Meeting Highlights: January 15, 2025
- Funding Status has reached 68% ($281 million of $409 million)
- Project Updates
- Hanover Section is nearing completion in mid 2025
- Ground Breaking expected in Petersburg mid 2025
- Construction expected in Richmond in 2025
- Diamond District/Fall Line Alignment conversations have begun
- Roundabout Plans for Laburnum/Hermitage Intersection presented with conversation regarding two design options
Meeting Transcript
0:21
all righty welcome again to the first friends of the fall line meeting of 2025
0:27
we meet January April July and October each year to for Round Table updates and
0:34
discussions and and uh planning related to the fall line Trail I’m Brantley Tyndall the Director of Bike Walk RVA at
0:41
sportsbackers um the uh organization leading the development of the Fall Line Trail um we are super excited to
0:49
introduce our new hire Natalie rer some of you will have already met her or worked with her in previous roles at
0:55
swim RVA and um the Virginia Capital Trail foundation and she’s actually going to take a a quick speaking role
1:01
later in uh the presentation but Natalie do you want to say anything uh to
1:07
introduce yourself um sure thank you Brantley um
1:12
hello everyone I’ve met many of you already but to those who I have not met
1:17
before I’m just really excited to jump into this work and be involved in
1:23
creating a world class trail with you all all right moving on I uh know up
1:29
updates to this slide uh since the last meeting we have currently raised $281 million for the fall line Trail uh the
1:37
last addition being um a relatively small addition from the Central Virginia
1:43
Transportation Authority for the way finding um uh certainly that’ll be a very um effective amount of money but we
1:51
uh that bumped us from 280 to 281 um as of late last
1:57
year next uh this slide has has changed all that much either but the next few slides will be a bit of an overview that
2:04
Natalie will lead I had um her go out and do some site research for us on the
2:09
development of design build one the northern section from the Ashland all
2:14
the way through Hanover and the northern section of heno County um but just so
2:20
the latest I’ve known and and certainly There’s an opportunity for our vot and locality Partners to um speak up in a
2:25
moment but um the if by all accounts it looks like the
2:31
design build phase one is proceeding uh quite expeditiously and U some sections
2:37
are if not completed nearing completion um and we’re expected to have a
2:44
groundbreaking sometime mid uh the middle of this year for the southern design build uh that’s already in
2:50
process from the contract Administration standpoint uh but a a design build team
2:55
has not been selected yet um no other developments from um a construction
3:02
standpoint on other phases and many are still kind of administratively in progress and we look forward to um
3:09
development on the Brian Park section as the design team continues to evaluate
3:14
various elements of that plan before I go into a slideshow with Natalie and
3:20
other sections um I do have a slide for basically locality updates and vot updates but Scott or anyone else do is
3:27
there anything you want to provide on this slide before we move on hey Brantley it’s Scott um yeah I’ll
3:33
just give a quick update on DB1 and db2 uh as you said DB1 is going great uh we
3:39
knock on wood here so we can keep that momentum but um we uh we set the bridge
3:45
trust um over the Chickahominy once weather warms up we’ll be pouring the
3:50
deck um the project is going great we’re we’re working on a couple of the walls
3:57
right now and um we we are I like to under promise and overd deliver um we’ve
4:03
got a September uh 18th 2025 fixed completion date but don’t hold me to
4:09
this but we are we are tracking to possibly deliver this thing completely
4:15
in June of this year so a few months ahead of schedule um fingers crossed
4:21
like I said don’t don’t hold hold me to that but um everything’s looking pretty good um I mean currently we’ve got the
4:28
entire Pro uh um Trails cleared and we have about 60% of the pavement down the
4:34
intermediate uh lift and yeah as soon as the weather warms up and we can get back
4:40
to Paving uh this thing’s going to really take off even even further um Switching gears db2 I have to be careful
4:48
because this is still in procurement the uh procurement phase um we are
4:53
anticipating an award date of May 20th of this year and we’ve got three shortlisted firms
5:00
and uh that’s alen Myers VHB team the branch timens team and the kosing rcan K
5:07
team so you’ve got all Heavy Hitters going after uh db2 um that one I will
5:13
say is you know that’s 10 miles like you have noted here in the slide but also
5:18
has much more complex Bridges uh we’ve got eight um uh uh I’d call uh major
5:26
bridges that we’ve got have to construct as part of that um project but um so yeah that’s that’s
5:33
going going pretty well right now and we’ll see how uh bids come in with that
5:38
one thanks thanks cot and we’re about to show some some uh examples of your handy
5:44
work so uh feel free to keep your mic on if you want to share anything all right take it away
5:53
Natalie thank you um yeah so yesterday I went out onto the trail s sort of um I
6:01
accessed different sections of the trail on the cross streets and basically um
6:08
just checked on how things are looking and saw what I could see mainly from
6:13
Road intersections it is very very muddy out right now so I didn’t uh do too much
6:21
exploring because anytime I stepped into the dirt I had huge chunks of mud on my
