News

Here is a letter form Jane Action to Frank Lynch:

From: Jane Acton
Sent: Tuesday, May 05, 2009 8:22 AM
To: frank.lynch1@gmail.com
Subject: Email response

Hi Frank,

I’m one of your constituents and I was glad to read your email yesterday regarding the Brown’s Chapel project.  I appreciate the time and effort you put into serving us here in North Point; thank you for your commitment.

I must have just missed working with you on the RA board; for several years I was very involved in moving the concept of indoor tennis onto the board’s radar.  Evidently we were successful as eight courts are included in the plans for Reston’s very own version of the Taj Majal.  Our expectations then, however, never resembled anything that is being proposed today.  We envisioned a more modest approach to an indoor tennis facility, a few courts with adequate parking. 

Thank you for responding to the community’s conversation about the rec facility.  It was good to read the history of how we got to where we are.

The part of your email that bothers me the most is the part that reads: 
 
That is where we are today….a preliminary drawing of the Taj Majal. It has always been my belief that that this is where the community process starts. I have no expectation that something like this will ever get built, nor would I support it. There are a number of public meetings scheduled to work the process. Neither board has made any decisions to move forward and has left all options open (and there are many), including not working together.

I wonder why the RA and RCC boards would be interested in spending their time (and our precious assessment dollars) for two years on something that it is not seriously considering.  It is a ludicrous approach to doing business.  Does Microsoft’s board gather for two years and throw out pie-in-the-sky ideas that they admit will probably go nowhere but why not shoot for the moon just for fun?  I seriously doubt it.  They talk about what issues are germane to moving the Microsoft business forward in the real world, for real customers.  They are respectful of and responsible to their shareholders; I doubt they have much interest in going down a path that doesn’t hold much promise.

I mean no disrespect to you or the RA Board, but your email describes a rear-end-first approach to doing Reston’s business.

Shouldn’t the community process start with:  What do we need? and then: What can we afford?   If the Robert E. Simon Center (it already has a name!) is just an fantasy, then why is the board so defensive, and why are all of us on the opposition side reacting passionately to something that you state is really just a daydream?  It doesn’t feel anything like a daydream, Frank.  It feels very real and a lot of people are really, really angry about it.

You may be the only one who is thinking this way.  Robin Smyers (a friend of mine) is taking this pretty seriously from what I can tell.  Larry Butler and some others have all expressed hope that the community will embrace the concept and see it through to “reality” (a real quote).  I’m pretty sure they would like a building just like this to be built.

And why was it kept so secret?  Why are the plans so far along when the community at large found out about it?   Why was it so hard for people to get details about it (Brown’s Chapel neighbors tried for months and could get no where and were actually told lies).  Shouldn’t community input have come at the beginning rather than after elevations and plans have been drawn up and names have been selected?  Now we’re all running around like crazy trying to figure out how to get this thing stopped before someone shows up with a bulldozer.

I cannot tell you how inane the whole thing appears to the community.  People are literally smacking their foreheads and saying, “What are they thinking?”

I’m sure we’ll meet in the days and months ahead.  In the meantime, I would urge you to take a stance against this proposed abomination right now.  This would demonstrate that voices in the North Point district are being heard and that you respect and are standing firm with your constituency. 

Jane Acton
cc:  SaveBrownsChapel.com

Here are some great links to the resources that the Reston Community has put together regarding the Save Brown's Chapel Park project:

• Save Brown's Chapel Park Website
• Brown's Chapel Rec Center Plan Facts
• Stop The Brown's Chapel Project Activities, Dates & Meetings
• News Articles about the Brown's Chapel Health Center Project
• Brown's Chapel Park Photos
• Stop the Brown's Chapel Rec Center Project Petition

The Save Brown's Chapel Park organization has also established a facebook and twitter account.

The community is starting to organize a campaign against the proposed building a new recreation center and destroying one of Reston's largest open spaces and playing fields.  There is a new website at www.savebrownschapel.com and an iPetition you can sign to get your name on the list of supporters against the proposal.

Additionally, I have received the following email from Peter Greenberg:

—

To: rlsmyers@aol.com

Subject: Planned Health Club at Browns Chapel – RA Selects Site Without Planning and Zoning or Design Review Board Opinion of Appropriateness

I got another folow up email from my friend, Peter Greenberg, about the possible misconduct by the Reston Association elected officials:

All,

 

I got two pieces of information from Robin Smyers, RA President, today that I think everyone is entitled to know. 

 

1.        To date, RCC  (which receives all of its funding from us), and RA (which receives all of its funding from us), has spent $91,813.55 according to the email below.  As late as two days ago, as described in tonight’s Reston Connection article on the subject, Robin claimed to have such a firm grasp of the finances of Reston Association as to not know the total expenses to date.

