W&M ScholarWorks Reports 1976 Shoreline Situation Report Prince William County, Virginia Lynne M. Rogers Virginia Institute of Marine Science Dennis W. Owen Virginia Institute of Marine Science Margaret H. Peoples Virginia Institute of Marine Science Robert J. Byrne Virginia Institute of Marine Science Carl H. Hobbs III Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/reports Part of the Environmental Monitoring Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, and the Water Resource Management Commons Recommended Citation Rogers, L. M., Owen, D. W., Peoples, M. H., Byrne, R. J., & Hobbs, C. H. (1976) Shoreline Situation Report Prince William County, Virginia. Special Report In Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering No. 119. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. https://doi.org/10.21220/V5Q73F This Report is brought to you for free and open access by W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Reports by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Shoreline Situation Report PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA / Supported by the National Science Foundation, Research Applied to National Needs Program NSF Grant Nos. GI 34869 and GI 38973 to the Wetlands/Edges Program, Chesapeake Research Consortium, Inc. Published With Funds Provided to the Commonwealth by the Office of Coastal Zone Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Admif"!istration, Grant No. 04-5-158-50001 CZM-NOAA Grant No. 04-6:.158-44037 Special Report In Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering Number 119 of the. VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 1976 Shoreline Situation Report PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, VIRGINIA Prepared by: Lynne M. Rogers Dennis W. Owen Margaret H. Peoples Project Supervisors: Robert J. Byrne Carl H. Hobbs Ill Supported by the Na~ional Science Foundation, Research Applied to National Needs Program NSF Grant Nos. GI 34869 and GI 38973 to the Wetlands/Edges Program, Chesapeake Research Consortium, Inc. Published With Funds Provided to the Commonwealth by the Office of Coastal Zone Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Grant No. 04-5-158-50001 CZM-NOAA Grant No. 04-6-158-44037 Special Report In Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering Number 119 of the VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE' William J. Hargis Jr., Director Gloucester Point, Virg inia 23062 1976 •·. TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE PAGE CHAPTER l : INTRODUCTION l FIGURE 1: Shoreland Components 5 FIGURE 2: Marsh Types 5 1.1 Purposes and Goals 2 FIGURE 3: Marina on Neabsco Creek 12 1.2 Acknowledgements 2 FIGURE 4 : Bayside Park Shoreline 12 FIGURE 5: Freestone Point 12 FIGURE 6: Marsh on Quantico Creek 12 CHAPTER 2: APPROACH USED AND ELEMENTS CONSIDERED 3 FIGURE 7: VEPCO Substation on Possum Point 13 FIGURE 8: VEPCO Substation on Possum Point 13 2.1 Approach to the Problem 4 FIGURE 9: North end of Chopawamsic Island 13 2.2 Characteristics of the Shoreline 4 FIGURE 10: South end of Chopawamsic Island 13 CHAPTER 3: PRESENT SHORELANDS SITUATION 9 TABLE 1: Prince William Shorelands Physiography 20 3.1 The Shorelands of Prince William 10 TABLE 2: Prince William Subsegment Summaries 22 3.2 Shore Erosion Situation 10 3.3 Alternate Shore Use 11 MAPS lA-E: Prince William County 15 CHAPTER 4: SUMMARIES AND MAPS 21 MAPS 2A-C: Occoquan River 31 MAPS 3A-C : Occoquan Bay 34 4.1 Subsegment Summaries 22 MAPS 4A-C: Potomac River 37 4.2 Segment and Subsegment Descriptions 24 MAPS SA-C : Quantico 40 Subsegment lA 24 Subsegment lB 24 Subsegment 2A 25 Subsegment 2B 26 Subsegment 3A 27 Subsegment 3B 28 Segment 4 28 Subsegm~nt SA 29 Subsegment SB 30 CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 CHAPTER 1 the conflicts arising from competing demands. ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Furthermore, once a particular use has been de­ INTRODUCTION cided upon for a given segment of shoreland, both This report has been prepared and published the planners and the users want that selected use with funds provided to the Commonwealth by the to operate in the most effective manner. A park Office of Coastal Zone Management, National Oceanic planner, for example, wants the allotted space to and Atmospheric Administration, grant number 04-5- 1.1 PURPOSES AND GOALS fulfill the design most efficiently. We hope that 158-50001. The Shoreline Situation Report series the results of our work are useful to the planner was originally developed in the Wetlands/Edges It is the objective of this report to supply an in designing the beach by pointing out the techni­ Program of the Chesapeake Research Consortium, Inc., assessment, and at least a partial integration, of cal feasibility of altering or enhancing the pres­ as supported by the Research Applied to National those important shoreland parameters and character­ ent configuration of the shore zone. Alternately, Needs (RANN) program of the National Science Foun­ istics which will aid the planners