Brown’s Chapel Rec Center Draws Large Turnout at Reston Community Center Finance Meeting on May 18th, 2009
On May 18th, 2009, the Reston Community Center Finance Committee Meeting was visited by approximately 200 angry citizens who recently learned that the RCC and RA boards have spend approximately $92k so far studying the possibility of putting up a huge indoor recreation facility and 2 story parking lot on the Brown’s Chapel Park property. Tensions heated up as residents learned that after reston donates this land to Fairfax county, small tax district number 5 residents would get the opportunity to pay for the $100M+ project and pay for all of the ongoing maintenance and projected operational shortfalls, while 70% of the projected users of the facility would come from outside the tax district. Nice!
As the meeting started, the finance committee members huddled around a small conference table and conducted their meeting in hushed tones so that the residents joining the meeting couldn’t hear what was going on. The 49 person occupancy room continued to overflow and the committee members refused to move into the larger open room next door.
Once the committee members finished their “private” matters in this public hearing, they opened the floor to comments. One by one, members of the community got up to speak out against tearing down the brown’s chapel park and putting up this rec-center and 2 story parking garage. Two members of the community spoke out in favor of having a larger indoor swimming facility that they feel the community needs to support the existing swim teams.
Tensions grew, as the committee members refused to answer any direct questions about how the project got started, how much has been spent so far, and how the ultimate decision would be decide. Instead, they ducked and weaved, with such statements as “I am not at liberty to say at this time”. Finally a few questions were answered, approximately $92k has been spent so far on researching this project, funding for the project would need to be voted upon. (rumor has it that the vote might be combined with a vote for electronic voting though).
There has been little to no community outreach about this project, and residents voiced anger at not knowing that this has been going on. One resident suggested that if the Reston Association can send up 3 postcards about the planned administration building project, then surely they could send out 1 postcard letting people know about this project and when the meetings would be held. Another resident was amazed that the RA would give them crap over cutting down a dying tree, but would be willing to plow over a whole park! Another resident said that there was a small patch of Reston property across the street from him that was blowing leaves in his yard, and when he asked for something to be done, they refused because of the need to keep and protect our open spaces. Amazing!
According to the Reston Community Center Website, here are the next two dates planned to present information and discuss this issue with the community:
June 1 – 6:30 p.m
RCC Hunters Woods
Community Room (Capacity 400)
RCC’s Annual Public Hearing for Programs and Budget
2310 Colts Neck Road
Reston, VA 20191
June 15th – 7:00 p.m
RCC Hunters Woods
Community Room
(Capacity 400)
2310 Colts Neck Road
Reston, VA 20191
Here are some more pictures from the Meeting:
We also found these great videos on YouTube, the first one is an introduction to the brown’s chapel rec center issue, and the 2nd is some actual video from the meeting on May 18th.
At this pace, they might want to find some larger rooms for those future meetings!
At the meeting regarding Brown’s Chapel Park at RCC Lake Anne on May 18, I heard many people say they were no longer getting their local newspapers delivered to their homes. At the bottom of this note you will find links to the three local newspapers that cover Reston with their online editions. There is also a link to the Metro/Fairfax section of the Washington Post.
I hope that the legislation that was introduced to allow newspapers to operate as non-profits passes. Many newspapers have gone out of business. Imagine our country without a free and accessible press.
Things are happening in Reston. Big changes are coming. The Metro is coming. The Master Plan will be rewritten. Bob Simon said in an article in the Washington Post in January that our population will increase to 100,000. How will this affect your neighborhood? You need to keep yourself informed.
http://www.connectionnewspapers.com/paper.asp?paper=71
http://www.observernews.com/
http://www.fairfaxtimes.com/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/metro/va/fairfax/index.html
Kathy,
Thanks for the links! I have added those to our site links.
GoReston!
