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The mission of the Committee of 500 is to promote county government that exercises responsible stewardship
of the county's resources, is responsive to its citizens, and gives priority to quality of life issues.
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- updated 8 August 2011 -
ETHICS: Spotsylvania Supervisors, appointees, and employees should demonstrate the highest level of integrity and
ethics in their service to the County. Transparency in governance and administration are critically important in assuring
citizens that their County’s business is conducted in a responsible, ethical manner.
Implementing Actions:
Members of the Board of Supervisors, as well as members of other county boards, committees and commissions,
should understand and comply with the
Spotsylvania County Code of Ethics. The provisions of the Code of Ethics should be enforced.
Individual Supervisor’s actions and appointments should reflect the same principles/positions as stated in that Supervisor’s
election campaign.
Formal diversity training should be provided for the BoS and county administration.
MANAGED GROWTH AND SMART GROWTH: When considering new development, the County should use Smart Growth principles:
- Manage the rate of growth;
- Facilitate better movement of people utilizing and integrating all modes of transportation (including motor vehicles, bicycles,
pedestrians, rail, bus and train services);
- Support economic development goals;
- Promote preservation of historic, cultural, and natural resources;
- Balance commercial and residential development in land use and rezoning;
- Pay for required infrastructure improvements by developers as much as possible; and
- Provide a range of housing options for all County residents.
The County should continue to direct denser growth to designated areas that have existing and/or planned infrastructure.
Implementing Actions:
The BOS needs to assure the timely adoption of an updated methodology for more accurately and consistently
assessing the true costs and economic benefits to the community that will accrue from development projects. The current process
occasionally leads to significantly different conclusions and decisions among the Planning Department, Planning Commission,
and BOS.
The provisions of the Comprehensive Plan should be aggressively implemented and closely adhered to.
The BOS needs to assure that the remaining implementing actions of the Comprehensive Plan are completed on schedule, especially:
Mixed Use Area definition; Transfer of Development Rights (TDR) ordinance; Traditional Neighborhood Development (TND) zoning
district; inventory of potential locations for Purchase or Transfer of Development Rights; voluntary registry of historic
sights in the county; air quality control ordinance; and incentive plan for blighted and under-developed areas in the Primary
Settlement District.
The Planning Commission and BOS should carefully balance the rights and needs of the community at large while respecting and
observing legitimate individual property rights.
The BOS should ensure that Planning Commission members receive continuing education and training and (ideally) certification
in the latest concepts of planning, smart growth management and regional development.
REGIONAL COLLABORATION/COOPERATION: To accomplish critical activities in the most efficient and cost effective manner,
Spotsylvania County should actively endeavor to collaborate and cooperate with neighboring localities.
Implementing Actions:
The county should participate in economically, politically and legally appropriate efforts, including:
regional strategic and growth planning (such as the George Washington Regional Commission and Fredericksburg Area Metropolitan
Planning Organization); sharing costs where feasible for necessary infrastructure; historic preservation; lobbying for Federal,
State and/or other funding; securing transportation resources and improvements; and marketing for tourism and economic development.
C500 should actively participate to the extent possible in relevant boards, commissions and committees.
TRANSPORTATION:
Spotsylvania County should utilize performance-based transportation best practices. The county should develop comprehensive
strategies to build, maintain and utilize a network of well-integrated multimodal transportation modes that include road,
rail, bus, and walking and biking trails.
Implementing Actions:
The Spotsylvania VRE station(s) should become operational as soon as possible. An equitable distribution
of revenues generated from the gas tax should be allocated to urban and rural community transportation needs.
The Board of Supervisors should move ahead to join and implement the VRE as soon as possible. An equitable and balanced distribution
of revenues generated from the gas tax should be allocated to urban and rural community transportation needs.
The county should seriously explore alternative sources of transportation funding, including public-private partnerships,
toll roads, and subsidized transportation modes.
The county should ensure that transportation funding aligns with its land use policies.
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PRESERVATION: Spotsylvania should continue to support preservation and promotion of open space and the protection
of historic, cultural and natural resources as a basis for enhancing quality of life, economic development, and tourism.
Implementing Actions:
Support land use principles and design guidelines (setbacks and buffers) through the Comprehensive Plan
and county codes that protect the 'natural settings' of our historic, cultural and natural resources.
