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Disney and Development
The proposal of the Disney Company to locate an American history theme park in western Prince William County will eventually increase development pressure on Rappahannock County. However, the immediate impact on real estate is not likely to be great.
Although the property Disney is proposing for the park is only 30 miles from our county seat in Washington, there is no 30-mile route to get there.
While opposition is already mounting to the theme park proposal, there is very little definite to oppose. No firm plans have been presented yet.
Increased traffic in the 1-66 corridor will be the first effect felt by Rappahannock citizens, since many use 1-66 to commute to work. If anything comes of proposals to provide more mass transit in Northern Virginia, whether extending Metro beyond Vienna, or providing light rail from Manassas to the park itself, this effect could be less.
The county may benefit from increased tourist revenue as vacationers combine a trip to the new Disney park with a trip to the Shenandoah National Park.
All proposals to bring jobs closer to Rappahannock will eventually impact on the county, however, as more people decide it might be possible to live in the county wrhile commuting to work elsewhere. This is the kind of development pressure that has gotten many counties in trouble. Bedroom communities produce the greatest demand for services, particularly schools, while bringing in the least amount of tax revenue to counteract that demand.
It is important that our government officials work hard to guarantee that increased population is balanced with increased commercial development.
Even without the Disney park, there exists a proposal for a horse racing track near Haymarket; and in Culpeper there are proposals for a auto racing track near the confluence of the Hazel and Rappahannock rivers and a 1,000-home subdivision on the Freedom Studies Center property near Boston. As landowners along the suggested REC powerline know, development in surrounding counties can impact Rappahannock.
We have no say on what development counties around us approve, and it may be impossible to remain an island of rural calm surrounded by counties that have chosen heavy development.
As we give thanks in this season for the beauty that suirounds us, we must also resolve to do whatever we can to preserve it.
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