RCC April Board Minutes Excerpts

The following was received from Kevin Murphy of SaveBrownsChapel.com:

BELOW ARE QUOTES FROM THE JOINT COMMITTEE POLICY BOARD. THEY WERE ATTACHED TO THE RCC BOARD MINUTES IN APRIL. EACH IS AN EXTRACT THE FULL DOCUMENT IS ON THE RCC WEB SITE. THEY WILL TELL YOU THAT NO PLANS HAVE BEEN FINALIZED BUT THEY ARE PRETTY SPECIFIC AND DETAILED IN THEIR DISCUSSIONS:

 

Eileen proposed that all of the general programs fitness classes be moved and consolidated to the Simon Center. There would be no fitness classes at Hunters Woods or Lake Anne.

 

Joe stated that the Aquatics registered class fees will be the same regardless of location to prevent price variation between the Hunters Woods Center and the new facility.

 

Leila further explained that SD5 pricing is higher than the current SD5 gate fee for drop-in use at the Terry L. Smith Center, which reflects both inflation factors and the expanded options for patrons at the new facility.

 

In response to a question from Carol Ann, Joe stated that the high school swim team currently has a low rental rate. The greater revenue from rentals comes from US Swim and big national organizations swimming at premium rental rates. Joe stated that he has had conversations with the rental coordinator for Park Authority/Aquatics, who is very excited about the concept of a new pool in Reston.

 

Eileen stated … that the new facility should be designed similar to Fairfax County recreation centers.

 

Eileen stated that since all of the classes will be moved to the Simon Center, it would be a great opportunity to increase the capacity and offerings at the Hunters Woods and Lake Anne facilities.More drop-in Tot Time programs, senior/adult enrichment courses, and youth/teen/senior art education classes could be added. Lake Anne would be primarily a visual arts center. The ceramics and art studios could be expanded which would allow for an increase in class capacity. Eileen also mentioned that it would give an opportunity for ESL and citizenship classes to be brought back on site to Hunters Woods.

 

Carol Ann reported that the RCC/RA Task Force received information from Urban Planning. She stated that there are several permits that need to be obtained.

 

She described the conversation with RA Board Chair, Milton Matthews and Larry Butler, as being productive and involving a variety of options RCC representatives, herself, Bil l Bouie and Leila Gordon, would like the site engineer to pursue to revise the way the building and parking are located on the Brown’s Chapel RA property. The suggestions were made to eliminate all of the current Brown’s Chapel property elements (ball fields, picnic pavilion, and outdoor basketball and volleyball courts) to accommodate the size building desired on that property without going onto the adjacent property.

 

QUESTIONS THAT I WOULD ASK:

 

Why were the focus groups used in the consultant study stacked with tennis and RA/RCC employees? Doesn’t this make the money spent on the study a waste?

 

If, as Robin Smyers often says, Browns Chapel is just one of many ideas what other locations have been surveyed by Urban Planning (the group that provided a site plan for Browns Chapel) and can we see the results for those other locations?

 

On slide 37 of the consultants report they estimate that the market for indoor tennis in Reston is 854. Are we building a $100 million center for 854 out of 60,000 residents? On the same page they estimate the total capture for tennis at the center of 1,858. Can you explain again how it will be 90% used by Reston residents who pay for it?

 

Slide 39 provided similar numbers for Aquatics – 1,404 Reston participants and 1,359 non Reston. Explain the math again. Adding Aquatics and Tennis (the drivers for the facility) there are 2,258 core users of the new facility and 60,746 people paying for it. That’s 3.7% using and 96.3% paying. Nothing against swimming or tennis but can’t we find a more economic solution?

 

What programs are you planning to stop at the Hunters Wood Recreation Center and moving to the new center?

 

Leila Gordon explained that our recreation facilities, including the new one, operate at a higher cost than other recreation facilities in Fairfax County. Why can’t these costs be brought into line? Why open a new center when you can’t operate one efficiently?

 

The B&D consultants admitted that they never spoke to anyone at the sports facilities in the area (for example YMCA, Sport and Health, Worldgate). Inexplicably they claim that they went in but did not speak to anyone. If they had they would have learned that all have capacity and are operating around 70%. Did RA or RCC approach YMCA to jointly consider a solution?

 

Who will run the new facility? All indications are that it will be RCC only?