6:28
shoes so um I did see that there is quite a bit of work being done which is
6:34
exciting um we’re going to start from the top um closest to Ashlin and move uh
6:40
towards Petersburg so GUI Church uh road to Cobbs Road could definitely see a
6:47
gravel path is there you can see there’s a ton of ice still on it so that’s um
6:53
the freeze thaw so if anyone’s out there just make sure you prepare to bring a lot of mud into your car with you um um
7:00
hey C can I just interject before you go yeah please do just for everyone’s
7:06
safety please do not access the trail um we have equipment out there and I I if
7:13
you want to come out and get a tour and actually go on it just just give me a call I’ll get my uh uh project engineer
7:20
to um escort you but uh we had a lot of
7:26
um folk trespass onto the project I mean literally while while we’re
7:32
dropping trees um it’s more for everyone’s safety um it’s not like it’s a big secret we’re building a trail but
7:38
um Ju Just just so everyone on this call doesn’t see these slides get excited and
7:44
run out there to start hiking it or biking it so just ask for everyone’s patience on that thank you yeah totally
7:50
that’s a great point and then I will say too that it’s very clearly marked you can see in this photo it’s very clearly
7:56
marked that it is closed so yeah um but here you can see there’s a
8:03
gravel path cut um this was the intersection actually
8:08
um from Kenworth church so basically that’s in between cobs and Cedar and you
8:14
can see it’s paved going north and paved headed south there is a lot of equipment out there right now big puddles it’s
8:21
definitely not complete not ready for traffic but it is
8:27
paved next slide here is the um Cedar Lane to substation
8:34
section there’s a um access road to the
8:40
substation that already existed and then the trail is uh gravel right now but you
8:47
can see where it will go and then this is from um let’s see
8:56
Holly Hill Road facing north uh you can see that is work being
9:04
done just not not very clear to me um the status of that section but
9:09
definitely looks like it’s drivable considering that there is a huge tractor trailer on
9:17
it and then the Winfrey Road Bridge I was able to take a look at from Glenn
9:23
Allen Greenhouse is parking lot and that’s on the next slide
9:30
and here is the bridge it looks like there’s been a lot of progress on the
9:36
bridge itself and then um I believe there’s still a retaining wall that needs to be put in you can sort of see
9:44
maybe uh the beginning of the retaining wall um just north of the bridge there’s
9:50
some blue eye beams there which I imagine is probably where that retaining wall will end up but um they were out
9:57
there working on it and it seemed seems like things are starting to get pretty close to completion there and this is
10:03
where uh Winfrey road is just south of the Chickahominy um would be the access
10:09
road to what used to be Lavender Fields Farm if if you’ve been out there before um we we’re like just a quick inter
10:17
session here like it’s amazing this is like you’re really building it now right look at that yeah it was uh it’s it’s
10:25
pretty impressive I I think it the the weather steel truss really just kind of
10:32
fits in with the uh the feel of the trail um when we first had it um when we
10:38
constructed it you know where we didn’t construct it in place there we lifted it with graines but um it it’s a lot bigger
10:45
than you you you think you know it’s you know 14 foot inside rail to rail
10:52
um almost 130 ft long it’s it’s a pretty substantial bridge but but it it’s great
10:59
because is you’re going to be able to go across a bridge and you can see in the background you’ve got the uh the old
11:04
abutments um from the old Trestle um yeah it’s pretty
11:11
impressive yeah that um for everyone’s who hasn’t been around for this whole
11:16
process the discussion about whether the bridge should be on the old abutments or adjacent has I think vasculated a couple
11:23
of times over the past few years and but when as as we’ve been here even like 5 six years ago
11:29
it’s clear how when you could see this from the road or from the the farm that
11:35
it just begs to be recompleted like this is kind of the part of the origin story of the fall line was people saw this and
11:41
they wanted to reconnect the trolley line to be the trolley Line Trail obviously that’s kind of a part of the fall line now but I’m I’m happy with how
11:48
it landed because now you get to see the the abutments and it becomes kind of a ruins attraction as opposed to being
11:55
hidden by the bridge so um um it’s a I think it’s it’s a great
12:04
design and then the um last section that I viewed was Winfree to Woodman you can see it is paved which is very exciting I
12:11
will say that um on almost all of the sections that I peaked at I saw men
12:18
working I saw a lot of um action being taken so definitely very exciting um
12:25
visit and then also a lot of the people who I saw out side I know some of them
12:30
were probably using the trail inappropriately um but they are all very excited and aware that there is a
12:38
multi-use path going being put in right behind their homes and there’s just a lot of excitement out there people were
12:45
willing to talk to me about how much they’ll be using the trail which was all
12:50
really exciting to hear so there you go thank you Natalie um I
12:58
uh I I would say I’d encourage people to look from the road um if you get the chance we we’ve been I think on a
13:04
