The Prince William County housing moratorium will expire Tuesday, despite Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart’s effort to extend it into next year.

The real estate market’s rampant decline made prolonging the county’s slow-growth initiative unnecessary, supervisors said.

Despite continued population growth that has packed schools and congested roads, the declining potential of new housing developments has led to the board’s change of heart.

“I don’t think there’s going to be a significant amount of new residential development in 2008 because of the market conditions right now,” Stewart said, adding he could not get enough votes from his colleagues to extend the moratorium.

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Foreclosures and dwindling property values have replaced out-of-control residential growth as a top concern in Prince William County as the housing market’s troubles threaten to wallop the county’s fiscal 2009 budget, which is facing at least a $51 million deficit.

“Most of us are a little bit more worried about foreclosures and where the economy is right now,” said Supervisor Wally Covington, the moratorium’s sponsor in 2008. “I don’t think we’ll have to worry about too many new proposals.”

“That’s what we’ve been saying for over a year now,” said Mark Granville-Smith, president of the Prince William County Chapter of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association. “When you have less than 20-year lows in growth, it doesn’t make sense to even consider moratoriums.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com