districtfor the Potomac Communities to facilitate thefunding of area improvements.

• Limit or slow the planned real estate tax re-duction. Current plans call for taxes to be re-duced from $1.35 to $1.23 over three years.While that is a laudable and supportable actionto encourage businesses to come to the county,three cents in taxes in this planning area wouldgenerate as much as $60 million in bond rev-enues from pledged tax assets. Half of thisamount could be made available to the county,while the other half could be used by the schooldistrict. Slowing the rate of decrease to $1.23or dedicating the next three cents planned forfollow-on years would yield sorely needed dol-lars. The school’s half of the funds could bededicated to construction of the county’s tenthhigh school.

• Use current county surpluses as seed money,to be paid back from future VDOT reimburse-ments and/or tax increment financing.

Rely on Place Making Rather thanZoning The panel recommends that the area bounded byI-95 and the Potomac River, from the OccoquanRiver county line at the north to the southernboundary of the Quantico Marine Corps Base,be designated the Potomac Communities District,an overlay zoning district with subdistricts withinits boundaries. The panel believes that the area’sgeneral retail zoning should be replaced withmore flexible mixed-use zones that would encour-

The county’s early acquisition of this land will re-sult in reduced acquisition costs and the assur-ance that a center-line approach to acquisitionswill be adopted. The panel recommends that thecounty take the following actions:

• Set priorities for right-of-way acquisitions. Thecounty’s initial focus should be on acquiringproperties that are an eyesore and/or those onwhich positive economic benefits can be accel-erated. The county also should immediately ac-quire critical properties that will bring to anend the “condemnation blight” that has provedsuch a disincentive to private investment andthat will allow affected landowners and busi-nesses to be relocated and assisted in the de-velopment of their business plans.

• Upon acquisition, immediately demolish obso-lete buildings, to improve significantly the toneand perception of Route 1 as a business invest-ment location.

• Enter into a memorandum of agreement withVDOT—immediately—that will reimburse thecounty when VDOT funds ultimately becomeavailable.

The panel also recommends that the county sup-port the establishment of a high-speed ferry ser-vice linking Prince William County to downtownWashington, D.C., since this—and other transitinitiatives—will benefit the Washington/Baltimorearea’s bid (and the proposed Quantico venues) forthe 2012 Summer Olympic Games.

Fund the Action Plan Innovatively The panel acknowledges that many of the actionsit proposes require a financial commitment fromthe county to make them happen. The countycannot afford to wait for VDOT to include therequired right-of-way acquisition and upgradeof Route 1 in its forward estimates; current bud-get shortfalls make this unlikely within the nextten years. Selected land acquisitions need tostart now.

Through its interviews with members of the busi-ness community, the panel learned that there isgeneral support for dedicated taxes to enhance


programs to better deliver and encourage the cre-ation of place in the Potomac Communities. Thepanel suggests that the county’s visual model ofthe Route 1 corridor be developed into a digitalplanning instrument and place-making code forthe Potomac Communities.

Create a Development Authority and aCitizens Committee Clear governance needs to be established to guidethe investment program for the Potomac Commu-nities. The county has precedent in setting uptransportation improvement districts (TIDs) orcommunity development authorities (CDAs). Thepanel recommends that the county take bold ac-tion to set up a governance structure that willtake advantage of existing opportunities and notbe bound by traditional methods and timetables.

This authority—the Potomac Communities Au-thority (PCA)—would provide direction for thisplanning area. It also could have powers to ap-prove uses within the county-approved zoningoverlays and grant planning approval for submis-sions within the existing zoning. Other gover-nance matters that the panel considers importantinclude the following:

• The area under the PCA’s control should havethe same boundaries as the Potomac Communi-ties planning area.

• The PCA should be governed by a board of di-rectors drawn from business fields related tothe needs of the authority, such as law, real es-tate, public finance, environmental issues, andgeneral business.

age a mix of retail, office, residential, hotel, andcultural uses. The zoning overlay should be used to:

• Create zones with minimum residential densi-ties to concentrate housing, protect environ-mentally sensitive areas, and support jobcreation;

• Establish office zones contiguous to the Quan-tico Marine Corps Base, surrounding the pro-posed traffic circle in the Triangle area, to sup-port the base’s plans for the Marine CorpsHeritage Center, enhance the Triangle redevel-opment plans, and support GSA efforts to es-tablish one or more federal agency buildingseither on the edge of or within the base;

