Friends of the Fall Line Quarterly Meeting – October 2024

Transcript

0:03 – all right good morning it’s October 2nd um 2024 I’m Brantley Tyndall the director of bike walk RVA and uh this is our

0:10quarterly meeting of the friends of the fall line it’s an informal group that’s more sort of community oriented that

0:17typically follows the more administrative meeting the um fall line working group that the Central Virginia

0:22Transportation Authority uh administers each month um we’re going to provide some project updates and uh have a

0:30little bit of a discussion and some announcements about upcoming events um I’m going to get my presentation started

0:36now want to say we looks like we’ve got representation from most of our um uh

0:42seven partner localities and good to see folks from Chesterfield and Colonial

0:48Heights Petersburg Richmond Ashland uh

0:55henrao and uh Central Virginia Transportation Authority plan RBA so thanks everyone for being here navigate

1:02to my presentation

1:27here okay let me know if you can’t see this um but here we go I probably should have had this up earlier um funding

1:34status so we’ve actually had a slight change in the funding status recently uh most of this information is not new uh

1:40we we’ve raised about $280 million from many many sources uh from the federal

1:46level down to the local level with the largest single contributor of funding to the fall line project being the Central

1:52Virginia Transportation Authority I just bumped that number up today from 123 million to

1:58124.5 because the uh since our last meeting the cbta approved funding for

2:05its wayf finding um they had um I want to say it was 2022 late 2022 we first

2:11started working on the wayfinding uh the Central Virginia Transportation Authority dedicated some initial funding

2:17to do the planning work and to get that that process started that of course took the bulk of 2023 and early 2024 and now

2:25that that uh material is uh completed and available on the Central Virginia Transportation authorities website if

2:31you’d like to see the The Branding um I’ve shared it a couple of times over the past quarters um we now have funding

2:38set aside to create the materials and install them on an ongoing basis as sections of the fall line come

2:45online is um Phil or Chad you want to add anything to that I miss

2:53anything no you did a great job thanks uh some project updates so um the

3:02uh we actually have asphalt on the ground now we would love to see that uh this is a picture from the project

3:07manager Scott fer who sometimes joins us on these calls uh this is the section

3:12north of guthi church that has P actually this section might not be that section um they’ve got pavement on the

3:18ground uh in various sections in this Five Mile Stretch this uh we affectionately call it DB1 for the

3:24design build one phase from the southern section of Ashland all the way through Hanover

3:30uh a new bridge across the Chickahominy and the northern quarter mile of henrio

3:35County and being administered in as one project the um we had the pleasure to

3:41join uh Chad and Scott uh from Central Virginia Transportation Authority and Scott fiser the project manager from B

3:47do on a field trip to to see the progress um earlier this summer and uh

3:53they’re moving quite quickly kind of fun um and we I’ll have a little bit more to

3:58share about that uh on on a subsequent slide but I just want to I’ve been asked to continually remind people that this

4:04Trail is currently an active construction zone so do not access it unless given uh authority to do so and I

4:13almost no one has gotten that so just keep that in mind you know there’s heavy equipment there’s unsure footing um and

4:19there are neighbors who are um at this point not expecting people other than V not employees to be using the trail

4:25design Bill two the largest section of the entire Trail would be administered as one uh phase it brings up the

4:32southern section so from Petersburg a new bridge across the aptic river um

4:37into Chesterfield at Virginia State University then into Colonial Heights for a long section and then into CH back

4:44into Chesterfield uh terminating at Route 10 in Chester uh it’s just under

4:4910 miles actually uh that’s this has been an ongoing process on on sort of on the back end the paperwork side of of

4:56this uh contract Administration um last time the RFQ the request for

5:02qualifications had gone out this is sort of u a procurement process that vot does

5:09to kind of get interested parties uh through the first level of vetting um they’re now going to that second level

5:15which is a request for proposals um that’s going out this week just announced today so very excited uh to

5:20see that that’s still moving forward and it’s still on track for the whole project to really begin uh in terms of

5:27like having a bidder selected and and do groundbreaking early next year um it’s going to be a big phase and hopefully it

5:34is developed as quickly as uh the design build one phase has been that’ be um

5:40Lightning Fast uh ground was broken in Brian Park last month in uh in August uh to a much

5:47of plume and a lot of um discussion so we’ll talk a little bit more about that on a subsequent slide uh but that fourth

5:53locality brings us into um just over half of our partner localities have now

5:58engaged in construction on this project and uh you know it’s it’s a fun Milestone to hit that you know this is

6:05just not not more than a year ago the there wasn’t really much anything on the ground and now we have um uh we really

6:12have U the bulk of our locality Partners working together to get this Trail built um I got some additional clarification

6:19today from Chesterfield they have four segments along their route one phase which is so north of the Terminus of

6:26design Bill 2 um that are underway in some various state of Planning and Development um so they’re funded they’re

6:34they’re going through some some um design processes and we should hear much

6:39more about that over the next few uh months I’ll say all of our locality

6:45partners and the Central Virginia Transportation Authority have a fall line page on their website if you want to dig into the details about how these

