Leaders working on new vision for ‘Downtown Stafford’

STAFFORD — Stafford County leaders will take a tour of the region to get new ideas on how to build a walkable downtown.

Officials will leave the county’s government center on Tuesday for a tour of small towns around the Washington, D.C. region on Tuesday, April 10. They’ll be looking at walkable space, streets, and the layout of vehicle parking.

What’s learned could be implemented in a vision for “downtown Stafford,” an area outside the county’s iconic courthouse that has long been poised for redevelopment.

“[The new design] is probably not Fairfax, it’s more like Rockville, Md.,” said Stafford Deputy County Administrator Fred Presley.

County leaders ranked a new $71 million courthouse as the government’s top capital improvement project. Current plans show a new three-story courthouse being built on Courthouse Road, across the street from the county’s public safety center.

Currently, the county leases multiple offices around the courthouse. With the development of “downtown” area, the county hopes to build new offices diminishing its need to lease space.

A project now underway to build a diverging diamond interchange at Courthouse Road and Interstate 95 will also bring the relocation of the portion of Courthouse Road east of the interstate. The relocated road will intersect with Route 1 at the entrance to Stafford Hospital.

Afterward, traffic in the area around the courthouse will become lighter, and the streets and sidewalks more walkable.

Following the April 10 tour, the county will produce renderings of its vision for a new downtown Stafford, said Presley. Redevelopment in the area is something that has been talked about since 2006, he added.