Public officials failed to inform public on Justice Park land negotiations
During the past few months, advocates for Justice Park repeatedly sought answers about the plans by the Park Authority to give a portion of land to the school system for a parking lot. During that time, public officials never mentioned their discussions on a leasing arrangement or a land deal involving a recreation center in Chantilly.
Those negotiations emerged from a series of documents obtained by local residents through a Freedom of Information Act request.
Fairfax County Public Schools argues more parking is needed to accommodate an addition planned for Justice High School.
The residents, who organized themselves around the slogan Justice for Justice Park, say an additional parking lot is unnecessary. They say FCPS has failed to adequately explain why various alternatives to taking parkland for a park aren’t feasible.
They also argue that taking away parkland in an area with very little green space is an equity issue and that any attempt to alter the park should require an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan and the Master Plan for Justice Park.
Public engagement promised
Just before the FOIA documents were released, Justice Park advocates had arranged a meeting with Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay. “He let us know from the get-go that this is the first he heard about the Justice Park issue,” said Kathleen Brown.
During his 27 years in county government, McKay said he had never heard of a change in a park without a master plan amendment.
 |
| This open space area at Justice Park would be lost if the basketball court is relocated there to make room for a parking lot. |
According to another participant, McKay said he expected staff will elicit public input using the usual and customary methods before a final decision is made. “It was a positive meeting,” the resident said.
“A master plan amendment would be an opportunity to slow things down and give the community a seat at the table and at least have some impact on what would happen,” Brown said. “We want an opportunity to engage.”
During the meeting, Heather Diez, assistant director of design and construction at FCPS, told the group she hopes another public meeting could be scheduled by the end of the summer.
The FAR issue
The picture that emerges through the FOIA documents is vastly different from what public officials have been telling the community for the past few months.
Numerous emails show the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) and FCPS were negotiating a trade-off land deal for the past two years – without informing the public.
FCPS maintains that it needs land in Justice Park in order to allow it to meet the requirement for “floor area ratio” (FAR) to accommodate the Justice High School addition.
Related story: Community presents complaints about Justice Park parking lot to school and park officials
Under the current zoning for the site, the FAR is capped. FCPS could seek to have the site rezoned, but maintains that would take too long and would delay construction of the school addition.
Instead, FCPS proposed using some of the available floor area density at Justice Park by “transferring” nine acres from the park to FCPS.
The emails document considerable discussions about the fair market value of the property, whether the land should be leased, and how much rent should be charged to FCPS.
On July 31, 2020, FCPA notified FCPS that the land in Justice Park that would be used for FAR was appraised at $288,000 for a 99-year lease and the annual cost to FCPS would be about $2,900.
The Cub Run RECenter
There were also extensive discussions about whether the Justice Park land that would be transferred to FCPS could be swapped with land in the Sully District where the Park Authority built the Cub Run RECenter on 28 acres owned by FCPS.
The FCPA proposed a new 99-year lease of the Cub Run RECenter in exchange for the 99-year lease for the needed density from a portion of the Justice Park site.
FCPS Superintendent Scott Brabrand, in a letter sent to Acting FCPA Director Sara Baldwin in April, said he opposed an arrangement involving Cub Run because the two properties are not comparable. He also opposed putting a monetary value on the lease, noting that the schools and parks have a long history of sharing facilities.
Misinformation
Mark Doehnert, who submitted the FOIA request on behalf of the Justice for Justice Park group, said the documents contradict what public officials told residents.
None of the issues about the lease arrangements or Cub Run were brought up at the public “listening session” on Justice Park on May 6 nor in numerous requests for answers submitted by local residents.
Park Authority spokesperson Judy Pederson told residents earlier this year that the Park Authority Board hadn’t made a decision about letting FCPS build a parking lot at Justice Park. Yet, the emails show the park board discussed the issue at nine meetings and that the board on Nov. 14, 2020, authorized staff “to move forward on the FAR lease and parking, conditioned on the transfer of the Cub Run property.”
Penny Gross told residents several times that she is not involved in the issue because it’s a matter purely between the parks and the school system. At a meeting in March, she told residents the FCPA is a separate, independent entity that makes its own decisions.
The emails show, however, that Gross was heavily involved in meetings with FCPS and FCPA officials on the FAR requirement and the leasing negotiations.
Gross and then-FCPA Executive Director Kirk Kincannon agreed to reduce the annual payment because the parking lot would be considered an “improvement” to the park.
