1. Attendance:
   1. Members: Jim Hart (Virginia Run), Carol Hawn (Old Mill), Judith Heisinger (Bull Run CA), Georgette Kohler (Rock Hill), Mark McConn (Bull Run CA), Jeff Parnes (Chantilly Highlands), and Larry Tessier (Franklin Glen)

   2. Guests: Karen Avvisato (Department of Community and Recreation Services), Tom McDonald (Buckner Forest), Linda Mellot (Deerfield Forest), Frank Ojeda (Rock Hill), Melinda Phillips and Shauna Skerman (Busy Kids Child Care Center), Stan Reid (self), Tim Scott (Fairfax County Park Authority), Claudette Ward (Greater Willow Springs), Ralph Wills (CYA)

2. Presentations:
   1. 7:30
      • Proponent: Melinda Phillips and Shauna Skerman, co-owners of Busy Kids Child Care Center
      • Action: SE needed for expanded operations
      • Location: Sully Plaza

      See handouts:

      • Justification for SE
      • Photos of Busy Kids facility
      • Location Map

      The Busy Kids Child Care Center is expanding to take over the vacant store front next to their current facility. It is operating under a SP, but needs an SE due to the changes in the Ordinance. Staff has waived the SE Plat and Supervisor Frey has authorized expedited processing since there is no construction (just laying carpet and adding a door), and he has authorized Staff to waive the site plan, if they can.

      They currently service 65 children from approximately 40 families; with the expansion they will be able to handle 100 children. There is a lighted 2400 square foot playground behind the facility, of board-on-board construction, with room for 24 children at a time. The children attend 4 local schools, and the center provides, as necessary, pick and drop off services. The facilities van is loaded in the drive in front of the original center, which is out of the traffic flow. A crosswalk and stop sign help control traffic to and from parking.

      The facility closes at 6:15, and they will wait an hour for parents who are delayed before contacting the social services department in case they are not able to get in touch with any of the provided secondary contacts.

      The committee passed unanimously a motion to recommend to the Planning Commission approval subject to staff recommendation for approval.

   2. 8:00
      • Proponent: Karen Avvisato (Department of Community and Recreation Services), Tim Scott (Fairfax County Park Authority) and Ralph Wills (Chantilly Youth Association)
      • Action: lighting an athletic field
      • Location: Rachel Carson Middle School

      See the following handouts:

      • Staff Report
      • Lighting Fixture Detail

      The DCRS is technically the applicant to light the existing 60-foot diamond at the site. FCPA is managing the proposed lighting project for them as part of the $300k grant program for countywide improvements to elementary and middle schools, part of a five-year plan to bring girls' softball fields to the same level as boys' baseball. The DCRS point of contact is Karen Avvisato at (703) 324-5526. The FCPA Project Manager is Tim Scott at (703) 324-8693. Although there are 15-20 lit softball fields in the county, there are none currently in Sully district.

      A community meeting was hosted by Supervisor Frey's office in May with the surrounding community. At that time it was decided not to light the rectangular field closer to the homes to the north. The neighbors were as much concerned with the noise generated by the use of the fields as with the lighting itself. Last summer malaria-carrying mosquitoes were found in the stream valley north of the residential community.

      The lighting scheme is one that has been used through out the county, as it will be at the fields next to the Chantilly Library. Two 60-foot poles will light the infield and two 70-foot poles will light the outfield. The infield poles will have four lights on each pole, while the outfield poles will support 8 lights. The poles could conceivably be additionally used to support cellular phone antennas. Studies have show that the taller the poles the more focused the lights can be downward, with less glare. No loud speakers are planned, but scoreboards are possible pending funding.

      The CYA is building a running trail around the ball field, and has already spent money on sod and irrigation. CYA indicates that if there is excess time available on the field, they will schedule boys' baseball games on the field.

      The bulk of the discussion centered on controlling the lights. The lights are controlled automatically, based on the schedule that CYA posts. The DCRA and the schools monitor the CYA schedule. When the lights are turned off, one infield light remains on a short time so that the fields aren't pitch black immediately after the games. The latest the lights will be lit is 11:00 PM, but if the games are over earlier than planned there will be an off switch for use.

