First Baptist Church to Provide 370 Commuter Parking Spaces

First Baptist Church in Woodbridge will try to help ease the commuter parking situation by leasing 370 spaces to the county. The spaces will help replace 725 commuter parking spaces at Potomac Mills Mall that are no longer available after the mall to 275 spaces.

Prince William County Department of Transportation Director Tom Blaser said the county hopes to execute the lease within days and have the lot ready for use within two weeks. Blaser said the county is leasing the spaces at an annual cost of $288,600 but hopes to be reimbursed for the full amount by the Virginia Department of Transportation. “We’re working that out with VDOT right now,” Blaser said.

Blaser said the bus stop will be at the intersection of Minnieville Road and Elm Farm Road, and buses will not enter the parking lot at First Baptist Church.

Frank Johnson, executive pastor of First Baptist Church, said Tuesday that he to sign the agreement. The church voted last Sunday to authorize the Administrative Ministry to negotiate a one-year renewable lease with Prince William County authorizing commuter parking on the church’s property.

Neabsco District Supervisor John Jenkins said the process began because the pastor of First Baptist Church had spoken with him when the commuter parking reduction first came up and asked if the church could help out. Jenkins brought the church’s offer to the Board of County Supervisors, and negotiations between the church and the County Department of Transportation began.

“It’s extremely important to the community,” Jenkins said. “If you take 750 spaces out of a parking area and just say you have to find somewhere else to park, you have everyone jockeying for spaces. People don’t know where to park and people who have regularly established places to pick up slugs might not find the same number of people at the new place that they did at the old place. It’s chaos out there when you disrupt a well-established transit system.”

Jenkins said the county had looked at other churches as potential options, but First Baptist Church had the most central location and the best access. “The main objective was to keep cost down for taxpayers and give them a relatively comfortable option for getting to work the next morning,” Jenkins said.

The county will continue to pursue other solutions to ease commuter parking, including the plans to expand the Horner Road parking lot by 500 spaces, Jenkins said. “It’s going to be very helpful to us, but I don’t want you to think that we are not working on this further,” he said. “We’re working on it every day.” 

Jenkins said he and other county officials have been to Richmond to talk to Commonwealth Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton and make him aware of the county’s needs. Jenkins is hopeful that the county will receive aid in the governor’s transportation bond. “Hopefully we’ll see some relief in that $4.1 billion legislation,” he said.