Stafford to hold public hearing tonight on Belmont-Ferry Farm Trail

Tonight at 7 p.m., Stafford will be hosting a public hearing at the Falmouth Fire Station to hear from residents about the design of the upcoming phase 4 of the Belmont-Ferry Farm trail.

The trail, a 2,900 linear foot, 10-foot wide asphalt trail along River Road in Fredericksburg, has been a work in progress since the 90s, according to Chris Hoppe, a project manager for the county.

The work being done to develop the Belmont-Ferry Farm trail is a part of the county’s ten-point plan to increase tourism and economic development.

“The Board of Supervisors passed a ten-point plan – and it’s generally economic development and tourism – and one of the things [this] trail will do is connect our historic sites, like Belmont all the way to Ferry Farm, and eventually they want it to be a part of the Heritage Trail route,” said Shannon Howell, Public Information Officer for the County.

The phases are not being completed in numerical order, Howell said.

Phases 1, 2, 3 and 5 link county parks and the Stafford visitor’s center as well as other community sites and have already been completed, according to Stafford’s Parks and Recreation website.

In the current design plan for phase 4, the trail will extend from John Lee Pratt Memorial Park all the way to Chatham Bridge. This would add another 2,100 feet to the trail.

The phase will cost $780,000 to complete, but the county will not have to pay that full amount, according to Hoppe.

“With grant funding at 8% reimbursable, it will only cost the county 20% of that total cost,” Hoppe said.

The project’s majority funding sources are federal government grants, which are managed by the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT), Hoppe commented.

“We’ve received numerous grants over the years. We have to apply every time we need some additional money for each respective phase – and depending on the demand for the grants, we may or may not get the funding…the construction of phase four is conducted and designed, and the next phase, phase six has been funded by the [most recent federal] grant,” Hoppe said.

“The first part of [phase 6] is to do an alignment study, to figure out the best way to get from the Route 3 Bridge at Chatham, to Ferry Farm…then we’ll proceed with additional design work,” said Hoppe.

The meeting will give residents the chance to see the design and make their comments about concerns or any things they would like to see incorporated into the design plan.