It was a meeting Dec. 9 to begin a discussion on what Fayette County residents want to see in their transportation future. And though that did occur, others at the meeting wanted to hear the particulars on the emerging West Fayetteville Bypass project. Nearly 180 attended the meeting at Fayette Senior Center.

Presenting an overview on developing a plan for the future was consulting firm Glatting Jackson Kercher Anglin, Inc. project representative Paul Moore. The objective of the first of several meetings, said Moore, would be to begin obtaining the public’s interest on setting goals and policies for transportation in Fayette that would begin in approximately 5 years and extend to near 2030.

Moore presented various residential and commercial development models that either complimented or detracted from effective transportation routing. He combined those with comments on Fayette’s projected growth to approximately 150,000 residents by 2030. Included in the presentation were six potential goals for residents to assess and state preferences on later in the meeting.

A growing number of questions and comments came from the audience near the end of the presentation and prior to breaking up into smaller groups. A large number of those attending, perhaps more than half the audience, had come to the meeting to discuss and give opinions on Phase 2 of the West Fayetteville Bypass, a project whose first phase is currently under construction. The county project is funded by a 1-cent sales tax with a 5-year collection that ends in 2010.

Nearly everyone attending on the bypass issue appeared to be opposed to Phase 2. Those attending for the bypass issue assembled outside the meeting room and met with county Public Works Director Phil Mallon.

Those attending to voice opinions on the future of transportation continued the process, later identifying 3 overriding goals for consideration. Those included preserving the community’s character, providing safe and balanced transportation choices and creating desirable place for all citizens.

Moore said a week-long public participation workshop will be held sometime in February, followed by additional visioning meetings in May and July.

“We need a high level of participation at the workshop,” Moore said, explaining that his firm will assess and model public input from the February workshop and present it at the public meeting in May.