City of Fredericksburg Comprehensive Plan
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City of Fredericksburg Comprehensive Plan Adopted by the Fredericksburg City Council May xx, 2015 DRAFT 12 March 2015 1 Acknowledgements City Council Mary Katherine Greenlaw, Mayor William C. Withers, Vice-Mayor, Ward Two Kerry P. Devine, At-Large Matthew J. Kelly, At-Large Bradford C. Ellis, Ward One Timothy P. Duffy, Ph.D., Ward Three Charlie L. Frye, Jr., Ward Four Planning Commission Richard Friesner, Chair Joanne Kaiman, Vice-Chair James Beavers Roy F. Gratz Roy E. McAfee James M. Pates Richard Dynes City Administration and Staff Beverly R. Cameron, City Manager Kathleen Dooley, City Attorney Chuck Johnston, Director of Planning and Building Erik F. Nelson, Deputy Director of Planning 2 Table of Contents Part I: A Livable City Preface Chapter 1: City Council Vision and Comprehensive Plan Overview Chapter 2: Fredericksburg Today: A Community Profile Part II: Promoting and Sustaining a Livable Community Chapter 3: Transportation Chapter 4: Public Services, Public Facilities, and Preserved Open Space Chapter 5: Environmental Protection Chapter 6: Business Opportunities Chapter 7: Residential Neighborhoods Chapter 8: Historic Preservation Chapter 9: Institutional and Jurisdictional Partnerships Part III: Land Use Chapter 10: Land Use Plan Chapter 11: Planning Areas Part IV: Appendices 3 Maps Map # Title Page # 2-1 Fredericksburg and Its Regional Context 3-1 Fredericksburg’s Trail Network 3-2 Functional Class of Fredericksburg Roads 3-3 Fredericksburg’s Roadways Plan 5-1 Soils 5-2 Flood Boundaries 5-3 Streams/Drainage 5-4 Chesapeake Bay Protection Areas 8-1 Fredericksburg’s Historic Districts 8-2 Potential Historic District Expansion Area 8-3 Battlefield Lines of Sight 10-1 Fredericksburg’s Annexations 11-1 Fredericksburg’s Land Use Planning Areas 11-2 Planning Area 1 – Celebrate VA/Central Park 11-3 Planning Area 2 – Fall Hill 11-4 Planning Area 3 – Plank Road/Route 3 11-5 Planning Area 4 – Hospital/Cowan Boulevard 11-6 Planning Area 5 – University/Route 1 (north) 11-7 Planning Area 6 – Pr. Anne Street/Route 1 (north) 11-8 Planning Area 7 – Downtown 11-9 Planning Area 8 – Dixon Street/Mayfield 11-10 Planning Area 9 – Braehead/National Park 11-11 Planning Area 10 – Lafayette Blvd./Route 1 (south) 4 Part I: A Livable City Defining the City’s Future In 2007, the City Council adopted a Vision Statement to guide Fredericksburg toward its 300th anniversary in 2028. This Comprehensive Plan provides the framework for the community to attain that vision – addressing current conditions, defining goals for the future, and providing strategies that reconcile existing conditions and the City’s desired outcomes. This Part I of the Comprehensive Plan sets the stage with a clear statement of vision, a brief overview of what a comprehensive plan is supposed to be, and a presentation of facts about the community. • Preface • Chapter 1: City Council Vision and Comprehensive Plan Overview • Chapter 2: Fredericksburg Today: A Community Profile 5 Preface Fredericksburg, Virginia, May 2015 This Comprehensive Plan has been adopted by the Fredericksburg City Council to guide decision making. It is used to help the City move forward in a manner that embraces local values and achieves the community’s vision for itself. City Council adopted its last comprehensive plan in 2007. A year later, the nation experienced a severe economic downturn that severely reduced the available revenues that are needed to cover local government costs. The local real estate market dropped, although not as significantly as it did in some parts of the country due to the City’s favorable location along the Interstate-95 corridor and its proximity to the Northern Virginia/Washington D.C. metropolitan area. Still, some area housing lost value and many local businesses are still recovering. In 2015, the City is seeing renewed investment in the community and this Plan renews the City’s policies to guide the anticipated growth. This Comprehensive Plan is organized as follows: • Part I: The City’s vision, plan overview, and community profile • Part II: Promoting and Sustaining a Livable Community • Part III: Land use plan and ten sub-planning areas • Part IV: Appendices 6 Chapter 1: City Council Vision and Comprehensive Plan Overview Introduction The concept of the public welfare is broad and inclusive. The values it represents are spiritual as well as physical, aesthetic as well as monetary. It is within the power of the legislature to determine that the community shall be beautiful as well as healthy, spacious as well as clean, well-balanced as well as carefully patrolled. