In response to a Proposed Policy Plan Amendment distributed by the Fairfax County Planning Commission last week, the McLean Citizens Association’s Environment, Parks and Recreation (EP&R) Committee has approved a resolution calling for public hearings to delay the incorporation of what its members believe are unnecessary changes and unrealistic needs in the community.
“The resolution is about the proposed amendment that would make a lot of changes to park classification and utilization,” said Frank Crandall, chairman of the EP&R Committee in McLean.
“They’ve pulled this stuff together practically out of thin air,” he said of the amendment, which was released on Feb. 10 and is scheduled to be voted on by the Board of Supervisors on March 21. A public hearing is currently scheduled for Feb. 24, but Crandall said the committee does not feel that allows for adequate time for citizens to read, understand and ask questions about proposed changes.
The 37-page document contains information and changes that come as a result of a survey of 1,700 randomly selected households, begun in 2002 and completed by the county last year, determining what type of park and recreational land needs and uses are more important to Fairfax County. The Park Authority also compared the park system with similar communities such as Montgomery County and did a resource management "best practices" study so the Authority could see how Fairfax County compared with its peers. More open space is needed but the demand for athletic fields is less than what the resolution would mandate.
“The survey had larger than needed samples of land which cuts the margin of error, but the Park Authority hasn’t followed the recommendations,” Crandall said. “Instead of saying we need more athletic fields, the survey found we need more passive recreational space. In the course of the county’s final report of the needs assessment study for the whole county, we have this number of rectangular fields appearing several times, and each time it’s a different number. It looks very shoddily put together.”
The amendment calls for more athletic fields, which did not rank in the top 10 needs determined by the survey, he said. The survey itself showed a greater need for passive recreational space, like open parks, bike paths and hiking trails.
THE RESOLUTION PASSED by the EP&R Committee in McLean calls for a 90-day deferral of the public hearing at the Planning Commission to allow for residents to better study the amendment and the results of the survey and also provide them with more time to present their concerns to the Planning Commission before a vote is taken.
The resolution also “recommends that workshops be organized and their schedules widely publicized, with not less than two in each Magisterial District and not less than two county-wide workshops” to allow for the greatest possible amount of feedback before the amendment is approved.
“Youth athletic interests are a top priority, but some were so totally dominated by adults as to how the program is run,” Crandall said. “It’s the adults that put pressure on supervisors. They have a narrow agenda.”
The resolution was sent, with the approval of the McLean Citizens Association, to Dranesville supervisor Joan DuBois, Planning Commissioner Nancy Hopkins, and Park Authority representative Kevin Fay, along with the entire Board of Supervisors, Planning Commission, Park Authority Board and director. The Planning Commission meets Thursday night to discuss the proposed amendment.