After a public hearing last week, a county advisory board gave its blessing to McLean Bible Church’s plan to build a 70-bed overnight respite care facility for children with serious disabilities.
It is intended to give their families time away from the demands of caring around the clock for children who are autistic, mentally retarded, learning disabled, physically challenged, hard of hearing, blind, or have other disabilities requiring full-time care.
Some neighbors of the proposed facility oppose intensification at the site and raised concerns about its size, location, safety, accessibility and financial plan.
Fairfax County already has services available for children with developmental needs, said Frederick Gale Fellowes, president of Wolf Trap Woods.
Elizabeth Baker, of Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley Emrich and Terpak, who represents McLean Bible Church, said the original application had been scaled back by 10 beds.
The church also dropped its plan for an adult education center at the site on Route 7 at Lewinsville Road.
“WE DID NOT EXPECT the Health Care Advisory Board to recommend denial,” said Nancy Hopkins, a Wolf Trap Woods resident, who spoke at the hearing. But the board’s unanimous vote in favor of the proposal “clobbered” the citizens who spoke against it, she said.
“Everybody realizes there probably is a need for overnight respite care in an institutional setting. It’s just the staffing and financial issues that are of concern,” Hopkins said.
Under the plan, the respite center would attend “270 kids with different disabilities who will be cared for by an insufficient staff to handle it,” Hopkins said.
“It is stated they need $8 million to be viable, but they plan to charge $50 per bed, per night, per year, and that would only yield $1.3 million. Where is the rest of the money going to come from?
“Those are the big concerns,” she said. McLean Bible Church said actual costs are about $275 per bed per night.
“We had hoped [the Health Care Advisory Board] would look into staffing and challenge it to make sure it is sufficient.
“They asked the right questions, but they recommended approval with no conditions or strings attached. They just rubber-stamped it. It was a waste of time for both sides.”
MCLEAN BIBLE CHURCH wants to provide 70 beds for overnight respite care for children and young adults with such disorders as Down syndrome, cerebral palsy, seizure disorders and autism.
Before- and after-school-care therapies would be provided for 100 children, and early intervention services for another 100.
These would be the children who would stay overnight about once a week to give their parents or other caretakers relief from providing 24/7 care.
The two-story facility would have a total of 70 bedrooms grouped in clusters of from six to eight rooms around a family room.
Opponents of the plan said that Fairfax County Public Schools already provide diagnosis, intervention services, before- and after-school care, and therapy during school hours.
But Baker pointed out that the nearest beds for respite care are in southern Virginia and would require eight hours of driving time from Fairfax County.
McLean Bible Church already provides respite care on one night and one Saturday a month.
“The board recognized there is a large unmet demand for respite care in Northern Virginia,” Baker said. “Here we have a private group willing to expend their own funds to get this thing up and started.
“They saw it as a good opportunity to meet that demand.
“Some people might dispute if it is better to have [respite care] in home, or in a facility,” she said, but “no one disputes the need.
“McLean Bible Church is very committed to its ministry to families with children with special needs. They really want to make this type of respite available to all members of the community, not just their own church members,” she said.
“They really have their heart in this place of helping families that work so hard to take care of these children at home, and they need some community support,” she said.
BEFORE THE PROPOSAL goes to the Planning Commission on April 3, Hopkins said, the neighbors hope to resolve additional issues that have to do with zoning, such as clearing of trees near existing residences, storm-water management, traffic flow and provision of emergency service.
“We didn’t bring up any of the other issues [at the hearing],” Hopkins said. “We hope to work with the applicant on the zoning issues.”
The church operates at the site under a special exception to zoning that was granted when McLean Bible Church acquired the 45-acre property from the National Wildlife Federation.
Without that zoning exception, the 5.4-acre site could have accommodated nine single-family residences.
Residents in the Route 7 corridor west of the Dulles Toll Road want Fairfax County to enforce zoning, largely residential, all the way to the Loudoun County line. On the east side of the Toll Road, Route 7 is zoned for commercial use.
“The Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors will have to make the decision as to whether this is a commercial use,” said Hopkins.
The Health Care Advisory Board, which addresses public health-care issues and advises other public boards about their effects, is appointed by the Board of Supervisors. Rosanne Rodilossa is Dranesville District’s representative.