At last Thursday’s monthly Reston Association Board of Directors meeting, on May 23, the board adopted a schedule to make sure referendum ballots on the Southgate Recreation Center will be sent out in September.
But, before the board adopted the schedule, they heard former board president Glenn Downing, who lost the at-large board election just a couple of months ago, speak against the referendum option. Because the plan is to transfer the Southgate property from Reston Association to Fairfax County in a long-term lease, it will take a special referendum ballot. Forty percent of Reston homeowners will have to vote in the referendum, and two-thirds of those will have to agree to the property transfer. No Reston Association ballot has ever yielded 40 percent participation. The most popular ballots have had around 30 percent participation.
But Downing, who worked with county staff on the Southgate project, said the referendum may not be the only option open to the Reston Association. He mentioned a land swap, in which the county would give Reston Association a comparable piece of property in order to take over the recreation center. A land swap would not require a referendum.
"This is totally unnecessary," Downing said of the lease agreement. "RA has been forced into a situation where the supervisor has chosen not to do what she should have done. We have one particular person in the county who is not doing her job."
BUT SOME of the current board members at the meeting defended Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins.
"We have investigated a swap, but we don’t believe that is a viable option," said board vice president Bertha Hoskins. "It would not just be a stroke of the pen for the county."
Suzi Jones, current president of the Reston Association Board of Directors, agreed that a land swap is not a possibility.
"Most of the county land in the area is Park Authority land," Jones said. "The Board of Supervisors can’t just take land from the Park Authority. The Park Authority doesn’t give up land for development. It’s for parks, so [a swap is] impossible."
Hudgins agreed that the Park Authority "is not in the business of giving up land." She said a land swap is something that Downing talked about throughout their negotiations, but that she has not considered that alternative in the past few months.
"I am an eternal optimist," Hudgins said. "I think our eyes should be put on the referendum. We've come upon the best solution, and I don't know a better one right now."
BUT DOWNING said the Board of Supervisors does own non-Park Authority land in Reston that could be included in a swap. He also said Hudgins should be able to negotiate a swap using Park Authority land, because the mission of the Southgate project is parallel to the mission of the Park Authority: to provide recreational facilities for Fairfax County residents.
"Hudgins is not as capable a supervisor as we can have," Downing said. "A good supervisor would be able to make her voice heard over the voice of the Park Authority."
Hudgins said the referendum is being used to accomplish the same goal as a land swap. But Downing said it is likely the referendum will not produce votes from the necessary 40 percent of Reston homeowners.
"It will be a Herculean effort to get enough votes," Downing said. "It will tie up an extraordinary amount of Reston Association resources such as Suzi Jones, for example. And there is a much easier solution."
BUT JONES SAID the lease agreement referendum will create a trade-off that will benefit both the Reston Association and Fairfax County.
"RA is obligated to put something on site," Jones said. "We can’t afford to build a $2 million building. We are getting the building for nothing. This is a partnership. They are going to build it, and our contribution is a 99-year lease of the property."
At their June 27 board meeting, RA will adopt the referendum question.
At a July 9 meeting will be the referendum public hearing, to discuss the referendum language.
On Sept. 18 the ballots will be mailed to Reston homeowners.
On Nov. 14 the results will be announced.
If the project passes the referendum, construction will begin during the first half of 2003. Construction should take around a year.
There will also be a kickoff celebration, at the current Southgate Center, on Sunday, June 16.