One council’s agenda for economic change

Warrenton, Va., a small community of slightly more than 5,500 residents located on the fringe of the Washington, D.C., metropolitan region, began an aggressive program to expand its tax base in 1990.

The town of Warrenton is the commercial and political center of Fauquier County, a county renowned for its horse-farms, wineries and a community of residents with political and financial strength who cherish heritage and the environment.

During the early stages of Warrenton’s creation of its economic development,program, the county was asked to participate in the formation of the new program due to the tax benefits it would derive. It declined, but the Warrenton Town Council, recognizing that town businesses contributed more than 30 percent of the town’s general fund revenues, chose to solely fund the new program.

In addition to retention of local business tax contributions, the council’s decision to move forward with an economic development program was prompted by other significant factors such as the completion of major expansion of the town’s utility plants and the adjustment of the town’s boundaries in a non-adversarial process with the county in which Warrenton gained 498 acres, or almost a square mile.

A third issue concerned the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) plans for construction of a major section of a “spur” that would connect U.S. Routes 29 and 15 to Route 17 North, taking truck and passenger car traffic out of Warrenton’s commercial highway service corridor. This move distressed many of the town’s automobile,oriented service businesses, which anticipated a potential loss of patronage.

Thus, the council sought to provide new opportunities for business by developing a set of policies to address how utilities would be allocated to serve the anticipated growth in the town and the general area until the year 2010.

The next step was to annex additional acreage and determine proper land use for the new area.

Recognizing the need for a mix of users to support the growing population, many of whom–more than 60 percent–commute to closer,in Northern Virginia, the town master planned and zoned the newly annexed but undevelope-d properties in a mix of residential and light industrial uses separated by a major new roadway, Walker Drive.

Crestar Bank, owner of one of the largest contiguous parcels, donated 25 acres of light industrial property to the town, in return for receiving an appropriate residential zoning density on the remainder of the bank’s property. With that donation, the town’s new business park was born.

However, no utilities or roads served the donated site. While the property lay adjacent to the busy U.S. 29 bypass, the only access was from SR 678, a narrow, undeveloped road with an at-grade intersection that would be closed with construction of the spur.

At the council’s direction, town staff began to develop a concept for the business park and initiate discussions with the VDOT to provide future access.

Learning of the possible loss of the State’s Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory in August, Warrenton’s council offered three of the 25 acres of the business park to the department in exchange for $150,000 to be used for construction of utilities and provision of access to the site. The site was located at the southern end of the business park property with access to existing water and sewer and to the proposed Walker Drive.

Town staff intensified discussions with VDOT to ensure future access for the laboratory once the spur closed SR 678. VDOT agreed to work with the town to extend Walker Drive at the town’s expense from the agriculture site to Lee Street and the full interchange with U.S. Route 29 in conjunction with the three-year construction of the SB: 17 Spur. This would ensure future access for the agriculture site but did not extend Walker Drive into the town’s park.

The Warrenton Business Park represents a significant departure in town governing from benign support of the local business community to active leadership.

The council adopted covenants and restrictions that govern the future uses in the business park, which controlled by an architectural review committee, whose members in perpetuity are the mayor, a council member and the director of planning. The covenants have additional requirements for landscaping, in addition to the town’s stringent landscaping ordinance, to provide attractive screening and views from U.S. Route 29.

HazMat

Region keeps chemicals separate, secure

Hazardous materials are a fact of life for municipal governments. From the chlorine that creates healthy pools to paint removers and cleaning solvents to the fertilizers that keep golf courses green, cities struggle with daily maintenance activities. But storage of these materials can pose problems.

To solve them, city and county govemments are leading the way by establishing collection sites for common household hazardous wastes. In South Central Connecticut, for example, Hazwaste Central has been established to meet the homeowners’ needs. The center, servinga 15-town region, is open at designated hours weekly as a dropoff station for household hazardous waste.

The center receives pool chemicals, pesticides, poisons, paints, anti-freeze and waste oil among other substances. A trained chemist is on site during operating hours to assist in identifying materials that are brought to the center for accumulation.

Security, segregation and protection were the three cornerstones municipal authorities demanded when the center was built. The solution proved to be a relocatable hazardous materials storage building.

Spill and leak protection is assured by the leakproof containment sump beneath the storage platform. An alarm was installed in the sump area to alert officials to the presence of hazardous chemicals.

Three independent storage bays within the 24-foot building provide the segregation required for incompatible chemicals. Each is protected by a dual fire-protection system, and all electrical systems are explosion proof.

Thus, each bay is suitable for the storage of a variety of wastes as need demands. Exterior doors are locked except when the center is open to receive waste. In addition to the spill sensors, the building is equipped with fire alarms and door alarms. All three types of alarm systems react locally as well as in a remote monitoring station manned 24 hours a day.

A variety of storage buildings are available depending on the individual needs of the community. The weatherproof structures provide the security, segregation and secondary containment necessary for a safe and successful household hazardous waste collection program.

Streets, Highways & Bridges

Roadway intersection is moved for safety

After three years of construction, the new and improved intersection of Wolf and Hintz roads in Prospect Heights and Wheeling, III., was opened to the public, signaling an end to the relocation’s 10-year journey.

Representatives from the Palwaukee Municipal Airport Commission, the two communities, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the Illinois Department of Transportation and the Cook County Highway Department were on hand to officially open all four lanes of Wolf Road to the motoring public.

Although some landscaping and clean-up work will not be completed until Spring 1996, the roadway portion of the work is substantially completed and ready for use.

The intersection had to be relocated to meet updated FAA safety criteria and design standards.

Prior to relocation, the intersection was 70 feet from the end of the airport’s main runway. Since relocation of the runway was out of the question, the only feasible alternative was to re, locate the intersection.

Now, the intersection is 610 feet from the end of the runway, and the area between old Wolf Road and new Wolf Road has been proposed as a new airport development area.

The relocation improved safety to the motoring public, which uses these busy roadways, and the aviation community, which uses Palwaukee Municipal Airport.

The old roadway pavement and buildings were removed to provide for improve runway safety area. Traffic signals have taken the place of a four-way stop, turn lanes were installed to improve traffic flow, and the intersection is now lighted.

Two new bridges were constructed over the Wheeling Drainage Ditch for the relocated roads at a cost of $1.5 million.

Hintz Road was relocated in 1994 at a cost of $2.9 million. The final phase of the work–the Wolf Road relocation–was completed in ’94-’95 for $3.8 million.