This morning WMAL news had a snippet on from PWC Chairman Corey Stewart in light of Prince George’s County, MD landing a Disney hotel at National Harbor. It was about 15 years ago that Disney had sought to build their Disney’s America theme park in Prince William County, but some residents and politicians back then killed the plan. Now Disney has finally decided to put a presence in the D.C. region.
Stewart noted that the land where Disney was to have built the park in PWC is now the site of thousands of homes. Those homes came without the roads and infrastructure that Disney would have built in the area (at no cost to the taxpayer mind you) and do not provide the sort of steady revenue stream that Disney would have provided to the county. So basically, we have the traffic we would have had if Disney had come, but none of the benefits thanks to the NIMBY crowd.
Here’s just a sample on what PWC is missing out on:
National Harbor’s developer, Peterson Companies, has been working on the Disney deal for a decade. While no specific plans are being unveiled, the Disney Resort is expected to be like other family oriented properties owned by the theme park giant throughout the United States.
Milton Peterson noted, “When you have Disney on site, it’s sort of a stamp of approval. The world aspires to bring Disney.”
Families of all ages are intrigued.
“To be able to get a little piece of Disney on this end of the world, then I wouldn’t have to travel to California or Florida,” said Veronica Davenport, a Woodbridge resident.
“I think it would be beneficial from the tourism standpoint, at least get some money circulating in the local area,” added Kechon Burnett.
Disney’s move to Washington’s tourism market comes more than a decade after the company canceled plans to build a theme park near the Manassas, Va., Civil War battlefield. The project drew protests from politicians and citizens’ groups.
Great, a Woodbridge resident (yes, that is in PWC), will now be going to Maryland to spend some of her money rather than keeping it in the county and state. I wouldn’t be surprised if my family did as well.
And to be frank, it isn’t as if Disney was going to pave over and build atop the Manassas battlefield. You’d think that was exactly what was going to happen based upon the hysterics that were being employed at the time.
Now, I have heard some very interesting things about what really went on. Here’s a comment that was left by “Chris O.” on my jimriley.org blog last August:
I live right next to where the park was to be built, in Haymarket.. Antioch road was to border the property… I am very angry that the park was not put in. I do understand that people wanted to preserve the historic battle field. Although, the battlefield was several miles away from the Disney site… Almost 20 miles This objection to Disney coming in was not really about Traffic or building on historic ground.. If it was, then I must ask where all the protesters were when 5,000+ homes were build on this site??? YES, the same site Disney purchased is now 5,000+ homes and Shopping Centers and still growing… Homes cause more traffic and desecrate much worse than Disney would have.. Look at Disneyland and Disneyworld.. They did a wonderful job with the roads and keeping everything running smooth…
Don’t be fooled. The reason Disney was denied could not possible have been for the reasons given!!! something shady was happening.. Go look at a map of the site disney purchased, and overlay that with a current map of that area..
That would indeed be very interesting to find out. Very interesting…
Filed under: Business, Disney's America - Williamsburg, Prince William County Politics
Disney would have been a much better investment for PWC providing an amazing infrastructure and a steady wave of income (not to mention employment), oh, and of course the NPS would pick up spillover visitors eager to visit the battlefield…
I can see the “NIMBY” protest if it was a nuclear power plant or something like a mega housing community with strip malls (oh, wait, that IS what they did instead isn’t it), but county officials let us down big time by allowing Disney to slip through the cracks. Now we will have a constant reminder of their ineptness to the northeast (and quite possibly directly to the south) for future generations to remain pissed off…
The only good thing there is the Cub Scout Camp.
Riley, you need to stick to issues in the eastern end of the County and not delve into issues you know little or nothing about. Your analysis is overly simplistic at best and Corey’s just looking for another soundbite.
Yes there was opposition to the Mouse and yes there were shady dealings behind the scenes but if you truly believe that Disney would have built the infrastructure “at no cost to the taxpayer”, I would take a look at the dosage of medications you’re taking. The record is quite clear on what Disney was demanding (not asking) in return for locating in PWC. Sad thing is they almost got it but were just a little too greedy in the end. As to the shady manueverings and resultant development, call Wilbourn, I think he’s still in the phonebook.
Thanks for the info, Mom.
Whatever price PWC would have had to pay, though, can it be said that we’re better off with what we got in its place? And why no outcry from the preservationists over these developments?
In truth, its probably a wash given that both Disney and the subsequent development have substantial pros and cons.
As to the preservationists, there was a hue and cry and their have been similar outcrys with nearby development since. With Dominion Valley etal, it was stifled by Wilbourn and Co. and currently, it is dismissed, usually most notably by Covington and Nohe. Connaughton had his mitts in it as well, just go back to the rezoning amendment that gave us Silver Lake (that has an even better backstory regarding shady maneuverings) or the Brentswood fiasco he and Wally tried to sell us.
Land use issues (as evidenced by the current Comp Plan process) is the Wild, Wild West in PWC, a situation that makes us the laughingstock of the state. All of these poor decisions are really engineered by a subset of the BOCS (notably those with land or business interests) and enabled by the Planning Office, County Exec. and one particular Land Use Law Firm.
If Corey really wants a soundbite that will resonate, perhaps he should craft one regarding the replacement of Senior Planning Officials and Uberexec Gerhardt (and his youthful ward Peacor).
I’m with you 100% on the BOCS needing to ditch the current County Exec.
Disney was a complex issue!! I think a lot of people continue to overlook the need that Disney would have brought for more low income housing and health care….along with a choking amount of traffic. Disney hires thousands of people at a little more than minimum wage…….and i dont think the traffic that comes from the ousing development is anywhere near the volume of traffic that Disney would bring to the likes of the Beltway and 66 and 95