FAIRFAX COUNTY TRANSPORTATION ADVISORY COMMISSION
MEETING SUMMARY
Regular Meeting - January 04, 2005
7:15 PM - Room 7, Government Conference Center
TAC Members in attendance: George Smith; Earl Flanagan; George Barker, Bob Adams; Harry Zimmerman; Janyce Hedetniemi; Jeff Parnes; Roger Hoskin; Camille Klein
Others in Attendance: Mike Lake; Leonard Wolfenstein; Wendy Jia
The meeting was called to order at 7:18pm
Main Topics Discussed
Meeting minutes from 12/7/04 were approved
Board Referrals:
There were no new referrals from the Board of Supervisors.
Transportation Summit Update
George and Janyce reported that plans for the summit are on track. There will not be electronic voting capabilities for the participants because the cost was too high. There will be a logistics meeting next Tuesday, January 11, at 9:15 in the County Government Center and the Planning Committee meeting will be Wednesday, Jan 12 at 3 pm in Supervisor McConnell’s office. Speakers for the summit will be confirmed by the TAC meeting in February.
Pedestrian Task Force
There was no new information on this. The next meeting will be held on January 25 at 2 pm. Earl Flanagan stated that Chris Wells had said that $55 million was needed for pedestrian improvements, but only $7 million had been identified so far. George and Janyce explained that the improvements will not be obvious until 2010; a lot of the early costs involve preliminary engineering and design.
Financial Disclosure Forms
George Barker reminded members that financial disclosure forms are due by January 31, 2005.
Comprehensive Plan Update
Leonard Wolfenstein and Wendy Jia from the FCDOT provided a progress report on the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan Update of the Transportation Plan. Wendy stated that the staff goal is to complete the update by the end of 2005. There are two ongoing efforts. The County has hired a consultant to assist with the modeling and forecasting. David Kline is the staff person managing that effort. There is also a core team of five staff members, including representation from the Department of Planning and Zoning, who are involved with the Plan Update process. There are several components of the update: changes to the Policy Plan, changes to the Plan map and changes to the Transportation Plan. The Plan map will be updated to a new GIS-based format. The new map will reflect the changes and plan amendments that have occurred since the last update. Overall staff reaction to the policy review comments provided by the TAC have been positive. They concur that a more clear and concise policy plan is appropriate. Several specific comments made by the TAC were discussed at length.
Travel Demand Forecasting will provide an up-to-date outlook for the county wide transportation system in the 2030 horizon. Three Travel Demand Forecasting scenarios will be modeled and presented at public meetings to be held in the March, 2005 time frame. Other scenarios will be modeled later in the Spring and presented at public meetings in the Summer of 2005.
Staff has already launched public information activities related to the Transportation Plan update in a newsletter and a news release. There is a informational website which allows for public comment, http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/fcdot/transplanupdate.htm.
Staff has reviewed transportation related APR nominations from the last two review cycles for items that should be considered during this update process.
The first series of public meetings will introduce the update process and provide background information. Results of the first three forecasting scenarios that are modeled will be presented. The public will be afforded opportunities to discuss elements of the policy plan, including the map. Meeting dates are March 1, from 7 – 9 pm; March 3, from 7 to 9 pm, March 9 from 7 to 9 pm, March 10 from 7 to 9 pm, and March 12 from 9 – 11 am. The meetings will be held at five different locations dispersed throughout the County; each of the locations will be accessible via public transportation. The consultants will be available to answer technical questions at each of the meetings. There will be an Information Item on the Board of Supervisors (BOS) agenda in early February announcing the public meetings.
Following the public meetings, staff will brief the TAC and the Planning Commission (PC) regarding the outcome. Staff will develop a draft policy plan during the Spring and Summer of 2005. The second round of public meetings will take place in July and the public hearings before the PC and the BOS will be scheduled for late Fall of 2005. The transportation elements in the Area Plans will be updated to be consistent with the revisions from the County-wide Transportation Plan update in 2006.
Review of Objectives 12 and 13
TAC members discussed revisions to Objectives 12 and 13 of the Policy Plan. Recommendations for changes were provided to the staff.
Review of Objective 14 of the Transportation Policy Plan
Discussion of this objective was deferred until the February meeting of the TAC.
Agenda for upcoming TAC meetings include:
- Discussion of the TAC Award
- Preparations for the Transportation Summit in March
- An update on the South County Bus system (REX)
- A presentation on the new “Travel and Train” bus for seniors and the disabled
- A review of the results of the Braddock District Task Force meeting
There were no announcements
Meeting Adjourned
The meeting was adjourned at 10 pm
Scribe:
