The following are my responses to the five topics forwarded to me for comment by Joel Stillman, President of McLean Youth Athletics.
1. Importance/relevance of youth sports
I believe that youth sports programs build character in our youth, improve their health, reduce obesity, provide role models for youth, strengthen our sense of community, and are a lot of fun for the youth and their parents. My wife and I encouraged both our sons to be active in youth sports. Both played McLean Youth Soccer and McLean Little League. My oldest son also played McLean Football and McLean Youth Basketball and, in high school, was on the wrestling team, cross-country team, and a nationally ranked rugby team.
I coached youth soccer in McLean as an assistant and head coach. I also contributed hundreds of volunteer hours to other programs that support our youth. I was a Cub Master for 4 years, headed the McLean-Arlington district of the Boy Scouts of America for 3 years, and served for several years on the board of the Fairfax County Medical Care for Children Partnership. Since taking office, I have been an advocate for numerous programs that support our youth including helping to lead the successful effort to expand full-day kindergarten to all elementary schools in the County; funding language, music, arts and athletic programs that were targeted for budget cuts; restoring funding for School Resource Officers, School Nurses, Health Room Clinic Aides and athletic field maintenance; and, expanding field capacity for youth sports programs. I am the Board’s representative to the Fairfax County Partnership for Youth.
2. What indoor sport facilities (or multi-purpose with other types of community use) are possible, specifically using MCC funds for Spring Hill Rec Center or other locations you can identify but also any other ideas you may have?
There is a significant shortage of gym time for youth sports programs in McLean, made worse by a couple of school renovation and expansion projects that have made some gyms temporarily unavailable. When I took office, I encouraged the McLean Community Center (MCC) to work with the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) to fund construction of a gym at Spring Hill Recreation Center. Over about 2 years, I facilitated discussions between FCPS and MCC. I was able to get $500,000 in the 2008 Park bond for the project. The MCC and the FCPA are independent County agencies with their own boards. Unfortunately, despite my efforts, their boards were not able to agree on some material issues and the project has not gone forward. However, I still believe it would be a great project and I continue to believe it is possible to make it work.
I am currently trying to increase the 2012 Park bond to fund the gymnasium at Spring Hill. I am also looking for opportunities to obtain proffer money from Tysons Corner development to build that or another gymnasium. And I am continuing to encourage the MCC to consider building a gym, either at Spring Hill or at another location in McLean.
3. Expanded rectangular field use and development with or without turf and lights
There is also a shortage of field capacity in McLean that I have been working to address. There are only 40 synthetic turf fields in Fairfax County. The typical Magisterial District has 4 synthetic turf fields. When I took office, there was one synthetic turf field in the entire Dranesville Magisterial District (at Lewinsville Park). Now Dranesville has 9 synthetic turf fields, including 5 in McLean. The McLean area fields are Lewinsville Park; Linway Terrace; Spring Hill 2; Spring Hill 3; and, Spring Hill 7. Although we have made progress, there is still much to be done.
There are several synthetic turf fields in the planning stages in the McLean area including:
• McLean HS, lighted stadium field. (I obtained $200,000 in Tysons proffer money to assist McLean H.S. Boosters. This was the first time that proffer money for fields in McLean was obtained through a Tysons Corner re-zoning)
• Police Station (synthetic turf, probably with lights, will be added as part of the expansion project for the McLean Police Station)
• Longfellow M.S. (investigating possible synthetic turf field)
• Langley H.S. (have met with Boosters to discuss possible funding sources for synthetic turf stadium field).
Langley Fork Park represents an excellent opportunity to address the field capacity issue in a major way. For at least a decade before I took office, community leaders talked about the great potential of that park for synthetic turf fields and lights. Langley Fork is owned by the National Park Service (NPS) and leased to the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) on a yearly basis. When I took office, I made the Langley Fork Park fields a priority and, by working through the FCPA, significant progress has been made toward transferring Langley Fork from NPS to FCPA. FCPA has commenced the master planning process for the park. In addition to the existing and potential fields listed above, Langley Fork has the potential for up to 4 rectangular synthetic turf fields and 2 improved diamond fields.
4. Salona Park field development
In 2005, Fairfax County purchased its interest in Salona Park through a “Deed of Open Space and Conservation Easement.” The conservation easement agreed to by the county specifies there may be up to 2 playing fields, but they cannot have lights and they cannot be synthetic turf.
There was no public input process at the time of purchase so there was no community adopted master plan regarding how the property would be used. The Park Authority began the master planning process for Salona Park this year. At a public meeting on the master plan, about 25 speakers suggested many public uses they believed would be consistent with the conservation easement and the historical, cultural and environmental character of the property. There was no consensus among those who spoke. Although McLean youth sports groups have subsequently expressed a strong interest in fields at Salona, no one spoke at the meeting on behalf of rectangular fields. After the meeting, I worked with the Park Authority to form a task force to study options to bring back for further review by the community before the master plan is finalized. That master planning process is on-going and the unlighted grass fields are one option that is being considered by the task force. The final decision on the master plan will be made by the Park Authority after the task force finishes its work and the community input process is completed.
5. Any other youth sport ideas or thought you may have
My goal has been to expand field and in-door capacity for youth sports. In addition to the opportunities discussed above, there will be a lot of proffer money for parks and recreation facilities generated by Tysons Corner development. I am the first Dranesville District Supervisor to obtain any proffer money from Tysons development for Dranesville District fields. I will continue to look for opportunities to obtain and use Tysons Corner proffer money to improve and expand fields and in-door facilities in McLean. I also was the first Supervisor in the County to convince the Park Authority to invest in turf fields at a high school when I obtained funding for the Herndon H.S. stadium and practice field project. I will continue to look for creative financing and partnership arrangements to improve and expand capacity of field and in-door facilities.
John W. Foust
Dranesville District Supervisor
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