Robin says that RA is “splitting the costs” with RCC.  But all of the money comes from us one way or the other.  I’m not certain if that was meant to circumvent the limitations that RA’s board has on expenditures related to studying this project or not;  but it sure makes no sense to me that we have allowed our boards to spend without any restraint or oversight. We have to hold the board accountable on this subject.

It should be noted that the bulk of our money has gone to Brailsford & Dunlavey http://www.facilityplanners.com/.  That is a firm that specializes in demolishing barriers and opposition, and forcing taxpayers to submit to wildly expensive and unwanted taxation.   

$91,813.55 could have gone a long way toward a tennis bubble that I think we all agree would be a nice, cost effective, amenity for the community. 

2.       In 2001 the RA Design Review Board took up the question of whether the Brown’s Chapel ball fields could be lighted.  

The ruling of the DRB (attached) was:  “Disapproved proposed lighting for Browns Chapel ball field due to the inability to adequately mitigate the effect of the lighting spread and glare, as well as the impact of an extended period of noise and activity on the site from nearby residential properties.”

I suppose it is redundant, but I’ll point out that there are magnitudes of difference between ball field lighting, and a 510,000 square foot health club operating from 5AM to 10:30 PM.  I’ve attached Ms. Smyers’ favored “Alt E plan” for the ball fields to illustrate those differences.

In her delivery of the information, which I requested repeatedly before receiving, Robin’s response (below) truncates the literal 2001 ruling, making it seem like the decision was based solely upon the lighting issue, but the actual document (attached) indicates that it was the inability to mitigate the impact of the extended period of noise and activity on the site from nearby residential properties. 

It seems as if Robin is not the impartial guardian of the interests of all Reston residents that we expect our board President to be.  On that point I want to remind you that at the annual meeting the only mention of this issue Ms. Smyers made was a plea to the Tennis Community to be sure to show up at the Task Force meeting on May 18^th.  Impartial indeed.

The process and expenditures have been grossly mismanaged.  There is no budget, there is no plan, and there is no oversight by the board.  For gosh sakes, the “Task Force” doesn’t even include Frank Lynch, our North Point representative.  How mishandled can a process be?

In light of the enormous sum of our money being spent on this issue, with no end in sight, I have some follow up questions I think we are entitled to have answered by the board. 

Robin, can you please provide us all with answers to the following questions? 

·         Could you please furnish us with all minutes of the Executive Committee related to this issue? We may be missing something, but can’t find them on the web site.  

·         Is there a limit that you will place on the expenses for the study? 

·         How will the money be recouped if the initiative fails? 

·         Will you be raising our HOA fees to cover the expenses, or will there be a special assessment of homeowners? 

  

Thanks,

Peter

Seems totally outrageous that they would dissaprove ball field lighting for the space due to noise concerns and then be willing to tear all the fields down to put up a new community center and lighted parking facility.  Totally outrageous!!!

I'd recommend that the people in the lake newport community move out, but who would buy their homes at this point with this project looming.  I have already heard that one buyer backed out before closing due to this.  Basically their properties are not marketable at this point.

Download Brown's_Chapel_Alt._E_rev._3-19-09

Download Browns_Chapel_lighting_7-17-2001

Download Browns_Chapel_Lighting_Decision_ Approval October 2001

It looks like Supervisor Cathy Hudgins is trying to quietly push through a proposal for a new community health club in Reston that would be built on the Brown's Chapel Park, utilized by the entire county, but finaned soley by the tax payers of small tax district number 5 to the tune of $150 Million. 

Here is an email that has been circulated by Peter Greenberg, one of the residents of the community who has already suffered economic losses because the homes in their neghborhood are no longer marketable due to the proposed project:

All,
 
I’ve been reading all the emails between parties.   First and foremost, I want to correct the record:  For those of you who have inappropriately accused me of calm cooperation, I am hostile, and this IS very much a Not In My Backyard issue.  But the backyard is not just Brown’s Chapel; it is Small Tax District 5, Reston Association, and Brown’s Chapel Park (not as someone who borders it, but someone who owns it through my stake in Reston Association).  That is my backyard.  
 
We all need to wake up to the economic, quality of life and environmental impacts of this $150,000,000.00 HEALTH CLUB we are being asked to pay for exclusively and unfairly.  
 
As I get a 360 degree picture of the negligent decision making of our elected officials and employees at RA and RCC I’m shocked by the willful neglect that has already caused significant economic loss to the value of the homes in Newport Shores.  I’m not sure that anyone would, with rational mind, purchase a home in Newport Shores cluster for any amount until the cloud of this 510,000 square foot $150,000,000.00 Health Club being built on it’s border is cleared up.  I certainly wouldn’t touch it if I were a buyer. If you live in Newport Shores and think this can’t affect you in an economically significant way, you are gravely mistaken. If you work for RA or RCC and think what you are doing has no consequences or liability, you are gravely mistaken.  
 
