Dear Friends,

Congratulations to everyone who has supported the Quiet Zone project since 2007. As we learned just last week, Fairfield’s Quiet Zone now has final approval.

Now we must raise the final funds needed to pay for the project. The City will bid the project starting in January. We have been asked to have all the money available by March 31st, 2012. Our goal is to have construction start as early as possible next year so we can enjoy a quiet summer and celebrate our success.

The project will cost about $206,000, including engineering and contingencies. We have $110,000 in the bank and the City will contribute $25,000. So we need $71,000 more cash in the bank. We do have pledges for some of this amount and hope to receive them before the first of the year. For those who have made pledges, the project has final approval and this is the time to get your contribution in the bank. Please send your check in as soon as possible, especially if you want deduct your donation for 2011.

For supporters who have not made pledges please donate as much as you can now. Even with all the pledges coming in, we still need to raise a sizeable amount of money.

We must have cash in bank to achieve our goal. If you are able to donate more, please do so as soon as possible. Please make your check out the Accelerated Learning Foundation FTSQZ and send to FTSQZ, PO Box 2302, Fairfield, IA 52556. Please email any questions or special requests to qt@natel.net. Let’s work together to take this worthy project across the finish line!

Please forward this email to all your friends who you feel would want to help. Thank you once again for your patient support of this community project.

Happy Holidays. Bill Blackmore

 

Fairfield received official notice today that our Quiet Zone application to the FRA (Federal Railroad Administration) has been approved. This is a very exciting moment in our efforts to make our fair city even more livable.

Our understanding is that based on the approval granted, the City will have final engineering done on the project and will prepare an updated budget. Once this is done we will know how much more money we need to raise and will proceed to do so as quickly as possible. When have the necessary funds in the bank, the project will be bid and built. It is our hope that all of the above can be accomplished as early in 2012 as possible so we can sleep with the windows open this summer.

Thanks to everyone for your support and patience. We'll provide more news as it develops.

Regards, Bill Blackmore

---

Here it is, a bit later than expected but no less sweet. Fairfield's application to establish a railroad quiet zone has been officially approved by the FRA. All that's left is to raise the remaining funds, construct the safety upgrades, and make it a reality by next summer. It's been my honor to take the lead on a project that will enhance the quality of life for everyone in our soon-to-be much quieter community. :-)

Michael Halley

---

Friends and Patient Supporters,
 

The wheels of government move slowly. We all know that. This week we learned that the Federal Railroad Administration (FRA) will not require our project to install Constant Warning Time (CWT) circuitry on the west side of Fairfield that would have cost over $400,000 and effectively killed the project. We do not yet have final FRA approval but hope to have it soon.

The CWT issue was a new one for the FRA and now that they have decided against requiring that, we hope to have final approval soon. This is the biggest and most important step of progress the QZ project has ever taken. Stay tuned for more good news. Regards, Bill Blackmore

October 28, 2011
CWT = Circuitry at active warning devices that provides a constant warning time, despite the speed at which a train is approaching.

---

Friends and Supporters,

Friends and Quiet Zone supporters,
Apologies for not immediately announcing the above. This was widely covered by local news media, so I assume most everyone already knows. But just to be sure.................
The Fairfield City Council voted 7-0 to make the formal application for our Quiet Zone. Matters relating to the City's contribution to the cost and the closing of the 3rd St. crossing were left for later.
It is truly gratifying to see how support has grown and opposition has just faded away. Michael Halley conducted meetings at the library for the specific purpose of addressing objections. Only one person showed up to object! I credit our smooth progress largely to the hiring of quiet zone consultant Andy Mielke and the calls, emails, and letters sent to CC members by QZ supporters.
A lot of thought and work is currently going into determining the cost of our Quiet Zone. Jerry Long of French Reneker is doing these estimates. He has worked tirelessly on our behalf, has gone to Burlington to study their QZ, and should have final estimates in the next month or so.
It is pretty much a certainty that the project will need additional funding from private sources. However, we don't plan to launch the final round of fund raising until we have a very clear idea of how much money we actually need. Keep tuned for more on this in the near future.

Regards,

Bill Blackmore for the Fairfield Quiet Zone Committee

8-11-2010

Dear Friends and Supporters of the Quiet Zone,

Yesterday the Public Safety Transportation Committee of the Ff. City Council met and unanimously voted to move forward with the QZ and will recommend the same to the City Council on Monday the 12th of July at 7 p.m. Although the motion to pursue QZ status for Fairfield will not be the final and totally definitive vote on the matter, it is critical that we get as many votes in favor as possible next Monday.

Please call or email your council member, and either of the at large members as soon as possible and let them know that you support the QZ and hope they will vote in favor. I will list the phone numbers and email addresses below for your convenience. Our goal here is that no one can say they have not heard from anyone who supports the QZ. This is the main reason we created this email list, for moments like this where we need everyone to step up and encourage our City Council to do the right thing and support the QZ.

The matter of the City's contribution to the QZ cost and who will pay for the necessary street repairs on Court St. will be dealt with later, and we recommend leaving that discussion for later. Thanks so much for your patience and support!