In response to this and other blog and web site assertions:
I am clarifying some of the assertions made in your post. The Finance Committee of RCC did not try to conduct its business “privately.” The people assembled in the room were talking throughout the attempted business part of this public meeting; they repeatedly demanded the meeting be halted to hear from people about the indoor recreation center; and although we tried mightily to explain that the business part of the meeting would be brief and they may be interested in listening, it was to no avail.
Furthermore, the figures you cite regarding Reston users versus non-users and costs are erroneous. The data assertion regarding use of a proposed indoor recreation facility is based on an error in the draft report from the consultant presented for discussion in December that inadvertently reversed the ratio of Reston/non-Reston use in one section of it. Had readers followed the report draft all the way through to the possible financial pro-formas they would have seen the cost and recovery data that is based on 70+% use by Reston, with the remainder of revenue derived from non-Reston users. This will be discussed in the presentation on June 1.
People should keep in mind also that current recreational amenities offered in Reston by both RA and RCC are provided at subsidized rates to Reston, in addition to being offered in priority access timeframes. This philosophy is the underpinning for financial models in the consultant’s report and the philosophy that both Boards would continue.
Finally, as has been said, over and over, neither organization has made any decision about what will be done to support the demands of swimmers, tennis players, youth sports, fitness class patrons and community organizations that now can not enjoy their activities in RA or RCC facilities because there is much more demand than capacity. What we have done is work for a year now, together, to try to explore our options, get factual data on our Reston market and demographics, data on the financial parameters of building a new facility, data on property zoned for recreation use in Reston, and we have done all of that in order to present the results to our community for the community to consider and then decide Reston’s recreation future. Let me be clear–no capital project to create a new facility for Reston will be undertaken by small district 5 without a bond referendum in which eligible, registered small district 5 voters will be able to participate. Additionally, RA will conduct a series of District meetings for its membership over the next several weeks to discuss this and all the related issues in groups, among fellow members, with all the data we have gathered available to everyone. RA will be listening to its members in these meetings and in many other formats to learn of their desires.
Both RA and RCC are committed and ALWAY HAVE BEEN to letting the community engage in the next steps in this process and to guide whatever future recreation capacity increases occur in Reston. All the Task Force meetings were published and open meetings. The suggestion made at the May 18 meeting to send a postcard to all small district 5 residents was a good one; we have done so and people should be looking for a postcard announcing the June 1 and June 15 meetings in the next week.
We want to hear from all corners of Reston and welcome the community’s participation. I would also like to personally apologize for the location of the May 18 meeting. The larger room, our Jo Ann Rose Gallery, was committed to the monthly meeting of the Sierra Club. We tried to reach them to discuss switching rooms so more people could be comfortably accommodated, and we were unfortunately unsuccessful. In hindsight, I wish I had simply exercised “executive privilege” and switched the rooms prior to the meeting. I like to think that I do not typically make the same mistake twice. The meetings on June 1 and 15 will be held in the RCC Hunters Woods Community Room and we will have 400 chairs. While it is possible that more people than that will show up, we have also asked Comcast to record the meetings, and we will post links on our web sites to the tape if we can arrange that with Comcast. If we are not able to, we will explore methods to make the tape available. Both meetings will be open, we will stay until every single speaker signed up to speak has done so. The sessions will be conducted under the guidelines of our governing documents. People who can not or do not wish to attend the meetings on the first or fifteenth can send their opinions to both organizations electronically; all input will be recorded and considered as long as it is accompanied by a name and Reston address.
I sincerely hope that this clears up some of the rampant misconceptions about this undertaking; we understand that people feel passionately about the Brown’s Chapel location. The volunteer members of both RCC and RA Boards are giving their personal time to efforts to improve our community and do so with the understanding that their ideas, concepts, proposals and the like may not meet with community favor. They are prepared to be responsive to the community; none of them has acted in any way that merits the insults, the misrepresentations, the attacks on morality or integrity that have been made. Reasonable people can disagree and disagree vehemently; they do not have to do so in an uncivil manner. I am hopeful that the values of Reston will be present throughout the coming meetings and that we will all be able to learn from one another and navigate the solutions to our current frustrations with good will and open minds. Reston has always been creative and progressive. I have no doubt that together we will arrive at good outcome. I appreciate being able to share this background with people and look forward to many fruitful meetings and sessions in the coming weeks.
