On August 7, 2019 Planning staff brought forth proposed amendments to the Transportation Element of the Comprehensive Plan and the FREM portion of the Public Facilities Element. Resulting from discussions with the Planning Commission, staff followed-up and met with County Transportation and FREM professionals to address items identified during the work session and to finalize details concerning Code of Virginia requirements, specifically as it relates to provision of transportation for disadvantaged populations (elderly, disabled, low income persons) as established in Sect. 15.2-2223.

Transportation Element

As a follow-up to the Transportation work session, Commissioner Smith had raised concern regarding Lawyers Road and its absence from the Thoroughfare Plan. The County Traffic Engineer studied current conditions on Lawyers Road and did not find warrant from a traffic volume standpoint for major road improvements. A field measurement was taken by the engineer who found the road is only 20’ wide (2-10’ travel lanes which is just about the minimum width). Most of the Right-of-Way (RoW) on Lawyers Road is prescriptive until approximately 400’ north of the State Park entrance then it is 30’ in width. GIS mapping shows the majority of the ROW (from the State Park entrance to Stubbs Bridge Road) is on the west side of the road or the park side so the road could be widened on that side without additional ROW. On the opposite side of the road the County would have to acquire a significant amount of RoW from various parcels.

Courthouse Road to Stubbs Bridge Road presently operates at a Level of Service C, within the parameters of County LOS standards outside of the Primary Development Boundary. With projected growth, traffic volumes are still not expected to degrade level of service. Level of Service is often the chief driver of recommended road improvements, however, staff looked further to determine warrant for recommended improvement based on road safety. Historically the Comprehensive Plan has advocated improvement to rural roads for safety reasons and in the interest of more safely accommodating large trucks and machinery (agriculture and forestry, delivery), and boats, etc. in tow. There are numerous roads outside of the Primary Development Boundary identified as 2-lane improvement projects, intended to result in wider travel lanes and shoulders. Such improvements provide more space for vehicles travelling in opposite directions and additional leeway in passing or driver drift. The goal here is to better accommodate larger vehicles, reduce vehicle accidents whether on road or “ending up in a ditch”. The draft Thoroughfare Plan map and corresponding table has been updated to include 2-lane improvement along Lawyers Road between Courthouse Road and the Lake Anna State Park entrance and onward to Stubbs Bridge Road. Chief traffic flows to the Park along Lawyers Rd. come from the east via I-95, Courthouse Road. At the State Park entrance an intersection improvement project has also been identified. An additional intersection improvement project has been identified at Stubbs Bridge Road and Lawyers Road intersection. Per the County Traffic Engineer looking at crash data at that intersection of Lawyers Road and Stubbs Bridge Road there have been 12 crashes in the last five years (based on VDOT crash data). This is not considered a high crash count and such data has not always been found to be 100% accurate (may be underestimated). The engineer notes more significantly that of the 12 reported crashed, 10 of those were right angle crashes, another was a head-on collision and the other a pedestrian was struck crossing the road. These types of incidents do suggest that the current 2-way stop there could benefit from safety improvements. Specific details regarding the physical improvements at the intersections along Lawyers Road will warrant further design and study beyond the scope of the Thoroughfare Plan. Inclusion of these projects at a “high level” establish community support for future study, design, construction of improvements consistent with the Code of Virginia Sect. 15.2-2232 (attached for reference).

Concerning the Transportation Element update and Lawyers Road, attached you will find an updated draft Thoroughfare Plan Map and Table. Additional language added since the August 7^th work session has been included in excerpt format and highlighted in yellow. These content additions are intended to address FREM related items complementary to the Transportation Element including Hurricane Evacuation Routes. Consistent with the Code of Virginia, an analysis of provision for transportation accessibility for disadvantaged populations has also been input into the draft. This summary was still in pre-draft as of the August 7^th meeting, awaiting valuable feedback from FRED Bus and Healthy Generations (Formerly the Rappahannock Area Agency on Aging).

During the August 7^th work session Commissioner Newhouse requested information regarding the implementation of road projects within the County. Complementary to this Comprehensive Plan update process, within the last two years the County thoroughfare plan projects have been input into a prioritization scoring list that consider congestion, safety, environmental constraints, public support, smart growth, and implementation readiness. The prioritization schedule has been broken into two unique project lists including identifying top tier prioritization for road projects within the Primary Development Boundary, and identification of top tier projects outside of the Primary Development Boundary. Transportation project scoring and prioritization helps focus implementation and fundraising efforts to address projects of most need and then moving on to next need projects. Attached for reference you will find copies of the current prioritization lists. These include implementation details concerning funding status as well. Near term projects that have reached the Capital Improvement Plan are included in the attached Capital Improvement Plan excerpt.

Public Facilities Element: FREM

Beyond the FREM related items drafted into the Transportation Element, staff has further amended the FREM portion of the Public Facilities Element. Amendments are intended to address discussion items raised during the August 7^th work session. This portion of the Comprehensive Plan is chiefly aimed at establishing level of service standards and identifying need for specific capital projects for inclusion in future CIPs. Once entered into the CIP, such projects involve the calculation of capital facilities mitigations via proffer. Per the Code of Virginia, CIP projects must be linked to Comprehensive Plan support (See attached Code of Virginia Sect. 15.2-2232).

First, in consultation with FREM staff the draft expands informational materials to provide an example of emergency planning within the County. Given the primary function of the Public Facilities Element, staff feels such language was “best fit” under the departmental functions descriptions as an information only item. The Public Facilities Element, specifically the FREM portion, is not intended to be an emergency response and/or operations plan. In the case of emergency planning around a nuclear energy facility the draft language has been incorporated under the emergency management/ support services function that is responsible for natural and man-made disaster planning.

Second, staff has expanded reporting concerning fire/rescue stations to include mapping of current fire/rescue primary service areas to show that the entire County does have coverage within mapped zones. This map is intended to expand familiarity with service areas versus response zones. The response zone map presented during the August 7^th work session is a representation of areas best served with quick response times due to shorter distances (within 5 miles by road) to a nearby fire/rescue station. The response zones map is not intended to show that areas are not covered by fire/rescue service but rather to show some areas are better served at this time in terms of response time than others. As an important function of level of service, considering “every minute counts”, locating new stations in areas located outside of the 5-mile response zones will inevitably improve response times in the County. As noted during the August 7^th work session, roughly 67% of the County falls within a favorable response zone. The remainder of the County does fall within fire/rescue service areas geographically but due to distance from existing stations has less favorable response times. Staff also created a population density map in relation to the current fire/rescue service areas as a reference map. The most recently available population numbers come from 2019 estimated populations by US Census Block Group. Smaller area block level census estimates are not available at this time. For more “fine grained” smaller area population analysis based on current available data staff would have needed to look to 2010 US Census data. Considering nearness to the upcoming 2020 US Census, staff felt utilizing 2010 figures would be out–of-date. The attached density map simply represents population density distribution throughout the County. Densities are highest within the Primary Development Boundary and rural areas around the periphery of the boundary. The Lake of the Woods and Fawn Lake areas also result in standalone areas of density.

Within the text of the draft, staff consulted with FREM staff to report service call volumes for each fire/rescue station in relation to established call thresholds set at 2,500 total calls per year as full capacity at any single fire/rescue station staffed with one fire apparatus and one ambulance. Under present conditions, there are two (2) stations well over capacity, including station 4 and 6.

Consistent with the Code of Virginia Sect. 15.2-2223, staff intends to forward the Transportation Element draft to the Virginia Department of Transportation for review and approval.