1. Resident's Property Rights
I will stand for your property rights to include your physical property as well as your expectations to keep traffic noise levels at the same level as when you purchased your home.
Neighbors - there is a major toll road that is currently moving forward to cut right through many of our neighbor's property in Courtland. It will greatly affect those off Chewning Land, Single Oak Road, Five Mile Fork, those living in Banner Plantation, and our residents behind BJ's. Based off an independent review of the Michael Baker Jr. Inc. report by T3 Design - it may make traffic worse which affects us all. Many Courtland residents experienced something similar withthe Harrison Road Connector idea. It's time for this to stop.
The fact that this toll road is going full speed ahead may not only be a surprise to you, but was also a surprise to our County's Advanced Planning division in May of this year (2011). The general consensus prior to May was that Spotsy needed to amend our Comprehensive Plan prior to the toll road moving forward. This turned out not to be true, as the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO), a federally recognized organization put the Michael Baker Jr. Inc study forward as the Interstate Justification Report (IJR), which was approved by the Federal Highway Administration on April 28th, 2011.
The IJR is in the final stages of approval with VDOT, and once that happens, $14 million in funding will be released for FAMPO to provide: 1. Financial Analysis, 2. Design of toll road, 3. Environmental Study to comply with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), and 4. Start a citizen Outreach program to educate us on the toll road. For detailed information and news articles, please review my blog that you can find under the "About me" tab above.
Wouldn't it make sense to do the financial analysis first (there was very basic financial analysis done in IJR, thus $14M funding includes detailed financial analysis) before spending this type of money on the other three items above? The only way this makes sense is to assume the financial analysis will show the toll road to be financially feasible (toll price will provide enough riders to fund loan). Spending money to do other 3 items is wasteful if the detailed financial analysis does not give a financial green light.
More study is needed as well as alternatives should be considered. A prudent man would think alternatives have been considered, however, in an August 30th, 2011 inteview I had with Mr. Lloyd Robinson and FAMPO staff, FAM PO never looked into a Harrison Road exit / on ramp to I-95. Never considered? Never modeled?
Our current Courtland BOS representative has been a voting member of FAMPO (11 voting representatives, two from Spotsy) during this time period through today.
If elected, I will represent our property rights and feel the I95 to Gordon Road bypass needs a lot more research prior to any more money being spent or any resident's property taken.
Please see document below as to how a portion (1/3) of the IJR was funded.
The total cost to date for IJR has been $600,000
Neighbors - there is a major toll road that is currently moving forward to cut right through many of our neighbor's property in Courtland. It will greatly affect those off Chewning Land, Single Oak Road, Five Mile Fork, those living in Banner Plantation, and our residents behind BJ's. Based off an independent review of the Michael Baker Jr. Inc. report by T3 Design - it may make traffic worse which affects us all. Many Courtland residents experienced something similar withthe Harrison Road Connector idea. It's time for this to stop.
The fact that this toll road is going full speed ahead may not only be a surprise to you, but was also a surprise to our County's Advanced Planning division in May of this year (2011). The general consensus prior to May was that Spotsy needed to amend our Comprehensive Plan prior to the toll road moving forward. This turned out not to be true, as the Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan Planning Organization (FAMPO), a federally recognized organization put the Michael Baker Jr. Inc study forward as the Interstate Justification Report (IJR), which was approved by the Federal Highway Administration on April 28th, 2011.
The IJR is in the final stages of approval with VDOT, and once that happens, $14 million in funding will be released for FAMPO to provide: 1. Financial Analysis, 2. Design of toll road, 3. Environmental Study to comply with the National Environmental Protection Act (NEPA), and 4. Start a citizen Outreach program to educate us on the toll road. For detailed information and news articles, please review my blog that you can find under the "About me" tab above.
Wouldn't it make sense to do the financial analysis first (there was very basic financial analysis done in IJR, thus $14M funding includes detailed financial analysis) before spending this type of money on the other three items above? The only way this makes sense is to assume the financial analysis will show the toll road to be financially feasible (toll price will provide enough riders to fund loan). Spending money to do other 3 items is wasteful if the detailed financial analysis does not give a financial green light.
More study is needed as well as alternatives should be considered. A prudent man would think alternatives have been considered, however, in an August 30th, 2011 inteview I had with Mr. Lloyd Robinson and FAMPO staff, FAM PO never looked into a Harrison Road exit / on ramp to I-95. Never considered? Never modeled?
Our current Courtland BOS representative has been a voting member of FAMPO (11 voting representatives, two from Spotsy) during this time period through today.
If elected, I will represent our property rights and feel the I95 to Gordon Road bypass needs a lot more research prior to any more money being spent or any resident's property taken.
Please see document below as to how a portion (1/3) of the IJR was funded.
The total cost to date for IJR has been $600,000