• Create an auto park zone to enhance the exist-ing concentration of full-service dealerships,allow for expansion, and replace some of thesmaller retail lots taken by the widened Route1 right-of-way;

• Relocate the proposed town center zone withinthe Central Gateway and incorporate in it amix of uses that will complement county gov-ernment facilities;

• Establish an office/mixed-use zone on andaround the Hahn property to promote both jobcreation and realistic office space opportunitiesbetween Optiz and Dale boulevards as well asbetween I-95 and Route 1;

• Create a second office/mixed-use zone aroundthe Potomac High School complex that will in-corporate research and development and flexspace as well as office uses in a business parksetting; and

• Establish a mixed-use/residential/retail zone onthe western side of the new Route 123/Route 1interchange to help relocate tenants and busi-nesses displaced by the right-of-way acquisi-tion on Route 1 and to enhance the NorthGateway.

The panel believes that the county’s zoning ordi-nance and its comprehensive plan both haveproven to be inadequate place-making tools. Thecounty must reinvent both its land use regula-tions and its government and intergovernmental

New investment alongRoute 1 can provide thefoundation for strong re-tail/entertainment nodesin areas where integrateddevelopment reinforcescommunity focus and attraction.


• The PCA should have a direct descendent rela-tionship with the Prince William County Boardof Supervisors, with its board members beingappointed by the county.

• The PCA should determine the actions to betaken for the right-of-way acquisition, tax au-thority, zoning overlay district, and new plan-ning instruments.

• A companion organization, a citizens advisorycommittee (CAC) made up of members of thebusiness and residential communities with par-ticipation by one or more county supervisors,also should be established. The CAC wouldmeet periodically and advise the PCA.

• The PCA should report periodically to thecounty supervisors and coordinate its activitieswith the newly formed CAC.

Adopt New Ideas on CommunityEngagement The Potomac Communities Initiative can succeedonly if the public is effectively engaged. In addi-tion to creating the citizens advisory committee,the county should develop an ongoing communityengagement process to help inform and receiveinput from the public on the Potomac Communi-ties Initiative. The public should be engaged intwo primary ways: periodic community meetingsand publications.

Community meetings within the focus area shouldintroduce new projects, provide periodic updates,present annual forecasts, gather citizen input, andcelebrate successes. Publications should be con-cise; they should include brochures, newsletters,inserts in utility bills, dedicated pages on thecounty’s Web site, and guest editorials in localnewspapers and newsletters published by localorganizations such as the chamber of commerce.

The county also should explore other ways ofreaching the public, including segments on thecounty’s cable television show and learning ses-sions at the county’s Community Leadership In-stitute. In order to engender public leadership,excitement, and support, the panel feels suchcommunity engagement efforts must be ongoingand consistent throughout the life of the PotomacCommunities Initiative.

Summary The panel strongly recommends the implementa-tion of this integrated set of initiatives, which ithas named the Potomac Communities Initiative:

• Change the role, character, and perception ofRoute 1;

• Implement the South Gateway Initiative;

• Activate the North Gateway Project;

• Focus community development on the water-front and ecotourism;

• Initiate right-of-way acquisitions immediately;

• Fund the action plan innovatively;

• Rely on place making rather than zoning;

• Create a development agency and a citizenscommittee; and

• Adopt new ideas on community engagement.

Panel Chair David Lelandmeets on site with localreal estate agent Nancy Zto discuss the sale of wa-terfront residential land.


The panel has presented a new and excitingvision, an integrated development strategyand coordinated list of actions—the Poto-mac Communities Initiative—which, if

adopted and resolutely implemented by PrinceWilliam County as a matter of priority, will trans-form the Route 1 corridor from a serious liabil-ity into one of the county’s greatest assets andachievements—the Potomac Communities,Prince William County, Virginia.

The transformation will not be immediate; indeed,it likely will require many years to complete. Todelay implementation is to escalate the proposedtransformation program’s ultimate cost and jeop-ardize its likelihood of success. What can be saidwith certainty is that the county—because of itsdetermination to address these problems imme-diately and its strong leadership and fiscal sta-bility—has begun to arrest this situation justin time.

All great journeys begin with first steps. PrinceWilliam County has taken a number of thosesteps, as evidenced by the commitments both inplace and pledged, such as its work with theQuantico Marine Corps Base and the Virginia Sci-ence Center to bring into being the planned Ma-rine Corps Heritage Center and the Belmont BayScience Center, respectively, as well as this ULIAdvisory Services panel, to name only a few. Nowis the time to consolidate these strong foundationsand leverage their success.

