Bury the Wires and Tame the Traffic
Working Meeting, May.7, 2003
On Wednesday, May
7, 2003, a meeting was held at the offices of Kimley-Horn and Associates
in Herndon, VA, to discuss progress
and move into the next phases of the project entitled Preliminary Engineering
Services to “Bury the Wires and Tame the Traffic” in Waterford, VA.
Attendees
Loudoun County Department of General Services: Dick Pezzullo and
Sheryl Gates
Loudoun County Community Planning Pat Giglio
Waterford Citizens Association Ed Lehmann and Terry Arney
Waterford Elementary School PTO Ann Goode
Waterford Foundation Eric Breitkreutz and Mark Koblos
Kimley-Horn and Associates: John Martin and Scott Mingonet
Handouts
- Meeting Agenda
- Project summary package:
- Project Work Flow chart
- Scope of Services one-page summary and March 6 meeting announcements
- Issues and Concerns for the Village of Waterford – Community
Vote
- Issues and Concerns for the Village of Waterford – Team
Comments
- 20-Year Visions for the Village of Waterford
- Waterford Citizens’ Core Values
- Preliminary traffic data collection results
- Pavement coring results
- Base mapping developed for project
- Aerial photography
- Photos of Waterford taken for project
Discussion
The meeting began at approximately 9:30 AM with an overview of the
handouts and a review of the project’s progress to date. John Martin recapped the citizens’ input
from the March 6 meeting, noting the top vote-getting issues. It was
mentioned that we need to maintain the goal of understanding the
citizenry input within
the framework of this project.
John reviewed the handouts with the attendees, noting that data collection
is essentially complete. Traffic data has been collected, including
speed data. The electrical engineer has been working with Dominion
Virginia
Power. The
civil
engineer has completed the base mapping, tying in the aerial photo
with a preliminary ground survey. The environmental specialists have
completed
the
tree survey,
as well as a walk-through with the Corps of Engineers to verify wetlands.
The architectural historian has noted contributing and non-contributing
properties. Borings of the asphalt pavement have been performed.
Terry Arney and others raised the question about the article written
by Joe Keating, a Waterford resident and columnist for the Loudoun
Times-Mirror. In the article,
Mr. Keating remarked that half of the borings of asphalt in the Village
were
taken over areas that had been excavated for the sanitary sewer, which
LCSA had installed in the mid 1970’s. The article challenged the
validity of some of the cores and noted that the elevation of the roadway
surface
used to be 2
to 4 feet below what it is today.
The attendees discussed the accuracy of the article and merits of
trying to limit any negative news about this project. John committed
to performing
additional
pavement coring, if necessary (and to better determine the subsurface
structure, e.g., presence of cobblestones). John also said he would
contact Mr. Keating
to discuss the article and to request his help in locating new coring
locations. Scott indicated that the project report will show the locations
of the
cores with respect to the existing sanitary sewer.
Mr. Keating mentioned in his article that old photographs show a
lower elevation of the roadway. Eric committed to collecting as many
of these
photos as possible
and providing them to the project team.
John and Sheryl related the discussions that were held with VDOT
at a meeting at the Leesburg Residency on April 29. One of the criteria
for
feasibility
of the recommendations from this study will be maintainability. VDOT
maintenance has had an influence over the recommendations for the US
50 Traffic Calming
project
east and west of Middleburg. Sheryl noted that we were to meet with
the VDOT project manager the following day to discuss the non-standard
details
that
have been developed for that project, to better understand VDOT sensitivities,
and
to gather any lessons learned that could be applied to the Waterford
project.
Mark Koblos remarked that the team’s architectural historian had
sent an email to Eric Breitkreutz asking about plans for the mill. Eric
had passed
the
email on to his board members, and the question alarmed some of the members.
John said the question was asked at a working meeting of the project
team, and that intent of the question was simply to attempt to coordinate
any improvements
in drainage (in concert with traffic calming measures) with planned improvements
to the mill. Mark noted that there are currently no plans to restore
the mill
to working order. John said he would talk with his team to make sure
such questions are first vetted through him and Loudoun County before
asking them
of the Waterford
Foundation.
John reviewed the traffic data collection summary, noting the speed
study results. Ed Lehmann requested a copy of the raw data so that
his group
could note the
times of the day of speeding traffic. He remarked that such data is
very useful to them in a number of ways.
Ann inquired about the growth of traffic in Loudoun County and whether
is affects our traffic calming measures. Scott and John conveyed that
the very
nature
of traffic calming measures provide for steady progression of traffic
at low speeds,
and growth in traffic volumes do not necessarily need to be a consideration.
The study is not considering capacity improvements to handle increases
in traffic. John remarked that as traffic grows and with the roads
in Waterford having
only so much capacity, people will find alternate ways to travel through
the area.
Ann said she would be meeting with her PTO group during the next
week to discuss walking paths and other issues. She asked if she could
get
maps
similar to
the ones used at the workshop. Scott said that he would provide those
maps by the
end of the week.
Eric said that the groups from Waterford would be meeting on Wednesday,
May 21, to discuss the study, in preparation for the design workshop
on May 27.
The purpose
would be to come together to compare notes and discuss each groups’ desires
for the project. John asked the Waterford groups what they would need
in advance of their combined meeting on May 21. The group discussed the
merits
of whether
or not providing concepts ahead of the design workshop would lead people
to draw conclusions prematurely, without context of other concepts and
a group discussion.
Mark noted that copies of meeting minutes would be good to have.
John then discussed some results of the “engineering studies” phase
of the Waterford study. With respect to burying the wires, what has been learned
is that the town has single phase power and conversion to 3 phase would be cost
prohibitive. Dominion power does not make (or can’t procure) single phase
transformers for an underground vault application. Burying the wires is fairly
straightforward, but transformers will need to be above ground for the project
to be cost effective. The transformers can be shielded from view with vegetation
and/or fences and walls. The electrical concept design will show schematics of
underground duct bank configurations. Issues with connections to the houses will
be discussed in detail on May 12 with the County’s electrical inspectors.
John mentioned that for difficult connections or particular owner, there may
need to be a financial subsidy for those who can’t afford the conversion
from above ground to underground power.
With respect to lighting, designs could range from minimal to historically
accurate sets of lights throughout the village. Scott noted that
lighting applications could vary from location to location, including
pole-mounted
lighting along
streets,
higher lighting at intersections, lower lighting around sidewalks
and pedestrian paths. John noted that the Waterford Foundation may
need
to contract for
maintenance of such lights, should they be fixtures that Virginia
Power does not maintain.
Traffic calming measures were discussed in general at this meeting.
There was general consensus that the measures will be a primary
focus of the
design workshop
on May 27-28.
Wrap Up
The meeting adjourned at approximately 11:00 AM, following a brief
wrap up of the issues discussed and a discussion of agenda of
the upcoming design workshop. The agenda will include a presentation
and a discussion
of a
variety
of concepts
for taming the traffic, as well as burying the wires. It is anticipated
that consensus will be gained on a preferred set of concepts
or
groups of concepts
that the project team can further refine and begin to develop
opinions of probable construction cost.
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