Your article on the recent SEA approval for Oakcrest School ["Supervisors Clear the Way for Oakcrest School Relocation," Connection, March 5-11, 2014] regrettably repeats disinformation from Steve Hull and the Hunter Mill Defense League (HMDL). Contrary to their claim, I did not "agree" to the conditions imposed by the Board of Supervisors in their original approval. Supporting Oakcrest’s right to build on their own property was certainly not tantamount to agreeing to any conditions that might be imposed on someone else’s property. I was not a party to the negotiations resulting in the final conditions, dated the day of the hearing, nor were they even made available to me until a week after the approval.
The fact is, none of the four different owners at the intersection of Hunter Mill and Crowell roads ever supported conditioning Oakcrest’s approval on the construction of a roundabout. Such a roundabout would have unnecessarily harmed the adjacent homeowners. It would have been unsafe for the elementary school students in the existing Fairfax Christian School building located next to that intersection. It would have necessitated the removal of all the trees along Hunter Mill Road in front of the elementary school building and would have interfered with the area used by school buses to drop off and pick up children. And, because of the elevation difference, it would have required a retaining wall with a barrier on top directly in front of the building.
Neither the existing school nor the homeowners (including my mother) who actually live at this intersection were consulted by the former Supervisor prior to imposing the condition on Oakcrest requiring a roundabout that would take their property. The HMDL, which incessantly lobbied for the condition requiring a roundabout, can claim to represent the "community," but their clamor for the use of eminent domain against these homeowners shows a complete lack of regard for the community that actually lives at this intersection.
Oakcrest’s property fronts on Crowell Road and the Dulles Toll Road, not on Hunter Mill. Given that Crowell Road is a minor arterial and a major commuter route between Reston and Tysons, it would have been unreasonable to deny Oakcrest’s SEA request for a Crowell Road entrance, particularly given VDOT’s opposition to full access movements at a Hunter Mill entrance.
The Hunter Mill interchange of the Dulles Toll Road is the eastern gateway into Reston. As a Hunter Mill Road resident myself, I know first hand that every toll increase on the Dulles Toll Road increases the traffic level on Hunter Mill and Crowell as more commuters avoid the higher tolls. Originally 75 cents, Hunter Mill to the Beltway tolls are now $3.50 to drive just over five miles. Hunter Mill to Crowell or Route 7 are the only alternative east west travel options between Reston and Tysons.
Despite far higher tolls, funds set aside to improve the Hunter Mill interchange were diverted for Dulles Rail studies, and the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority has failed to build the Hunter Mill interchange improvements promised in 2006 as part of its Dulles Rail construction proposal. In the near term, the road improvements to be built by Oakcrest, which include right and left turn lanes from Hunter Mill to Crowell, will go far beyond mitigating their own impact and will provide a daily benefit to thousands of commuters.
Supervisor Hudgins should be applauded for her leadership in listening to all sides and then making a fair and reasonable decision that respects the rights of all parties involved and allows Oakcrest School to move forward.
John Thoburn
Vienna