Board Meeting – On June 27, 2024, President Mulston called to order the meeting of the Board of Directors (Board) of Reston Citizens Association (RCA) at 7:30 pm. This was an in-person and Zoom meeting.
In person attendees: Lynne Mulston, President; Joe Leighton, Treasurer; Connie Hartke; Dennis Hays; Jerry Volloy; and Michele Silver (who took minutes in the Secretary Endsley’s absence).
J Orisha (departed at 8pm) and Gary Maupin, Vice-President (arrived 7:45pm) participated via Zoom.
Shawn Endsley, Stephanie Oliver, and Rich Hoffmann were absent.
President Mulston determined that a quorum of 7 of 10 members (prior to Vice President Maupin joining) was present and the meeting could proceed.
Adoption of Agenda – President Mulston asked for adoption of the agenda. Upon motion made by Director Volloy, and seconded by Director Leighton, the Board unanimously approved the proposed agenda.
Approval of Minutes – President Mulston made the motion for approval of the minutes of the May 28th Board meeting. Director Volloy seconded, and the Board approved the minutes.
Approval of Treasurer’s Report – Director Volloy made the motion to approve the Treasurer’s Report and Director Hays seconded. All Board members approved with one abstention (Director Hartke).
RCA Newsletter – President Mulston moved this topic up in the agenda as Director Orisha had to depart early.
Director Orisha stated she will draft a monthly RCA Newsletter summarizing the Board meeting, activities of the Board, and any other key items RCA wants to make public to the community. The newsletter will be sent to the Board for approval prior to dissemination.
Data Center Zoning Ordinance Amendment (ZOA)
President Mulston will attend a meeting with Supervisor McKay scheduled for July 11.
As a reminder, current zoning is by-right and the “ask” is we want it to be “special exception”, where the developer must go to the public, etc. One of the objectives changing it to “special exception” is to ensure proper set-back to residential neighborhoods. Supervisor Alcorn wants it by “special exception” as well.
Addendum: President Mulston provided testimony at the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting on July 16, 2024. See transcript.
No Casino Coalition Update
WJLA interviewed one of the team members (lives in Vienna). Think the recent media has been by Ben Tribett, who is also a political consultant to the Comstock Group, David Marsden, and Scott Surovell, among others. Apparently, this group expressed interest in having a debate with the No Casino Coalition, which President Mulston said would not be in the Coalition’s best interest.
The No Casino Coalition is working on a bigger townhall in October. The No Casino Coalition comprises citizens’ associations from McLean, Vienna, Tysons, Great Falls, and Reston.
No Casino Coalition meets every Thursday at 2pm. The next Fairfax County Board of Supervisors meeting (July 30) needs support on the Casino issue (there are 10 slots for public testimony, and all are booked with three slots occupied by casino opposition speakers.) Next opportunity will be in September. Each person from the public gets three minutes to speak. Board members were asked to try and attend to support the speakers and spread the word to their friends and neighbors.
At the direction of the No Casino Coalition, President Mulston is signing up for a booth at Taste of Annadale on Sept 21 and Clifton Day on October 13. Completed applications were delivered to Treasurer Leighton for processing.
Homelessness in Reston Update – deferred to next meeting because Sophia Jungenberg unavailable to attend the meeting.
Wiehle Ave Study Community Meeting Update
Survey closes on July 1. RCA needs to continue to get the word out and go to DoT website and provide comments. It was also mentioned that the three options provided in the survey are not the “end-game”, i.e., there could be more options brought forward.
Fairfax Planning & Zoning Commissioner, John Carter, will attend the July RCA meeting and this will be one topic of discussion with him. Vice President Maupin said John Carter indicated we should be able to develop our own options. Apparently one of the three options has been canceled.
Addendum: Director Hoffman provided Fairfax County Staff provided with comments/questions to which they responded on June 26.
Reston Town Center North (RTCN) Update – Director Hays noted the library begins the 10-week closure on June 28. There is supposed to be a place where the public can provide input on the next Library and services to be provided. Director Maupin said there is a survey on the “green” 3.5 acres in RTCN and what can be done with it. https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RTCNCentralGreenSurvey
Golf Course Updates – President Mulston said there has been some “activity” on Hidden Creek Golf Course. Rescue Reston’s North Committee has been proactive in engaging the community to be proactive in determining if there is any opportunity for development. The community has rejected hypothetical scenarios that might call for development of even a portion of the golf course, adding that Rescue Reston did an exemplary job of educating the community over the past 5 years.
Director Hartke says now that there is so much more development in Reston, people see there is less and less green space and want to keep both golf courses.
Other Business
- Next Meeting – dinner meeting will now be at 6:00pm on July 23 at Hidden Creek with John Carter as a special guest. Director Silver will coordinate with Lynne on the menu items.
- Dennis reminded everyone it’s an election year (in case anyone hadn’t paid attention), and there may be an opportunity to do a community-focused forum (e.g., debate between candidates). Attendees agreed it may be more valuable to do this in an off-Presidential year to encourage voter participation.
- July is the month for RCA elections. The Board discussed possibly inviting Tammi Petrine and John Lovaas to the July RCA meeting.
- Connie will ask about her point of contact for the Hidden Creek golf course about the status of the contractor award after Director Silver raised the issue about the lack of maintenance on the Fannie Mae property.
Adjourn – Director Hays made a motion to end the meeting, which Director Volloy seconded and all agreed. The meeting adjourned at 8:26pm.