Woodbridge leaders look for 'Main Street' feel

Providing a scenic gateway into Prince William County with improved intersections and a "Main Street" feel was on the tip of nearly everyone's tongue at the North Woodbridge Charrette this week.

How to get there was another story.

The discussion throughout the crowd gathered at Botts Firehouse in Woodbridge for the three-day event consistently returned to two issues: the economy and funding.

On Thursday evening, representatives from Virginia Department of Transportation and its consulting firm presented its preliminary design for the Gordon Boulevard/U.S. 1 intersection improvement plan -- a major part of the planned revitalization of North Woodbridge.

The plan calls for elevating Gordon Boulevard over U.S. 1 into the new Belmont Bay community. The proposed bridge would provide better access to the Virginia Railway Express station on the east side of U.S. 1 and would alleviate traffic jams that occur daily from Gordon Boulevard to Occoquan Road on both sides of U.S. 1.

With funding, it could be completed by 2016.

VDOT has identified $65 million for the project and Prince William County has purchased some of the land for right-of-way purposes.

However, the project will likely cost at least $120 million and the remaining money to pay that cost doesn't exist yet, said VDOT spokesperson Maria Sinner. By next month, VDOT will have a better idea of what kind of money the federal government will be providing in order to fund the project, said Sinner.

Community development planner Pam Buchenauer said she was excited to see so much interest in the future of North Woodbridge but skeptical of when some of this revitalization will take place. She moved with her husband, Bob, to Belmont Bay in 2002, in part, because of the promises that the U.S. 1/Gordon Boulevard intersection would be done by now.

"Since nothing happened here in 10 years of fabulous economic growth, what can happen now that we have a question mark on dollars?" Buchenauer said.

Land use, civic and public space and transportation were the topics of conversation on Friday. Alternate land-use scenarios and the selection of the preferred concepts will conclude the event today.

Many attendees said now is the perfect time to plan ahead despite the poor economy. Developer Rick Oschner re-cently submitted a site plan to the county for a residential-retail development of his seven-plus acres on the west side of U.S. 1 near Annapolis Way.

Oschner said the county shouldn't necessarily wait for projects like the U.S. 1-Gordon Boulevard intersection to be completed to start giving developers more incentives to come to North Woodbridge. Both Oschner and Buche-nauer said the U.S. 1 corridor is long overdue for a face lift.

Some of those incentives could be a temporary delay in proffer payments from developers to the county, said Oschner. Proffers help pay for the impact a developer has on infrastructure like roads and schools.

"If we don't do anything, they move to Stafford," Oschner said. "They pay taxes in Staf-ford and it doesn't do anything for Woodbridge ... If you stand down on the road in the morning and look at the county stickers coming through here, they are not Prince William County, predominantly. They are [from] Staf-ford County and beyond."

Staff writer Kipp Hanley can be reached at 703-878-8062.