Implementing the panel’s recommendations willtake both time and money. To deliver this place-making dividend, the panel urges the PrinceWilliam County Board of Supervisors to includethe following specific commitments for the Poto-mac Communities Initiative in each ensuing fis-cal budget:

• Endorse and implement the North Gatewayand South Gateway projects. Immediately put

in place controls to ensure that the currentlyopen land in the Central Gateway (the homeof future sizable residential, employment, andretail communities) is not forever lost to low-density, “business as usual” subdivision devel-opment.

• Fund east/west road upgrades and focus allfuture nodes of retail and mixed-use develop-ment at the recommended intersections withRoute 1 as well as the Belmont Town Center,with smaller convenience and service retaillocated around transit stops.

• Immediately enter into negotiations with theU.S. Department of Defense to provide for fa-cility sharing and office accommodations neces-sary to maximize community return on theQuantico Marine Corps Base’s location withinthe Potomac Communities.

• Adopt and fully fund the implementation of aheritage/ecotourism plan, ensuring that alltransportation infrastructure and linkagesmaximize the brand and competitive advan-tages that these assets provide Prince WilliamCounty over other localities in the Washington,D.C., metropolitan region.

• Develop and implement an assertive and tar-geted local economic development program to

Conclusion

The South Gateway projectwill upgrade the Route 1entry to the Quantico Ma-rine Corps Base from ahighway bordered by stripretail development (left)to a tree-lined boulevardthat properly honors theU.S. Marine Corps.


ensure that fully serviced land and buildings(complete with all infrastructure, includingbroadband Internet connections) are available.Then—with the help of brokers’ tours, directmarketing, negotiation, and media campaignswith community developers—target prospec-tive tenants and firms that could locate in thePotomac Communities to redress the currentjobs/housing imbalance.

• Finalize a right-of-way acquisition agreementwith the Virginia Department of Transporta-tion to ensure county reimbursement for thewidening of Route 1 to include a future transitline from the Quantico Marine Corps Base tothe Occoquan River and ultimately into Fair-fax County, where it could connect with the ex-isting Metrorail station. Once this agreement isfinalized, the county should begin to acquireproperty, immediately demolish all obsoletebuildings, and relocate all suitable tenants tothe new east/west-oriented retail and mixed-use nodes described above. The county alsoshould support the establishment of a high-speed ferry service linking Prince WilliamCounty to downtown Washington, D.C.

• Reconstruct the county’s regulatory instru-ments, comprehensive plan, planning and bud-get programs, administrative procedures, andintergovernmental programs to ensure thatthey stress results, not regulation. The focusmust move from zoning to place making. Thecounty must focus the full force of its resourceson the transformation of its historic Route 1corridor into the Potomac Communities, PrinceWilliam County, Virginia. This rebirth must bethe threshold audit test for all county pro-grams, actions, and initiatives.

• Establish a community development authorityand a companion citizens advisory committeeto be charged with the responsibility and re-sources to implement this development strat-egy and be held accountable for its success inputting this action plan into effect. Their char-ters should incorporate the new vision as out-lined in this report.

• Immediately embark on a comprehensive com-munity engagement process to transform the

community’s perception of the Route 1 corridorand secure the community opinion, support,and ownership necessary to ensure that thisplace no longer will be perceived as merely acollection of dormitory suburbs and a discountshopping location, but rather as a destinationrich in opportunities to incubate and growbusinesses, educate children, and enjoy a se-cure, affordable, and inclusive quality of life aswell as a rich recreational experience.

The panel believes that by adopting and imple-menting this new vision, Prince William Countywill accomplish the following goals:

• Build communities as the focus of the Route 1corridor’s rebirth;

• Reverse the job/housing imbalance;

• Enhance connectivity to environmental assetsas the centerpiece of community building andsmart growth;

• Use the principles of place making and smartgrowth to guide development decisions;

• Better connect western Prince William Countywith the Potomac River and its communities;

• Create family-wage jobs and housing choicesand diversity within the Potomac Communities;

• Strengthen and brand the critical mass of edu-cational, historical, and ecotourism assets; and

• Lay the foundations for transportation choiceand land use excellence that will make PrinceWilliam County a destination in the Washing-ton, D.C., metropolitan region.

