Comprehensive Plan: Executive Summary

The Town's Comprehensive Plan is the chief tool to enable the management of growth and the delivery of public services in a timely and efficient manner. For many years, the Town of Culpeper had a compact development pattern (less than one square mile) which it maintained since its founding in 1759. However, beginning about 1985, the Town began to experience growth pressures and to participate in the expansion of other metropolitan areas. As the Town continues to grow, the challenge is to direct growth appropriately to retain the qualities that residents have come to cherish. New residents are attracted by a distinctness that is not found elsewhere in the region - the panoramic views of the Blue Ridge Mountains, a rich sense of community, a proud past, a beautiful downtown area, numerous historic homes, and a quality of life that is not expected in this day and age. In order to maintain this setting, it is important to plan for the future.

Planning is a process of formulating goals and the policies necessary to achieve them. The Town's Comprehensive Plan is a valuable tool to Town government, its citizens and the private sector. It is an articulation of policy from the Town Council which describes a vision for the future which allows the Council and the Planning Commission to coordinate their policies and actions to guide Town development. The major purposes of the Comprehensive Plan are to:

The major issue facing Culpeper today is finding a balance between growth and economic stability, while maintaining the Town's small-town character. The Town's Comprehensive Plan provides policy guidance for addressing future issues within the context of the framework of the Plan, including environmental resources; population and housing; transportation; water and sewer; economic development; land use; community facilities; parks and recreation; historic preservation; and urban design and community appearance.

Environmental Resources Plan

Culpeper is located in the beautiful rolling hills of Piedmont Virginia. The Town was founded in 1759 on "a high and pleasant situation." Culpeper is just beyond the Northern Virginia Air Quality Region with its particulate and ozone problems and its strict limits on emissions. On the other hand, it lies in the scenic upper reaches of the Rappahanock River basin with its stringent water quality controls. The Rappahannock River drains into the Chesapeake Bay, a resource of national significance.

A portion of the Town drains into Lake Pelham which is the Town's water supply. Pollutants, particularly phosphorous washing off the land as a result of development, pose a threat to the water quality of the lake. In 1991, the Town and County jointly adopted Watershed Protection Policies to further enhance environmental quality. Additionally, Mountain Run and its sub-tributaries provide a broad and well-distributed system of "green space" to the Town.

A significant part of the Town presents development challenges are due to the presence of floodplain, steep slopes, wetlands, and sub-surface rock. As such, these natural features present opportunities and constraints to development. Approximately 10% of the Town lies in the floodplain. Steep slopes affect another 6%. Wetlands are generally contiguous with the floodplain areas. Another 5% of the Town's land is believed to have rock at or near the surface. The challenge for the future is to take advantage of natural resources and to develop in an environmentally sensitive manner.

The Plan proposes to continue the existing flood hazard and watershed protection program. In addition, the Plan proposes to protect the water quality by controlling urban runoff and promoting Best Management Practices (BMPs). The Plan also seeks to attract "clean" industries, or those without harmful emissions affecting local air quality.

Population and Housing

The Town of Culpeper began growing rapidly about 1985. Because of the Town's distance from the rapidly expanding Washington D.C. metropolitan area, this trend is expected to continue. The characteristics of Culpeper's future population are similar to those found elsewhere in the region. This means that the future population of the Town is likely to be younger, have higher incomes, and be more educated. Population counts and projections for the Town of Culpeper are as follows:

The Plan proposes that the Town seek to maintain an annual growth rate of at least 2.5% during the planning period, with the capability of accommodating up to 4.5%. The Plan calls on the Town to work with the County to adopt and implement a joint planning program for areas immediately adjacent to the Town.

The Town's housing stock has changed considerably in recent decades. During the 1970's, single-family residential development constituted 90% of housing within the Town. The emergence of multi-family housing, including apartments and townhouses, as a major form of residential development was the result of increased housing costs. Between 1980 and 1990, mortgage and rental costs increased twice as fast as income. Presently, multi-family developments constitutes almost one-third of the Town's housing units. This trend should continue into the future due to the Town's function as the regional center for multi-family housing. The Town offers most of the multi-family housing opportunities within the area served by the Rappahannock-Rapidan Regional Commission, comprising Culpeper, Madison, Orange, Rappahannock, and Fauquier Counties. There is also an extremely low (1.2%) vacancy rate for multi-family units. The challenge of the future is to reduce housing costs and encourage more home ownership.

Finally, to accommodate the housing needs of the most economically disadvantaged, the Town should take special initiatives for that particular group by obtaining grants for rehabilitation and new construction. Through the use of rent supplement programs, set asides for affordable housing, and by providing matching funds for grants.

Transportation Plan

The reason for the Town's dynamic growth is that it is possible to enjoy a small-town quality of life within a reasonable commuting distance of major metropolitan areas. The backbone of the transportation system is the Town's street network. During the last twenty years, traffic on the Town's north-south streets has increased by nearly 1,000 trips each year. Main Street is near capacity. During the next ten years, the impact will shift to other north-south streets. The challenge for the future is to move traffic throughout the Town while retaining a sense of scale and place; to design streets that don't adversely affect our neighborhoods and to be able to afford what we decide to build.

The Town's future street system relies on distributing trips throughout its network of current and future streets. The Town will emphasize the importance of placing collector streets in new developments and will incorporate these streets into the street network. The Town's role in putting together the system will focus on building connecting links between developments and constructing streets in already developed areas.