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas The ability of the City of Fredericksburg to direct its own future lies principally in its authority to regulate land use and in the wisdom of the City Council’s decisions when investing in public improvements. A Comprehensive Plan provides the adopted policies that can guide the City toward its stated objectives. Planning is ongoing, however, in a dynamic process that includes professional analysis and citizen participation. When people define the qualities that make Fredericksburg an attractive place to live and do business, they often resort to phrases like quality of life, small town atmosphere, and sense of place. These words express the values of the community, but if they are to remain a reality, they must be sustained and enhanced through specific policies. Historically, places with a good quality of life provide maximum opportunity for social encounter and exchange in public places, as citizens attend to their daily activities. Attention to the community’s physical, social, and economic attributes is the key to maintaining an authentic sense of place. 7 Vision Statement In 2007, the Fredericksburg City Council adopted the following Vision Statement that sets out the community’s fundamental values as it approaches the 300 year anniversary of its existence: Since the City’s founding in 1728, the citizens of Fredericksburg have overcome many challenges, created the character of the City, and ensured its extraordinary role in our Nation’s history. During our stewardship of this great City, we resolve to build on this heritage and add our mark on the City’s history. The City Council’s vision for Fredericksburg at its 300th Anniversary is: • To be a city animated by a sense of its unmatched, irreplaceable history; • To be a city characterized by the beauty of its riverfront, the vibrancy of its downtown, and its safe and attractive neighborhoods; • To be a city inspired by active arts, cultural, and education communities; • To be a city shaped by civic involvement and economic vitality; and • To be the city of choice for people of many income levels, cultures, ethnicities, and physical abilities to live, work, and play. The Comprehensive Plan Authority The Commonwealth of Virginia requires a local governing body to adopt a comprehensive land use plan, prepared by the local planning commission, for the physical development of the jurisdiction. The specified process is to study existing conditions, growth trends, and probable future requirements and then develop a plan for “the purpose of guiding and accomplishing a coordinated, adjusted, and harmonious development of the territory, which will, in accordance with present and probable future needs and resources, best promote the health, safety, morals, order, convenience, prosperity and general welfare of the inhabitants, including the elderly and persons with disabilities (Code of Virginia Section 15.2-2223.A).” The comprehensive land use plan is to be general in nature, designating the general or approximate location, character, and extent of transportation improvements, new or improved facilities, and development areas. When evaluating growth trends, localities must use the official estimates of the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service (of the University of Virginia), 8 the Virginia Employment Commission, the United States Census Bureau, or other official government projections required for federal transportation planning (Code of Virginia Section 15.2-2223.1). Previous Planning The City’s first comprehensive plan was adopted in 1970. It contained a thorough analysis of Fredericksburg’s population, economy, transportation network, housing supply, and public services and facilities and then presented a recommended land use plan. This overall plan was not updated again until 1981, but included a large public participation component when that process finally occurred. The annexation of 4.4 square miles of land from Spotsylvania County in 1984 required that a plan be developed for this new city area, which was completed in 1987. Subsequent plans, completed in 1993, 1999, and 2007, have included significant public input and this emphasis on citizen participation continues. Plan Implementation Zoning regulations are the principle vehicle for implementing a comprehensive plan, as are regulations for the subdivision of property and for site plans. These local ordinances address the use, density, location, division, and construction upon virtually all properties within the City, with the exception of State and Federal lands. The objectives of the Virginia Chesapeake Bay Act and other environmental regulations are also translated into local ordinances, for their local application. Public Facilities Review The comprehensive plan includes recommendations for public facilities, noting their approximate location, character, and extent. The plan also indicates whether public facilities are to be newly constructed, expanded,