train crossing Route 29 at Gainseville, before overpass was completed
train crossing Route 29 at Gainseville, before overpass was completed
The planning process calls for a Citizens Advisory Committee (CAC) to assist the Planning Commission in developing a plan for local areas, or sectors. Intense disagreements regarding plans for development in the Gainesville Magisterial District, in western Prince William County, resulted in citizen activists crafting an alternative proposal, the "Residents Plan." It was unveiled just two weeks before the Planning Commission's first work session scheduled to consider the Gainesville Sector Plan. [The Planning Commission rarely has the luxury of reviewing two proposals presented in the appropriate format...]
The official Citizens Advisory Committee worked for months to draft a plan to guide development of the area stretching roughly from the I-66/Route 29 intersection to the Route 15/Route 29 Intersection. As it noted in the Introduction to its draft:
Several members resigned from the official Citizens Advisory Committee, and there was no minority report to its plan. Instead, the Residents Plan was developed separately. The first public meeting occurred when it was officially unveiled at a meeting room in the local fire station on August 29, 2001.