6:52uh segments are being administered how the funding is being um delineated and shared among the region um you you can

7:00dig into your heart’s content and we certainly can be a resource to you if you were would like to find out more details again the we finding plan is

7:07complete and the Central Virginia Transportation Authority has over the past I would say half a year really

7:12started to look at um future Arrangements related to management and

7:18the maintenance of the forthcoming Fall Line Trail uh I put those words separately because they’re actually very

7:24different but interrelated things management being um you know our locality partners are looking to have an

7:31outside party um program and oversee various uses of uh the fall line and

7:37then maintenance is typically used to mean Hardscape or or um like Landscaping

7:43Maintenance the maintenance of asphalt the maintenance of plants and other kind of um heartscape that’s in the in the

7:51the corridor um so that work is is ongoing at and the the discussions of

7:56that largely take place at the fall line working group um recognizing that the Central Virginia trans Transportation

8:02Authority does not include Colonial Heights and Petersburg so there I I do

8:07want to give everyone credit for working nicely together but it’s a those decisions will probably be just a little

8:12bit bigger than the cbta um in its own

8:18territory and love to open it up I’m sure that I’ve missed some details and I know we have people representing our

8:24localities here is there anything that you’d like to share uh about developments in your area

8:35aha correct I should update the the the total estimate um though I think I’m G

8:40to uh I’m going to look to be provided that number before I put that in in writing somewhere

8:49Joe all right I can move on uh Brian Park so this is uh if you

8:55read the newspaper you you watch local media um you see seen that there’s been a lot of discussion about Brian Park uh

9:02the there it is in some ways the one of the easiest to to administer sections of

9:07the fall line it’s about a 3/4 of a mile section of uh pave Trail that’s proposed

9:13through Brian Park I’ll show you a map in another slide um it is entirely city-owned it is a a place that’s

9:20largely used for recreation and and even for transportation now for people biking and walking uh and um

9:29all that said there is uh a lot of passion about various elements of the design and uh the potential impacts of

9:36the trail being developed through the park uh whether the trail uses Green Space or existing pavement whether trees

9:43uh can be removed and kind of at what threshold is that acceptable um what um

9:50design user should the trail be U made to to serve the most is it meant to be

9:55Recreation is it meant to be bicyclists is it meant to be people walking um and the inclusion of things like um

10:03transportation and and access to the park for people with disabilities people in the park who maybe um don’t feel

10:10comfortable in park settings unless they’re in a very visible place so I just want to say that uh this is an

10:15ongoing conversation and what I think we should do as advocates and I’m and my role as an advocate is to talk through

10:21these issues and be transparent kind of cast light on all these different elements because at the end of the day

10:26um all of our city Partners all of our regional Partners know that no infrastructure project ever has made

10:32everyone happy and we have to be able to move forward with compromises and I think that our city Partners have done a

10:38great job hearing all the different uh proposals all the different elements of of good design and who this Trail should

10:45serve and and and ways to mitigate impact and um made the best compromise

10:51that they can so um in order to to kind of provide some authenticity to that discussion I’d like to change um pitches

10:59this over to Grady Hart here who’s the little guy in the back you can kind of swish him with your fingers if you if

11:04you look at it uh but he is a been an on the ground leader in the Northside Community that I think can provide a bit

11:11of a an update about how we’ve gotten here and what the what the various kinds

11:16of discussions that have taken place over the past really like multiple years in North Side um to talk about how we

11:22got here so take it away gry as he’s coming off mute this is the

11:29time um uh appearing at the friends of the fallone line because he did actually give an update after this meeting back

11:35in October of 2022 that is correct awesome thank you

11:41Brantley and thank you all for uh letting me be here again so uh for those who don’t know or just as a refresher my

11:48name is Grady Hart uh I serve as the president of the rosale civic association so we are on the north side

11:54of the city proper in the Third District and are one of about half a dozen I there’s maybe seven Civic associations

12:02and neighborhoods that uh in the Third District of this city where the fall

12:08line Trail will uh touch directly and so one of the things that I’ve spent the

12:14last several years doing is to build sort of a coalition of Third District

12:20Civic associations uh including those half dozen or so that are directly involved

12:27here uh and that will be irly touched by the route uh so before I go any further

12:32on that um just a little bit about me personally and my own motivation coming to this group so I bike virtually

12:40everywhere um you know Richmond I think has come a long way in terms of being more bikable have a long ways to go and

12:45Fall Line Trail is going to be a big part of that but for me personally I get around most places by a bicycle uh I am

12:53also working on my PhD right now at VCU in urban and Regional policy and my

12:59research focus is specifically on practices to improve pedestrian and

13:05cyclist uh mobility and safety in particular uh and then one other point

13:10is if that wasn’t enough my parents actually live just outside of Ashland where I grew up and they are right on

13:17the fall line Trail so one of the few places that I do still drive is to ashin

13:23to visit them I’m very much looking forward to when this Trail is at the point where I can bike to go see my

13:29parents and probably go down to being a onecar household at that point fingers crossed still got to convince the