and the managers if the use were a residential development, we dation. The completion of this report would have of the shorelands in making the best decisions for would hope our work would be useful in specifying been impossible without the expert services of the utilization· of this limited and very valuable the shore erosion problem and by indicating de­ Beth Marshall, who typed several drafts of the resource. The report gives particular attention fenses likely to succeed in containing the erosion. manuscript, Bill Jenkins, who prepared the photo­ to the problem of shore erosion and to recommenda­ In summary our objective is to provide a useful graphs, and Sam White, who piloted the aircraft tions concerning the alleviation of the impact of tool for enlightened utilization of a limited re­ on the several photo acquisition and reconnaissance this problem. In addition, we have tried to in­ source, the shorelands of the Commonwealth. flights. Also we thank the numerous other persons clude in our assessment a discussion of those fac­ who, through their direct aid, criticisms, and tors which might significantly limit development Shorelands planning occurs, either formally or suggestions, have assisted our work. of the shoreline and, in some instances, a discus­ informally, at all levels from the private owner sion of some of the potential or alternate uses of of shoreland property to county governments, to the shoreline, particularly with respect to recrea­ planning districts and to the state and federal tional use, since such information could aid poten­ agency level. We feel our results will be useful tial users in the perception of a segment of the at all these levels. Since the most basic level shoreline. of comprehensive planning and zoning is at the county or city level, we have executed our report The basic advocacy of the authors in the prep­ on that level although we realize some of the in­ aration of the report is that the use of shorelands formation may be most useful at a higher govern­ should be planned rather than haphazardly developed mental level. The Commonwealth of Virginia has in response to the short term pressures and inter­ traditionally chosen to .place as much as possible, ests. Careful planning could reduce the conflicts the regulatory decision processes at the county which may be expected to arise between competing level. The Virginia Wetlands Act of 1972 (Chapter interests. Shoreland utilization in many areas of 2.1, Title 62.1, Code of Virginia), for example the country, and indeed in some places in Virginia, provides for the establishment of County Boards to has proceeded in a manner such that the very ele­ act on applications for alterations of wetlands. ments which attracted people to the shore have been Thus, our focus at the county level is intended to destroyed by the lack of planning and forethought. interface with and to support the existing or pending county regulatory mechanisms concerning The major man-induced uses of the shorelands activities in the shorelands zone. are: Residential, conunercial, or industrial development Recreation Transportation Waste disposal Extraction of living and non-living resources Aside from the above uses, the shorelands serve various ecological functions. The role of planners and managers is to optimize the utilization of the shorelands and to minimize 2 CHAPTER 2 Approach Used and Elements Considered 3 CHAPTER 2 of the report since some users' needs will ade­ Definitions: quately be met with the summary overview of the Shore Zone APPROACH USED AND ELEMENTS CONSIDERED county while others will require the detailed dis­ cussion of particular subsegments. This is the zone of beaches and marshes. It is a buffer zone between the water body and the fast­ 2.1 APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM land. The seaward limit of the shore zone is the 2.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SHORELANDS INCLUDED break in slope between the relatively steeper In the preparation of this report the authors IN THE STUDY shoreface and the less steep nearshore zone. The utilized existing information wherever possible. approximate landward limit is a contour line rep­ For example, for such elements as water quality The characteristics which are included in this resenting one and a half times the mean tide characteristics, zoning regulations, or flood haz­ report are listed below followed by a discussion range above mean low water (refer to Figure 1). ard, we reviewed relevant reports by local, state, of our treatment of each. In operation with topographic maps the inner or federal agencies. Much of the desired informa­ a) Shorelands physiographic classification fringe of the marsh symbols is taken as the land­ tion, particularly with respect to erosional char­ b) Shorelands use classification ward limit. acteristics, shoreland types, and use was not c) Shorelands ownership classification available, so we performed the field work and de­ d) Zoning The physiographic character of the marshes has veloped classification schemes.