Fairfax City Council Votes On Hybrid Option For Controversial George Snyder Trail

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Council voted 5 to 1 Tuesday night not to adopt the hybrid option for the George Snyder Trail Project, which would have only built the western portion of the trail.

Councilmember Billy Bates voted to approve the hybrid option, with Councilmembers Anthony Amos, Stacy Hall, Stacey Hardy-Chandler, Rachel McQuillen and Tom Peterson voting in opposition.

With the hybrid option off the table, the city had just two options from which to choose:

• Option 1 – Proceed with the entirety of the project as designed and construct the trail: Cost allocations would remain as previously discussed and approved, and there would be no repayment of any project funds.
• Option 2 – Cancel the Project: Under this option, the city would be required to repay about $3.7 million in project funds already spent.

Following the hybrid option vote, Hardy-Chandler made a motion that the city council cancel the current hold on city trail projects and approve the full construction of the trail.

Peterson made a substitute motion to cancel the entire project, identify the best financing available to pay back the $3.7 million, and find savings equaling that amount in future capital improvement projects. Hall seconded the motion, which failed on a 1 to 5 vote.

The council voted 4 to 2 on Hardy-Chandler's motion to build the entire George Snyder Trail, with Amos, Bates, Hardy-Chandler and McQuillen voting for approval and Hall and Peterson voting in opposition.

The Virginia Department of Transportation had given the city a June 30 deadline to decide whether to approve construction of the full trail, an alignment already approved by VDOT, or cancel it entirely. That decision had to be made at the council's June 24 m eeting in order to meet VDOT's June 30 deadline.

See Also:

• Fairfax City Gets 3rd Option, Shorter Deadline For Controversial George Snyder Trail Project
• VA Elected Official Responds To Patch Story On Controversial Trail Project: Letter
• George Snyder Trail Project Delayed By Fairfax City Council

The George Snyder Trail was designed to connect to the I-66 Shared Use Path, which VDOT installed as part of the I-66 Outside The Beltway project. Once the full trail is constructed, it will connect the county trail to the city's Wilcoxon Trail and ultimately the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail near Thaiss Park.

George Snyder Trail Timeline

• Included in the 2012 and 2035 Master Plans
• Parts of the trail were built c. 2000 and will be incorporated into the new trail
• Included in the 2016 Strategic Master Plan
• Part of the Parks and Recreation Master Plan per Parks and Recreation Advisory
• Board (PRAB)
• 2019-2029: four advisory group meetings were held
• 2020 Public Hearing at 60% completion: Supported by speakers from PRAB,
• DMV Smarter Growth Coalition, Audubon Naturalist Society, Fairfax City Citizens
• for Smarter Growth, and the Fairfax Alliance for Better Cycling. Opposed by one
• business owner near the trail and two other citizens.
• June 2020: Trail included in the Northfax Small Area Plan to connect neighborhoods with nature with themes of “an ecologically sensitive place” an“stitching neighborhoods together.”
• A key idea of the Northfax vision is to bridge the divides between Northfax and the surrounding neighborhoods and to connect with the Accotink Creek watershed.”
• July 2023: 100% completion plans submitted to City Council (144 pages)
• January 2024: City Council rejected changes to the original plan and voted to stay with the existing plan. Property acquisition commenced.

Timeline Via Fairfax City Citizens for Smarter Growth

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