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The Fairfax City Council halted two trail projects and canceled a third on April 22, acting shortly after members reviewed plans for the long-running, externally funded projects.
The council paused work on the George Snyder Trail and Pickett Road Connector Trail and terminated the Country Club Commons Connector Trail. The decisions came through motions added to the regular meeting’s agenda at the last minute, without a public hearing.
Each project had been adopted by previous councils after years of planning and incorporated into the city’s Capital Improvement Program and Comprehensive Plan.
During a work session before the votes, Transportation Director Wendy Sanford and Urban Forester Anna Safford briefed council members on the three projects.
The Pickett Road Connector would fill a 1,260-foot gap in the off-road trail network between Thaiss Park and Fairfax Boulevard. Supported by fiscal 2018 Smart Scale funding, construction had been expected to begin this year or next.
The city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board said the project would strengthen connections between Fairfax City and Fairfax County while giving pedestrians and cyclists an alternative to busy Pickett Road. Safford said some tree removal was also associated with the county’s overlapping waterline-replacement project.
The 650-foot Country Club Commons Connector would have linked Country Club Hills Commons with Fairfax Boulevard. It was intended to improve access to Old Town and Fairfax Boulevard for neighborhoods on both sides of the roadway, replacing what otherwise would be a 1.4-mile drive.
The route also would have connected with bicycle facilities on Fair Woods Parkway, the George Snyder Trail and Blenheim Boulevard. The city had received about $5 million in fiscal 2020 Smart Scale funding for the project.
The fully funded George Snyder Trail has been planned for more than a decade. The nearly two-mile, $20 million shared-use path would connect Chain Bridge Road with the Wilcoxon Trail at Draper Drive, south of Fairfax Boulevard.
The ADA-compliant project would include asphalt sections and concrete boardwalks. It has attracted support from residents who want more off-road connections, but opposition has centered on the hundreds of trees expected to be removed. The city faces a Dec. 31 deadline to provide VDOT with a fully completed design.
A new route emerges
After the staff presentation, Councilmember Tom Peterson introduced a revised alignment for the George Snyder Trail and asked that VDOT consider it as an alternative to the approved plan.
Acting City Manager Bryan Foster displayed a sketch he said he had received the previous day. Peterson described it as the result of community input and consideration by council members.
He said the proposed route would connect existing and approved bicycle paths, creating a continuous link from Eaton Place and University Drive to Fairfax Boulevard, past Fairfax High School and along the length of the boulevard.
Mayor Catherine Read said she had not known about or approved the proposal before the meeting. When she asked which council members had helped develop it, only Councilmember Stacy Hall raised her hand.
Read questioned whether the alternative was a shared-use trail at all, saying it appeared to rely on existing sidewalks and paved routes and amounted to a substantially different project.
Hall said the route would be lighted and available around the clock while avoiding the extensive tree removal associated with building through the woods. She argued that it could be safer for children, encourage people to visit businesses and bring users closer to their destinations.
Sanford warned that the alternative would require significant right-of-way acquisition and evaluation that the city likely could not complete before the deadline. She also cited difficult engineering problems.
Because the proposed alignment differs substantially from the project VDOT approved, the agency could reject the change and leave Fairfax responsible for construction costs. Sanford said the existing funding might not apply because the alternative would be an on-road route rather than the off-road trail VDOT had authorized.
Three motions reshape the projects
At the start of the regular meeting, Peterson moved to add a trail action item to the agenda. Hall seconded the motion, and the council approved it.
Peterson then introduced three motions. The first directed the city to submit the alternative George Snyder Trail sketch to VDOT for consideration as a substitute for the approved route. It passed unanimously.
His second motion stopped further work on the Pickett Road Connector while alternatives are examined. That measure passed 4-2, with Councilmembers Anthony Amos and Stacey Hardy-Chandler opposed.
The third motion canceled the Country Club Hills trail project. It also passed unanimously.
Residents were able to address the decisions during public-comment time, after the votes had already occurred.
Former National Park Service employee and past council member Tom Ross said he was deeply disappointed that the council acted at the last minute without public comment or a hearing. He urged members to reconsider and examine why earlier councils supported the projects and what long-term benefits they were expected to provide.
Phil Latasa, representing the Friends of Accotink Creek, supported pausing the George Snyder and Pickett Road projects. He described the Pickett connector as duplicating existing connections. Country Club Hills resident Kate Johnson also welcomed the council’s actions.
Neighbor Patrick Walker said he once supported a paved trail through the woods but changed his position after incidents near his home. He described finding a person unconscious on his sidewalk and said his wife was later followed and sexually harassed while walking near the woods. Walker argued that a paved connection could make the area easier to access.
Resident Mike Fabio urged the council to reverse course, calling trails assets that should be preserved for future generations. He said he had hoped to walk with his grandchildren from Old Town through Van Dyck Park and Country Club Hills to the George Snyder Trail.
Fabio argued that transportation connections should be safe, accessible and pleasant, rather than pushing pedestrians and cyclists alongside busy roads. He also questioned the possibility of returning any portion of what he described as $41 million in funding awarded for the trail projects.