Fairfax City Police Department's future home remains uncertain, for now. During Tuesday's City Council meeting, council members voted to give city staff 60 days to explore and examine alternative sites for the public safety building.
"To me, it really comes down to the lesser of several evils," said council member Gary Rasmussen, on voting on the motion.
While the police station may still end up at the John C. Wood site, council members wanted to consider other sites as a compromise. In order to find a feasible site, staff will need to find property that is of adequate size and price, with the owner willing to sell.
"The reality is, it's going to be tough," said Fairfax Mayor Rob Lederer, who added that he had one possible site in mind.
This motion comes after several months of debate on the best location for the proposed public safety building. Originally planned to be next to City Hall, the police station was part of a $20 million project approved by voters in a November 2001 referendum. The project, approved by Fairfax citizens 2-to-1, was to expand and renovate City Hall as well as build a new public safety building, or police station.
At a March 2003 outreach meeting, several citizens voiced concerns about having the police station at the City Hall site. After discovering that it was feasible to build a new police station at the station's current home at the John C. Wood Complex, debate continued among citizens over the best site.
The issue grew more complex as other citizens started voicing their desire instead to see a community center at John C. Wood. In an effort of compromise, Tuesday's motion offers not only a look at alternative sites, but includes language about a community center. Once the 60 days is up, the council may begin addressing citizens' concerns for a community center, with its location depending on the results of the location search.
"I gotta tell you, this is a very interesting solution to those folks who want a community center," Lederer said.
ALTHOUGH the motion for exploring feasible, alternative sites passed unanimously, it didn't pass quietly. Council member Scott Silverthorne wanted council to support an advisory referendum that would've brought the location of the police station back to voters in November. In order to have the item on the ballot, the council needed to decide on Tuesday in order to meet the deadline.
"One of the things that has been most troubling to me ... is misinformation," Silverthorne said.
However, no other council members supported the idea, as the question about the police station's location was no longer John C. Wood vs. the City Hall site, but John C. Wood vs. another location.
"Where we've come to at this point will not satisfy everyone ... I think a referendum will pit neighbor against neighbor," council member Patrice Winter said.
Council member Jeff Greenfield agreed. "Waiting four months for a referendum is not fair," he said.
Another concern was whether to include language about a community center in the motion. Council member Joan Cross liked the idea of a community center but wanted to study the issue further.
"This is far too important to rush into judgment as a secondary thought," Cross said.
While council member Gail Lyon didn't oppose the language, she reminded council that traffic concerns at John C. Wood would continue regardless of what ended up there.
"I believe though, if you put a community center there, there will be a lot of traffic," Lyon said.
As the council members voted for the motion, they hoped the citizens would understand their reasoning.
"We are human. We can only do our best with the information we have at that time," Greenfield said.