Potomac Mills Solutions - Let's Get Organized

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Not all of us start work at 7:00am or earlier. What about those of us starting 8:30am or later???

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Exactly. Those who are en route prior to 7am are probably not as likely to be affected as greatly as us tail-end-of-HOV-restriction slugs!

This limits my commuter lot options as it is, and having been pushed out of Potomac Mills already, I'm extremely concerned about what will happen as of Monday. We need to come up with solutions, and FAST.

Unfortunately, I'm unable to attend the town hall meeting this evening at the Ferlazzo building, but am very hopeful that this will bring us closer to a temporary fix.

I used to park at Horner Road and Potomac Mills. Got squeezed out of both. Now I am in Lake Ridge, Tacketts, and 123 alternatively. I too am concerned about being squeezed out of Lake Ridge and Tacketts by the 700 displaced Potomac Mills folks. It is unfortunate that there are so many (11 did one of the supervisors say?) under-used lots already in existence in eastern Prince William. We all know why they are: no bus service to them, an overall slower commute from them. When I moved to Montclair, I tried the Gemini/Dale City lot for a little while. It added 30 minutes to the already horrid 1h30m door-to-door commute. If we could figure out a way to make those lots work, that would be supreme. Another lot that is nearly totally unused is the one at Harbor and Minnieville. I think the only way that any of them could be more viable is to get some bus service there, but I know PRTC lacks those resources (unless the state of VA is willing to help them on that end). I do like someone's idea (up the discussion) of seeing if Potomac Mills would respond to $$$. I suspect they would and that some drivers would be willing to pay to park there, if a reasonable fee. Certainly all ideas can be put on the table. One last thing, and this may be highly controversial. There are alot of Stafford and Spotsylvania county folks parking in Prince William lots. Should the residents of a county have first dibs on the commuter lots located thre or not? If VDOT improved the commuter lot situation in those 2 counties, would those folks start parking there versus driving up here to Eastern Prince William? If VA extended the HOV lane down to Stafford (at least), ditto? If PRTC or another DC-bound commuter bus service was developed there (to compliment VRE) would that help some of this? For Potomac Mills to go from 1000 to 275 in one swoop is just so drastic. Could they be persuaded to "step down" gradually instead? Like to 750 on 2/14, 500 six months later, etc. It would give folks some time to find alternatives and others affected by the change to adjust. And buy a little time on any new lot expansion at Horner or anywhere else. BTW the 123 lot doesn't get its props, but I think it is a fairly easy lot to get in and out of (being in the middle of a cloverleaf). Yes, you have to creep through that 95 slog from Dale Blvd. northwards to get to it, unless you take Route 1 (which may or may not be a slog itself, depending on the time of morning). It's far after midnight, and I've said enough! [:)]

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snlfam Posted - 08 Feb 2011 : 13:28:53
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My fear is that some of the Potomac Mills sluggers going to DC will come and fill up 'my' Hechinger's lot before I get there in the morning. I used to park at Potomac Mills, but it fills up long before I leave for work.

I propose that if this begins to happen, that we use the 123 lot as a backup slugging location for DC destinations (14th/18th/20th). Hopefully drivers who used to drop off at Potomac Mills from DC locations will be willing to drop off at 123 or Hechinger's instead/also. Anyone disagree with this proposal? I am open for suggestions.

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Like you, I also slug in long after Potomac Mills fills up and for that reason, have had to switch to Tackett's Mill - I share your concern about Tackett's Mill being full much earlier after this change takes place, even though it's not the ideal location since there is no line that goes into DC.

Whatever new location(s) we come up with, I'd really like to see a line from somewhere in Dale City (would love to go from K-Mart, but I don't think the lot is big enough) going to L'Enfant Plaza and other locations in the city.

I don't know if any of these have been sugguested:

1) Potomac Mills could charge a fee, say $25 - $30 monthly proiving
the commuter with the same dollar amount in coupons for use at any
place in the Mall and provide a parking permit to commuter. This
would benefit the Mall in a couple of ways.
a) Commuters would be apted to shop more there[:)]
b) For those who opt out of using the coupons the Mall still wins.
They will have the fee they've charged free and clear. This
could easy generate hundreds of thousands of dollars annually
for them.
2) 1st Baptist Church on Minneville has a large parking lot that I
don't believe is used much during the day.

I wrote to the county supervisor Frank J. Principi

Received the following response.


Greetings!



As you may know, Potomac Mills is limiting the number of spaces for commuters effective February 14th. Unfortunately, this is going to displace over 700 commuters. I am currently working with my fellow Board of County Supervisor members and County staff on a solution to this situation.



I will be co-hosting a town hall with Occoquan District Supervisor Michael C. May, on February 9th, at 7:00 pm, in the Ferlazzo Building in the Auditorium to discuss the impact of Potomac Mills decision to limit the number of parking spaces available to commuters. We will be joined by County staff, VDOT officials, and PRTC officials to discuss the options available and to receive feedback from area commuters who are affected by the recent decision by Potomac Mills.



In the coming year, the County will be expanding Horner Road which will provide 500-600 parking spaces for commuters near Telegraph road. In the meantime, the plan is to continue to look at leasing spaces from other property owners and better utilizing existing underutilized lots. There are currently 11 lots in the eastern part of the County with excess parking capacity.



It is essential that we find a way to limit the impact on our commuters. Supervisor May and I wanted to be able to inform our constituents and give them the opportunity to provide us with feedback. A town hall will provide us a forum to accomplish both of these goals.



I am continuing to push for alternative transit options for commuters. A feasibility study was completed last fall showing that a regional commuter ferry service is a viable transit option for the area. In the coming month, the commuter ferry stakeholder's group will meet for the first time. This group is composed of local, state and federal elected officials as well as the military, and members of the private and public sector. Their goal is to promote commuter ferry service for the region and to complete a market analysis in the coming year.





For more information:



Windshield Flyer

http://www.prtctransit.org/docs/Potomac_Mills_Commuter_Parking_Flyer_1-11.pdf



Map of existing lots

http://www.prtctransit.org/docs/Potomac_Mills_Commuter_Spaces_Reduced_-_Combined_Flyer_1-11.pdf



PRTC website

http://www.prtctransit.org



If you have any further questions feel free to contact me at
(703) 792-4646.





Sincerely,


Frank J. Principi

Woodbridge District Supervisor