Pickett Road Connector Trail -
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The George Snyder Trail is an issue in the City of Fairfax elections this November.
That the situation appears hopeless should not prevent us from doing our best. Can't get enough pavement in our parks, floodplains and stream valleys? Then here's a plan for much more! The Pickett Road Connector Trail is a sad choice to put a trail in the worst possible location, apparently just because we can. The path would run entirely through the floodplain of Accotink Creek and its Hatmark Branch tributary. Pickett Road itself provides an existing designated bicycle route just yards away. Other City plans need to be fulfilled, too, such as the Comprehensive Plan Environment and Sustainability Chapter, the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Plan, and the Northfax Small Area Plan. All these plans sanguinely assure the preservation of trees and streams while other City, Commonwealth, and private interests continue to clear them away. Why should the environmental preservation mandates of these other plans not take priority? Improved opportunities for bicycle and pedestrian travel are welcome, but the proposed route of the extension means this opportunity would come at the expense of forests and streams. We have plenty of streets that need to be made people-friendly first! The Bike Fairfax plan shows how. The comments submitted by Friends of Accotink Creek to the Mayor and City Council, below, are a statement of the principles we hope to see applied whenever we are faced with the temptation to take “just one more bite”, to lay just one more burden on our irreplaceable natural heritage.
Let the Mayor and City Council know how you feel about preservation vs. pavement at:
Parallel to Pickett Road and within a stone's-throw, this trail is pointless
FACC testimony before City Council - March 12, 2024
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