1. Attendance: Edward Carey (Roan Stallion Estates), Howard Green (Roan Stallion Estates), Carol Hawn (Singleton's Grove), Al Linch (Virginia Run), Jeff Parnes (Chantilly Highlands), and Larry Tessier (Franklin Glenn)

2. At the 20 November meeting of the Sully District Council the Fairfax Land Preservation Trust made a presentation about the Timberlake parcel.

   Consideration of the proposal was deferred to the committee which was tasked to make a recommendation back to the Council at its next meeting.

   The Timberlake contains a portion of Difficult Run located in the northeast portion of Sully District. The Fairfax Land Preservation Trust desires to protect this parcel which in the past had been a private park with swimming and picnicking. The children of the owner have agreed to sell it to the county at a cost of $5.7 million, but the county doesn?t have the money available at this time. The trust is willing to advance the money if the county agrees to include funding for its acquisition in a future park bond referendum, establishes a date for the referendum, and agrees to pay the interest until the bond is enacted.

   The largest concern of the committee was whether the expected $5.7 million cost of acquiring the Timberlake parcel was the best value for the overall needs of the Sully District. In any future bond issue of approximately $50 million, the funds would be allocated over all the county and Sully couldn't expect much more than its prorated share -- about the cost of the Timberlake acquisition.

   Timberlake would be a passive recreation facility, while Sully might need a recreation center facility such as Oakmarr, Wakefield, Providence, Lee District, or Springhill; or a parcel that could support more active recreational uses.

   The committee also felt that no matter who purchased the property, that fact that it included the Difficult Run stream valley, meant that the stream valley would be protected by current development restrictions.

   In the end the committee voted to recommend that: "The County should purchase property sufficient to connect existing stream valley parks, or if not able to purchase the limited property as described above, to buy the whole parcel, but either keep the parcel in low or passive recreation uses or dispose of the non-environmentally sensitive land.?

   This recommendation will be brought forward to the general Sully District Council membership at its next meeting on 18 December.

3. The Post Office announced that the northern portion of the Sully District, which lies in the 20171 Zip Code, can be referred to as Oak Hill as well as Herndon. Both names are now acceptable. In addition, the Post Office is looking for property to purchase so it can actually build a post office for the 20171 Zip Code.

4. Al Linch attended a Western Bypass meeting held by the Prince William County Board of Supervisors where they discussed the proposed western connector to the tri-county connector. At the meeting of approximately 900 people, close to 760 spoke against any movement of people north and west of the Manassas Battlefield National Park. The proposed North-South connector connects the Route 28 bypass to I-66 to Loudoun County where it ties into a main road in the South Riding community. It seems that the North-South connector would also be used by any northern realignment of Route 29 outside of the Battlefield. The Prince William County residents don?t want to see the area north of the park becoming a major transportation corridor.

5. Centreville Road has consistently been listed as a low priority on the State's six-year development plan. The state will improve the section from Metrotech Drive south to Route 50 as part of the upgrade of Route 50 from Stringfellow Road to Route 28. Existing gaps in the four-lane segments (Metrotech Drive to McLearen Road and West Ox Road to Frying Pan Road) are still not scheduled for completion until the new millennium (whether that's considered 2000 or 2001).

6. On 2 December the County held a public hearing soliciting input on proposed transportation enhancement projects. Carol Hawn made a presentation for the Sully District in which she spoke to the items the committee had endorsed at its November meeting:
   • Signage for the Fairfax County Parkway Bike Trail from Route 29 up West Ox Road and along Fair Lakes Parkway rather than directly on the Parkway.
   • Connection of the Horse Pen Creek Stream Valley Trail to the Fairfax County Parkway Bike Trail.

7. The next meeting of the Sully District Council Land Use and Transportation Committee will convene Monday, 6 January 1997 at 7:30 p.m. At this meeting a presentation will be made on a parcel north of the new Middle School at McLearen and Centreville roads and Horse Pen Creek to its north.

Respectfully submitted,

Jeffrey M. Parnes
Chair, Sully District Council
Land Use and Transportation Committee