Notes from January 2007 TAC meeting

The first Transportation Advisory Commission (TAC) meeting of 2007 was held on the 2^nd of January. We discussed several items of interest which I thought I’d relay to the Sully community.

Community Parking Districts

A request by the Mt. Vernon District Council (DC) to impose a county-wide ban on on-the-street parking of recreational vehicles and trailers was referred by the Board of Supervisors to the TAC.

Currently Community Parking Districts are established by petitions circulated by neighbors, with 60% residents of the overall designated area needed to approve the district in total, and each block needing to have 50% approval of the residents residing there for it to be effective on their block, with a $10 fee per district resident required by the county. Every block incorporated into the district has street signs posted indicating the parking restrictions, which can amount to a large sum for a large district, and these signs have to be periodically replaced. Staff reports that the average cost of maintaining the districts exceeds any costs collected in their establishment.

The TAC asked the Fairfax Federation for its views, which in turn endorsed the Mt. Vernon DC position. At the December meeting, the TAC asked Staff to see if there was any possibility to devise a method for applying the parking ban to sections of the county, and exempting others.

The staff suggestions are reflected in the accompanying list. After their consideration by the TAC, it was decided that all the proposed criteria for exempting certain whole areas were impracticable. The TAC then asked staff to explore several proposals to modify the current petitioning process, to include

1. Impose annual fees on residences in CPDs instead of one-time fees.

2. Retain the current petition fees.

3. Re-evaluate petition fees to determine if fees should be tied to the size of the CPD

4. Reduce the overall support requirement for a CPD to less than the current support level of 60%.

5. Eliminate block-by-block requirements for CPD consideration (strictly go with overall support requirement).

6. Eliminate the petition process; such as when an HOA acts for the residences participating in the HOA.

7. Raise petition fees to help offset cost of program.

Your thoughts on these choices would be appreciated

Proposed trails for inclusion in 2007 countywide bond referendum

Staff had provided a proposed Community Project Request List for inclusion in the 2007 Bond Pedestrian Projects, which I had circulated previously and asked for comments. One additional segment was provided by Sully Resident Mark McConn which was forwarded to staff:

There is a section of trail that is missing from Braddock RD to Centreville HS along the East bound side of Union Mill. Children are now walking on the hill next to the road and causing traffic to slow. I think the land is either owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority or VDOT.

Louis Grimm and I spent a couple of hours on New Years eve day driving around to look at staff’s Sully’s suggestions, and came up with the following comments which were forwarded to staff:

1. Ashburton Avenue - Stream bridge near 13012 Bankfoot Court. TM 35-1. (Is this a trail bridge or widening the road bridge to include the connection?)

2. Braddock Road - Clubside Lane to Carlbern Drive 1,100 feet south side. TM 43-4. (Will this be walkway or curb & gutter?)

3. Frog Branch Stream Valley route to school, 200 feet. TM 45-1. (Need better identification of location. Which School? We noticed dead head trail from Plum Tree Ct that could be extended across stream valley which would allow walk to school. But it is much further than 200 feet. This also should tie into Hollowstone Ct trail which goes along south side of stream valley to Stringfellow Road.)

4. Horsepen Run Stream Valley from Middleton Farm to existing trail, 250 feet. TM 25-3. (Where is the trail head for the Middleton Farms path?)

5. Old Centreville Road - at the Bull Run Substation. TM 65-3. (No distance provided. Is this the portion on the west side of the road in front of the church (.2 miles), or on the east side closer to a ½ mile?)

6. Pleasant Valley Road - crossing Elklick Run, 6,000 feet. TM 43-3, 53-1. (This will tie Rt 29 to Braddock Road. To the north of Braddock Road there is a trail to the Robert Trent golf course that doesn't make it all the way south to Braddock Road. Could that portion also be included?)

7. Rocky Run Stream Valley - Rainbow Daycare to Braddock Road, 900 feet. TM 54-1 (No comments)

County Federal Transportation Funding priorities

Staff provided TAC with a list of the County’s Federal Transportation Funding priorities, attached.

Transportation Updates to the Comprehensive Plan

Staff completed its efforts to make the wording in the Comprehensive Plan reflect the recent changes in the Transportation Plan. Provided are the proposed changes for the Bull Run, Dulles Suburban Center, Fairfax Center and the Upper Potomac planning areas. Your comments would be appreciated.