There are many things not to like about the $2.3 Trillion Dollar “infrastructure” bill proposed by the Biden Administration aside from the fact that less than 6% is allotted to go towards actual infrastructure projects.
Most harmful for the county and jurisdiction we all call home, Prince William, is the plan to entice local government officials to accept federal funding in return for eliminating single family zoning laws, also known as The American Dream. The reason why most people have moved to the suburbs for decades.
Over the last 18 months, residents in Prince William County concerned about worsening traffic, the environment, overcrowding in our children and grandchildren’s schools, and higher taxes have watched in disbelief as the new board majority has approved every high-density housing project that has come down the pike, with the promises of more (how many times have we heard Ann Wheeler simply respond with “we’re a growing county” to the bringing up of any of the aforementioned concerns?), while hiding behind the still yet undefined term of “affordable housing.”
I hear from Democrats, Independents, and Republicans every day in the county who are stunned that a Democrat majority board can show such disdain for these concerns of the people they’re supposed to represent. However, with the intentions fully out in the federal infrastructure bill, it’s all beginning to make sense – they’re simply taking their cues from the top. Politics is taking precedence over the quality of life issues important to so many of our residents here in Prince William County and why so many people choose to live here instead of the jurisdictions north of us.
The promise I made to residents in 2019 to put “Coles Citizens First” wasn’t just a campaign slogan, but a promise that still stands. It’s not my job or any supervisors job here to represent the hundreds of thousands of additional residents the Washington Metro Council of Governments tells us that our existing residents must absorb in the coming years. Our job is to do our best to represent you and your family – today.
However, if you think your elected officials at the local level aren’t listening to your land use concerns now, wait until they can throw up their hands and claim that the federal government made them do it.
Imposing overreaching federal housing dictates that would destroy Prince William County as we know it should have nothing to do with rebuilding our worst roads and bridges.
While some of my colleagues do, I don’t often wade into national political debates. It’s not my job, and it’s not what I was elected to do as a district supervisor in Prince William County. But this particular bill would have disastrous impacts on Prince William County and the dream that led many of us to move here in the first place.
Some people do wish to live in townhomes or apartments – and that is absolutely fine. Some don’t – and that is absolutely fine as well. Part of being an American is having the freedom to choose. It is those wishes and the market that should be guiding our housing policy – not forced, one-size-fits-all federal mandates.
The imposition of high-density housing mandates from the federal government would only worsen our issues pertaining to traffic, the environment, overcrowded schools, and already high residential tax bills.
We’ve already seen that we have enough trouble holding those closest to us accountable for poor land-use decisions – it goes without saying that there would no holding the federal government accountable.
For more on the proposed infrastructure bill and the disastrous impacts it could have on our quality of life here in Prince William County see the following editorials:
Biden’s ‘infrastructure’ plan wages war on the suburban dream
Biden’s Infrastructure Bill Aims to End Single-Family Zoning
– Supervisor Vega