Fairfax City reviews Pickett Connector Trail plans as staff weigh tree loss, SmartScale funding and Fairfax Water alignment

City staff told the Fairfax City Council on July 8 that the Pickett Connector Trail would add about 1,300 linear feet of paved trail linking Fiese Park to Fairfax Boulevard but would cut into a forested floodplain and require removal of dozens of trees. The presentation said the project’s $5 million construction estimate is fully funded by a $6.4 million SmartScale award, and staff reported $650,000 has been spent on preliminary engineering to date.

The stakes for trees and future maintenance rose during the session after staff said Fairfax Water plans a north–south water main along a largely overlapping alignment about 10 years from now. City transportation director Wendy Sanford said the overlap would mean the paved segments disturbed now would be “disturbed again” when Fairfax Water installs the main, and Fairfax Water told staff it intends to use much of the same alignment to limit additional impacts. Sanford said the two shorter bridges in the plan would avoid overlap with Fairfax Water work and that the city’s urban forester characterizes the project’s forest impact as low because much of the area contains invasive species that the project could allow the city to remove.

Why it matters: The trail was identified in the city’s multimodal and parks plans to close a missing link in an off‑road network connecting the Cross County Trail, George Snyder Trail and other routes. But neighbors, environmental…