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Background Information:
On November 17, 2003, the Board of Supervisors adopted the
Warrenton Service District element of the Comprehensive
Plan. Based on Supervisor Richard Robison’s subsequent
request, the Board of Supervisors appointed a Citizen
Planning Committee on March 14, 2004. The Committee’s
assignment was, for example, to review final element
revisions that were adopted in 2003 and recommend
refinements as appropriate, with special focus placed: on
Community Business and Campus Office & Employment land use
designations, service district boundary adjustments,
consideration of more detailed transportation network
improvements for Board of Supervisors consideration.
Examples of
just some of the Committee’s recommended actions or areas of
refinement are as follows:
ü
Affirmed the Community Business land use
designations along U.S. 15/29 occurring north of Warrenton;
ü
Changed the Moriah Farm from its Campus &
Employment land use designation to Rural Agriculture;
ü
Removed Moriah Farm and Central Park Complex
from the Service District;
ü
Recommended a revised street access plan for
the general area affecting the restaurants, car dealerships
and the Comfort Inn along U.S. Route 15/29;
ü
Recommended transportation network options for
the eastern service district to better link and serve the
growing Town and County neighborhoods; and
ü
Added the collector road connecting Rt. 211
and Rt. 17 as a last resort, if improvements on Broadview
Avenue fail to effectively move anticipated levels of
increased traffic volumes. This roadway option was to have
a more neighborhood character, rather than serve as a
regional arterial.
The Committee unanimously approved the draft Warrenton
Service District Plan on February 12, 2005, and presented it
to the Planning Commission at its March 31, 2005 meeting.
The Planning Commission conducted its public hearing on
April 26, 2005, had subsequent work sessions, and forwarded
the text amendment on June 30th, including final
revisions, for the referenced Plan with a unanimous
recommendation for Board of Supervisors adoption.
The Draft Plan forwarded to the Board of Supervisors can be
viewed at the following County Website:
http://www.fauquiercounty.gov/documents/committees/WarrSvcDist/minutes/WarrentonPlan81105.pdf
It needs to be noted that the draft represents the Citizen
Committee’s recommended Plan revisions underlined in
black, while the Planning Commission’s added refinements
are underlined in red text.
Summary Update:
Current Revisions: At its September 8th
work session and regular meeting, the Board of Supervisors
directed the following immediate revisions to the draft
Warrenton Service District Plan forwarded by the Planning
Commission:
a.
Figure 10 – WA – 1: Regional Transportation.
Remove the entire orange alignment west of Warrenton and
connecting Route 211 with Route 17 (e.g., it includes the
Timber Fence Parkway).
b.
1.c. Transportation (pages 3-5). The
following marked text revision is required:
None of these bypasses have resolved the issue of traffic
movement from Route 211 to U.S. 15/29 east. Significant
growth in nearby Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties is
generating increasing levels of through traffic – estimated
by the Town’s traffic consultant to reach 13,440 vehicles
per day in 2020. These existing and future motorists have
no alternative but to travel on an already congested
Broadview Avenue – Lee Highway. For the last 15 years,
County plans have proposed that Routes 211 and 17 be linked
by a minor arterial road. A minor portion of this road has
been completed on the alignment proposed in the 1992
Comprehensive Plan. This limited access connector would
have an impact on neighborhoods that have developed since
the road’s inception and on Fauquier High School. As a
result of that impact, the link is shown as a collector road
right-of-way reservation. As a result, alleviation
of congestion on existing Route 29/211 (Broadview Avenue)
will continue to require careful analysis,
inter-jurisdictional cooperation and coordination, face
significant funding constraints and require the staging of
selected options. The preferred priority is phased
construction improvements along Broadview Avenue
(e.g., widening, spaced medians and associated turn lanes)
with the goal of enhancing traffic flow. It is also
recommended that the County and Town create a joint Task
Force, composed of elected officials, residents, businesses,
to assist the local governments and VDOT in identifying the
practical, cost effective and integrated transportation
solutions to alleviate this crossroads of growing regional
and local traffic.
c.
8.a. Lee Highway and Broadview Avenue (pages
22-23).