13:35girlfriend on that one um so uh and then lastly I’m in Brian Park always like

13:41just all the time I walk my dog there I bike through there I am uh you know in

13:48there for the farmers market every week so I love Brian Park and it is literally

13:53like it is my backyard as an extension of my backyard so as Brentley mention of

13:59course we know we’re not always going to make everyone happy there has been some uh displeasure with particularly aspects

14:06of the route I don’t think anyone is really opposed to having it go through briyan Park but there are some who are

14:13disagreeing with the particular route um and frankly I think a lot of those

14:18conversations are important to have right when we did a survey and have had

14:24Community organization meetings and as I talk with residents in my neighborhood

14:29the two biggest things that come up from folks as far as what they want to see prioritized in and along the trail are

14:37mitigating the damage to and removal of old growth especially mature trees and

14:45safety making sure that we are building this thing with pedestrian and um

14:50cyclist safety in mind so there’s always going to be a little bit of a trade-off a little bit of a balance between these

14:56and some other priorities that we have and so it’s important for us to just be able to recognize that and uh

15:03acknowledge that yes we want to limit you know any kind of damage to trees we

15:08also want to make sure we’re prioritizing safety for pedestrians and cyclists and I think my biggest takeaway

15:15from the work that the city has done that Sports Backers has done that the friends of Brian Park have done in

15:22creating this route through Brian Park is that it really does both of those things it meets the two biggest

15:27priorities in my mind um and from my conversations with neighbors so

15:34protecting mature trees to my knowledge I I don’t know the exact number but I as

15:40I understand it it’s no more than about a half dozen uh trees or bushes that are getting removed most of them are

15:47non-native and most of them are not as a matter of fact I don’t think any of them are truly mature trees certainly there’s

15:53no native mature trees that I’m aware of um and so to me that’s important to note

16:00and it’s also just really important to be aware that the section that is kind

16:06of been a little bit under Fire from a vocal minority here is currently not

16:12serving pedestrians and cyclists so folks are familiar with Brian Park

16:18there’s a portion where if you want to get from like one of the main parking lots to the uh soccer fields to the

16:27playground to to the farmers market there’s a whole section right there where you are either walking in the

16:33grass which is sometimes a little bit High to be walking through or you are sharing the street with cars and one of

16:41the biggest things that we see in the research is the more that you can remove folks who are on bicycles or who are

16:49pedestrians from sharing Road space with cars that is one of the biggest things

16:54that you can do for safety to improve safety of all Road users

16:59and so to me that is really the biggest thing providing that pedestrian and

17:04cyclist access more safely to some of the best amenities in the park again you

17:11your soccer fields your playground uh where the uh Farmers Market is held this

17:17accomplishes that and it does so while also leveraging the dollars that are

17:22going to fund this portion of the trail so it’s meeting a big need that’s been there for decades so I I’m I’m G to kind

17:30of wrap up here but I do just want to shout out I think City staff deserve a lot of credit here as well as folks on

17:35the city council for really taking their time listening to all feedback and

17:42ultimately following the feedback and advice from our both working

17:47professionals so folks who are urban planners folks who are in urban forestry and who have weighed in on this

17:54and also from the what I would call The Quiet majority right there’s a Vo local minority but the quiet majority overall

18:01is very supportive of this route and I think City staff and folks in city council really deserve a lot of credit

18:08for really taking the time to listen to that group as well um and again what I’m

18:14hearing from folks and certainly uh folks in my neighborhood and other neighborhoods in the Third District is

18:21we’re very excited that Brian Park has bro Broken Ground on the trail and we are ready for it to continue heading

18:28into the city proper so we stand at the ready for that and um with that I’m

18:33going to leave it open any questions that you all might have for me uh if I’m able to answer them anything that’s more

18:39technical I might kick over to Brantley don’t be

18:47shy I see hopefully this will come up in the recording that KY uh has a party popper I think she’s having

18:54fun all right well Brentley this is Jake just a real quick comment um Adel Edward

19:01called and for folks that don’t know Adel is the uh project manager for that segment in um for the city he’ called me

19:09yesterday asking about you know if I knew anything about all the H of blue and you know I I you know far more um I

19:16end up learning about the stuff on the ground from you primarily but you know

19:21looking at the plans I think it’s one of the things that’s important in the conversation

19:26with some of the stakeholders and and the folks in the the neighborhood and as someone who used to live in rosale as

19:32well is clearly representing the facts as they are you know the the stuff in

19:38the in the news is saying there’s going to be this mile of New Path and Paving

19:44in the Park which is not accurate um much of it does use the existing roads

19:51to the degree possible um they they could they could use more I should you

19:57know it’s not the full extent but it really misrepresents the the facts um

20:02and that really the back of the napkin um calculation is about a half a mile of

20:09a new of New Path and some of that is where there really isn’t an alternative without being on the roads and those

20:16particular roads contrary to what are said are the ones that are used for traffic in and out of the park for the

20:22soccer fields uh for the farmers market for the uh Pavilion and anything so

20:29there is no way to use part of those roads without conflicting with traffic

20:35and which is already very um you know heavily used at times so you know yeah