Further, Ms. Smyers has not answered my direct request for a detailed accounting of what has been spent on the study of the potential for this Health Club being built. Why, what is she hiding, and what right does she have to hide from us?  We own RA.  She has formed an “Executive Committee” to conduct RA’s business on this matter and the office building in private.  I called Ms. Smyers evasive in my previous email and by refusing to answer anyone’s direct inquiry in a forthright manner, she proves me right.  
 
 Here is what I have learned since last writing, much of which I think people do not realize.
 
Let’s call this project what it is: A Subsidized Health Club – nothing more.  If anyone wishes to do the homework, I’m willing to be proven wrong on one or all of the following points, but my research indicates the following:
 
·        In 2008 RCC approached RA to form a joint venture to build a huge health club for use by all Fairfax County residents, but to be built in Reston.

·        Representative Hudgins is behind the project and is quietly guiding the effort.   Her motivation to stick her constituents in Small Tax District 5 with a $150,000,000.00 health club and destroy a beautiful park is a mystery to me.

·        RA somewhere along the line not only agreed to participate, but also agreed to provide the land, pay for the building, pay the interest on the borrowed money, and pay IN PERPETUITY, all operating shortfalls.

·        It comes at a time when the economy is in shambles and there is talk in Fairfax County of eliminating basic services.  Perhaps that is why only we in Reston Small Tax District 5 will pay for this, because it is politically expedient. Is it illegal to tax a small group within the County f
or a County-wide Health Club?

·        The project does not have 170,000 square feet of space, rather it has 510,000 square feet of space when rightfully including the parking structure.

·        510,000 square feet is 134 times as large as the largest surrounding home.   

·        It has a cost to the Reston Small Tax District 5 tax payers of roughly $150,000,000.00 over ten years as follows: $40,000,000.00 worth of land; $60,000,000.00 for the building; AT LEAST $36,000,000.00 in interest on the loan and the OBLIGATION to pay all operating shortfalls of the Health Club FOREVER!  

·        The tax is patently unfair because it asks a small group of taxpayers to pay for something that benefits the entire county.  If the county and Supervisor Hudgins think this $150,000,000 Health Club is a good idea that the county should have instead of basic services, they should buy a piece of land and pay for it with County money (our money in that case too), with the approval of all County residents.  

·        All in Fairfax County will use the facility (in fact as much as 85% of users are likely to be from outside Small Tax District 5), but only Small Tax District 5 residents will pay for it.

·        It destroys the value of all surrounding homes to the tune of not less than $250,000 per home once built.  In fact, because of the cloud of this 510,000 square foot Health Club, homes in Newport Shores are likely no longer marketable at all.  A tremendous amount of collateral economic destruction has already occurred.  Are the board members of RA and RA itself responsible for that loss?  Is Fairfax County responsible for that loss?

·        It gifts to Fairfax County the most valuable piece of land belonging to Reston Association.  A reasonable estimate of its commercial value is $40,000,000.00.  We get NOTHING for the land except the right to pay for everything else. That is the worst real estate deal in history.  

·        It creates an enterprise that goes into direct competition with local businesses that Fairfax County taxes (thus creating a sort of a double tax on those businesses).  In fact the planned Health Club will have dues and fees that are predatory to the businesses Fairfax County taxes because the usage fees will be subsidized by us.  How will Sport and Health, Gold’s and the other compete with that? Seems like antitrust to me, but I’m no lawyer.

·        The clearing of the forestation and the runoff going into Lake Ann, light pollution, and noise pollution have a material impact and degrade the local environment in a grossly disproportionate manner.  

·        The project is so egregious and toxic to those of us who live in Small Tax District 5 that the firm of Brailsford & Dunlavey http://www.facilityplanners.com/ has been hired to fight to have it approved, using our money to fight against us!  This firm was successful in forcing the building of Baltimore Ravens stadium and the Cub Run Development.  How do we fight people who spend our own money to fight us?  How can we let RA do this to us?

If you live in Small Tax District 5 please send this to everyone you know who lives here also. Ask everyone you know to send emails to Supervisor Hudgins:  hntrmill@fairfaxcounty.gov ,  and Robin Smyers (RA Board President): Rlsmyers@aol.com expressing your outrage at trying to make us pay $150,000,000.00 for a Health Club we won’t even use!
 
If you live in Newport Shores you have already suffered significant economic loss so please don’t just read all the emails, speak up!
 
To the elected officials copied here, please help: Supervisor Hudgins is trying to tax us unfairly and destroy the largest park in Reston solely at the expense of RA homeowners. We are small and she
is powerful, we need help. 
 
Thanks,
 
Peter