monthly basis gone out and checked it out but at every at every turn just for your um your uh sanity Scott we continue
13:12
to amplify the message don’t get on the trail it’s a work in progress you don’t know what work may be done just because
13:18
there’s pavement a tree might be falling they may be doing some grading in the area so just uh be careful and there’s a
13:25
reason why the all these road closure signs are up um and I also want to thank Scott for giving Chad uh John and me a
13:32
tour over the summer and um it’s you might get you might find as you get into
13:39
one of these work areas uh that it goes from quickly from being a paved to it
13:44
being muddy and ungraded and um clearly lots of work had to be done to do uh to
13:50
put in the progress so far so again um I
13:56
I would recommend Scott’s always been great to work with reach out to him if you’d like organize a
14:02
tour all right um I’d love to uh pass the microphone to Emy and anyone from
14:08
Chesterfield to discuss some of your recent uh developments uh Emy why don’t you take it away first um about some
14:14
connections to Carter Park yeah absolutely um so I’m Emy Richards I’m the Parks and Recreation
14:20
manager for the town of Ashland Virginia um so Carter Park is the Northern Trail head of the Fall Line Trail um and we at
14:29
Carter Park for those who aren’t familiar um we have a pretty large outdoor Seasonal Pool um and a lot of
14:35
other amenities there so we anticipate that that parking there is plenty of parking and there’s some restrooms there
14:41
as well um we’ll get pretty busy and so we wanted to make sure that we are connecting Fall Line Trail users with
14:47
additional amenities in town as well as you know bringing tourism into um the
14:54
center of the universe so we are working on a kind of Fall Line Trail extension
15:01
that will take people from Carter Park up north on street is more of kind of a
15:07
quieter residential street and then um into town via a a left if you can
15:15
picture it if you’re familiar with Ashlin roads on Robinson Street which takes you to the back of our Regional
15:20
Library um which is adjacent to the railroad tracks and so um and in the heart of our downtown so really um in
15:27
about a mile uh connects Trail users with our downtown spaces um we are
15:33
planning a public art installation that will serve as kind of a functional piece
15:38
of art um adjacent to the library as like our uh trail head in town um and so
15:46
we’re working with our public art commission and our Parks and Recreation committee to uh begin a RFP process to
15:53
get um some local artists uh interested in developing a piece for us there um
15:58
we’re think some type of like um artsy bench um so it’s both functional but uh
16:04
a very much a placemaking space um other there will be signage of course kind of
16:11
uh directing people up Maple Street um the entirety of Maple Street will have either Trail or we’ve uh or sidewalk um
16:19
and then as I said it’s also very residential um and and by Trail I mean the are the standard 10- foot wide pave
16:26
path which is what you see here um in this photo of Carter Park um and um yeah
16:33
so we’re just very excited that we’ll be able to connect users with uh the
16:39
amenities downtown and um also hopefully alleviate some you know parking issues
16:46
um that we could see on those busy warm summer pool days um with mixed use at
16:52
the park um so it’s a win-win that’s really great and I I didn’t know about the the art too so
16:58
that’s that’s going to be excellent I I will say that I think most once this is all said and
17:04
done a lot of Trail users who are driving to access the part or the trail would likely want to be closer to
17:11
downtown because of the amenity so um I think the coordination and kind of providing good access to the trail and
17:18
then good access to the pool is um is going to work out really nicely agreed
17:26
thanks I um I see a few folks from chest field though I think mostly from the
17:31
park side of things Stuart or um Chris can you speak to the active
17:38
Transportation plan and if not I can share what I
17:46
know all right well um yeah oh go ahead yeah Bradley I I would recommend you
17:52
going ahead I don’t have much information to share at this point just fine um Barb Smith uh who was on uh sort
17:59
of our transportation lead in Chesterfield on the fall line uh we’ve been working with here for the past few months and have known that the county
18:06
has been planning to update its bikeways and trails plan now called the active Transportation plan um the bikeways and
18:13
trails plan originally passed in 2015 is part of the foundation of the fall line overall it uh it allowed us to to look
18:21
at prioritized lines on a map that became the backbone for the fall line um
18:26
that crossed County city lines which is was excellent uh progress that was only made possible 10 years ago and uh
18:33
they’re updating that plan and have started their first round of surveys so if you’re a Chesterfield resident or I
18:39
would say if you have a lot of experience with active transportation and you can uh provide them some uh
18:45
Insight their survey is currently live on their website and if you have trouble finding it I’d love to get it to you uh
18:51
we certainly are working with the county to get the surveys responded to by County residents but also we want to
18:57
make sure we do some public events too whether it’s uh open houses or a happy hour or something get kind of some some
19:04
resident and Community Connection to this process because I think this is only the first of probably two or three
19:10
