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On
April 12, 2007, the Fauquier County Board of Supervisors
passed a resolution of support to apply for special Virginia
Department of Transportation grant funding to develop a
regional plan for bicycles and pedestrians in and around
Warrenton. The Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Planning
Commission was awarded funding to administer the planning
project with participation from the Town of Warrenton and
Fauquier County. Toole Design Group of Hyattsville,
Maryland was contracted to provide technical expertise,
collect field data, facilitate meetings, meet with property
owners, and draft the plan. Local input came from a
designated client team of County, Town, and Virginia
Department of Transportation (VDOT) representatives. Two
public meetings were advertised and held to solicit citizen
comments; the draft was posted online for review and
comments. At Fauquier County, the departments of Parks &
Recreation and Community Development worked directly with
Toole Design Group and the Regional Commission on the
project. Staff from the Department of Planning & Zoning in
the Town of Warrenton played a large role as well, providing
essential insights into segments traversing through the
Town. The end result is a bicycle and pedestrian plan
called the "Fauquier-Warrenton Destinations Plan," a
document that details specific action items, cost estimates,
and facility recommendations to see that one day, bicyclists
and pedestrians can travel safely through and around
Warrenton on a network. A brochure was also created to
outline where facilities exist, are planned, and to garner
public support.
Building off the highly-used
Warrenton Branch Greenway (photo) as the centerpiece, this
Plan provides walking and bicycling routes to and between
the Warrenton Aquatic and Recreation Facility (WARF), the
future Central Sports Complex, downtown, historic Warrenton
and other destinations such as schools and parks. Network
segments and destinations were planned that are logical,
such as a safe road crossing of Broadview Avenue from
Waterloo Street, and highly desirable, such as greenway
trails, in order to achieve a "loop" around Warrenton, as
recommended in The Connections Plan. The Destinations Plan
builds off of existing infrastructure in the Town and County
in areas that may have some, but not all, of the necessary
infrastructure to build a safe network, such as sidewalks,
bikepaths, shared use paths, crosswalks, etc. and makes
specific facility recommendations to improve existing and
non-existent travel conditions. Five segments are
highlighted in the Plan, forming a network, that if built,
would provide recreational and sustainable transportation
options to the public and visitors alike.
The attached resolution,
sends the Destinations Plan to the Planning Commission for
review and recommendation. Staff recommends that the Plan
be considered for adoption by reference in the Warrenton
Service District Plan (Chapter 6) and/or the Transportation
Plan (Chapter 10) to allow staff to obtain facilities
through site and subdivision planning, seek more grant
funding (such as Safe Routes to Schools) to construct key
segments of the network and assist the Board in budgeting
key facility upgrades that will improve quality of life and
safety for residents. Finally, this Town-County Plan is
regional in scope so it will require continued cooperation
between jurisdictions. It is the hope that this planning
effort and lessons learned could one day be used to develop
a similar plan for the Town of Remington and the Remington
Service District.
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