Founded in 1963, the Fredericksburg Area Association of REALTORS® is the trade association for more than 1800 REALTOR® and affiliate members serving the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Stafford, Spotsylvania, King George and Caroline. Members also work in the surrounding counties of Westmoreland, Louisa, Orange and Prince William and in Northern Virginia. FAAR strongly supports the availability of affordable housing for all segments of the market and our code of ethics requires FAAR to support government policies designed to enhance home ownership opportunities. In an effort to build relationships with elected officials, the FAAR Board of Directors has developed this public policy statement to ensure our elected officials understand the REALTOR® position on issues of concern in the communities we serve.

  Growth

FAAR favors market-oriented balanced smart growth policies that recognize the need to accommodate increased population while protecting the quality of life that makes the region so attractive to potential new residents. FAAR supports development in targeted growth areas where substantial public investment in infrastructure has occurred. FAAR supports broad based commercial development, in appropriate locations within a locality, to help alleviate local dependence on homeowner property taxes as the principle source of revenue for localities. FAAR supports regional cooperation on growth issues to help communities share the benefits and impact of growth. FAAR supports state-level tax restructuring to ensure a more equitable distribution of resources throughout the Commonwealth.

  Transportation

FAAR supports a balanced transportation system that permits the efficient movement of people, goods and services in the region. FAAR supports targeted expenditures to improve traffic flow through “bottleneck” intersections. FAAR supports a high-speed rail link from Washington DC to Richmond with expanded ridership opportunities for regional residents. FAAR supports efforts to expand High Occupancy Vehicle Lanes on Interstate 95. FAAR supports upgrades to the US Route 301 corridor to help relieve congestion on Interstate 95. FAAR supports expansion of parking facilities at Virginia Railway Express Stations. FAAR supports tax restructuring to reduce Virginia’s dependence on the state sales tax to finance transportation projects in the Commonwealth.

  Education

FAAR supports the right of all citizens of the Commonwealth to receive a world-class education at all of Virginia’s elementary, middle and high schools. FAAR also supports the right of all citizens to have access to affordable higher education opportunities at the Commonwealth’s community colleges, colleges and universities. To address the current funding gap on the state and local levels, FAAR supports increased state aid to localities for the construction and renovation of primary and secondary schools. FAAR also supports local option taxes for localities to address their own funding needs.

  Impact fees and proffers

FAAR believes that the current system of proffers and proposed impact fees will not help ameliorate the negative impact associated with rapid growth. Instituting artificial controls on the housing market will not stop growth. Growth will continue, only moving further away from existing infrastructure investments and require an increasing level of capital investments to provide adequate services to all residents. Increasing proffer levels, decreasing zoning density and other measures aimed at addressing growth will in fact exacerbate the negative impact of growth.

  Accommodating Growth as a Region

The Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments forecasts that an additional 165 people per day from now until 2020, will either been born in or move to this region. By 2020 that adds up to an extra 1.2 million people who will need almost 500,000 new housing units (based on U.S. average of 2.6 people per household). Slow growth policies in Loudoun County have removed 23,782 housing units from the design books—that means nearly 62,000 people who might have called Loudoun County home, will be shopping for alternatives and many of them will look toward our communities. Public policy concerning growth issues can’t be developed in a vacuum. Loudoun County’s actions are designed to ameliorate the impact of growth. While the impact may be lessened in Loudoun, the cost of Loudoun’s actions will be borne by the entire region through higher home prices, increased traffic congestion and continued financial disparities. FAAR supports a regional growth summit to bring together leaders from high growth communities to develop regional programs to ensure balanced development, improved transportation and burden sharing. FAAR is committed to being an active partner with local groups and governments in the effort to build regional consensus on growth issues.