      The committee voted to recommend to the Planning Commission that pursuant to the 2232-Y-30 that the application is in conformance with the criteria of general or appropriate location, character, and extent, with the following stipulations:

      • Encourage applicant to contact Mustang Crossing
      • Encourage applicant to consider a 10:30 PM cutoff when ever possible
      • No permanent loudspeakers
      • Encourage applicant to augment existing northern boundary landscaping

3. Old Business:
   1. On 15 January the PC held the public hearing on the Chesapeake Bay Act changes. Jim Hart had been authorized at our December 2002 meeting to speak for the committee. His presentation is available online. His report on the hearing follows:
      • There were about a dozen speakers, many good comments and questions, many of the same points raised by WFCCA and Sully District Council, and Maya Huber made many of the same points on behalf of CCLUT. Walter Alcorn deferred decision [for now] to next Thursday, 1-23-03 with the record remaining open for written comments.

      • There were a number of questions raised at the end that may require input from the County Attorney. Among them was what exactly is being mandated from above, and the issue of whether this package really needs to be adopted by March 1st or not, and where is that requirement coming from. Originally it seemed like a firm deadline but maybe that is not quite right. There were actually a number of requests from both citizens and development industry types to please allow more time to deal with this; it is so much material to digest. [I was kind of wondering if folks would get a chance to critique or comment on the 2nd draft, or whatever material staff comes up with in response to the issues raised at the public hearing. I don’t know how we can do that very easily under the 1-week time frame, especially with the holiday. Maybe that bears some follow-up, if we had a chance we could do something Tuesday night?]

      • Walter gave staff a number of issues to report back on, including much of what WFCCA and SDC had raised. For some reason the PC apparently didn’t get WFCCA's letter but I said I would follow up, and that you probably emailed it and we could send it again.

      • Mike Rolband, the wetlands consultant brought a map [not sure what it was exactly] which purported to depict the "new" areas of RPA in Fairfax Co [the county maps aren’t going to be finished until Dec. 03 or so]. Anyway there are several streams in WFCCA [and elsewhere] now going to be classified as "perennial" and therefore subjecting more landowners to some of these more severe regulations [either that or they are expansions of existing streams/RPAs previously mapped]. I couldn’t tell exactly where they were, too many in WFCCA to count actually, kind of every which way, but that map was like a human beehive. When Mike set it out on one of the desks after the public hearing, a crowd of people instantly started buzzing down around it to take a look, pressed together like bees in a beehive, will their backyards become an RPA under the new scheme? I tried but I couldn’t figure it out exactly.

      • There is some concern that if Fairfax County adopts all this before the new map is finished, how will ordinary folks know whether they are violating something in their backyard, with some little project, apparently with $5000 per day fines, if they don’t yet know whether they are in an RPA or not until the new map is done? An interesting point, staff's answer was a little vague. It kind of cuts both ways, we need to act quickly [or so it seemed earlier] but what does that mean if the map isn’t finished. Are there no violations until then or what?

      In response to Jim's presentation he received a letter from the Planning Commission inviting him to attend and participate with the commission's Environmental Committee with the EQAC as it works through the many issues raised by this proposed amendment

   2. Marlo's owners have requested that the second possible use on their parcel be preserved and requested that the Board of Supervisor's public hearing be postponed. The committee felt that there was no public support for the intensified use.

      Carol Hawn advised that on 10 February the BOS approved the Planning Commission recommendation for the Marlo out of turn plan amendment along the lines of what SDC voted and very close to WFCCA's request. Basically they get an option for retail for just a furniture store limited to 67,500 square feet (no intensification), and must stay out of the EQC. The WFCCA will be seeing this again as a PCA/SEA for site modifications, which has a PC public hearing in April.