Given projected traffic increases from Culpeper and
Rappahannock Counties on Route 211, the Plan proposes that
the design and performance of U.S. Route 15/29 Business, Lee
Highway and Broadview Avenue, be significantly upgraded to
provide more efficient through traffic flows for vehicles
traveling from Culpeper and Rappahannock Counties to Route
15/29, and other destinations east by means of:
·
Streaming arterial, collector and local access
traffic;
·
Improved road and intersectional engineering;
·
Median separations and crossovers; and
·
Greater inter-parcel-access between commercial
developments alongside the arterial road.
To this end, the County will assist the Town of Warrenton in
the effort to find funding through the VDOT 6-Year
Improvement Program for the restructuring of this important
element of U.S. 15/29 (Business). In addition, as
represented in Figure 10-WA-1, the plan recognizes
the existing right-of-way reservation between Routes 211 and
17.
For this future collector, both the Town and County need
to effectively collaborate with the local and affected
neighborhoods in developing a public road design that: (a)
safely and compatibly fits the residential neighborhood
community environment; (b) allows external roadway linkages;
(c) controls vehicular speed with a variety of traffic
calming and management techniques (e.g., median and refuge
islands, paving treatments, bike path and landscaping
treatments); and (d) ensures a safe and walkable community
for local residents.
Other Proposed Revisions: Since the last
Board of Supervisors meeting, the subsequent underlined
revisions are recommended for consideration:
1.
1.c. Water and Sewer Utilities (page 5):
The Town’s wastewater plant has a permitted design capacity
of 2.5 million gallons per day. Warrenton is located within
two watersheds, the Occoquan and the Rappahannock. Effluent
from Town customers located in the Occoquan basin is pumped
to the Town’s sewer plant on Route 211, where it is treated
and discharged into Great Run Creek, a tributary of the
Rappahannock River. (Note: the
Town’s DEQ permitted discharge into the Rappahannock
Watershed avoids the more costly capital and treatment costs
associated with the Occoquan basin, which is subject to far
more restrictive Commonwealth standards.)
However, increasingly more stringent wastewater outflow
regulations in the Rappahannock basin may require
significant and costly engineering upgrades if Warrenton
decides to expand its wastewater plant to full capacity.
2.
1.c. Water and Sewer Utilities (page 6):
It should be noted that the limited public sewer and water
service extension capabilities of the Town, which
to serve the unincorporated areas of the Warrenton
Service District, are controlled by agreements
reached between the Town and County in the summer of 2001.
The two jurisdictions defined certain limited areas where
Town water and sewer would be provided, and established that
such service should not be expected for the remainder of the
Service District. Those limited areas are identified within
The Town/County Master Water and Sewer Agreement (refer to
Figures 6-UT-1 and 6-UT-2). Properties that are not
specified within this agreement for sewer service or served
within a community sewer system owned, operated and
maintained by the Fauquier County Water and Sanitation
Authority (WSA), refer to Figure 6-UT-1, are located in the
designated Non-Sewered Area of the Warrenton Service
District. Furthermore, all future development needing
public sewer and water in areas not designated for Town of
Warrenton or WSA public utilities would also require a Plan
Amendment authorizing service to be provided by the Fauquier
County Water and Sanitation Authority
or the Town of Warrenton.
3.
1.f.1.(2). Streams (pages 7-8):
Greater care and more refined
techniques in the future may be needed to restore and
preserve keep these watersheds healthy and productive.
The Commonwealth of Virginia has provided the local
jurisdictions not immediately adjacent to the Chesapeake Bay
with an option to adopt the more stringent standards
presently operative in Counties contiguous with the Bay.
(Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act, Section 10.1-2108.) These
additional standards include such simple mechanisms as
setting development further back from streams and
watercourses as well as more sophisticated engineering
techniques.
4.
2.2 (Vision Statement; page 8):
The social and commercial heart of the community will remain
Main Street. This continued characteristic will be the
result of combined and sustained Town and County efforts.
Additionally the Town, School Board and County will pursue a
consistent policy of co-locating service agencies, from
scattered office sites throughout the County, into offices
above mid-block structured parking.
