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Spotsylvania officials voted to join VRE, but some supervisor candidates disagree with the decision. |
Virginia Railway Express membership for Spotsylvania County and growth are hot topics in the two contested races this year.
During a Committee of 500 candidates forum last week at the Salem Church Library, more than half of the questions asked from the approximately 30 people in attendance were about VRE.
The candidates had considerably different opinions on whether there will be extra funding for local transportation projects after paying the county's subsidy for VRE, estimated to be about $2 million.
The Spotsylvania County Board of Supervisors voted to join VRE, but the membership is not effective until February. That means that the Nov. 3 elections will be over and any new candidates will take office.
If either of the two Republicans--Chris Yakabouski and D.J. McGuire--is elected, they have said they will provide the one vote needed to reverse the VRE membership decision.
Yakabouski faces Benjamin Pitts in the Battlefield District. Yakabouski, who served one term before resigning to run for a state Senate seat, defeated Pitts in 2003.
McGuire faces first-term incumbent Gary Skinner, who was on the School Board.
Pitts said he supports VRE because the county needs money for transportation. He said the state's six-year secondary road plan has been cut $14.7 million in three years.
"Even if we join VRE with the tax, which quite frankly we are already paying and it is just not coming back to the county, we will not even come close to making up what the state is cutting," he said. "If you do not find additional revenue sources to fund your transportation needs, you have to take it out of the general fund or you have to say you are not going to fund transportation at all."
Yakabouski said VRE's subsidy is based on ridership in each locality and he doesn't expect a surplus for very long.
"If our payment to VRE is based upon ridership and our ridership increases, our payment increases," he said. "This is a contract for life with VRE, which is the silliest thing I have ever heard of in my life."
Skinner said VRE will spur economic development.
"VRE is not just about commuters," he said. "It is about development. It is known that if you have a VRE station, most likely you are going to have large development around it."
McGuire said he has used VRE for four years before switching to vanpools last year. He works in Falls Church, and he said he has passed through every VRE stop. There is not a lot of economic development around the stations, he said. In Lorton, he said economic development around the VRE station wasn't because of VRE; it was because the Lorton prison closed.
"Gary may see revenue in VRE, all I see is risk," McGuire said. "I prefer exempting vanpool fleets from the car tax. It will help 2 times as many commuters in the Fredericksburg area than VRE."
GROWTH
The economy has slowed residential and commercial growth in the county. But when the economy rebounds and developers apply for rezonings and development projects, the candidates were asked how they would deal with it.
Spotsylvania County was one of the fastest-growing counties in the state, reaching levels of 7 percent population spurts in a year.
"As far as I am concerned the comprehensive plan is the foundation for the growth of Spotsylvania County," Pitts said. "It defines where it should go, where it should not go, and the types [of growth] around the county."
Pitts also said it was a mistake to upzone rural parts of the county, by allowing 3-acre divisions of property, where it was once 5 and 10 acres. The controversial plan Supervisor
"I think it allows growth to happen, and taxpayers in the other part of the county have to pay for it," he said.
Yakabouski said he voted against the family-exempt subdivision when he was a supervisor in 2005, which allows rural landowners to divide as little as 2 acres for an immediate family member or stepchild. Yakabouski said it was a "backdoor way for developers to move back into the rural land."
He also said he is against extending water and sewer services outside the primary growth area in the comprehensive land-use plan.
"Now obviously it is up to the market, it is up to the developers," he said. "I am not about to have government direct how our growth is actually finally determined."
McGuire said the county needs to encourage commercial and office growth. He said it was a mistake that the Board of Supervisors passed design standards that direct how office and commercial buildings should look in certain corridors.
"We have no idea what will be attractive 10 to 15 years down the road," he said. "We need to make sure that there are places for people to shop and work as well as places for people to live. I want to be able to drive 5 miles to work instead of going on a vanpool going 55 miles [to work]."
Skinner stumbled over the growth question for several minutes, and later said that he felt more comfortable answering questions about local education.
"I support the comprehensive plan, and I support giving incentives to make development within our growth area more attractive," he said. "I think it is very important we control the growth."
Dan Telvock: 540/374-5438
Email: dtelvock@freelancestar.com