Community engagement opportunities as they develop this plan out um really looking forward to seeing how this plan
19:17
can really codify and build on the spur study that they did uh at the end of
19:23
2023 I believe to to Really prioritize getting network connections to and from
19:28
the fall line in Chesterfield and I think my next slide is open updates from any of our locality
19:34
Partners or anything we missed at the state
19:42
level I saw Ryan on here um is there do you have any updates about your
19:48
henrico’s administrative um sections hey hey Bradley um Everybody uh really
19:55
update is just hrio county is still working on um kind of the our final RightWay Acquisitions for uh the
20:02
remaining seven sections of the falline trail through hreo County um but we’re
20:07
getting close I think we’re we’re getting close on on several of them and the goal is to um at least get started
20:13
on the the final or I guess the Lakeside pieces um hopefully by kind of the end
20:19
of the spring um and then from there moving northward I think everything kind
20:24
of falls into place after that so um yeah that that’s that’s pretty much the update just trying to lock down that the
20:30
rest of the right way that we need wonderful keep plugging away thank
20:36
you all right well I can move on um I have just a couple of slides here um
20:42
about essentially the coordination of a few Transportation projects and and
20:47
economic development projects in the northern portion of the Ci’s U segment
20:53
of the fall line um it’s probably no secret that we the original alignment for the the fall line as it as it heads
21:00
south from Brian Park um heads East on Brooklyn Parkway and then uses a large
21:06
section of Brook Road as it heads into downtown and about a year or so ago um
21:13
Sports Backers took the opportunity to really coordinate meetings with um
21:18
different departments at the city to to consider the opportunity to realign a section of the fall line to the Diamond
21:24
District and um what I think of a sort of like Brewer old school Brewery Row in
21:29
Richmond or near hardywood um like thinking of that road being um Overbrook
21:36
uh the economic development placemaking kind of the transportation to entertainment districts uh is an
21:42
opportunity that really needed to be considered and that more or less has been incorporated as an option for the
21:47
fall lines alignment some people call it the fall line alignment and some people call it a Spur but essentially both
21:53
alignments are currently live in the design process in the city of Richmond ultimately we’d like for a decision to
21:59
be made that helps to kind of coordinate some of of the administrative and and grant funding opportunities to actually
22:05
build the trail out uh but uh I want to dig a little bit into the the portion
22:11
that would be connecting the fall line to the Diamond District which would um
22:19
uh reroute to use more of Hermitage Road South South of the um five-way
22:25
intersection at what I think of as kitchen 64 but now to call it brick house uh and Westwood Hermitage and uh
22:32
Brooklyn Parkway it would head south on Hermitage Road and cross under
22:38
95 uh across Robin Hood Road and then hit the Diamond District parcel which is
22:45
um where the sportsbackers stadium and our office is right now so this is a
22:50
cross-section taken from the city’s official design standards which were uh
22:57
uh the the VHB was the the design team that took the lead on this um it shows
23:04
essentially that the city’s vision is to put a shared use path whether it’s the fall line Trail or the spur on Hermitage
23:12
Road and the this is facing the crosssection cross-section is facing north so the west side is on the left
23:19
here on the screen um it shows that within the the city’s current ride of way there is room for a 12T shared use
23:28
path which is um the um meets the minimum standards actually a little bit
23:33
more than the minimum standard and the design guide uh with the six foot buffer and keeps the four-lane road on
23:39
Hermitage Road um essentially all parties have uh or essentially this is
23:45
the the city’s official vision for what the fall line should look like on Hermitage Road in this Corridor
23:52
and um we want uh we want to make sure that that gets adopted kind of across
23:58
the city and becomes um if if this becomes the official uh vision for what the city for
24:05
what the Fallen should look like it would incor it would need to necessitate some other
24:10
actions um moving on to that the there
24:15
are two proposed roundabout projects along the fall line alignment uh just
24:21
north of the Diamond District this is the one that’s a little bit farther north uh this one’s been in the works for a long time and has a little bit of
24:28
notoriety because it was where the AP Hill statue was removed two years ago I guess now three years ago um the align
24:37
the after its design process which had a couple of meetings um the the city and
24:44
kimley Horn chose the a roundabout as the alternative that makes the most
24:49
sense for this particular intersection and the I I actually I can’t recall or
24:55
I’m not sure which if the city has made a decision they’ve ch an alternative three as uh there were two other
25:01
Alternatives that I’m not showing here that um uh alternative three round about
25:06
being the ideal um solution to this intersection the C their design has not
25:12
Incorporated the fall line the way that I think everyone understands the fall line to be which is a sh wide shared use
25:18
path on one side of the road um and so we just need to flag additional
