Gainesville, where PWC planners propose a town center.

Prince William County, one of the DC region’s biggest poster children for sprawl, is beginning to see the light. Planners there working on the County’s Comprehensive Plan are proposing that future growth in Prince William be focused in a series of walkable town centers. So far plans are extremely preliminary, but the concept should be fleshed out over the coming months and years.

From a regional Smart Growth perspective adding growth to Prince William County doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but assuming there will be continued growth there regardless, it’s better if that growth takes on relatively urban forms. If genuine urbanism follows rather than lip service urbanism, and if adequate transit connections come with town center construction, Prince William could theoretically become a viable clump of satellite cities, which really aren’t so bad.

BeyondDC is skeptical that Prince William County has the political will to actually go through with a great-sounding plan. Even if it does have the will, retrofitting the likes of Dale City isn’t exactly going to be easy. But considering that we’re talking about the third most populous jurisdiction in Virginia, we’ll sure be watching as the plan develops.