By DAN TELVOCK
Only 208 of Fredericksburg Regional Chamber of Commerce's 1,100 members participated in its survey gauging support for Spotsylvania County joining Virginia Railway Express.
An overwhelming majority of the respondents want the Spotsylvania Board of Supervisors to approve joining the commuter rail service. But most of the Chamber members who voted do not live or work in the county.
Chamber Executive Director Bob Hagan said the results may not be a deciding factor when the Board of Supervisors votes early next year, but regionwide opinion should have some influence.
"We do think if our jurisdictions are going to play well together, it is important to know what other parts of our region think about actions that are about to be taken," he said.
A majority of Spotsylvania voters supported a 2005 bond referendum that included $12 million for a VRE station, but there are no plans to build one. That bond referendum also included millions of dollars for road-improvement projects.
Despite the bond vote, a majority of Spotsylvania supervisors has been unwilling to join VRE. Some of the reasons given are the 2 percent gasoline tax, unreliable train service, subsidizing a service that about 1,000 county residents use, and terms in the contract that don't make it easy to cancel VRE membership.
Portions of the 2 percent gas tax would go to VRE operations, but the remainder can be used for transportation projects in the county. County staff has estimated that several million dollars would be left over after the county pays its share of VRE operations.
Hagan, who is a VRE supporter and a former Spotsylvania supervisor, said he is happy with the number of respondents, but felt the Chamber could have gotten more participation if the survey deadline was extended beyond a week.
"We wanted to go into the new year with some idea of how our membership felt about this," he said.
The Chamber represents businesses in Fredericksburg and the counties of Spotsylvania, King George, Caroline and Stafford. Fredericksburg and Stafford are VRE members.
At least four Spotsylvania supervisors would need to support joining VRE; only three have publicly stated they do.
Supervisors Emmitt Marshall and T.C. Waddy have said they will never support the rail service; Supervisors Gary Jackson and Jerry Logan are undecided.
"Any information related to VRE and what the public opinion is, is of interest to me," Logan said. "I am more interested in what Spotsylvania residents think about it."
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com
YES: 81.3 percent, or 169 people NO: 7.2 percent or 15 people DON'T KNOW: 11.5 percent or 24 people Of the 208 respondents: LIVE IN SPOTSYLVANIA: 96 WORK IN SPOTSYLVANIA: 79 LIVE AND WORK IN SPOTSYLVANIA: 57 |