We the undersigned ask that the City Council call a moratorium on all new trail construction until policies are in place to guide the selection of locations and designs of trails in the City of Fairfax to align with our community’s values and goals. Currently, too many trails are being routed through sensitive environmental areas. We firmly believe that there are options available for safe and convenient travel through the city whether on foot, bike, scooter or other vehicle without further damaging our remaining forests, streams, and wetlands.   It is our position that these natural areas deserve our full protection and rehabilitation instead of additional exploitation. They protect us by controlling stormwater and by mitigating the effects of climate change in a much more cost effective manner than constructed stormwater facilities.  They clean our air and sustain our ecosystem and ask little in return. They provide habitat for our native birds and wildlife, who will disappear if the forests are unlivable. Our remaining forests and streams should not be regarded as blank spaces on the map awaiting modification for human convenience.  

We respectfully provide the following guidelines for consideration:

1. Avoid new trails or extensions of trails in or through wooded floodplains. Not only do floodplains provide a place for floodwaters; they can not provide flood mitigation when paved, and putting trails in floodplains leaves those trails vulnerable to damage by some of the greatest forces of nature to be found in our region.
2. Require that proposals result in no net loss of habitat or tree canopy,  i.e. no sacrifice of natural vegetated areas for trails or other purposes without compensatory replanting to maintain acreage, canopy and habitat value.
3. Redirect all bike routes to surface streets, where the hundreds of miles of paved roads in our city offer enormous potential to be knit into a network that will make the City truly bicycle-friendly at lower initial and recurring costs.
4. Create a comprehensive plan to calm and control traffic to increase the safety of our streets for all users.  
5. Engage an expert independent ADA consultant to determine the city’s responsibility to provide accessible trails so as to avoid accommodations that are not only unnecessary but increase the damage of natural habitats and add to the costs of construction.
6. In order to allow City Council and citizens a better understanding of the impacts of these types of proposed capital projects, include both short term (5 years) and long term (50 years) evaluation of environmental and financial impacts, e.g. net tree loss, canopy loss, habitat loss, fragmentation of habitat areas, increase in impervious surfaces, tons of paving material, carbon footprint, gallons of additional stormwater runoff, maintenance costs, projected lifecycle etc .
7. Maintain an updated and accurate map of the City’s existing and proposed trails.