Arthur Hill was adamant, the group needs to hear from those who already have proposals on the table. “That’s not a question. We have to hear it,” he said.
The Special Study Group, which is charged with analyzing 314 acres around the intersection of Hunter Mill Road and Sunset Hills Drive, was discussing its process and calendar during its June 22 meeting.
The group of 20 citizens is to provide recommendations about potential land uses for the area by December. These will be then be handed off to the Fairfax County Planning Commission and the Board of Supervisors.
The desire for the study grew out of a set of proposals (called nominations) to change the county’s Comprehensive Plan during this year’s Area Plans Review process. The nominations, which concerned the area around Hunter Mill Road and Sunset Hills Drive, called for an increase of residential density over 20 years. The area is currently planned for one house for every 2-5 acres. In the past, such proposals have consistently been rejected.
It is the current Area Plans Review nominations that Hill and others want to hear, and sooner rather than later.
COUNTY STAFF members who are assisting the group presented a tentative schedule that called for holding a charette in September. Several task force members said that this timetable was too hurried.
A charette is an intensive, multi-day planning workshop. Community members are invited to attend and present the ideas and concerns for an area under study. Designers then develop plans for the area based on what they have heard from the community members who participated.
The designs are presented to the community which then has an opportunity for quick feedback to the designers. Ideally, the group reaches a consensus about a plan.
The task force has a light schedule in August and few meetings in July. So, some task force members were hesitant to agree to have a September charette.
During the charette, they said, task force members will be expected to be the experts about the area, and they should have time to digest the information about the various proposals already on the table before the charette takes place.
The charette, they said, should occur at the end of the process, not close to the beginning. “A charette is a final exam,” said Jack Mansfield, a member of the task force.
While the people who submitted nominations are not obliged to present their proposals to the task force, Hill and others said that they would likely be willing to do so. “The people who represent these landowners, with all that’s at stake here, will talk us deaf, dumb and blind,” Hill said.
One task force member said that the current plan should be given equal billing. Chris Halligan suggested that the task force should also hear from someone who advocates the current plan, since all the nominators will present their sides of the case.
He compared the process to a backyard barbecue. The task force, he said, would be bringing in a group of people to advocate the type of cheese they might want on their cheeseburger. “We need someone to say, ‘maybe we just want a plain hamburger,’” Halligan said.
The sticking point was who would be that advocate. County staff is charged with remaining neutral, and so could not speak in favor of a given position. This issue was not formally resolved.
The group also decided it would look at some of the past proposals to change the density in the area, and the staff reports which analyzed those proposals.
They agreed to contact property owners within the area and immediately adjacent to it, consider traffic, school and environmental impacts of a density increase and consider “no change” as an option.
Task force meetings are open to the public. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday, July 12, at 7 p.m. at the Lake Anne Professional Building, 11484 Washington Plaza West in Reston.