4. New Business:
   1. The Springfield District Fairfax Center Land Use Committee met on Tuesday, January 14, 2003 at 7:00 pm., to discuss, among other matters, a Fairfax County Family Shelter to be located near the intersection of Lee Highway and Stringfellow Rd. (immediately west of Meadows Farms Nursery), Tax Map Parcel 55-3 ((1)) 27A1 and 27B

      Fairfax County is proposing to construct a family shelter for parents with infant and elementary school-age children. The shelter will be staffed on a 24/7 basis and numerous services including transportation will be provided to the clientele with the objective of getting them back into traditional housing. Tentative Planning Commission Hearing: Spring 2003

      Frank Ojeda attended the meeting and provided the committee a brief synopsis of the presentation by Fairfax County regarding the family homeless shelter.

      • Anthony Griffin, the Fairfax County Executive, presented the concept of the family homeless shelter. With him he had Peyton Whitley, co-chair of the County's Homeless Oversight Committee, John Payne, County architect, Kathy Froyd, from the county's Department of family Services, and David Marshall who will spearhead the 2232 process for the County.

      • Griffin noted that there is a waiting list for family homeless shelters in the County. At present, there are between 60 to 80 families on the waiting list. The average wait right now is 3 to 4 months. The average stay of a family in a homeless shelter is 90 days.

      • What is being proposed is a homeless shelter on a piece of property that the County purchased for building a regional storm water management pond. There is extra land at the top of the hill on which to build this facility. The facility will be a 20,000 square foot structure with two transitional homes facing Lee Highway. Additionally, the facility will have a parking lot for 30 vehicles and a fenced tot lot. A direct right turn road will manage the entrance to the facility as of now. The aim is to change the entrance to join into the road that will be constructed to support the 49 Equity homes that will be built in horseshoe fashion around the Meadow Farms complex. The facility will be directly across the street for the Hampton Forest subdivision entrance on Lee Highway.

      • The facility will house up to 20 families with a 60 bed maximum capability. Each of the transitional homes will accommodate three families. The transitional homes are for placing families that on the verge of leaving the facility into self-sufficiency. About one-third to one-half of the residents of the shelter usually own vehicles. About 50% of the residents have jobs but do not earn enough to pay for housing. The majority of the families in these shelters are single women with children. The average family size is 3.5 people. Eighty percent of the children at these facilities are elementary school age or lower. About 10% are middle school age and the other 10% are in high school.

      • There were many arguments about the proper use of the land as far as the Comprehensive Plan was concerned. There were also many arguments made by those caring for the homeless. Most were from outside the community directly affected by the proposed facility. However, after all was said and done, the Springfield land Use Committee voted unanimously to support the concept of the family homeless shelter for now. The funding for the facility comes from $1.2M already pigeonholed for this project and an additional $1M proffer by West Group for the current construction approved at Tyson's Corner.

      • The next step is for the County to prepare the 2232 and go through the process of getting it approved. The goal, as stated by Griffin, was to have this open and working by January 2004.

      At the meeting it was disclosed that due to a procedural error, not properly notifying a neighbor, the Equity homes public hearing would have to be redone.

   2. In the area near Mt. Olive and Old Centreville Road, Ivy is requesting an out of turn plan amendment. The Planning Commission will hear the amendment in April. Jackson Fields has moved a road to the north in order to incorporate some open space, under a power line, into the assemblage. They plan to go for a P-district that will allow residences to be built on smaller lots, and use remaining open space for a supposed public benefit. Within the P district, and because of the allowable smaller lot sizes, the plans call for placing 3500 square foot houses on 5000 square foot lots with only 6 feet distance between the houses. The community benefit that is proposed would be soccer fields built under the power lines. The soccer fields would be much closer to existing homes than the homes actually built as part of the proposal. Widening some of the bordering roads was thought be to a better public benefit than the construction of the fields.

5. Other Meetings:

   The Springfield District Fairfax Center Land Use Committee will met on Tuesday, February 4, 2003 at 7:00 pm., to discuss, among other matters, a proposed day care center on Westbrook Drive, just east of its intersection with Stringfellow Rd.

6. Planned for 3 March 2003 Meeting
   1. PCA/FDPA case filed in Sully, Exxon/Mobil Corporation, for the Exxon on Rt. 50 on the north side, not too far west of West Ox Rd. Keith Martin is the attorney. They want to replace the service bays with a quick service food store.
   2. Mystery presentation by John J. Bellaschi, McGuireWoods LLP

Respectfully submitted,

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