I honestly do not agree with either.

Joyce gripe may be legitimate because of her concerns for noise and fireworks as it is all relative.

The noise level may not have been as loud as fireworks if the stadium is not present but better believe that area will be buzzing and really busy. Traffic? It is inevitable. That boat has long sailed. All we can do as a county is continue to improve the surrounding infrastructure. You do know Toby Keith's I love this Bar and Grill should have live performances right? Also, if stalling econimical development to an area is a bad idea because it may scare your animals... oh boy.

As for Mary, Good point for someone looking from the outside in but this will have no impact whatsoever on medevac flights from point of orgin to the hospital landing spot. The stadium will not be tall enough to affect any flight path. They may however installed an aircraft warning light on or near the stadiums but as for the flight path, this will not have any effect. The helo does not fly that low of a level until it hovers above the hospital for approach and landing. I will try to find some Metro area special flight rules, post it and you will see that the projected path of any helo in our area based on height restrictions and aircraft flight altitude requirements (That's the Air Intercept Controller tendancies while I was in the Navy coming out). But you asked a very valid question and concern and I can appreciate that.

Sports stadiums generate a lot of traffic on game day regardless of where they are placed. Even at its current location, the police direct traffic when people are exiting the stadium. I'm sure that if an ambulance were to need to get through to the hospital during the exit of a game that the traffic controllers would give them priority. I agree that if someone was trying to escape congestion, then buying a home near a 60+ store town center wasn't the right idea. VDOT already has to change the timing of the lights around Potomac Mills every Christmas season just to prevent gridlock. This town center still has plans for 2 8-story Class A office buildings across from the new Sport & Health club. With the fact that the new town center professional building on the corner of Neabsco Mills & Opitz is having trouble finding tenants, it makes sense that Roadside Development would seek an alternative use for the rest of their land. They are donating the land to the P-nats owner because it will increase traffic to their retail, and VDOT will be constructing a commuter garage there. From my perspective everyone wins here.

Minor league stadium in a Major League market?
Less than 30 miles away MLB Nationals play, PNats attendance is third from the bottom of their minor league, Pr Wm Co just raised property taxes, our sewer & water has doubled from uncontrolled growth, adding at least 3,000 more commuters to attend a 6,000-7,000 seat stadium on one of I95 high density corridors and no train or rail station for miles...not to mention the loss of open space in an already over-saturated community. Both our former Board of Supervisor and current are championing the project; one already has moved onto new pastures & the current aspires to move on. Leaving the people who live here to 'crawl' around our neighborhoods. Not sure this is the time or the place for a minor league stadium.

Has no one mentioned the fact there is no direct access to I-95 S? Yes easy access to North but without direct access to 95 S it will put a strain on already strained roads including Dale Blvd and Prince William Pkwy. I enjoy the Town Center but I think a lot of impact assesment needs to be accomplished before breaking ground can occur.

What about the estimated 25 million plus this "public-private partnership" will cost VA taxpayers since the state's gonna be on the hook for the parking garage / commuter lot?

http://potomaclocal.com/2012/07/17/new-baseball-stadium-will-be-haven-for-commuters/

Why speak out about Potential probems? Why not speak out about the positives? I commented on the original article so I won't rehash but I will say Stonebridge is a real plus to the area. The impact of the PNats will further enhance the development and ADD value to the area.

Would you rather have more Rt 1 mix/match development with dollar stores that cater to the lower economic part of the county?

Give people an opportunity to complain or find fault with something new and they will.

I guess it is human nature to look for the worst, expect disaster, deride new ideas, complain, grouse, fuss and fume. Then, you can never be disappointed!
I feel certain VDOT and the developers are aware of the traffic problems and have plans to remedy those.
I think the best idea I heard in years were the comments from previous post by Ted Fischer in support of light rail.

I'm just grateful for anything that brings in tourist dollars or sales tax dollars instead of putting the onus on residential. At least this land use won't require us to build schools or support the infrastructure associated with that.
Good analysis by Vinny. (I'm a Vinny fan! Always well thought out with facts, not conjecture. I really appreciate his comments.)

I just wanna say i love the idea of an updated stadium as long as the owner will let it be used for other events and concerts (not a Baseball fan), But I don't think its right to have the taxpayers foot the bill for anything other than road improvements when it comes to this thing - especially state taxpayers who will never even see the the stadium!

I think that instead of asking for the concerns, ask for the positives. Sad that the news looks for negative aspects to make it worthwhile. I would like to think of the good things that this stadium will provide and be happy. Life's is too short to think any differently. So Woodbridge Patch, think about wording positive questions the next time.

