District Supervisors Bailey, Franklin host ceremony to begin expansion of new station in Potomac Shores

One goal of Potomac District Supervisor Andrea Bailey and Woodbridge District Supervisor Margaret Franklin after the election in 2019 was to expand public transportation in the area. On Tuesday, the Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and Biddle Real Estate Ventures officially signed the framework, bringing that goal to reality. It now sets the stage for the work to begin on the long-awaited Virginia Railway Express station at Potomac Shores.

The ceremony took place at the Shores Barn facility, before a crowd of supporters. Joining Bailey and Franklin were some of the principal people in the negotiations. Peter Chavkin, Managing Member of Biddle Real Estate Ventures, Donald (DJ) Stadtler of the VPRA, and Rod Hall, former head of legislative affairs at the Federal Aviation Administration and board member of the VPRA.

Bailey began the festivities by thanking those in attendance and being able to get a collaborative effort in this project. “It takes a partnership to get things done, and I’m grateful for that happening today.”

Franklin then spoke about how this is part of a greater vision for the Potomac Shores area. “This is not a VRE project, it is a Potomac Shores project,” she said. “The VRE has been very helpful in getting this going through their support. We are looking forward to continuing on with this and the (Potomac Shores) town center.”

“When we came into office,” she continued, “we said we were going to get this done, and this is us delivering on it.”

During the signing, Stadtler stated that the focus will be to help improve the I-95 gridlock through public transportation. “We need to get people off the highway and on the train,” he said.

Afterwards, both supervisors expressed to the PW Perspective what the signing meant to them. “This is one of the things we promised this community,” said Franklin. “We are ready to get the work done.”

She also addressed the somewhat contentious challenges in getting to this point. “We aren’t going to focus on the history, one way or another, we were going to make this happen. [Supervisor Bailey] and I had to partner together, and it took quite a bit to get here.”

“We’re going to forget the history,” added Bailey. “The only history we have in the room is Ms. [Hilda] Barg. She had a vision, and we’re going to respect that vision. What has not happened in the past is the past. We’re moving forward in a positive way; embracing the citizen’s desires. We want the citizens to express their voices so we can partner even more with VPRA and VRE and the developers to make it the ‘golden nugget,’ as it is.”

“This will get done, because this is what we do as leaders!”

Bailey plans to have a community meeting with members of Potomac Shores citizens only to address the future plans of the VRE development.