"I'm a big rules kind of guy."

Systems engineering manager Michael High repeatedly referred to procedures and by-the-book arguments as he outlined his platform for both controlling growth and developing transportation solutions Sunday evening at his Haymarket home.

The 47-year-old Army veteran and father of six is one of five candidates running in the Republican primary for Gainesville District supervisor. The incumbent John Stirrup (R) opted out of seeking re-election, deciding instead to run for the state Senate.

Whoever wins the GOP contest is set to face Democrat Ann Wheeler in the general election.

Transportation

High cited transportation as the main issue linking the various and diverse population centers of the northern-most magisterial district in Prince William County, explaining that better transportation can lead to an improved local economy.

"Overall, the common theme is that everybody wants to get to and from their homes," he said.

First, High said he wants to examine whether certain traffic lights along U.S. 29 through Gainesville and the Route 234 bypass can be removed. He said he supports the plan to turn an intersection of the bypass at either Sudley Manor Drive or Wellington Road into an elevated "clover" ramp to help improve the flow of traffic.

Doing so along that corridor he said is crucial for business people to make it in and out of the Innovation area, which is a big provider for high-paying, white-collar jobs in the western part of the county.

"It’s just not organized," he said.

High reckoned that "you can’t eliminate them in all cases," referring to the traffic lights, but that on U.S. 29, commuters pull out of subdivisions and "onto a parking lot" of congested traffic.

One local project he said he would support to improve mass transit locally is to set up a rail trolley from Haymarket that could connect with a future Virginia Railway Express train station in Gainesville.

Though the Haymarket Town Council has shot down a vehicle version of a trolley service due to its cost and potential lack of interest, High discussed sharing the existing train tracks with the freight liners already passing through town.

He proposed that trolley train cars could be docked in Gainesville instead of Haymarket and that those types of commuter train cars make less noise than a regular train.

The New Jersey native compared them to the Dinky Line services running in parts of the Garden State.

"We don’t have money to spend on building a whole new infrastructure," said High, arguing that the existing rail line in Haymarket is "under-utilized."

Development

On the Rural Crescent, High emphasized his commitment to keeping the area free of future developments where possible. He said he would have voted against the Avendale project between Nokesville and Bristow that is set to add up to 295 houses to the area near Route 28 and Vint Hill Road along with football fields that can be used by local youth sports teams.

By High's logic, allowing even one development in the Rural Crescent gives future developers an avenue to argue that they too should be able to gain rezonings of agricultural areas so they can build out structures.

"Once you step over the line once... you let them have it," said High. "Once you get (one), you have no backbone to stand up anymore."

He added, "the land use rules are laid out for a reason." High also supports reviewing land-use planning every five years so that the citizenry, through their elected representatives, can make adjustments as they see fit.

High classified his stance on development as favoring controlled to slow growth within the county.

"I would like to slow it down as fast I could legally get away with so the infrastructure can catch up," he said.

However, he said he "can't fault Toll Brothers" for not already building the long-awaited connector road linking Waverly Farm Drive and U.S. 15 at the northern end of Dominion Valley.

The candidate mentioned that he not can he blame the county either because he thought the proffer deal seemed fair even though it is "costing the taxpayers for that one" since school buses have longer routes to access Gravely Elementary School.

Instead, that is simply a case where the "timing was bad" due to the downturn in the housing market. He did say, however, that he would like to review the formula used to determine how proffer agreements are doled out.

Illegal immigration

"My personal belief," High said, is that "people who don't help themselves shouldn’t be taking taxpayers’ money."

He named "abuse" of the welfare system as an issue, particularly citing those in the country illegally who access free health care clinics that receive government money. Locally, the Manassas and Woodbridge locations for the Prince William Area Free Clinic would qualify as such a system.

When the conversation turned to how illegal immigrants would access health care outside of emergency rooms, High said he supports immigration checks for those filling out paperwork to access the facilities in the first place in the same way that E-Verify tracks those seeking employment.

"The problem is there's the humanistic problem but you're taking money the citizens to do that," he said.

High explained that, to him, this becomes a matter of what is responsibility of government.

"It's not the school's job to verify legitimacy," said High, adding that, according to federal law, "we have to educate them."