All, I left a comment on this same webpage earlier this week saying how bad of an idea this is...I won't repeat myself. Prince William County is having financial problems and we should not be spending $25 MILLION more to have a minor league team play baseball. There current stadium is fine. I have to admit that I have only been to one game, but the stadium was fairly empty that day. I live in Potmac Club (across the street). Last fall Frank Principi came to my community and had a politcal debate against the gentlemen who was running against him (Chris Royse). Principi stood there in our community club and told us how much of a bad idea this stadium would be. He went on to say how this stadium would only bring "hotdog selling jobs" to Woodbridge. Now he is telling everyone how great of an idea this stadium is. That alone should give you pause. If you didn't know, there is a $56 + million dollar project to widen Highway 1 in the works. Before the County Supervisors voted on it a few nights ago, they were briefed by county finance employees that in order to pay for this project, they would have to raise property taxes 4% a year for the next FIVE YEARS. They voted for it. I pay about $5K a year in real estate property taxes. If I have done the math right, my taxes will go up $2000 in the next 5 years or 40%. What we have to pay for this stadium would reduce our tax increase by 50%. Is this really what you all want for a minor league team. Continued on next comment

Continuation of previous comment.....If you didn't know, there is a $56 + million dollar project to widen Highway 1 in the works. Before the County Supervisors voted on it a few nights ago, they were briefed by county finance employees that in order to pay for this you want insight on the problems Prince William County is having financially, I suggest you read the Sheriff of Nottingham Blog at: http://sheriffofnottinghampwc.blogspot.com/ It will really open your eyes up to what is going on in our county. I would suggest you read the entire blog. It will take you about a good hour.

In all fairness, Mr.Petrak, I think you should also share the link from Al's blog with the County Executive's rebuttal. I'm not taking sides regarding the financial wisdom of our senior staff, but people should form an opinion by listening (or reading) more than one viewpoint.:
http://albornbiz.blogspot.com/2012/07/melissa-peacor-answers-mail-regarding.html
While I know we all want to hang onto our money, I am always willing to invest in our county if I believe the benefit in the long run is viable.

We have to find other revenue streams besides property taxes. Tourism is a revenue stream. If all the naysayers had not kept Disney from building here, we wouldn't be in this position today. The same concerns about traffic and congestion have reaped us the financial burden of a burgeoning school system and far more congestion than that park would have created. ...(and now the rural crescent is being built with residences, anyway- not preserved in pristine condition! read here for my thoughts on that:
http://dalecity.patch.com/blog_posts/think-big )

Bad idea. More traffic on Rte 1? No way. I love going to P-Nats games. The location where it is now is great. Can't the current stadium be rehab-ed? K. Tanner, Woodbridge

A great idea for the community!

The big concern is that Opitz will bottleneck even more than it currently does, especially during the evening rush hour. The PRTC commuter bus stop adds a bit to the bottleneck as folks are attempting to line up to make a right on Neabsco Mills road. So along with the studies, I'm sure this will be taken into consideration. I'm all for the idea if the bottlenecks can be prevented or eased by the traffic engineers.

I think it's a good location for a stadium. That piece of land will be developed, stadium or not. Would be rather have more townhomes build there?

Nova1

+1

Good point.

I own a business on neabsco mills road and I am wondering if the rest of neabsco mills rd will be widened to route one prior to completion of a new stadium? It has been on the books to widen "forever".

I haven't seen this covered in any of the news sites yet. As of last night the cost to PWC taxpayers thus far is 5 million dollars, thanks to the Board's generosity with our- oh, sorry I mean the county's "carryover" funds.

I live about 4 miles from Stonebridge by Leesylvania Park and I think the new stadium location is a great idea and a wonderful addition to Stonebridge. With the new bars and restaurants going in it the stadium will absolutely help to complete the town center.

I do support the growth of Woodbridge, but traffic planning has to be better than it has been in the past. With plans to build the new stadium at Stonebridge, what will be done to help ensure that we relieve, not worsen, this already-congested area during evening rush hour?

For 4 years I commuted just between my home off Cardinal Road and the Rippon VRE station. This mere 6.5 miles would usually take around 10-15 minutes in the morning, but was typically more than 30 minutes in the afternoon. This is due to the immense amount of traffic on southbound US 1 from Dale Blvd to Triangle that the bridge expansion over Neabsco Creek did not improve. I maintain the stance I made to the Board of Supervisors before that project broke ground: The intersections with US 1 and Cardinal Road, Neabsco Mills Road, and Dale Blvd/Rippon Road should have been converted to cloverleaf intersections to keep traffic moving.

The addition of a 10,000 seat stadium in this neighborhood, offering sporting events that will begin in the waning hours of rush hour(s), will increase evening rush traffic tremendously. It must be a REQUIREMENT to solve old and new traffic congestion problems in order to obtain a green light, or else the long-term benefits of this project will fail.

PWBOCS, please do not take the traffic situation lightly. You will add to the misery of stressed-out commuters who will ultimately move elsewhere, thus crippling the more day-to-day stable economics of the area.