“It’s like a novel; it’s hard to believe it’s really happening,” Doehnert said. “There is so much misinformation,” and, at this, point, it’s not known whether a final decision has been made. He plans to submit another FIOA request.
“I thought we were just dealing with the school and the park. Instead, we are on the monopoly game board,” Brown added. “There’s been ongoing discussions behind closed doors for years. There is no public accountability.”
State laws violated
The Justice for Justice Park group believes FCPS and FCPA violated Virginia law and the state constitution by not following the correct procedures.
A lengthy, heavily footnoted June 24 letter to Brabrand and Acting FCPA Director Sara Baldwin from Doehnert, Brown, Carol Turner, and Marie Reinsdorf says the proposal to put a parking lot in Justice Park should require an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Plan, which would require a public hearing.
None of the county’s area plans or the Justice Park Master Plan recommend a parking lot in the park.
Related story: Residents demand answers on parking lot in Justice Park
Among other issues raised by the residents: The notices sent to neighbors about the plans to expand Justice High School did not mention the plan for a parking lot. While a school system can legally take land for education purposes, a parking lot has nothing to do with education. And relocating the basketball court to make way for a parking lot would adversely affect the Resource Protection Area in the park.
A question of equity
The history of Justice Park also includes the taking of land. In the 1960s, the land for the park was taken by eminent domain from the African Americans who owned property there.
Relocating the basketball court would eliminate the only open play space in a neighborhood with very little green space, the Justice Park advocates say. Preserving that open area would benefit the many families who live in apartments and have no yards.
“Now there are things we can do to ensure justice is being done,” Doehnert said. “This should be a civics lesson for Justice High School.”
County officials frequently talk about equity, as outlined in the One Fairfax policy approved by the Board of Supervisors and school board, and the county’s Community-wide Energy and Climate Action Plan, Brown said.
“Yet these are simply logos. No real action is being taken,” she said. “They have no credibility. The focus on equity and One Fairfax is a sham.”
Preserving parkland at Justice Park would be a real step to show that the county is following its policies on equity and climate change, she said. “I think this park is really worth fighting for.”
Fairfax County must get serious about environmental matters/protection.
Remember the proposal to eliminate a recreation field behind the Lincolnia Senior Center in order to install a homeless shelter when there was an abundance of vacant commercial space available?
Thank you for posting this article – it's precisely the type of good local journalism that is so sadly lacking these days. I wonder if any of the county officials mentioned in this article (especially Supervisor Gross) will bother to explain their "miscommunications" ('taken out of context' doesn't sound like an option)or will they just tell the little people to shut up and quit whining while the bulldozers go to work.
Good timing to get a picture of that field with people on it. Most times I'm there it's empty.
I was driving down Annandale Road and saw a lawn sign about saving the park. I'm trying to figure out why people who don't live walking distance from Justice would care about adding parking. People get upset about everything I guess.
That’s true. In fact, I think all parks are like that. Like overnight, early morning. Since they are empty on occasion we really don't need them.
Actually…come to think of it. Streets are empty most of the time also in the same way. We really don’t need as many or need to build more. Fire stations, I mean it's not like there’s a fire 24/7, am I right?
I'm sure people will complain but people get upset about everything.
No surprise to me that Penny Gross is connected to the debacle.
Think Bailey's Xroads homeless shelter land swap to buy a nasty low-rise so developers could have the land on Columbia Pike and Moncure Ave. Developers won't move forward on that project because they'll lose their ass financially. And where is Penny's Palace across from the shopping center? or the great new street connection to Seminary Rd? After living in Mason District for 28 years (the same time Gross took office) I've watched our inside the beltway paradise turn into a cesspool. Jan.2021 I'm out of here, and thanks to the Dems mismanagement I'll get 3.7% more than I paid for my home in a neighborhood filled with boarding houses. Just what the Dems want to achieve High density "suburban" equity for the poor and huddled masses crossing our southern border.
Are you saying that your home only appreciated 3.7% in 28 years? How is that even possible?
3.7 times more than I paid
Ah, well, that's a bit different. Isn't it?
Good luck with that upcoming move, last January.
Such poor "Dems mismanagement" that your home has nearly quadrupled tripled in value!
The comedy writes itself.
This seems to be an example of what is all too often becoming the "Fairfax Way". Shame.
Equity issue? LOL.
FCPS lies? Penny Gross lies? No one wants to support "justice for Justice?"
