What if a Mayfield resident could bike safely to downtown Fredericksburg and along the upper Rappahannock River, taking in green space the whole way and stopping in small pocket parks to take a rest?
Along the way, they might find a new neighborhood business — a coffee shop or a community grocery store that makes their day a bit more pleasant and easier to navigate.
Those types of opportunities abound in the draft of Fredericksburg’s new Comprehensive Plan, which was discussed at a meeting Wednesday evening at the Walker-Grant Center.
About 45 people showed up to get more information and provide input on the planning document that will guide city priorities for the next 20 years. Wednesday marked the third and final “Community Conversation” held by the city and the groups it contracted to create the plan.
Anne Darby of Richmond-based Summit Design and Engineering is the project manager for the Comprehensive Plan. She and officials from Stantec have talked with community members for almost a year while drafting the documents and said she hopes locals “hopefully see themselves in this draft.”
The plan, a long-range document that establishes the community’s vision for the next two decades and guides official decisions, is required by the Commonwealth in every locality and is typically updated every five years, according to Director of Community Planning and Building Mike Craig.
Fredericksburg’s last plan was approved in 2015, and since then city staff has worked to create small area plans that go into greater and more granular detail.
The draft of the updated Comprehensive Plan is centered around five goals — community, equity, sustainability, resiliency and historic preservation — and the systems that could connect them. Those systems are outlined in the plan as walkable centers, mobility, social and cultural systems, economics and the natural environment.
Darby noted that those goals make Fredericksburg’s new plan. It’s also more succinct than most because it focuses on priorities for the upcoming planning period. The draft is 65 pages, versus Fredericksburg’s 2015 plan, which was 163 pages long.
The Small Area Plans have already done the work of setting hyperlocal parameters for economic vitality, land use mix, access and transportation, scale of construction, and enhancement of the natural environment in 10 small areas, as defined by the city.
Additionally, the plan outlines a vision of the city as a “cultural and economic hub” that “is a place that works for everyone; a place where people want to be.”
According to Stantec’s John Bachmann, the main takeaways from their local conversations were that Fredericksburg residents appreciate and want to conserve the city’s history, culture and community. They also want to increase transit options and opportunities to live and work here.
To achieve that, the plan calls for “walkable centers” that “replicate the excellent DNA of downtown” into economic and community hubs within the small areas, each with its own feel. These centers would be connected by greenways and “complete streets” that offer public transport, bikability, walkability and drivability.
Bachmann also noted the housing challenges faced by Fredericksburg and said that within the past five years, the price of a home rose 20 percent, and rentals rose 24 percent within city limits.
To exert “downward pressure” on that increase, the plan allows for differing housing types that suit neighborhoods It also calls for the redevelopment of existing commercial or industrial centers, “not through massive multifamily but multimodal housing types like three-plexes, four-plexes and small-scale apartments,” he said.
Darbytown resident Denise Malczewski asked Bachmann how a plan that encourages this type of smaller development would still be profitable to developers.
He responded that in order to achieve Fredericksburg’s vision for sustainable growth and vibrant neighborhoods, the city could tweak zoning and processes so each development isn’t a hurdle for builders. She also asked about specific wording in the document.
Later in the evening, when the public inspected maps and previous input from “Community Conversations,” Malczewski, who has been to two previous meetings, said she wasn’t sure about the justification for some of the plan’s claims that locals desire more walkability.
“I see more cars on the street than people,” she said. And though her neighborhood is considered walkable, she added, “I’m 73, so I’m not biking to the grocery store.”
She also said there should be some “recognition that the housing problem isn’t just a Fredericksburg problem, it’s a national one.”
Downtown resident and founder of Tree Fredericksburg Anne Little asked the consultants about adding more specific language regarding the city’s tree canopy.
“We value trees in this city,” Little said, going on to explain that the previous plan stated that explicitly, many times.
Molly McFadden, a member of the Fredericksburg School Board, attended as a private citizen. McFadden, who lives on the Lafayette corridor, said the area is not walkable for the many families with children there.
After the meeting, she said the draft is “perhaps working toward” that vision.
According to Craig, one of the most exciting ideas in the plan is establishing an interconnected open space network building on Fredericksburg’s riverfront and its “uplands open space.” That network would be the connection between neighborhoods, parks and other centers.
Cousins Pam Lamar and Cassie Greenhow grew up in Mayfield and came back to the neighborhood to be close to family.
“We came just to see what’s going on,” Lamar said. “Mayfield is often forgotten.”
She said her neighborhood’s biggest issue is maintenance, and while she understands the need for a green city with trees, she worries about the maintenance plan for sidewalks when those trees mature.
“We don’t want to be last,” she said.
Lamar did appreciate that a vision for economic vitality and walkability was included. She said closer stores — or even a coffee shop where the community could gather — would make a difference.
She also walks her dog around the community and would like to see safer links to downtown.
“Dixon Street is dangerous,” she said, referring to the thoroughfare as a busy traffic artery.
For Darby, it was heartening to see such a high percentage of locals engaged in their planning process. When she asked who in the room had read the full draft, nearly everyone raised their hands.
Following this conversation, the consultant group will make additional adjustments and present a polished version of the plan to Fredericksburg’s Planning Commission and City Council. These bodies will then hold their own public hearings and work sessions before voting on a final version this summer.