25:24
coordination really needs to be added to this in a corridor kind of view because
25:30
if roundabout is the right solution it needs to be moved a little off center in the intersection to make room for the
25:35
fall line so that it’s built right the first time and that we’re not trying to fit the fall line in in an awkward way
25:41
you know at some different time um there I don’t have a screenshot for it but there is another um proposed roundabout
25:50
at that five-way intersection at Westwood Hermitage Brooklyn Parkway that is a quirky intersection as it is it’s
25:56
very difficult intersection to go through as a bike writer um that intersection does roundabout conceptual
26:03
design is not to this level of um of design so I I didn’t really want to show it but every consideration that I’ve
26:10
seen so far also does not have the off- center roundabout so when we think about
26:15
if it’s possible and I think from an economic development standpoint quality of life like creating the kind of
26:21
District that we want to see uh and and really we’re talking about active living
26:27
focused entertainment and and living in this area um uh the the the need there is so
26:35
important I think it’s worth making the recommendation the fall line should go to the Diamond District that’s my opinion if we’re going to do it we need
26:41
to make sure these two roundabouts really get designed correctly and that all of these projects get coordinated in
26:47
a way that supports the necessary work with VT to get fall line under 95 that’s
26:54
going to require its own design process that I’m not an expert in but but I I I
26:59
know it’s called The Stars program um some of that work has already started but because there’s an off-ramp there
27:06
and there’s a narrow Corridor uh the design there is going to be very uh needs to be very intentional and detail
27:12
oriented and it’s going to take probably some time to get that um spun up so I
27:17
just wanted to sort of flag that this is like like a multi- departmental cross
27:22
departmental um uh project that needs to be thought of holistically and instead
27:28
of one little project here and one little project there and recognizing um that we do actually have a lot of room
27:34
to work with currently for the fall line Trail in north side I think that’s my only slide my only two slides on this
27:42
I’d like to kind of seek opportunities in the future for friends of the fall line meetings to kind of show how these
27:48
things need to be coordinated um you know kind of alternatively to the design
27:53
build phases in the North and the South design build and correct if I’m wrong um
27:59
technical experts but design build is designed uh to be used as an efficient implementation process where the um
28:08
built environment supports it because it’s very easy it’s a very easy process this is not an easy place to just put a
28:14
trail and that’s uh we have multiple processes happening with different consultant teams different city leads
28:21
and we want to make sure we’re taking the opportunity to make sure all of our different leaders are coordinated on a
28:27
big vision um so this is kind of where our heads space has been for the past few months related to The Diamond
28:34
District I’m happy to open this up to conversation or questions if you have any before I move
28:42
on hey brownley just to clarify is this this is Ted um is this image uh
28:49
sportsbackers produced or is this the city made this is absolutely not Sports Packers produced this is from the
28:54
official design guide that was um on the design the the city’s design excuse me
29:01
the city’s Diamond District website so uh they call it the design standards and
29:07
um Laura Thomas from the sustainability office was the one who kind of ran point on this the development of this last
29:13
summer when they did a bunch of community engagement that was the the community engagement that happened last
29:19
summer resulted in this document great so it says Fallen Trail right there on it it’s great yeah that’s it does in the
29:26
in the it’s a long document it does describe it in a couple of different ways in the document as either a Spur or
29:31
the trail um but so that is not 100% decided but certainly it’s supported by
29:38
the document yeah cool all right thanks and uh when I get a second I’ll actually
29:43
um I can drop the link to that in the chat just for everyone’s access
29:49
great thank you all right well I’m happy to move
29:56
on okay I just want to do a kind of a quick update on some of the work that we’ve been doing to get the information
30:01
and engagement uh with the fall line Trail um out over the past few months so just yesterday I had the opportunity uh
30:08
to work with or to to present about the fall line to at the general assembly um for the past four years I’ve been
30:14
working as a co-organizer for the Virginia outdoor recreation caucus um it
30:22
has uh it’s this I in 2020 right on the on the cusp of the lockdown for the
30:29
pandemic I presented um a very basic you know at the time we the fall line was
30:35
not up to speed to to the degree that it is today I I gave a a quick presentation about the fall line at this very meeting
30:42
uh and we had about eight people in the room yesterday we had over 50 people in the room and eight of them were uh
30:49
senators or delegates uh we had agency heads from DCR we had uh policy
30:55
officials from V do um our our whole state team was there um it’s I think the
31:01
excitement and the around outdoor Recreations is booed by the Fall Line Trail and there’s some recognition of
31:08