A previous Comprehensive Plan predicted that at such time that Main Street reached levels of 35,000 average daily trips (ADT), traffic flow would reach unacceptable or failure levels. This Plan encourages that action be taken in the near future to avoid that possibility. This may include the re-routing of truck traffic and other techniques. This Plan also encourages continued implementation of the Town's proposed "Outer Loop" system. This Plan also encourages the construction of modern transportation facilities, such as a "park-and-ride" lot. This Plan also places an emphasis on providing alternative pedestrian systems such as sidewalks, bikeways, and trail systems.

Water and Sewer Plan

The Town has sufficient excess capacity in both its public water system and its public sewer system to accommodate economic development. The sizing and location of utilities need to follow the Town's plans for development. The capacities of the major components of the water supply and sewerage system are as follows:

As more vacant land within the Town is developed, the demand to extend public water and sewer outside the Town will increase. Out-of-town service provides an opportunity to receive fees which can be directed towards reducing capital costs of new plants and lines. However, extensions outside the Town are not without risks. The challenge of the future is to size and time our facilities so that they will be ready when needed. The Town also needs to develop a method to extend water and sewer service out-of-town without jeopardizing the tax base or the ability to grow and expand.

The Plan proposes to keep pace with proposed and pending environmental regulations. The Plan seeks to maintain adequate levels of excess capacity to serve as an economic development tool. The Plan also proposes to continue to correct system inefficiencies through concerted maintenance and corrective action. Finally, the Plan pledges drinking water quality and adequate level of sewer treatment, while maintaining environmental quality in the treatment process.

Economic Development Plan

The economy of the Town of Culpeper has changed considerably over the past few decades from one based on agriculture to one based on services, trade and manufacturing. In 1970, 29% of Culpeper's work force was employed in agriculture. Another large portion of the labor force was employed in manufacturing (19%) and retail/wholesale trade (16%). By 1990, the largest employers had shifted to services (23%) and retail/wholesale trade (22%). The manufacturing sector continues to decline and some components, such as textiles and clothing, have disappeared in the last ten years.

The Town is in a strategic location for economic development. It is within 45 minutes of four different interstate systems, providing access to 65% of the American population. The challenge is to maintain and improve the Town's function as a regional marketing and employment center. This Plan encourages the Town to respond to the changing dynamics of the economy so that a strong and viable economy results. This is done through a broad-based approach including:

The Land Use Plan bears a close relation to the Economic Development Plan. The Land Use Plan is where the economic development goals and policies are realized.

Land Use Plan

The Land Use Plan is far different than the Town's Zoning Ordinance. The Land Use Plan is intended to provide a blueprint of the future land use pattern of the Town of Culpeper. The Land Use Plan indicates what particular types of uses the Town desires and expects to see in development, while the Zoning Ordinance is regulatory and sets out a range of uses which are permitted. The Land Use Plan is intended to guide development over a long period of time, while a zoning ordinance attempts to regulate for a shorter period of time.

The challenge is to identify sufficient amounts of land to satisfy the Town's needs during the planning period, and to relate the location of those uses to the transportation system and other infrastructure of the Town. The Town proposes a land use classification system which works in concert with its Transportation Plan and Economic Development Plan. Future rezonings, the siting of features, and development of public policies should be evaluated in the context of the Town's Comprehensive Plan.

Community Facilities Plan

To address future demands of the Town, the following community facilities are needed:

Parks and Recreation Plan

The Parks and Recreation Commission worked closely with the Planning Commission in the development of the Parks and Recreation Plan. The Town's existing facilities include Yowell Meadow Park and Mountain Run Lake Park. Recreational facilities elsewhere within the corporate limits are operated by the school system, County and State governments, and the private sector.

Early in the process, the Parks and Recreation Commission made some key policy decisions:

Finally, the Commission agreed to work with other agencies to achieve the Town's goals.

This Plan proposes to follow current trends and to allow for more passive recreation opportunities. The Town also agrees not to duplicate the services of the County, particularly those activities requiring large parcels of land. The Town will also begin to work cooperatively with both the private and public sectors to secure recreational opportunities. One of the key policies is the location of a series of neighborhood parks distributed throughout the corporate limits beginning in FY 2003. The Plan proposes that the public and private sectors work together to develop a greenway and several neighborhood parks. The Town also anticipates that it will work with the Virginia Department of Cultural Resources for the purposes of enhancing its trail system and providing a cross-town alternative pedestrian system.

Historic Preservation Plan

The Town's preservation program strikes a balance between preservation and development. The current program consists of the Town's National Register District, which is similarly aligned to a local historic district. The Historic District is protected by an ordinance administered by the Town's Architectural Review Board. The Town is also a Virginia Main Street Community, which is a quasi-federal downtown revitalization program administered by the Virginia Department of Housing and Community Development. The Main Street Program has been very successful and to-date has been instrumental in spearheading over $9 million to improve the downtown area. The downtown area is currently recognized as one of the Town's most significant visual assets.

The Plan proposes a historic district system based on "grass roots" efforts, meaning the Town will provide technical support when requested by the neighborhood. Culpeper is justifiably proud of its historic homes - there are 14 "High Styles" of architecture which are represented in the Town. The Architectural Review Board offers a simplified process whereby simple constructions would not have to undergo full review. The Plan also proposes a process whereby citizens nominate historically significant historic structures for local landmark status. The Town's historical homes are an important component of life in Culpeper.

Urban Design and Community Appearance Plan

Culpeper has a long history of urban form. Since 1759, when the original ten-block town plan was laid out, the Town has continued to grow and change. A well-designed urban environment enhances everyone's economic, social and spiritual well-being. The challenge for the future is to manage growth and development while not detracting from the Town's small-town beauty, and to beautify those areas of the Town which currently detract from our character. The Town proposes to maintain Culpeper's traditional town character, beautify the major entranceways into the Town, protect scenic views and important landmarks, develop guidelines for residential and non-residential development, and work with developers to improve design.