20:43there’s always going to be tradeoffs um but I think it’s important that people are aware

20:48that it’s it’s not like these things haven’t been thought through um it’s not

20:53like uh this is just a ribbon of asphalt being built willy-nilly without consideration for all of

21:02that I appreciate that Jake um I actually accus me up nicely I was going to do a quick uh run through of the

21:08alignment as best as possible using Google Street View so I’m going to do that now because I think um this is

21:15actually a useful way for us to explore so we’re currently looking North here at

21:20the more or less the northern portion of the park um if you go toward the distance here uh that takes you down a

21:26hill over the dam and into henco County uh in the Brian Park neighborhood so

21:32people will approach up this hill and this is shelter one uh obviously this is

21:37one of the two main parking lot areas uh within the park and it really is just inside the main entrance pretty much so

21:44this is where a lot of people will access Brian Park um this is the old

21:49bathroom it’s actually um uh almost ready to open is my understanding and I

21:55see Andrew on on the call I’d love for you to to give us update if you have anything but I’ll say that um so the

22:02administration of the new bathroom here is ongoing it’s currently fenced around

22:08uh the site of the groundbreaking was right here uh this is one of the main

22:13park access roads and there is no real way to walk around it now so if you’re running or biking you’re either on the

22:20dirt you can see that’s been used before but that’s not accessible or appropriate for everyone and I often find myself

22:27sharing this space with two car twood Direction uh car traffic which is a it’s

22:32a tight spot to be in and for someone in a wheelchair visiting their family at the playground or at the soccer fields

22:39um it creates a major pinch point so um I I think it’s worth kind of riffing on

22:45the design user here is uh largely pedestrian and an ADA accessible um or

22:52Ada uh needs oriented person where we are advocating for building this Trail a

22:58place where people will use it the most where people are already using the space instead of thinking about the fall line

23:04being oriented towards marginal areas um and so um you know some some of the

23:11opponents will say I think it’s you know I I think there are some good intent behind this but I think that there’s not

23:16necessarily like everything connecting on the best Vision that you know people

23:21like recreational experiences they like going into nature that is absolutely true um but we have a problem a safety

23:28estrian safety problem to solve here and this is the one of the best Solutions that’s um become an opportunity for the

23:34fall line or for the for Brian Park so as we continue South and kind of towards the east we have the playground

23:41obviously a major destination for for young people and families uh how else are they going to get there um uh when

23:49they’re using that parking lot we continue this is actually now towards the main entrance this is the kind of main T

23:56intersection uh this is conv a hairy spot as a pedestrian as well um this is you’ll see here these

24:04are the soccer fields kind of in the distance and this area is actually pretty inaccessible to people biking and

24:10walking I block I regularly block car traffic because I’m walking in the asphalt with nowhere else to go really

24:16uh I currently I mean I certainly could you know weave around some of these

24:21posts and and rocks but um if I’m running it doesn’t make a lot of sense to do that I’d rather just keep them the

24:28car traffic moving at my running pace we have uh tennis and pickle ball

24:34courts soccer fields here in the back and this is the section where uh on

24:42a Saturday morning in 2021 sportsbackers let a hike with um mayor Stony Senator

24:49Tim Kane an Holton uh Su um Hanover supervisor fate Pritchard Clark Mercer

24:56from northam’s uh Governor norland’s office and we were honked at by traffic

25:02because they were trying to get out and we were walking where we were supposed to walk you know facing traffic on on

25:07the edge of the pavement um and it was a shared experience we all knew at that moment that the fall line was going to

25:12solve a problem that exists today um and I want say that parks and their their consultant did a great job

25:19weaving the trail through this area this is on the the um north side of this road

25:25uh to avoid a lot of trees and uh the tree impact I think is about six trees

25:30and uh a quick clarification to um what Grady said I do think one mature native

25:38tree is removed in this plan I don’t want to shy away from that it’s I think it’s a it’s a compromise it’s a

25:43trade-off but it’s worth the uh the impact that we’re going to have with this project uh so here soccer fields

25:50you can see the goals sort of in the the distance here and we’re approaching the other main parking lot in the park so

25:57one of thec concerns that’s come up the concerns are are in these basic categories and this is how they’ve kind

26:03of come in the story line of the the opponent’s kind of narrative around this Trail the first one was don’t touch our

26:09trees and the city did a great job of managing the trees they did a great tree inventory where they not only counted

26:16all the trees but they they logged native versus non-native specimen versus non-s specimen old or mature or not

26:23mature and they were able to weave around signature trees to make the the Le impact there recognizing that shade

26:30is going to be a great amenity for the trail in the future like some of these trees almost all of these trees are

26:35going to be retained and they’re going to create shade for trail users it’s a it’s a great thing so once that

26:42conversation was had sort of wrapped up the next thing became we don’t need new pavement we can use existing roads uh

26:48which is where in this existing Road are are you going to have a you know biking and walking that sharees space with cars