kind of the gravity of the of this project it’s really got a lot of stuff going for it and it’s really uh a bit of
31:14
a moment of Pride really to say like we’ve gotten to this point and I had pictures to show our uh our Senators and
31:19
delegates of progress on the trail and kind of the big picture that we’re trying to achieve with um world class
31:25
amenities and connections and Cat was there Cath one of the co uh has I think also a
31:31
four-year co- planner for this uh Recreation caucus as
31:36
well and we had the fall line Trailblazer now I think it’s its third year um uh every year we do the um
31:46
fundraising Drive associated with some of our fall line limited edition merch
31:51
and uh we also do a a noost walk of various publicly accessible sections of
31:57
the tra we have always committed to at least having one in the northern section one in the southern section and one in the
32:03
middle um so we have a picture from each of those today um in the nor in the the
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top picture we uh actually very appreciative of having Harold Dyson
32:14
who’s the project manager for the for design build one on the vot side as well as Branch civil um on I can’t remember
32:21
the gentleman’s name on the left but the one of the folks on the on the design build team kind of give us a walk
32:26
through of the design build phase one we had about 40 people there on a really
32:32
cold morning uh but it was really cool to have kind of exclusive access to that and appreciate the VT team showing us
32:39
this is at the GUI Church cross section you can see on the upper right hand part of that picture that’s where the
32:44
existing Hanover uh County Park um we actually we’re probably standing where people had previously been able to park
32:50
uh cars and um but they got they got to talk about some of the detail of grading
32:56
and the time lack and as we’re we’re looking North here but as you look South uh from goth
33:03
church it was not paved at the time and I think I’m I’m actually not sure if it’s paved now um from Natalie’s
33:10
presentation recognizing that I think it’s just stone at this point just Stone got
33:16
it uh but anyway thanks Scott for helping to orchestrate that and your team has been great to work
33:21
with um the bottom two pictures are actually from Brian Park or from our middle our middle hike um the bottom
33:28
left is at the um pedestrian hybrid signal so the the push button activated
33:35
pedestrian Crossing or it’s a push button activated red light across Lakeside Avenue um on the kind of the
33:42
distant part of that picture is Brian Park and behind the view is sportsbackers new headquarters in
33:47
Lakeside um and then on the bottom right picture on on this particular hike we
33:53
took the opportunity to both both hike the um the city’s
33:59
um current design of where they the the trail will be planned to go through Brian Park and we also hiked some
34:05
Alternatives that have been proposed by the community this is actually a picture from the alternative walking on some of
34:11
the back roads in the park that are dark not connected anything and I I’m not
34:17
joking at all there were 45 people here who are on this walk with us we had multiple cars drive uh uh through us
34:24
through our group um and I and did not plant them they were related to the uh
34:30
to the big market and people accessing different parts of the park uh for the big Market but um it just uh distills
34:38
the the benefits of the current proposed alignment for the fall line through
34:43
Brian Park um serving pedestrians by building dedicated biking and walking um
34:50
paths through the park that don’t exist now where U pedestrians and bicycles are not currently served uh through the main
34:57
part of the park we uh and that was from October
35:05
also in October we led a uh tree planting in Brian Park uh this is
35:11
actually the tree we planted eight um uh Hardwoods native Hardwoods and this is
35:17
not near the where the fall line is currently proposed because we don’t want to interfere with potential construction
35:24
this year and just have the trees that we plant get ripped out by heavy equipment so this is in a in in direct
35:30
advisement by the friends of Brian Park and um Richmond Park staff we uh we
35:36
chose a spot closer to the main entrance uh in in an area that could use
35:41
additional shade and and storm water retention um but we certainly prop or we
35:48
certainly are prepared to come back after the the construction of the fall line through Brian Park to plant in a
35:54
you know the right orientation and the right distance from the trail uh shade bearing trees for trail users in the
36:01
future um we actually have some of our bike walk champions in here and Natalie is here even before she joined Sports
36:07
Packer staff um she was a bike walk Champion uh and a graduate of our training academy and we have truthfully
36:15
developed really great relationships with the friends of Brian Park and look forward to working with them more in the
36:21
future some up upcoming opportunities we have a happy hour tomorrow which just kind of like a kickoff to the year uh
36:27
want Natalie to meet more of our our our um volunteers and Advocates and and
36:33
folks who’ve gone through our Academy anyone here is welcome to join us we’re at Boston at 5 o’ and uh it’ll be pretty
36:40
pretty casual but you know we’ll talk about kind of our plans for 20125 um our quarterly service program
36:47
we are supporting groundwork RVA at Oak Grove playground um Oak Grove and the uh
36:52