Complementing this effort to enhance the downtown as a place
of work and recreation will be the construction of
coordinated radial sidewalks and trails reaching into
surrounding residential neighborhoods.
5.
3.b. Land Use Designations (page 12):
Finally, land to southwest of Route 17, now zoned RA, is
designated Rural Gateway-Greenway Open Space reflecting
community wish to preserve the transition from rural to
urban qualities which occur at this road juncture and
recognizing that the circumferential park is desirable to
cross this tract.
(Note: this designation was removed from the proposed Plan,
and this remnant language is from the previously adopted
Service District Plan.)
6.
6. Rappahannock and Occoquan Watershed Protection
(pages 17-18):
It appears that existing engineering protocols in the
Rappahannock and Occoquan watersheds have been insufficient
to prevent erosion and protect water quality. The County
has recently adopted a stormwater management ordinance as a
tool to assist in the protection of these water resource
areas. Another proven aid for achieving water quality
protection is the preservation of riparian buffers adjacent
to perennial water bodies. The Chesapeake Bay Preservation
Act requires Virginia's Tidewater localities, those located
closest to the Chesapeake Bay, to adopt riparian provisions
by establishing Resource Protection Area buffers adjacent to
perennial waters. These buffers are not mandated outside of
Tidewater Counties, however section 10.1-2110 of the
Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act provides the authority for
Virginia localities outside of the Tidewater to incorporate
the Act's water quality protection tools into their
comprehensive plans and ordinances.
The Warrenton Service District Plan proposes that the
County exercise this option to incorporate the Chesapeake
Bay Preservation Act’s protection tools in the Rappahannock
and Occoquan watersheds.
(Note: the balance of this section amply covers watershed
management and protection.)
7.
Public Sewer and Water Services. The Planning
Commission has included additional maps in the draft Plan
representing in parcel detail where Town of Warrenton or WSA
utilities exist or are planned. Graphics which display the
availability of public sewer (Figure 6-UT-1) and water
(Figure 6-UT-2) services are now included within the Plan.
The areas designated as existing Town Sewer or Water and
Authorized Potential Customers are graphically part of a
signed agreement between both the Town of Warrenton and the
Fauquier County Board of Supervisors. The WSA water supply
areas are also similarly marked and have been noted in the
Service District Plan. The maps also identify community
wastewater treatment facilities that will exclusively serve
the Raymond Farm and Warrenton Chase communities and, once
permitted, constructed and operational, will be transferred
to WSA for its ownership, operation and maintenance.
8.
Other Considerations:
a.
Central Sports Complex & Moriah Farm:
The planned County recreational facility is not included
within the proposed Plan’s Service District boundaries, as
is the case with current and adopted Board of Supervisors
Warrenton Service District Plan. The site will need WSA
water service; the suggested text revision to the Plan is:
ü
Add the following language to 1.c. Water
and Sewer Utilities (page 6):
Furthermore, all future development needing public sewer and
water in areas not designated for Town of Warrenton or WSA
public utilities would also require a Plan Amendment
authorizing service to be provided by the Fauquier County
Water and Sanitation Authority or the Town of Warrenton.
One exception is the extension
of public water service for the planned county recreational
facility and fair grounds designated on Figure 6-WA-1 (Land
Use Plan) and Figure 6-WA-2 (Warrenton Greenway Linear Park
Plan); or
Some discussion may need to occur regarding the remaining
Moriah Farm property immediately west and adjacent to the
County facilities. Some interest still seems to remain on
the addition of both this referenced property, the park and
fairgrounds within the boundaries of the Service District.
If that represents the Board of Supervisor’s preference,
then the following actions need to be considered:
ü
Include the park facility, fairgrounds, and
the balance of Moriah Farms within the Service District
boundaries.
ü
This action would result in the need to amend
Figure 6-WA-1 (Land Use Plan) to provide a land use
designation for the remaining Moriah Farm property (e.g.,
Campus Office and Employment as shown in the adopted
November 2003 Service District Plan).
ü
Figure 6-UT-2 (Water Service) would need to
include this property, and all applicable maps would need to
be amended to reflect the extension of the Service District
boundary to include all three identified properties.
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