26:55and I’ll show a map on another slide there is there are um existing roads

27:00outside of the or outside of this area on the western side of the park that add a lot of length and don’t have any street lights and um otherwise um don’t

27:08create great connectivity through the park so uh I think that they more or less have not really uh hit a home run

27:16on that point either and I I appreciate actually the the the back of the

27:22envelope estimate Jake because I hadn’t thought about that one but it’s 3/4 of a mile or less of Pavement in a park um

27:29and much more opposition to that we’ve seen at least covered in the paper than the kinds of new pavement that you see

27:35in regular road projects uh so it’s like we’re held to a pretty high standard on that one so if we’ve lost that uh

27:42argument then their next argument is this is going to be dangerous for pedestrians because bike riders are

27:47going to be flying through here and they’re going to hit all the kids playing soccer and I think this this is

27:53an interesting point um there there is going to be Crossing traffic between this um parking lot and the soccer

28:00fields and other destinations in the park Beyond um and we don’t want to have a

28:05situation where we have like patons and and other uh you know fast moving bike

28:10riders uh conflicting with with youth playing soccer and their families and uh

28:18but the but the concept is not I haven’t seen examples of this being a problem elsewhere and when we go to Northern

28:24Virginia you go to Bentonville Arkansas their trails are built specific specifically to connect parks and schools and they’re used by these um by

28:32the same kinds of people and so what what I think is going to end up happening is that peak hour you know we think about this at Transportation

28:37Planning which is actually you know a pitfall of Transportation Planning we build our roads for the busiest times

28:43this is like peak hour planning for trails in a park where a few hours a day uh on you know most days of the week

28:50there are going there’s going to be heavy activity uh related to the soccer fields and crossing here but most of the

28:56time there isn’t going to be that cont conflict and when there is that conflict is the time when bike riders who are

29:02trying to be more recreational uh or they want to avoid the heavy use um of like the big market and soccer they

29:09that’s when they can opt to taking the the outer ring through the park uh to to get a different experience so I T I tend

29:17to think yeah safety actually is important I don’t want to have um you know kind of a casual

29:23um um aversion to that conversation but we should o recognize that the fall line

29:29is going to bring a lot of people in and through the park and things like soccer balls going into the trail is a

29:34relatively easy problem to solve and if we need like crosswalks over the trail put split rail fences that kind of thing

29:41these are not to my knowledge I’m not like putting these into the atmosphere that they need to be done but there’s certainly like there’s a toolbox for

29:48solving these kinds of problems in parks that I look to our experts to kind of bring to that management scenario and I

29:54will say I see your hand Andrew um I’m pretty much done with my tour here so I’m just going to stop sharing and I’d

30:00love for you to provide some feedback and U everyone Andrew is with the city of Richmond parks

30:06department morning brle yeah I wanted just to expand on yes there has been discussions on particularly using Split

30:13Rail and other methods to chaliz traffic particularly in those high traffic areas

30:19um not only to um points of potential conflict but um there is a lot of impact

30:25on those trees from just you know random traffic um throughout the area so we’re

30:31looking to try to find ways to the compaction on those trees um one of the

30:36big mature Oaks that is getting taken out is in the CLI and it’s mainly to

30:43mainly because of um extreme compaction near the bathroom there so um we’re

30:49going to implement um combo of of rewood chipping the area but also putting in

30:55strategic foot real fencing to not let people cross wherever they want to

31:06rather all right I appreciate that um any other discussions about sort of what

31:12we uh what we’ve presented so far and at the end of the day I think um I want to

31:17Echo sort of what Grady said and and I I’ll say it again like a lot of attention has been given to each of

31:22these points and there has to be a choice that’s a compromise and I support

31:28the city’s decision to compromise in the direction of pedestrian safety and and Ada access I forgot to mention the the

31:36where I was just showing between the parking lot and the soccer field is also where that’s the only part of the park

31:42that has street lights uh and and it’s a common discussion is that the park closes after dark like all city parks

31:48and that’s true but as soon as the fall line is completed it’s a transportation project and it will be sorry if you can

31:55hear my dogs barking Transportation projects what roads do

32:02you know that close at night you know it’s going to have to be open um why not the shortest path why not the path that

32:09serves the most users and has street lights uh and Parks director Chris FY made a great point at the groundland

32:15opening that the perception of safety should be something that we really consider uh I don’t want to say that

32:20Brian Park is not a safe place and it’s a it’s a subject that the volunteers in Brian Park really take seriously and I I

32:27think I appreciate that they’ve done a lot of great work to make a great place um but being expected to go the farther

32:35distance on the outside of the Ring of the park in the dark is not going to be a safe experience or a p perceived safe

32:41experience for everyone and that’s not the kind of environment that we want to create for uh for this uh for a project

32:48of this magnitude you still have your hands up Andrew or or I want to make sure

32:58okay great okay back to the

33:16presentation all right so I just uh this is I think my last slide about this particular subject but I just want to

33:21show again uh the discussion of this I’m color blind so you’ll have to forgive me

33:27a little this is the this color the yellow orange green I really don’t know

33:33uh this is more this is the rough um alignment it has it has shifted a little bit based on community input and I you

