Smart growth depends on region

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Enacting smart-growth principles will require regional approach

Date published: 6/25/2007

By DAN TELVOCK

If Spotsylvania is ever going to be a smart-growth community, then a regional approach to capital projects must be a part of the plan.

Regionalism was the hot topic yesterday during the grassroots, nonpartisan political action group Committee of 500's final of three forums at Salem Church Library.

Supervisor Gary Jackson, whom the committee considers the architect of the 2002 Comprehensive Plan, said the theme of the plan now being updated is transitioning the county into smart growth.

Jackson said the 2002 plan focused on goals to better manage growth after several years of large population increases. One goal of the 2002 plan is to keep residential growth at 2 percent a year. Currently, the rate is about 2.3 percent.

"I think, for the most part, those goals have succeeded in allowing the county to get its arms around growth," he said.

Fredericksburg City Council member and Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization Chairman Matt Kelly said there must be a regional strategy to problem solving.

"What happens in one locality affects another locality and we need to plan for that," he said.

Kelly said FAMPO is combining the comprehensive plans in Fredericksburg and Stafford, Spotsylvania, Caroline, King George counties into one map to show growth patterns. It will help tie land use and infrastructure needs together and could spur regional agreements.

FAMPO is also creating a 25-year transit study and investigating how to create a regional transportation authority with power to generate money.

Kelly said state and federal governments will be more likely to help fund projects if they see a regional benefit. But to do this, "sound-byte politics" must end.

"No new taxes is not a plan and it ain't a vision," said Kelly, a Republican.

Kelly also said discussions are ongoing with the Virginia Department of Transportation for the agency to devolve authority to localities for secondary road projects.

Charles Carrington, Spotsylvania's planning manager for long-range planning, said from 1995 to 2005, the county grew by more than 40,000 residents. The population is expected to double in the next 30 years, to well over 200,000 residents.

"It's time for innovation. It's a time for creative thinking, like smart growth," he said.

The Committee of 500 defines smart growth as: Managing the rate of growth. Utilizing all transportation modes. Supporting economic development. Promoting preservation. Growth paying its way. Balancing commercial and residential development. Having a wide range of housing options.

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Date published: 6/25/2007

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