November 13, 14, 20, and 21 ´96. Policy Advisory Committee (PAC) Public Hearings held in Prince William, Stafford, Fauquier, and Loudoun Counties.
December 10, 1996. Prince William Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) Public Hearing. The board passed a resoultion to support the powerline alignment.
December 13, 1996. PAC Meeting. VDOT was directed by the PAC to explore the possibilites of running a route through Quantico rather than through Stafford and Fauquier Counties.
The 1997 General Assembly.
1) Delegate Marshal´s resolution to curtail the study died in committee.
2) Senators Colgan & Chichester's Resolution for a joint legislative committee to study the WTC proposal passed the Senate but failed to pass through the rules committee in the House because the House was not approving any new committees.
3) Direction was given to the Washington Airports Task Force that they were not to expend any funds or effort for the promotion of the WTC after July 1, 1997 and they were to provide and accounting of all efforts spent so far.
March 14, 1997. Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Meeting. Essentially Quantico said "Don't look to Quantico to solve Virginia´s transportation needs." That was not a satisfactory answer in some quarters and there are those who are still exploring to find a way to get a positive answer. Endangered mussels and begonias and running a route along Aquia Creek are among the environmental issues. Loosing training area at a base that is expanding its mission and cleaning up the site from decades of of firing munitions are two more issues. Also, VDOT presented revised cost estimates for acquiring the right-of-way for the WTC showing reductions of 80 - 90% in estimates of property value.
April 1997. Gainesville and Brentsville Supervisors apointed a group to explore mitigating the impact of a WTC for their neighborhoods. This group meets in secret. It has no official County status.
April 29, 1997. Hearing by the Transportation Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee, held in Manassas attended by about 350 people. When asked to stand as a pro or con, a handful stood in favor of the WTC and hundreds stood against. When questioned by a senator as to predictions of increased traffic congestion in Northern Virginia, the representative from the Army Corps of Engineers replied, "And that is why it´s very puzzling to us why the traffic anaylsis under the build alternative (of the WTC) showed very little improvement over the no-build alternative."
May 13, 1997. VDOT at the Prince William BOCS said they won´t eliminate Linton Hall from the "powerline" corridor now and they do not have to stay within the 1-mile corridor for an EIS study.
June 12, 1997 Commonwealth Transportation Board (CTB) includes money in the annual Six-Year Plan update for continuation of the WTC study.
COMING SOON
Public Meeting in Stafford on the "Quantico Excursion." Postponed from March because VDOT is still trying to extract a "Yes" from Quantico.
PAC meeting to make recomendations to the CTB. New Resolutions from the Stafford and Fauquier Board of County Supervisors state that those counties support the WTC only if it does not traverse their counites. A new resoulotion from the Loudoun board states support for the WTC only if it connects with a bridge to Maryland.
CTB Workshop and meeting to make ultimate decision. The CTB meets monthly with a work session on one afternoon followed by a formal meeting the next morning. A work session could be one month and a vote the next or an issue could be resolved in the same two-day meeting. VDOT has stated that the WTC won´t be on the agenda again until the above two meetings have taken place.
CARD will continue to follow the WTC through the TAC, PAC, local BOCS's, the CTB, the Virginia General Assembly, and VDOT itself and do our best to keep our members and the community informed. Check our web site for updates.
Citizens Against Roads for Developers, Inc. (CARD)
P.O. Box 163, Catharpin, VA 20143
http://www.erols.com/card1997/index.html
(703)-754-4181-phone
(703)-754-0045-fax
See the President´s June Message