Have a voice in the future of Fauquier County, Join us ... CFFC is a non-profit, non-partisan organization whose mission is to preserve the natural, historic and agricultural resources of Fauquier County and to preserve the County's unique quality of life through education and leadership.
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Keeping the towns of Fauquier County preserved and preventing them from turning into another “Manassas” (Whitehouse) has been a long lived goal of community members. In April of 1991, Marshall unanimously agreed that the proposal to build roads around the center of the community was absurd. CFFC had direct influence in this matter. Kitty Smith stated in the article that “We want the service district area-the area that they have slated for residential-of Marshall to be integrated into the existing village.”
CFFC and other community members have always played a big role in making sure that the “small-town feeling” is maintained in all of Fauquier’s towns which is what continues to ensure that our county thrives. Currently plans for replacing Marshall’s main street sidewalk with stone and improving the appearance of the town, including readjusting the placement of telephone poles is in the works. Keeping the small town feeling alive is a constant, continuous battle, but one well worth the while.
In 1996, there was much controversy over the decision to build a Wal-Mart in Fauquier County. The Big Box ordinance stated that any building more than 75,000 square feet in size would need to obtain a special use permit from the county. However, since Wal-Mart was going to straddle the border between the town of Warrenton and the county itself, the business tried to get around this ordinance by having less than 75,000 square feet in the actual boundaries of the town.
This was the topic of the article on March 13, 1996 with the headline reading ?Split Decision for Wal-Mart? May Straddle Border? by Laura Ruby. At this time, there was still speculation about the retailer?s intentions on this matter and how Fauquier County would react. On top of having a big box store in the town of Warrenton for the first time ever, the town of Warrenton would also be required to provide water and sewage service to Wal-Mart if it were built in the town, but since it straddled the border, it was questionable as to whether the town of Warrenton would be required to provide this service.
CFFC was against the construction of a Wal-Mart in Warrenton. As observed in many other small towns, such huge retailers have a negative impact of local stores. Unfortunately, the big guy got the best of our town as well. There used to be four local hardware stores, and as of now, there is one, and the nature of small shops on Warrenton?s Main Street has changed significantly. Ultimately, there was a 3 to 2 vote and Wal-Mart was built. Having a Wal-Mart in the town of Warrenton has provided the opportunity for other large retailers, such as Home Depot, to hold business in our town. Hopefully the town of Warrenton can hold on to what is left of historical small town businesses and not let the big box giants take anymore character from our town. Read the March 13, 1996 Times Democrat article at this link
Taylor Starkey
On February 24, 1983 a headline in the Fauquier Times Democrat read "After 15 years Licking Run documents are signed." That would mean that since 1968, there were on-going debates about the area of Licking Run. That was quite a long time coming!
Licking Run is located on 28 off of Catlett Road. Licking Run is a landmark of the first permanent settlement in Fauquier County, Germantown. In 1718 these first families were granted land to build homes along Licking Run. The document signed stated that Licking Run would be the first of 6 dams to be constructed to alleviate problems caused by erosion and flooding. This dam would cut 66% of erosion problems and allow for more effective use of the agricultural flood plain.
Clearly, this land mark has a lot of history and culture, and we are fortunate to still have this land mark as a part of our county and as a prevention of flooding thanks to those who signed the document 38 years ago!
Taylor Starkey, CFFC Intern and Scholarship Recipient
Kettle Run High School senior Taylor Starkey is a member of the National Honor Society and is Vice President of the Student Council Association.Taylor is also Vice President of DECA, a student marketing association, and has completed two semesters of photo journalism.She enjoys being an employee of The Natural Marketplace, a local Warrenton Business, as it aligns her interest in business as well as her strong desire to promote the social environmental benefits of the simplicity of the past.Taylor is proud of her Native American heritage and expresses concern for the environment through her passion to conserve resources through her recycling efforts. Taylor is digitizing CFFC's existing index of Fauquier Times Democrat land use articles as well as adding articles up to 2004 to the index.
Copyright 2006 to 2010, Citizens for Fauquier County