The members of the panel look forward to joiningthe many other Americans and international visi-tors who in the future will make the PotomacCommunities, Prince William County, Virginia,not just part of a Route 1 journey to somewhereelse, but their destination as well.


David LelandPanel ChairPortland, Oregon

Leland is the managing director of Leland Consult-ing Group, a Portland, Oregon–based firm with of-fices in Denver and San Diego. He has more than36 years of experience in the real estate industryas a consultant, adviser, developer, and owner, andhas conducted more than 2,500 real estate assign-ments in North America and Asia. Formerly CEOof the real estate acquisition and developmentsubsidiary of a multistate Fortune 500 corpora-tion, Leland is a member of the Counselors ofReal Estate and has a strong working knowledgeof real estate acquisition, development, and man-agement. He understands the delicate linkage andinterdependence among location, program, design,market strength and focus, cost of capital, com-munity relations, and timing that provides realestate developments with their competitive edge.

Leland Consulting Group serves public and privatedevelopment interests throughout the UnitedStates. Leland’s areas of special interest includerevitalizing downtowns through the developmentof mixed-use projects, employing the principles ofsmart development, place making, new urbanism,and public/private partnerships.

He is a development adviser to many agenciesand corporations on transit-oriented urban rede-velopment and corridor revitalization, as well as amember of ULI–the Urban Land Institute, a na-tional speaker on place making, an invited partici-pant in ULI’s Mayors’ Conferences, and a mem-ber of the Congress for the New Urbanism.

Donald Bauer Tustin, California

Bauer is the owner and founder of Bauer PlanningServices. He has more than 32 years of experiencein urban and regional planning, having focused his

expertise in strategic planning and economics todesign new communities and to conceptualize anddeliver large-scale development programs. In eachof the national and international projects for whichhe has been responsible, Bauer has emphasizedthe project’s quality-of-life and environmental val-ues to create enduring economic value and securefinancial returns.

Bauer has designed residential villages and com-mercial centers for the California-based IrvineCompany; large mixed-use projects in Baltimore,Washington, D.C., Miami, Fort Lauderdale, Or-lando, and Denver; new towns such as the Wood-lands, Texas; and resort communities, includingVentana Canyon in Tucson, Arizona, and the Cojo-Jalama Ranch in Santa Barbara, California. Hisinternational experience includes projects in In-donesia, Colombia, China, and Taiwan, as well asdesigns for the summer national capital in SaudiArabia and the new national capital of Nigeria.

As an active member of ULI–the Urban LandInstitute, Bauer was the ULI District Councilcoordinator for Orange County, California, from1992 to 1996. He also is a member of the Ameri-can Planning Association. Bauer studied sculp-ture and architecture at the University of Oregonand participated in an exchange program at theUniversity of Florence, Italy. He is called upon asa guest lecturer by several universities.

Michael Beyard Washington, D.C.

Beyard is an urban planner and economist withmore than 20 years of experience in real estatedevelopment, land use planning, and economicdevelopment. His experiences in the UnitedStates and Europe have been focused on com-mercial and retail development, shopping centers,e-commerce, location-based entertainment, anddowntown revitalization.

About the Panel


Charles Burge Houston, Texas

Burge is president of Eland Development Corpo-ration, which has been involved in all forms ofland development since 1973 and also is active inthe provision of construction management ser-vices to various lending institutions throughoutthe United States. The firm has undertaken ma-jor residential and commercial real estate devel-opments in Houston, Dallas, Atlanta, New Orleans,and Los Angeles. It currently is developing SouthShore Harbour—a 2,200-acre master-plannedcommunity on Clear Lake in Houston—for theAmerican National Insurance Company. The proj-ect involves an extensive mix of uses, includingresidential, office, retail, a 1,000-berth marina, a27-hole golf course with a clubhouse, and a 250-room hotel and ancillary amenities.

Burge is an expert in real estate finance, devel-opment, and project management. He has a BAfrom Texas A & M University and a doctor oflaws from the University of Houston. He is amember of the State Bar of Texas. Prior to be-coming a real estate developer in 1973, Burge wasa lawyer with the San Antonio–based practice ofFoster, Lewis, Langley, Gardner, and Banack. Heserved as a captain in the U.S. Marine Corps andwas awarded the Bronze Star with Combat V, thePurple Heart, the Combat Action Ribbon, thePresidential Unit Citation Medal, the Navy UnitCitation Medal, and the Vietnamese Cross of Gal-lantry with Palm.