bellme Community Center are very proximal to the fall line alignment in South Richmond and um the we have a
37:01
great working relationship and recognize that the fall Line’s really going to benefit that community in a big way uh
37:07
so the the playground and park around that area um is going to be um a really
37:12
highlighted spot for people to get to Via the fall line and um so we’re happy
37:18
to work with them that’s on Monday and certainly um we have information on our
37:23
social media and website if you are looking for getting involved with that uh and certainly just reach out to
37:29
Natalie and me if you’d like to get involved and our app Annual Bike walk Academy is um open for applications we
37:37
are uh We’ve largely settled on running our our Academy program in the spring so
37:43
this year we’ll run from February to March and um applications close towards the end of this month if you know anyone
37:50
who loves biking and walking advocacy they want to get involved you often hear like hey how can I how can I help this
37:56
bike Lan how can I learn more you know I I have time or I have interest um direct
38:01
them to us because we’d love to help them get plugged in and it’s really the backbone for the success that bike walk
38:07
RVA has had over the past 10 years really 12 years and we wouldn’t have gotten the the original bikeways and
38:14
trails plan past if it hadn’t been for the Academy that we did in Chesterfield in 2015 and uh we want to keep that
38:21
success moving forward we are working on two grant
38:27
opportunities at the moment and uh we actually have someone with our our local um Association of Realtors I don’t want
38:33
to put Samantha on the spot here but um we’ve been happy to work with um with
38:39
the Richmond area Realtors at the opportunity to seek funds from the National Association of Realtors they
38:45
have some funds available if we’re if we’re able if we’re if we’re selected to receive them we would use the funds to
38:52
um pay for placemaking amenities at our office or what we really want to say is
38:57
the like the Lakeside Trail head to the fall line um it could be art it could be benches we have some we actually really
39:03
have some um developing ideas for the art that could be installed at uh uh at
39:08
that site and our meeting with artists and sculptors um on an ongoing basis
39:14
right now and for a second grant program that the National Association of Realtors has we’ like to seek funds for
39:21
Fall Line Trail coming signs uh in all kinds of different modalities so one you
39:26
could get yard signs for people to put them in their yards I think people really love Flags uh this past Monument
39:32
Avenue 10K we gave out 10K flags of people along the Route and people absolutely love them um I think people
39:38
would really get behind having Fall Line Trail um flags and uh a lesson that we
39:45
learned from the Metropolitan Branch Trail is you can actually wrap utility poles with signage and we um we’d love
39:52
to develop some of that um that kind of technique because it’ be very easy to
39:58
get them in sight or on site in various places without taking up um you know
40:03
property or or getting run over by cars or other things like that or blocking pedestrian access on sidewalks so we uh
40:10
we’re hopeful for those for those funds and thanks Samantha for help um kind of lining that up do you want to share
40:16
anything that I that I missed you certainly not you certainly don’t have to no that’s it we love to spend uh
40:22
money that’s available so excited to partner with you guys wonderful and then uh this is a the the one at the top here
40:29
is a much bigger one it’s a Chesapeake Bay trust and EPA Grant with a few other
40:34
big agencies that are involved um we’re going to be applying for and partnering with our a few of our city Richmond City
40:41
agencies a couple of uh partner nonprofits in order to seek up to
40:47
$175,000 for trees and rain Gardens along the fall line alignment um certainly I’m I’m receiving advice about
40:54
where those should be located and how they can get peppered into to existing projects from Department of Public
41:00
Utilities and parks in particular um you know it’s it’s a bit of a uh first step
41:07
of us kind of going for some of the bigger stuff in the fall line Vision plan but you know for year for now two
41:13
years we’ve really been talking about how the momentum and the the opportunity
41:18
for changing the built environment that will come with installing the fall line creates opportunities for new trees to
41:24
be planted creates opportunities for new storm water management projects and one of the great things that we took away
41:29
from Indianapolis is rain Gardens and how many I think they have uh upwards of 20 rain Gardens along their 10 Mile
41:36
section in downtown um they’re beautiful they seem to be effective um and really
41:44
like from a uh when when targeted in the right place can be very effective at at
41:49
reducing storm water which is something that we have some trouble with in some sections of the fall line so it’s going
41:54
to be multifaceted and and we have a couple of months to put that Grant application in but it’s in process
42:01
now if you ever come across ideas like this to be able to seek funds certainly we’d love to either support them uh with
42:08
letters of support or find people to carry them if if if we’re not the right organization to to implement the the
42:14
grant but we certainly see ourselves in a role of coordinating and supporting this kind of stuff for the next uh
42:19
foreseeable future again uh if you are not familiar with the fall line Vision plan uh I
42:26