33:39know I want to give parks and DPW some credit for for making those adjustments but this this parallels this road this

33:46is the soccer fields the soccer parking lot um moves up towards the playground the bathrooms shelter one and crosses

33:53the dam um you can see just clearly how much longer the uh alternative line to

33:59the left is and that line doesn’t access as many of the services it’s not easily

34:05to access via one of the main parking lots um it doesn’t get street lights and

34:11it has a much bigger impact with the big Market which is where the two lines can join at the bottom uh obviously the big

34:18Market is going to be a thing um and and how the fall line uh interrelates with

34:24that on Saturday mornings is something that’s going to need to be managed and and you know I I I’m not recommending

34:29this by any stress but you could see how like a slight adjustment of the bounds

34:34of that park or that event could be worth investigating uh to make um the

34:41shorter line here work whereas what options do you really have um otherwise

34:47actually I’m now that I say this um the big Market is where it says bellw bellw

34:53Avenue is kind of over here um so this area is maybe less impacted by the big

34:58Market but um all that to say there is a lot of activity kind of in this whole area and um you’re going to have uh

35:07still a better throughput and a little bit more freedom of of of Market

35:14activity with the shorter what we call compromise line and I have a hard time seeing it color-wise but there is a line

35:20that moves along this route this was the original line proposed by V do uh in its

35:27very early alignment um and this crosses a different bridge over Young’s Pond uh it

35:34involves much more significant Hills and it crosses this Creek on a very narrow

35:40bridge um that is really not ideal it’s a if you’ve ever walked or biked over

35:46that bridge you can see that’s not where one there’s no room for the trail there and also uh it would create a lot of

35:52conflicts so that one was sort of like easy to um not accept in this process

35:58but you can see that three alignments have been uh ident or analyzed and they’ve chosen what we think is the best

36:05compromise and just a quick kind of recap of the various U public meetings and events that have on that have been

36:10ongoing in north side I didn’t even include the 2021 hike with um um city

36:16and state leadership but the uh you know we’ve been in the community a lot in this time and um I think sort of the the

36:23topic that there haven’t been enough meetings or people don’t know what’s going on is is a little bit

36:31then all righty so announcing a couple of fun things um the annual fall line

36:38Trailblazer is sportsbackers uh annual fundraising um event and awareness

36:44building event for the fall line it’s uh it’s kind of two parts one we create

36:50limited edition uh annual design um merchandise that is available for

36:56purchase at various prices points and the the fund uh supports sportsbackers

37:02work to continue this advocacy work to to be in all the right meetings to produce things like the prin of fall line uh meetings and um uh to continue

37:10our leadership on the advocacy side of working with our local and state Partners to get this Trail built and

37:15built well and uh we think the new design is real snazzy and we this year

37:21we’ve moved it back to fall uh so we wanted to kind of lean into that visual um for a for we had a quick Kus for it

37:28being in the summer and it really didn’t work for our overall event schedule and we we just think hiking in the fall makes a lot more sense for most people

37:34so we’re back to the fall here’s our new design and we hope that you will participate and um you like the

37:40merchandise and the other part of it is a free uh hike series you don’t have to

37:45engage with the the merchandise sales to um participate in our hikes we uh per

37:51hour tradition over the past couple of years we’ll do three hikes on Saturday uh it’s October 19

37:58uh one in the northern section one in the middle and one in the southern section so we’ve Chosen and and partly

38:03with our participation with our local Partners um for the first time we’re going to have an exclusive access to the

38:11newly paved section of the northern um design build one uh I’ll say again that

38:17entire five miles of Trail is closed even if it looks like it’s ridable or walkable now but we’ve uh vot and their

38:23contractors have allowed us uh exclusive onetime access um and the northern section of the design

38:31build one is going to be north of Guam church and in so that’s sort of the county and Town Line uh into Ashland and

38:40um if you’d like to join it and this is going to be all in our sportsbackers website for the fallowing Trailblazer um

38:46don’t park at Carter Park because there’s an event happening there uh you’ll have a hard time getting around so um anyway we’re really excited that

38:53we get to have kind of a preview of what’s coming um both for design build one but also for large sections of the

38:59fall line uh will will be look will be built and look very similar to The Experience there um and vot and uh their

39:07design Builders have just been great to work with over the past few months uh we’re going to go back to Brian Park um

39:13in uh in our Central section and also walk into hrio County to the lake the

39:19Spring Park section and also the the future home of sportsbackers headquarters which is um under

39:24renovation now uh so there’s there’s some existing Trail there’s some trail that’s that’s coming and we look forward

39:30to having essentially the same kind of walkr experience that we just had um on

39:35on Google Street View with people in the community to explain who the trail was built for and why the choices that have

39:41been made have been made and then we’re going back down to Colonial Heights um

39:46near Shepard Stadium it’s one of the uh easier to access places in Colonial Heights and you can walk to the um

39:53Chesterfield County Line uh at the the entrance to Virginia State University there’s another rail to Trail conversion