Assure that implementing actions in the Historic Preservation and Open Space elements of the Comprehensive Plan are completed.
Work with the George Washington Regional Commission to strongly encourage the implementation of a Green Infrastructure Plan
for the county.
EDUCATION: Spotsylvania should provide a quality education for its youth.
Implementing Actions:
Make class sizes as small as possible within budget constraints, especially in the elementary schools.
Consider the use of para-educators to help increase the ratio of adults to students.
Work toward improving student achievement as assessed by SOL test scores and other appropriate measurements.
Make attracting and retaining the best possible teachers a top priority by providing highly competitive salaries and other
compensation.
Seriously explore ways to reduce administrative costs (including administrative positions) where possible, given state mandates.
Investigate and adopt cost-saving advanced technology (such as "electronic-publishing" and "e-tablets") where feasible.
The School Board should increase its decision-making transparency and provide greater opportunity for public input, including
outsourced surveys of education stakeholders (students, teachers, parents, and citizens.) When the School Board believes that
increasing school funding is necessary, it should provide clear and compelling reasons for such proposed increases to the
public.
Restore funding for activity busses and career counselors, within budget constraints.
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT AND TOURISM: Spotsylvania should aggressively create and utilize economic
development initiatives and incentives. These should strategically encourage well-compensated jobs in the county and strengthening
its commercial tax base, and also include a strong emphasis on regional tourism as an economic development force.
Implementing Actions:
Additional economic Incentives should be developed to bring business to the county so that more Spotsylvania
citizens can work closer to home, with well-compensated positions especially targeted.
A highly qualified Director of Economic Development should be recruited as quickly as possible.
The county should hold community-wide forum(s) to create and communicate a strategic plan for business attraction and economic
development. C500 desires to participate.
County regulatory processes should be streamlined to better balance public safety and planning needs with those of the business
community for more efficient review and approval.
Regional tourism should be more aggressively developed and marketed.
PUBLIC SAFETY: Public safety services must be provided in a high quality and cost-effectively manner.
Levels of Service Standards define reasonable staffing and response time targets. The county should continue to appropriately
fund local law enforcement, fire, and medical rescue emergency services, and closely monitor their performance.
Implementing Actions:
The county should sufficiently fund emergency services so that response times consistent with approved
level of service targets and 24/7 staffing coverage are consistently achieved throughout the County.
The county should continue to embrace our combined Fire and Rescue system, with all staff continuously receiving appropriate
training. The county must also ensure that services are of consistent high quality whether provided by paid or volunteer staff,
and that they work together effectively.
TAXES: The tax burden should be as low as practical to achieve targets specified
in Spotsylvania's “Levels of Service Standards for Public Facilities and Services.”
Implementing Actions:
The County should utilize appropriate alternate revenue sources to alleviate pressure on property taxes,
(such as: user fees, proffers, impact fees, other economic benefit proposals from developers to offset the costs of their
development, and public-private partnerships.) Total economic benefit from new projects should be high enough to offset the
actual costs to other citizens while not driving away future development.
The County should continuously seek to deliver services in the most cost-efficient ways possible.
The County should continue to support its team that focuses on securing available grants and/or other government funding.
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COMMITTEE of 500
Smart Growth Principles
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Manages the Rate of Growth
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Facilitates Better Movement of People Utilizing and Integrating All Modes of Transportation (includes motor
vehicles, bicycles, pedestrians, rail, bus & train service)
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Supports Economic Development Goals
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Promotes Preservation of Historic & Natural Resources
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Balances Commercial and Residential Development in Land Use & Rezoning
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Pays for Required Infrastructure Improvements as Much as Possible
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Provides a Range of Housing Options for County Residents
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SPOTSYLVANIA VIRGINIA
Smart Growth Project Rating and Decision Matrix
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Manages the Rate of Growth
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Utilizes/integrates multiple modes of transportation
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Supports Community Economic Development Goals
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Preserves Historic & Natural Resources
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Balances Commercial and Residential (Re)Development
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Pays for Applicable Infrastructure Improvements
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Provides a Range of Housing Options for County Residents
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The Committee of 500
P.O. Box 1697
Spotsylvania, Virginia 22553
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