Leila Gordon
Leila,
I appreciate your comments and opinions regarding my blog post. I am looking forward to the future meetings where the RCC and RA has promised to share how this whole thing got started, what has been done, what has been spent, and what the plans are for going forward.
I am sorry that you don’t agree with my perceptions of the May 18th “business portion of the meeting”, as someone who was standing very close to the table, and still was unable to hear what you were saying, it appeared as though you didn’t want to be heard. Certainly everyone in the room was able to hear the members at the table when they wanted to be heard, because they actually spoke up.
Hopefully you can provide microphones next time, to make sure that you give the perception of wanted to be heard and insuring that all who want to hear and participate are given the opportunity to do so.
After all, perceptions are reality.
Adam
P.S. I think we would have all appreciated your using executive privilege to utilize the room larger, air-conditioned room next door, seeing as it was empty when we started, and empty when we left.
“The suggestion made at the May 18 meeting to send a postcard to all small district 5 residents was a good one; we have done so and people should be looking for a postcard announcing the June 1 and June 15 meetings in the next week”
Dear Leila:
I never received a postcard announcing this meeting. Did they get sent out?
Also, could you explain the finances in more detail? Who will pay for the for the construction
and maintenance of the facility proposed for Brown’s Chapel Park? Who will pay for the cost
of running the facility and its upkeep? Also, how will the facility deal with waste management?
How many trees will be cut down to build this facility? Have any other places in Fairfax
County been considered? What is the rational for constructing a facility of this magnitude
in an area where homes would be in close proximity? Since Reston has already provided
space for the construction of the YMCA, isn’t it reasonable to find another area for such
a huge project?
Thanks you for responding to my questions.
Regarding comments above from Adam:
Quite frankly, the shouting at times on May 18 was so loud that I could not hear myself. It is never our intent to speak quietly so that people can’t hear us; that seems very counterintuitive since we publish our minutes and provide those public documents on our web site. I do think it is possible that because our comptroller has a Polish accent that it may have been difficult for people to understand her; but there is not now, nor has there ever been an attempt on our part to hide any aspect of our finances or committee meetings. I really take exception to that insinuation, Adam.
Regarding microphones, yes, there will be microphones at the meeting tonight and on June 15.
Regarding the questions from “Gardengal”:
Postcards were in fact mailed to all small district 5 households last week. We received several dozen returned “undeliverable as addressed.”
We have not determined the operational structure of financing an indoor recreation facility in detail except on the basis of shared costs between RA and RCC and neither organization taking on costs that would cause a tax increase or member dues increase.
Yes, other locations in Reston have been considered for a variety of indoor recreation uses and this use.
“Reston” did not provide the location for the YMCA, that was a result of a proffer arrangement with the Board of Supervisors when Bob Dix was the Hunter Mill Supervisor.
I hope people will engage in the meetings, and download the Market and Financial study, and provide comments directly to the two organizations. While I find reading the comments and questions posted here a useful source of information, using the public processes available to people from both organizations will allow the concerns you express to be included as part of official records for us and to be made available to the two groups of Board members.
Leila Gordon
Sorry you disagree Leila, but I was there, and what you call “shouting” and I would call “people expressing their frustrations” didn’t really occur much until after you were done with your whisper session.
If you note the picture of the meeting in the post, you will cleary see you guys huddled around the table, and there was really no projection of your voices until you opened it up for public discussion.
So, yes everyone who was standing there will be left with the option of reading the minutes.
Do you post the recordings from those meetings anywhere for public consumption?
Adam
Dear Leila,
I’d appreciate your answering the following questions… to repeat…. from my first inquiry
regarding building this facility in Brown’s Chapel Park:
“How will the facility deal with waste management? How many trees will be cut down to build this facility? What is the rational for constructing a facility of this magnitude in an area where homes would be in close proximity?
Thank you.