39:59as a part of the the uh you know one of the highlighted sections of the fall line alignment that’s easy to walk now

40:05it’s a very cool place and if you haven’t been to Colonial Heights or this part of Colonial Heights before certainly recommend joining because it’s

40:10it’s a cool experience um we will be promoting this today uh sending it far and whyde

40:17through our email uh systems I would say register early because uh some of these sections particularly the design build

40:23one um we may have a capacity issue and we may have to limit how many people can do it I think we should be able to fit

40:30up to 100 very easily but beyond that I’m not sure we have parking and and that sort of thing so if you’d like to

40:35see that uh we think that that might sell out kind of quickly um and then I think the last

40:41announcement from an event standpoint we have is um we’re going to be doing a

40:46tree planting two days before the fall line I forgot to put the date on here two days before the trail bazer so

40:52October 17th it’s a Thursday we are participating with Richmond tree week I see one of our organizers is actually on

40:58the call here uh Daniel Klein and uh it’s an afternoon early evening uh we’re

41:04working with both uh the friends of Brian Park and Richmond’s Parks wreck

41:10and Community facilities Department to plant eight native trees um and ideally

41:15what we’d really like to do is plant native trees near the fall line because obviously like shade and and the heat

41:22island sort of aspect of that is something we’d really like to contribute to but uh I can guantee that those trees

41:28would be um decimated during the construction of the fall line so we’re going to build them as advised by um or

41:35install them as advised by the parks department near the Keeper’s House and um the friends of Brian Park have

41:41already helped to identify those sites with the parks uh Department folks and we’ll come back after the trail has been

41:47built to uh to provide those shade trees um in the best kind of spatial Arrangement um based on shade and Roots

41:55um at a later date so we look forward forward to this being the first of many tree plantings uh along the the story of

42:01the development of the fall line and we hope that you are encouraged to kind of put on some gloves and come help because it’s not every day we get to build uh

42:08elements related to the trail uh uh

42:15the this Dov tales with one of the big themes that we’ve uh put into our um

42:20fall line Vision plan I’ve talked about this basically every quarter so if you’ve heard me say it before I

42:25apologize but just for for um to be fair to to maybe new members of this group um

42:33shade and tree development is actually something we’ identified as a major strategy for our development of the fall

42:39line over the next 10 years uh we you know um you look at Route One and South

42:44Richmond they’re areas with very very much no trees and uh heat being a major

42:50uh issue and as the trail gets built uh you become uh or you find a perfect

42:55opportunity to add trees where there aren’t any um helping with shade helping with uh sort of access to Nature helping with

43:02storm water management and all kinds of other things uh we look forward to working with all kinds of partners that the city has identified through their um

43:10Urban canopy program and we look forward to being a participant with Department of Forestry grants and volunteers and

43:18really kind of coordinating a whole new canopy development in a linear uh Corridor that otherwise does not have

43:25very much of anything um so this is this is certainly not our first time thinking about shade and trees and how the fall

43:31Line’s actually going to really develop many many more trees and it’s ever going to impact taking out and uh we think

43:36that volunteers and our Community Partners are going to play a big role in in developing that so um you can

43:44certainly find more about the fall line Vision plan on fall line tral.org and our next meeting is sorry that’s should

43:49say January 8th uh because January 1st is not is a New Year’s Day so January

43:568th is our next meeting same time and place unless we choose to not have it on

44:02the same day as the phone line working group I think I say that every quarter and I never change it so uh we’ll see

44:07how that goes um thanks Grady in particular for being here and sharing your perspective uh I thought it was

44:12good discussion Andrew and and uh Jake as well so thanks everyone um does anybody have any else or anyone else

44:19have any questions or anything you want to announce I just dropped another comment

44:26as uh another detail on the chat there that again contextually a quarter of

44:32that one mile route is along uh Brian Park Avenue and the majority of that is

44:37actually going to be constructed within the roadway because it’s very wide and the Steep Banks don’t allow it so um

44:44again yet another significant portion of the actual path that’s being constructed

44:49that’s not technically within the park it’s within the limits of the

44:55roadway so again even less yeah yeah I mean contextually you know it really

45:02starts to kind of water down kind of the the historyonics if you will I’m not

45:07trying to belittle or or minimize you know the impacts you know they have

45:12legitimate concerns but they really become overstated when they’re they’re not in

45:20context yeah and and ultimately I think we we win this we win the community over

45:26by listen listen to them and recognizing that they do bring good points and that like this is a situation where

45:31compromises have to be made the grand scheme of things you know the the high usage of the fall line and it being an

45:38opportunity to get people biking and walking for transportation as opposed to driving or other things like that um uh

45:45need to be weighed in uh or if your if your if your primary opposition is related to something like climate change

45:52pollution greenhouse gases um uh transport is the single biggest sector

45:58of greenhouse grass greenhouse gas emissions in Virginia year after year as reported by Virginia Department of

46:04Environmental Quality uh for not building Alternatives like a tree is not

46:09going to solve a single tree is not going to solve your problem um but that doesn’t mean that all trees are on the

