Subdivision Plans Get Preliminary Approval

Developers with Fredericksburg Park, LLC can now proceed to draft detailed site plans for their Telegraph Hill housing development. The Planning Commission voted three to one to approve a preliminary plat for the project which shows a general outline of how the site will be developed. 

"This gives us the ability to go forward with the design, which we had been unable to do before," said Larry Welford, president of the engineering firm involved in the development. 

Welford expects that it could be half a year before detailed construction plans make their way back to the Planning Commission for final approval. If the final plans are recommended by the Planning Commission, the City Council would then also have to sign off on the project. 

The plan calls for entrances to the subdivision to be placed on Alum Springs Road and near the intersection of Lafayette Blvd and Lee Drive. 

Concerns about traffic and the impact the development could have on the entrance to the southern side of the Fredericksburg National Battlefield have plagued the project since its inception. Potential traffic issues were the primary motivation for Planning Commissioner Roy Gatz's vote against the project. 

"The left turn traffic out of there is going to be awful," said Gatz after the meeting, referring to the Lafayette Blvd. access road planned for the development. "I knew it was going to pass, though, and wanted to send a message about the traffic concerns."

that the subdivision will generate a total of 65 inbound and outbound vehicle trips during morning peak travel hours and 85 inbound and outbound trips during evening peak travel hours. Of those, 85 percent of the trips are predicted to use the Lafayette Boulevard access, the other 15 percent using Alum Springs Road access.