City Council Members:

1st Ward - Ron Adam - (641)472-4011 rkadam@lisco.com
2nd Ward- John Revolinski - (641)472-3939 jrevolinski@gmail.com
3rd Ward - Ray Mottett - (641)472-9010 motify@iowatelecom.net
4th Ward - Michael Halley - (641)233-0445 mhalley25@gmail.com
5th Ward - Daryn Hamilton - (641)469-6162 dhamilt@yahoo.com
At Large - Myron Gookin - (641)472-8650 mlgfkg@lisco.com
At Large - Susan Silvers - (641)472-7190 silversforcitycouncil@hotmail.com

7-9-2010

Fairfield Quiet Zone will come to a vote on the City Council in the next month or so. Prior to that vote a meeting has been scheduled for this Monday to inform and educate the public on the details of the Quiet Zone and provide all members of the community the opportunity to express their thoughts, feelings, and concerns about the project. This meeting is an effort to ensure that everyone has had the opportunity to get informed and make their feelings known.

It is important that Quiet Zone supporters attend this meeting to show support for the project. If you can't make it at 7, please come when you can. Please see the front page of the current edition of the Fairfield Weekly Reader for further details.

In May the City Council voted unanimously to hire quiet zone expert Andy Mielke of SRF Consulting. Mielke came highly recommended by city officials in Burlington and has helped guide them and 23 other cities through the process of establishing their city's quiet zone. After completing site work in Fairfield, collecting traffic counts for each crossing, and working closely with the city engineer and director of Public Works, Mielke will provide an updated report in time for the Monday meeting at 7 p. m. at the Library.

This meeting will dramatically affect the council's decision to approve or reject these recommendations.

It is crucial that we have positive, polite support at this meeting. Please come, forward this email to friends, and bring at least one neighbor that strongly supports the quiet zone.

We are very close to getting our QZ approved. Thanks for all your support.

May 21, 2010

• Meet and hear Quiet Zone consultant Andy Mielke.  He and his company SRF have done 25 quiet zones!
• Hear about the plan.
• See the plan.
• Ask questions about the plan.
• Show your support for our Fairfield Quiet Zone.

Dear Friends,

Last week Michael Halley, Fairfield City Council member, and Bill Blackmore and Ira Roffel visited the Burlington Quiet Zone and met with the City Administrator and local business leaders who created their Quiet Zone last December. We were amazed at how the concrete medians looked. (see attached photo). The medians were much smaller than we expected and not at all intrusive. Seeing is believing-we think that when the people of Fairfield see exactly what it takes to silence the train horns that support will only grow.

The Burlington City Administrator and business leaders spoke of how this small change has had such a huge positive effect to their downtown area. Their Quiet Zone has brought several very important residential and business developments to the downtown area and has had a positive impact on retail activities too. We invited them to speak to our City Council. We were given copies of dozens of letters from the business community describing the great benefits and changes they have experienced from their Quiet Zone.

The latest big news about our efforts is that this week the Fairfield City Council voted unanimously to hire Andy Mielke of SRF Consulting to help finalize the details of our own QZ. The cost of Andy's work will be paid for entirely by the Fairfield Train Safety and Quiet Zone Committee. None of your donations will go towards the cost of the consultant. It is being paid for by a donation specifically for this purpose and funds from the raffle done in 2008. Andy Mielke's first visit to Fairfield will be announced shortly.

One idea that has been considered to help defray the cost of our QZ is to close the N. Court St. crossing. This would reduce the cost significantly. However, we are told that there is not enough support/votes on the City Council to get this done. As an alternative we are going to ask that the City pay the cost of repairing Court St. so medians can be installed. In simple terms, if we link approval our our Fairfield QZ to the closure of the Court St. crossing, we risk losing some of the growing support we have.

Please tell your friends and neighbors that we are making great progress and forward this email to anyone who might be interested. We'll let you know when there will be an opportunity to meet Andy Mielke and hear his vision of how we can finally get this done.

Thanks for your interest and support. The Fairfield Quiet Zone Committee
 

Special Quiet Zone Meeting to be announced featuring Top Quiet Zone Expert Andy Mielke of srfconsulting.com.   

We are pleased to announce that we have hired an experienced quiet zone consultant to make the final recommendations (crossing by crossing) for the completion of the Fairfield Quiet Zone.

Andy Mielke has worked on 25 quiet zones across the country including Burlington. We are confident that Andy will quickly provide us with professional recommendations for how to quickly and cost effectively improve our railroad crossings to qualify for quiet zone status.

We will be announcing a special presentation by Andy to review the economic, social, and health benefits of the project as well as the fastest path to completion. We encourage you all to attend and bring friends to the presentation to show the City Council the broad community support for our quiet zone.  We will let you the date and time as soon as the meeting is set.

It is very likely that we will need to raise additional funds to complete our quiet zone project. We will be contacting donors who have made multi year pledges with suggestions for converting those pledges to much needed cash. For those waiting to contribute now is the time. Please contribute as soon and as much as possible.  Tax deductible donations can be made by check made out to ALF FTSQZ sent to PO Box 2302 here in Fairfield.  For credit card donations contact us at qt@natel.net.

Special thanks to the Fairfield City Council Public Safety and Transportation Committee members Ron Adam, Chmn., Darryn Hamilton, and Michael Halley for all their help.

Thank you as always for your support, donations, and patience with this complex process.

Regards, The Fairfield Train Safety and Quiet Zone Committee