46:14chopping block you know they’re also a part of the solution Brantley earlier you touched on

46:21maintenance and management yeah get you know after the fact I was just curious

46:26are you L talking with anyone from City of Richmond DPW since the vast majority

46:31of the fall line will be in their right away for like maintenance after the fact

46:37that’s a great question uh I know that darona Clark who’s the fall line project manager is thinking about this intently

46:43um and she was the former chair I think that’s the right term for the fall line working group um

46:51which is the the regional um fall line focus group with the Central Virginia Transportation Authority so that’s the

46:57group that’s overseeing the discussion right now it’s just it’s just discussion about best practices and how they want

47:03to approach this um I think DPW knows that most of the trail is going to be in

47:08their territory and they’re a little bit worried about uh you know footing the bill for it singularly where VT is

47:15administering the maintenance of most of the trail um that’s based on a uh

47:20presentation this morning at that at that working group so it’s it there’s a lot that remains uh to be done in terms

47:27of determining those roles and the costs and and and everything but certainly DPW is pluged

47:35in go ahead Daniel um thanks I just wanted to add my

47:40only comment is that I think your the the case is really strong when you point out that this Trail would be essentially

47:46open 24 hours a day because it’s a trail and minimizing the amount um like the

47:52path through the park uh I think makes a lot of sense from just from a public safety persp perspective so I think that’s really smart U my only question

48:01and maybe this is question that you want to pass on to drona but I maybe you know

48:08is the trail going be wide enough for something like MF broom to to to drive all the way down it and just like uh as

48:15from a you know keeping it clear keeping it clean that sort of thing certainly MF

48:21room for people who are not familiar that is a bike lane sized street sweeper like a mini street sweeper

48:27um the the trail is the the pave section of the trail is 10 feet through Brian

48:33Park as proposed uh I think the corridor is 14 feet there’s going to be gravel on each side um which helps with

48:40maintenance and and and durability and uh the so I I think even a typical

48:47street sweeper would be able to do it if if if those can handle 10t

48:52Lanes might be a question of weight less than width depending on how the trail is poured and

48:59engineered so that’s a great question so that the trail is being built and this

49:05sometimes this this description works and sometimes this description turns people off but I think it’s accurate

49:10it’s basically being built like a single lane road so it’ll be it’ll be able to take the weight and and and the the

49:15benefit of doing that is it will greatly diminish it’s its uh it’s uh lack of

49:23durability it will greatly improve its durability uh and in terms of of like root problems or or uplifting from

49:29drainage and that kind of thing so we’re we’re we’re certainly supportive of it being built uh to a high standard early

49:36on but it will be 10 ft

49:42wide and then Brantley I shared this earlier at the cvta meeting but I’ll share it here as well for anyone who

49:49wasn’t in that meeting um Petersburg is where the fall ENT Trail starts ends

49:55whichever way you want to look at it in a park called patent Park um with the help of Heather um With Friends of the

50:04Lower aromatics River Petersburg and some Consultants as well um a grant was

50:10put in for the outdoor recreation Legacy partnership and we’re in the final stages hopefully all goes well um of

50:17getting that award for $ three and a half million doar to match an existing $3.5 million to make improvements to

50:24that Park to include design and implement ation and we worked as well with v do to make sure we got a letter

50:30of support because we’re going to be using some funding from them as the match for that project so pretty exciting that we’ll have a hopefully we

50:38just have a few more details to sort out um a formal park at the end of the Fall

50:44Line Trail I think we’re all collectively crossing our fingers uh you hope you

50:49feel uh what do we think 60 hands crossing their fingers right now uh

50:56congrats on that and or I guess early and uh we look forward to that

51:02development all right well that’s it that’s the end of my agenda I appreciate everyone’s time today it’s exciting um I

51:08will also just want to sort of send a final message like I appreciate grd’s time today uh I I Envision the friends

51:14of the fall line being a place where people from the community come and talk about their experience uh whether it’s the community engagement aspect which is

51:21I certainly appreciate Grady’s leadership on but placemaking projects um you know um development happening

51:28near the trail uh questions service projects uh you know one of the things

51:34it’s like a it’s a very relatively small thing but one of the things we talked about a bit in the fall line Vision plan

51:39based on my experience at The Noose River Trail where my dad lives in Clayton North Carolina is once the

51:45bridges get built uh if you can imagine the the wooden bridges that are on the

51:50uh Virginia Capital Trail in various sections they all look pretty similar and in on the New River Trail they’re

51:55aligned with art that is developed by local public school art uh programs and every time I go there’re it’s different

52:02and it could just be you know they do it every quarter or every semester um but what a cool way to get the community

52:09 – involved with some of the like fun details of the trail that um otherwise

52:15 – you know would be unprogrammed and you know that engagement would be um would not be kind of possible so thinking

52:22about how your neighbors and your teachers and the people that you work with in your local governments can can

52:28think about those kinds of interactions we want to certainly facilitate

52:35those all righty well have a great morning and this uh recording should be posted in the next 20 or 30

52:43minutes thank you thanks Bry

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