think we’ve now given out almost all of our paper copies and are about to make another round of them um we gave a few
42:32
out the at the outdoor recreation caucus last night um uh it is the basis for how
42:37
we’re seeking These funds and how we’re picking these projects so um uh just want to kind of reiterate that and our
42:44
next meeting is in April any other thoughts or discussion
42:49
before we close I see your hand Elliot yeah this is just a random
43:01
sorry about that um just because you mentioned sort of Raiden Gardens and trees and stuff like that I spoke at
43:07
there’s a an organization called the ches be Bay funders Network which sounds very much like it’s just a funders
43:14
network of groups that work specifically on the bay but really it’s more like a watershed kind of I guess Vision or view
43:20
they’re they’re pretty small and they’re based out of Maryland but I spoke at their um kind of annual Retreat and I
43:25
think when I talked about trails and sort of their interest in funding Trails not a lot of them are plugged into like
43:33
Transportation sort of funding projects or even sort of recreation but all that a lot of the discussion on sort of
43:39
climate resilience and um you know smaller scale projects like Raiden Gardens Etc definitely seem to Peak an
43:46
interest and a bunch of the funders actually are Virginia based I think there’s at least one or two in Charlottesville and U maybe one or two
43:53
in Hampton Roads so I’ll I’ll put the um the link in the chat but they’re
43:58
definitely you know they’re not going to help fund like big or I don’t think any of those funders are going to help fund
44:03
big like sections of the fall line but I think for a lot of those placemaking and um specifically the kind of climate
44:10
resilience type projects I think they’d be great so I will put that in the chat I appreciate that um I will say the
44:18
uh the the fall line itself is not an environmental project it’s a trail project but we have a lot of
44:24
environmental opportunities and my background is en enironmental studies and I you know I chose active
44:29
transportation to be my kind of personal environmental Focus um there’s work for
44:35
us to do to to kind of forecast things like VMT reduction opportunities that the fall line might be able to implement
44:41
VMT for those who don’t have a technical background in this is vehicle miles traveled it’s a it’s a it’s the metric
44:48
for how much driving is happening and um if people bike more and also if people
44:55
uh live closer to work and live closer to their destinations they kind of like have a more Trail oriented lifestyle uh
45:01
the environmental impact of reductions in VMT is the opportunities are like
45:07
potentially really big and you know it’s no surprise that at the in Brian Park
45:12
environmental issues are kind of being touted as a reason why the fall line should not be built through Brian Park
45:18
the we did a walkr of this in our previous Friends of the fall line so check out that recording if you’d like
45:23
to do um check out kind of our review of of those um concerns but you know I think that it’s
45:30
an area that we could explore uh and certainly we’d love to work with uh you said it was Chesapeake Bay funders
45:37
Network got it yeah um Y and Megan’s the Ed and um uh forgetting the woman’s name
45:45
who runs vcn she and the woman who run yeah Mary and her know each other pretty well and Mary was on the panel as well
45:52
more to talk about solar and and other kind of things but um but yeah they would be great I think Network
45:58
for Sports Backers bwalk RVA to get in front of for sure that’s great hey just to kind of conclude my thought
46:05
ultimately I would love for there to be a Statewide um uh strategic commitment to
46:10
Trails being an environmental benefit right and like the at the moment the
46:16
environmental Community is very much split around this less than a mile section in Brian park there are some environmental people who are very Pro
46:22
there are some environmental people who are very negative I would say that maybe some of those concerns are not not actually environmental and they’re kind
46:28
of in the guise of the environment but the um at at the very least I think that some coordination could happen at the
46:34
Statewide level vcn Sierra Club uh Chesapeake Bay and others um to
46:40
understand like this is actually a major commitment in an in an environmental uh adjacent project and it’s it’s not about
46:47
like the removal of One Tree being bad for the environment so it it’s there’s
46:53
work to be done in that space and we’re working on that so I appreciate that um
46:58
that lead hey Brantley Stuart kuk just want
47:05
to tell everybody I put the link for the Chester fuel active Transportation survey in the
47:11
chat thank you so much and while while I’m at it I will I think I still have it
47:17
up I might not um if you just do an internet search for Diamond District
47:24
design standards it’s the first thing that pops up uh it’s a big PDF that was designed with or put together by
47:30
consultants for the city and Laur Thomas was the administrator for that on on the
47:36
city staff side all right well U hearing no other
47:44
discussion I appreciate everyone’s time this morning I’ll have this recording up as soon as possible I can take time to
47:50
do the rendering and everything but certainly by tomorrow it should be up on the sportsbackers YouTube page and the
47:55
fall line Trail website fall on tral.org have a great
48:01
morning thanks thank you everybody bye
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