Burge is a member of ULI–the Urban Land Insti-tute. He currently sits on ULI’s Residential De-velopment Council and formerly was a member ofthe Mixed-Use Development Council. He is amember of Texas A&M University’s Corps Devel-opment Council and its Development Council forthe College of Liberal Arts.

Arun Jain Piedmont, California

Jain is an urban designer and planner with UrbanDesign Consultants, which provides consultingservices to private and public, local and interna-

Beyard is ULI’s senior resident fellow for re-tail and entertainment development and is the author/project director of numerous ULI books,including Developing Urban Entertainment Cen-ters, Shopping Center Development Handbook,Dollars & Cents of Shopping Centers, Value byDesign, Developing Power Centers, DowntownDevelopment Handbook, The Retailing Revolu-tion, Ten Principles for Reinventing America’sSuburban Strips, and the Business and Indus-trial Park Development Handbook. He createdand directs ULI’s International Conference onUrban Entertainment Development and createdULI on the Future, the Institute’s annual publica-tion devoted to emerging land use and develop-ment trends.

Beyard is a featured speaker on retail, entertain-ment, and downtown development issues in theUnited States, Europe, and South America, andhas been widely quoted in the national and the in-ternational media, including the New York Times,Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, Wash-ington Post, Chicago Tribune, CNN, and CBSNews, as well as in U.S. and European planningand real estate journals.

Before his appointment at ULI, Beyard was a se-nior consultant in urban planning and real estatedevelopment. He spent ten years at Booz Allen &Hamilton, Planning Research Corporation, andGladstone Associates, advising both public andprivate clients on market analysis, feasibility, anddevelopment planning. He is a member of LambdaAlpha, the international land economics honorarysociety, and was an appointed member of theMayor’s Interactive Downtown Task Force inWashington, D.C.

Beyard travels widely, having visited more than50 countries in Europe, South America, Africa,and Australasia for business or adventure, includ-ing two trips overland across the Himalayas and asuccessful ascent of Mount Kilimanjaro. He holdsa BA in international economics with honors fromRutgers College and a master’s degree in urbanplanning and development from Cornell Univer-sity, where he was elected to Phi Kappa Phi.


tional planning agencies as well as design, engi-neering, and development firms on a wide rangeof real estate projects from small, county-levelprojects to new towns and master-planned com-munities. Jain’s areas of expertise include newtown and large-scale master planning (for mixed-use, residential and waterfront development);master development planning, specific planning,and campus planning; yield and feasibility studies;research and development; corporate (office) cam-pus site planning; residential subdivision siteplanning; development proposal analysis; design/planning implications assessment and develop-ment strategies; urban design guidance (includingstreetscape design and revitalization); resourcemanagement and development suitability studies;developing density bonus development strategies;design review and code conformance evaluation;signage regulations; and zoning ordinance revi-sion impact analysis.

Jain is also a facility instructor and design criticin the landscape architecture program at theUniversity of California at Berkeley. He haswritten various articles and books and is vicepresident of strategic development and a mem-ber of the board of directors of San Francisco–based ID8 Media, Inc. He has held the positionsof senior land planner with Anthony Guzzardoand Associates in San Francisco; associate, urbandesign, with Sedway Cooke and Associates in SanFrancisco; project planner with CYP, Inc., inIrvine, California; and urban design consultantwith Parsons, Brinckerhoff, Quade & Douglas inOrange County, California.

Jain is a member of ULI–the Urban Land Insti-tute as well as a member of the American Insti-tute of Certified Planners, the American Plan-ning Association, the International Federationfor Housing Planning, and the Indian Council ofArchitects.

Christopher Kurz Baltimore, Maryland

Kurz is president and CEO of Linden Associates,Inc., a Baltimore-based regional real estate ser-vices and mortgage banking company engaged inthe financing, acquisition, development, and man-

agement of commercial property. The firm alsoprovides a range of corporate real estate consult-ing services.

Prior to his current position, Kurz was cofounder,chairman, and CEO of McGill Development Com-pany as that firm grew into the fourth-largestcommercial real estate development company inthe Baltimore metropolitan area. He served aschairman of the board of directors and cofounderof Columbia Bancorp and the Columbia Bank, a$500 million publicly traded bank holding com-pany. As a principal of Alex Brown Real EstateGroup, Inc., he acquired investments for pensionfund clients. Other companies with which Kurzhas been associated include J.G. Smithy Com-pany, Maryland National Corporation, and theRouse Company.

