On June 16, the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization will meet to vote on the local preference for a new crossing over the Rappahannock River.
But while Fredericksburg and Stafford officials are aligned on their choice, Spotsylvania is feeling left out.
Fredericksburg’s City Council voted 6-1 Tuesday night to approve a resolution endorsing Option C, which would run from Celebrate Virginia South Parkway in Stafford, cross the river west of the quarry and connect with Gordon Shelton Boulevard from the west.
The Stafford County Board of Supervisors also supported Option C, while Spotsylvania’s board approved a motion Tuesday stating: “Spotsylvania County seeks an option that provides an opportunity to add a route into Spotsylvania that adds greater benefits to the entire region.”
Jon Gerlach, who represents Ward 2 in Fredericksburg, cast the lone vote against Option C during the city council meeting.
In an interview, Gerlach said that his “no” vote came down to concerns about the effect of a four-lane highway on the city’s newly established Technology Overlay District (TOD). He noted that language in the ordinance governing the TOD requires data center campuses to be built on 150 contiguous acres.
“Are we jeopardizing the economic opportunities the TOD could bring to Fredericksburg by supporting Option C?” Gerlach said during the work session. “Does building a four-lane highway through that defeat the contiguous nature of those sections?… We’re talking tens of millions of dollars over the next 30 years, so it’s something to take seriously.”
Last week, Stafford’s supervisors came to an agreement on Option C during a work session and approved it as part of their consent agenda.
Simultaneous to the meeting in Fredericksburg Tuesday, the Spotsylvania board held its regular meeting and the river crossing dominated discussion.
Spotsylvania officials aren’t enamored with any of the options and seriously considered voting “no build.”
However, in the end, supervisors voted on a motion by Chair Chris Yakabouski stating the board’s desire for FAMPO to craft a hybrid plan that would improve congestion for Spotsylvania residents and travelers.
The motion passed unanimously although Salem District Supervisor Deborah Frazier and Drew Mullins of the Courtland District were absent.
“One of the big problems that I had with FAMPO with this whole process was that at the beginning there was a ‘no build’ option,” Lee Hill District Supervisor Lori Hayes said … “The way they did the survey, it really forced you into an option. So, we had issues with that.”
Supervisor Kevin Marshall of the Berkeley District is so dismayed with the options he floated the idea of asking the state to abandon Bragg Road so the county could turn it into a toll road for non-county residents.
“Spotsylvania County is going to suffer, and the other two localities will benefit,” Marshall said. “That’s kind of the place they’re putting us in here with the way FAMPO is structured. We may seriously have to consider [tolls on Bragg Road].”
While meeting at the same time as city council, supervisors sensed Fredericksburg would support Option C. Yakabouski said the county can only blame itself for the predicament it is facing of not having a viable option that benefits its residents.
“We’re in the situation of the study being limited to Stafford and Fredericksburg because Spotsy didn’t want to play to begin with,” Yakabouski said … “We’re going to get outvoted. They’re going to build this thing anyway and all the funding from FAMPO is going to be diverted directly to this and we’re going to be sitting here going, ‘What a nice bridge you guys have got there.’”
Option A, the other route that had gained traction in recent discussions, would start at Commerce Parkway in Stafford and run parallel to Interstate 95 before connecting with the top of Gordon Shelton Boulevard. City councilors cited concerns about the length and cost of the route, with Councilor Jannan Holmes citing FAMPO Administrator Ian Ollis, who estimated during a May 27 work session that Option A could cost $55 million more than Option C.
Holmes also argued that while she considers Gerlach’s concerns about the TOD valid, any river crossing would generate additional revenue from shoppers in Central Park who traverse it.
“It’s important for us to have as diversified a revenue stream as possible,” Holmes said, “and C seems like a more viable option than A to actually happen.”
While Monday’s FAMPO meeting marks the culmination of a lengthy public-input process, it’s far from a binding decision on a river crossing.
Once the FAMPO study, conducted by Michael Baker International, is complete, the project becomes the focus of a separate study according to the National Environmental Policy Act. That study would evaluate a crossing’s impacts on environmental, historic and social resources.
Ward 1 Councilor Jason Graham said that, from his experience, NEPA studies do not come with “preconceived, preferred alternatives.”
“This is in no sense of the word, us drawing a line on a map of where a bridge will be some day,” said Councilor Will Mackintosh, one of the city’s three representatives on FAMPO’s policy committee.
Senior reporter Taft Coghill Jr. contributed to this story.
