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A.
A. Background:
The
Board of Supervisors appointed a Bealeton, Opal and Remington
Citizen Planning Committee to prepare comprehensive updates of the
service district plans for their communities. Starting in May of 2000, the Committee had an established
work program, including staff briefings, design workshops, plan
element due dates, and scheduled monthly meetings, which occurred
over a 21-month period.
Once the draft plan documents were
completed, the Citizen Planning Committee presented these to the
community in two “town meeting” sessions conducted in February
2002 and April 2002, to explain the proposals, answer questions,
and to receive comments. On
May 30, 2002, the Committee completed its work and
transmitted the proposed Comprehensive Plan text amendment to the
Planning Commission. That
action initiated the final two steps for this document:
(1)
Planning Commission public hearing and recommendations; and
(2)
Board of Supervisors public hearing and adoption action.
B.
B. General Proposal Description:
The proposed Bealeton, Opal and
Remington Text Amendment to the Comprehensive Plan presents
future land use plans for the three interrelated service
districts, recommended locations for public facilities (e.g.,
emergency services, library and schools), as well as short-term
and long-term transportation plans.
C.
C. General Outline. The
overall plan presents service district design guidelines, which
focus on town center and neighborhood design principles; plans
covering proposed land uses, community facilities, utilities,
parks and open spaces, natural and historic resource protection,
and implementation strategies; and a transportation element, which
presents both a short-term action plan outlining key
intersectional improvements and associated actions, as well as a
long-range transportation network linking the three communities,
with recommendations which result in a better separation and
efficient flow of regional and local traffic.
Examples of Key and Specific
Plan Elements.
This demonstrates some of the key elements of the Citizen
Plan. Included will
be some of the suggested Planning Commission refinements (refer to
the Attachment for all of the recommended changes).
1. Bealeton:
The primary focus of the Bealeton Plan concerns the creation of a
vital, pedestrian friendly, and efficient Town Center.
To realize such a center the Plan needed to address the
challenges posed by:
·
Arterial Routes 17 and 28, which bisect the
community and cross in the middle of the Town Center; and
·
Recently constructed, self-contained and inwardly
focused subdivisions to the east and west, with no clear
relationship or connection to each other and the Town Center.
The Plan addresses the issue of arterial roads in two phases.
The first phase creates public streets parallel to Route
17, which would function as “Main Street” for the next twenty
years. The second
phase would create a by-pass road to the south of Bealeton that
would separate local traffic from the regional through-traffic on
Routes 17 and 28 from the Town Center.
This community by-pass route, which generally parallels
Craig Run on the boundary of the Bealeton and Remington Service
Districts, would be classified as having limited access,
“Freeway” character.
The Plan addresses the need for improved community connectivity by
suburban development patterns with pedestrian and bicycle path
additions to existing subdivisions, with boardwalk crossings of
the floodplains surrounding the Town Center, and by the Town
Center developing in a classic urban pattern of blocks, squares
and parks. While new
subdivisions to the north and west of the Town Center may be
constructed in a typical suburban cul-de-sac pattern, the Plan
would encourage a design change to a more traditional mode.
Bealeton Note: The
Planning Commission recommended the removal of the properties,
designated as low density residential and institutional/office and
adjacent to the Liberty High School Campus, from the service
district. It was felt that Independence Avenue served as a hard edge
to the service district, and that property north of the school
should remain in rural density more related to the adjoining
Village of Liberty.
2.
2. Opal:
The
formative concept of the Opal Plan is to accommodate, and provide
a pleasant and friendly stop for long-distance travelers on Routes
17 and 29/15. The
challenge for Opal was to identify remedial transportation network
design improvements to resolve potentially dangerous traffic
movements at the Route17/29 intersection and along U.S. Route
29/15, which extends through this service district.
This area has experienced major regional traffic volume
increases without the commensurate primary road improvements.
The Plan proposes to create service roads to the east and west of
U.S. Route 29/15 and to channel U-turn traffic movements to
controlled intersections. The
service roads would be located to the rear of commercial and
business uses located along this heavily traveled highway.
The Plan also proposes to create a novel “Live-Work”
zone for contractors, craftsmen, and associated businesses serving
both the Fauquier community and travelers.
Opal Note: The Planning Commission recommended:
·
The Planned Commercial Industrial land use
category as an alternative should the “Live-Work” district not
be viable in the area designated on the Opal land use plan;
·
Removal of flex office (near Route 687 and U.S.
Route 29/15 intersection) and industrial use (along Route 17)
properties from the proposed plan; and
·
Removal of the Zeiger properties, south of the
planned flyover location, from the proposed service district for
lower development scaled recreational, motel, and associated
hospitality uses (e.g., restaurants).
3.
3. Remington:
A historic and prosperous railroad town in the later 19th
Century, the incorporated Town’s fortune declined accordingly
with the railroad in the 20th Century.
The decline and rural location, however, saved much of
Remington’s architectural heritage from being subject to
conventional urban growth pressures and the resulting
redevelopment. As a
result, the Town intends to build on this substantive cultural
legacy, which includes 75 structures that qualify for inclusion on
the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.
The Town of Remington and the surrounding service district face three
major challenges:
·
The Tinpot Run watercourse, that surrounds the Town
of Remington on three sides, is subject to problematic flooding
impacts. It has been
noted that, when 100-year flood level rises twelve feet,
historical records demonstrate flooding in half of the downtown;
·
Extensive and growing suburban-style development,
which is gradually surrounding the Town, and threatening
Remington’s town character, historic resources, and community
design; and
·
The potential loss and viability of institutional
and commercial functions from the Town.
The
Plan has a variety of implementation strategies; for example, it
proposes that:
·
The Town and County work with the Federal Emergency
Management Agency to re-configure Tinpot Run’s floodplain and
limit the flooding impacts of this watercourse;
·
New development within the Service District must
follow the classic or traditional urban design practices, which
are outlined within the proposed document. To this end, the Town
and the County would formalize a cooperative arrangement of zoning
and subdivision review; and
·
The Plan locates an additional commercial and
institutional center north of existing Remington, with the
provision that the development of this center be phased and
included as part of, and within, the Town boundaries.
Remington Note: The
Planning Commission suggested the possible and phased additions of
Perrowville and Wankoma Village into the Town of Remington through
boundary line adjustment.
Overall Plan Note: Since
there is a need to pace the rate of new development in all three
service districts, the Planning Commission recommends that a seven
to ten year phasing plan be incorporated in all new residential
developments subject to a rezoning application.
Such phasing would permit the Board of Supervisors and
School Board to better match the capacity of key public facilities
with the arrival of new residents.
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