Kurz holds a master of business administrationfrom the Wharton School at the University ofPennsylvania and a BA from the University ofPennsylvania. He is a member of ULI–the UrbanLand Institute, where he also serves as chairemeritus of the Institute’s Baltimore DistrictCouncil, vice chair of its Small-Scale Develop-ment Council, Blue Flight, and a member of theNational Program Committee. He is a memberof the International Council of Shopping Centers,a past member of NAIOP and the MortgageBankers Association of America, and a pastboard member of the Catherine McAuley Hous-ing Foundation in Denver.

James Meadows San Francisco, California

Meadows is the principal of Meadows and Affili-ates, a San Francisco–based association of expertsin military base conversion and real estate devel-opment. He has more than 29 years of seniormanagement experience in private sector home-building and development firms and public agen-cies in the disciplines of homebuilding, urbanmaster-planned community development, com-mercial building and land development, resort de-velopment, and government agency managementand land disposition.


Prior to forming Meadows and Affiliates, heserved as the first executive director of the Pre-sidio Trust, a federal agency charged with thepreservation of the Presidio as a 1,500-acre urbannational park in San Francisco. He also was thefirst executive director of the Lowry Redevelop-ment Authority, an intergovernmental agency setup by the cities of Denver and Aurora, Colorado,to master plan, rezone, and redevelop the 2,000-acre Lowry Air Force Base into an urban mixed-use neighborhood. Meadows previously was se-nior vice president and head of homebuildingoperations for Castle & Cooke Homes, Inc. (a di-vision of Dole Foods), a community developmentfirm with extensive land holdings and residentialand commercial development projects in Califor-nia, Arizona, and Hawaii.

Meadows currently is president of the board of di-rectors of the National Association of InstallationDevelopers, a member of Lambda Alpha, and aboard member of the Coro Foundation of North-ern California. He is a member of ULI–the UrbanLand Institute and has served on a variety ofULI Advisory Services panels relating to militarybase closures and redevelopment, including onethat evaluated Treasure Island, California. Mead-ows is a graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy.He is a keynote speaker and author on the sub-jects of sustainable development and military in-stallation conversion and reuse.

Julia Trevarthen Hollywood, Florida

Trevarthen is assistant director of the South Flor-ida Regional Planning Council, a planning andpublic policy agency serving Broward, Miami-Dade, and Monroe counties, where she is respon-sible for agency program management. Prior tobeing appointed to her current position, she man-aged the council’s dispute resolution, facilitation,intergovernmental coordination, and developmentof regional impacts programs.

The council’s region encompasses 4,300 squaremiles of south Florida; includes 69 local govern-ments, encompassing Key West, Miami, and FortLauderdale; and has a population of nearly 4 mil-lion people. The council works with the public,

private, and nonprofit sectors to identify, analyze,and develop strategies to meet the challenges fac-ing south Florida.

Prior to joining the council, Trevarthen was thesenior planner with the town of Carrboro, NorthCarolina; before that, she was a researcher at theFlorida Atlantic University–Florida InternationalUniversity Joint Center for Environmental andUrban Problems. Trevarthen has authored sev-eral publications on such diverse topics as brown-fields and urban redevelopment, regional growthmanagement, economic development, smartgrowth, transportation management, intergovern-mental coordination, and dispute resolution. Sheis a member of the American Institute of Certi-fied Planners and holds a master of regional plan-ning degree from the University of North Car-olina and a BA from Florida State University.

Walter Winius, Jr.Phoenix, Arizona

Winius is managing director of Integra WiniusRealty Analysts. For more than 40 years, he hasconducted real estate and economic market re-search, analysis, and real estate appraisals. Hehas worked for hundreds of clients and has under-taken market identification and analysis, demo-graphic trend analysis, and economic trend analy-sis, and has assessed absorption rates, projectfeasibility, and land use mix recommendationsover the widest possible range of real estate de-velopment and investment projects in 18 statesand Mexico.

Winius and his firm currently are providing realestate consulting services to the Eastern Euro-pean Property Foundation, a U.S. State Depart-ment–funded organization working with the pub-lic and private sectors in the Ukraine, Bulgaria,Macedonia, Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic,and Slovakia to assist in the privatization ofreal estate and in the provision of teaching assis-tance to appraisers in those countries. He is amember of ULI–the Urban Land Institute andsits on the Institute’s Community DevelopmentCouncil. He also is a member of the AppraisalInstitute.

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