Approved Materials - Reston Community Center
Approved Materials - Reston Community Center
Approved Materials - Reston Community Center
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
March 25, 2013 Long Range Planning Committee Meeting Report<br />
A guest asked if the center was built at Baron Cameron, where would the dog park be moved to.<br />
Leila responded that the Park Authority planning process would consider the entire 68 acres. She said<br />
until the Park Authority listens to the kinds of comments that the RCC Board has been listening to and<br />
considers all of the Park’s uses, she doesn’t think that we will have an answer to that question because<br />
the Park Authority will have to come up with an answer. The Park is the property of the Park Authority. It<br />
does not belong to RCC. Leila indicated that she sees no reason why there would need to be a loss of<br />
the uses there; fields and dog park uses could well remain.<br />
Leila said that she appreciated everyone’s input and that we needed to move into the portion of the<br />
meeting that would be a focus group to imagine what a recreation center would look like. She explained<br />
that the Board needed that input from the community in order to make a fully educated decision on this<br />
opportunity. Leila said that we needed to move into the next portion of the meeting so that we could give<br />
those people in support of a facility the same opportunity as has been given to everyone who spoke in<br />
opposition to the facility this evening.<br />
David Okerson, <strong>Reston</strong> resident, said he is a resident of Longwood Grove. He said that he has had the<br />
experience of dealing with the Park Authority’s planning process before. He said he cannot speak more<br />
lowly of it. He said the Park Authority simply pretends to listen to public input and then do not accept it.<br />
He is concerned that the same process might happen here. He thinks it is very easy to organize a public<br />
meeting by inviting all the proponents of the facility – such as swimmers and hot tubbers - but not bother<br />
to tell the people that will have to live across the street from it. He wonders whether that was intentional.<br />
He said it’s very easy to take notes at a public meeting and get precisely the answer you have predecided.<br />
He thinks that if this goes to the Park Authority, that they will have already decided what they<br />
want to do. He asked Bill Bouie for a response. Bill B. responded that there was no pre-determined<br />
decision. David said they had last time and asked why he should trust them. He thanked RCC for<br />
holding this meeting but said he is concerned about it and does not want to pay for facility for Fairfax<br />
County and doesn’t want it across the street from his home.<br />
There were a few questions from guests that did not identify themselves. One guest asked if we could<br />
add underground parking to the RCC Hunters Woods facility in order to renovate that facility instead of<br />
building a new one. Leila said that was not a possibility due to restrictions on parking related to RCC’s<br />
shared parking arrangement with the owner of the shopping center. She encouraged the attendees to<br />
send their proposals to RCC for consideration.<br />
A guest said she found out about this meeting at the last minute and asked how she would find out about<br />
future meetings. Leila said that all attendees who signed in would be added to our distribution list and<br />
shared with the Park Authority. The woman asked how her neighbors would find it. Leila encouraged the<br />
woman to share information with her neighbors. She also said that all of our meetings are published on<br />
our website, in the buildings and with the media, including <strong>Reston</strong> Patch and newspapers.<br />
Public comment ended and the Focus Group began at 8:05 p.m.<br />
FOCUS GROUP<br />
Sam Jung of Brailsford & Dunlavey welcomed the group and explained that the purpose of tonight’s<br />
discussion is to imagine the features of a potential recreation facility. He further explained that we are still<br />
“visioning” every possibility and we should therefore not restrict our input. Brailsford & Dunlavey would<br />
then use this discussion – along with the February 11 discussion – to develop costs of the options to<br />
deliver to the Board for review. He said <strong>Reston</strong> is a unique community and we want to reflect that. He<br />
added that this session will focus on facility amenities that resonated with people at the first session that<br />
Brailsford & Dunlavey conducted on February 11: aquatics, fitness/recreation, and multi-purpose rooms.<br />
In addition to facilitating general discussion about potential recreation center amenities, Sam and another<br />
representative from Brailsford & Dunlavey distributed a survey for participants to indicate the level of<br />
importance they place on a list of potential features (a copy is attached.)<br />
- 10 -