Shaun Kenney | Politics and Religion in Virginia's Public Square


Wednesday, October 09, 2002 Marvin Bolinger announced that he would resign as Fredericksburg City Manager as of 15 January, a decision that seems to have been made with the implicit threat of having him removed if Bolinger did not do so voluntarily. More tomorrow. . . Mary Washington College is holding a concert at the Battleground Complex on Marye Heights this Saturday, 12 October at 6:00pm. Fireworks are scheduled to be displayed at 7:30pm, so if you are in the neighborhood check them out. The band you ask? carbon leaf - a cheap imitation Irish rock band from Richmond of all places. They don't even sound Irish. Fresh from the Voters to Stop Sprawl e-mail string is a discussion on the Idylwild tract. Is it sprawl? What should VSS do about it, if anything at all? Positions about, and I sent this solution out that seems to have received a good amount of attention. Let me know what you think: My recommendation has always been that the city purchase the Idylwild tract by co-ordinating a sale of the James Monroe High School tract to the college. By doing this, we kill not just two, but several birds with one stone. We save the Idylwild tract from development, preserve a massive area of green space, prevent a traffic disaster on Rt. 1 and Rt. 3, stave off the building of two new schools that could cost city residents upwards of $70mil dollars, and create the opportunity to build not only a vast city park, but also precious land for new facilities for our fire, police, and rescue services - not to mention the space needed for a new JM high school that is inevitably coming around the corner. Of course there are several issues surrounding this. The developer may not sell. At the moment, the developer can by right build 500+ homes on the land. In doing something like this, we will lock ourselves into building a rather expensive (albeit necessary) high school during a long-term budget crunch in Richmond. While the college will let us use the high school for as long as we need it, we will still have to rent the old facility at cost. All this having been said, the "third rail" isn't very steady or sure at the moment, but it is definitely worth firming up. To complicate matters more, there is a "fourth rail" that we should take a look at -- namely taking the existing plan and dividing the buildable land into homes and light industry (a technology campus). While this doesn't alleviate all of the problems, it adds to Fredericksburg's ability to become a regional hub rather than another suburb of Washington. By adding to the list of being a commercial and tourist center, creating a technology campus there at Idylwild wold ideally make Fredericksburg a place to work as well as play. I certainly wouldn't mind going to work 15 minutes down the road rather than 55 minutes up 1-95! This would partially resolve the traffic issue and ease the impact on schools, public services, and water/sewer - the trade off being added revenues from a technology center at Idylwild. Of course we still lose the same amount of green space, but by right the developer could take it all out anyhow. . . Regardless of these issues, it is incumbent upon VSS to take a stand on any major development issue in the Fredericksburg area. Idylwild is a good development, just not for Fredericksburg - for all of the reasons already stated. Just a few thoughts! posted by Shaun Kenney \| 10/09/2002 05:11:00 PM \| 0 comments 0 Comments: Post a Comment Home
	RedStormPAC $ JEFFERSONIAD POLL: Whom do you support for Virginia Attorney General? 1) John Brownlee 2) Ken Cuccinelli View Results About ShaunKenney.com is one of Virginia's oldest political blogs, focusing on the role of religion and politics in public life. Shaun Kenney, 30, lives in Fluvanna County, Virginia. Contact E-mail RSS/Atom Feed The Jeffersoniad Archives March 2002 April 2002 May 2002 June 2002 July 2002 August 2002 September 2002 October 2002 November 2002 December 2002 January 2003 February 2003 March 2003 April 2003 May 2003 June 2003 July 2003 August 2003 September 2003 October 2003 November 2003 December 2003 January 2004 February 2004 March 2004 April 2004 May 2004 June 2004 July 2004 August 2004 September 2004 October 2004 November 2004 December 2004 January 2005 February 2005 June 2005 July 2005 August 2005 September 2005 October 2005 November 2005 December 2005 January 2006 February 2006 March 2006 April 2006 May 2006 June 2006 July 2006 August 2006 September 2006 October 2006 November 2006 December 2006 January 2007 February 2007 April 2007 June 2007 July 2007 August 2007 September 2007 October 2007 November 2007 December 2007 January 2008 February 2008 March 2008 April 2008 May 2008 June 2008 July 2008 August 2008 September 2008 October 2008 November 2008 December 2008 January 2009