Small potatoes.
If someone organized an effort to stop paying taxes to FCPS, I'd gladly join.
Pave that ugly park.
Weird. Because it's "small potatoes" to you, you can't support it? Even if it's good? Anything less than your objective isn't worth pursuing?
Ironically, there is no justice at Justice!
FCPS can meet their FAR requirement by putting in a parking garage. Those are very expensive, and would set a precedent for how to deal with school parking issues FCPS does not want to face. Citizen pressure is the best way to preserve the environment by requiring smart growth.
There aren't enough citizens to pressure the county.
If a school needing parking were anywhere else in the county, and paving over a park was the only option, a parking garage would happen. The county knows very well that the largely immigrant parent population of Justice and the surrounding area won't complain no matter how many parks are paved over. They count on large swaths of people keeping their heads down and being quiet and the few that do stand up and complain, well, they are doing excellent and commendable work, but there just aren't enough of them.
The rest of the county gets public works like parks, sidewalks, new schools and so on because people demand it.
Who is their supervisor and who is Mason? There lies your answer
"The rest of the county gets public works like parks, sidewalks, new schools and so on because people demand it." If only – in fact, Mason District has received a disproportionate share of the FCPS capital budget in recent years (Glasgow MS completely rebuilt; Mason Crest ES constructed; Bailey's Upper constructed; and now the Justice HS addition) while other districts only get funding for modest renovations and students attend schools in trailers and cheap modulars. If the activists in Mason don't want Justice Park touched, then the solution should be to add trailers to Justice HS for the next 5 years and then do a boundary change with Falls Church HS when the renovation/expansion of FCHS is complete. Of course, some Mason residents want those elsewhere in the county to fund both an addition to Justice HS and an expensive parking garage, but the rest of the county will recall their School Board members if they spend even more money at Justice than has already been appropriated.
In other parts of the county, there are award-winning parks (Clemyjontri Park comes to mind), newly renovated schools (how's that Falls Church High School renovation going? Has it even started, only about 20 years overdue?) and sidewalks being constructed along both sides of Route 7 in Reston and Vienna, (where there is no earthly place in sight to walk to). Not saying that the residents of those locales don't deserve public works, but comparing all of that to and lauding an elementary school built in a rush in a high-rise is absurd.
Kudos to Mark Doehnert and the other Justice for Justice Park activists, and shame on the charlatan Penny Gross for her at best incompetent and at worst (and more likely) corrupt handling of this matter
If one steps back and looks at the proposed changes objectively, the plan appears to be a very reasonable solution to the JHS parking need, along with a park improvement. The actual open field space reduction is only 0.14 acres, as posted by this very blog back in May (https://annandaleva.blogspot.com/2021/05/school-officials-listen-to-complaints.html). Much, possibly even a majority, of the parking will be along the street in relatively unused space. Add in that the park will be getting not just a renovated basketball court, but a brand new one, and it seems to be a win-win. Additionally, the park will get more usage with immediately adjacent parking that will be a big benefit to Little League families hauling their kids up to the field-I should know, i was one of those LL coaches. If you compare this aerial view with the proposed plan, and consider that a good portion of the currently unusable and overgrown space will be made usable, this has all the markers of a good and reasonable solution. https://www.google.com/maps/search/justice+park/@38.8550311,-77.1505475,210m/data=!3m1!1e3
It's understandable that folks would not want to trade green space for parking, but it appears that there's plenty to gain from having adjacent parking, new basketball courts and more net usable green space (after clean up).
Maybe there are worthwhile benefits to the transfer of park land to the school district. But if so, why are our public servants keeping secrets and lying to us about it in violation of law and due process?
FCPS is a joke and all members should be recalled! From their non-disclosure of this under the table deal, their support to hate-mongering and anti-Semitic members, their destruction of the qualifications for TJ which will result in lowering its standards, and their promoting CRT – FCPS members should all be recalled and be replaced with an equitable representation of all the views of the county – not just the Left! We all pay the exorbitant taxes and should have the best schools and accountable Board.
While I agree with concerns about misinformation and a broken process, I think that "justice" argument is a little one-sided. This group ignores the issues of equity or justice in having a Title 1 school that is overcrowded and delaying addressing that by YEARS which means thousands of kids being educated in an over-crowded, under-resourced facility. (Many schools in the area get significant income from parking fees. Justice does not have that income).
On the other hand, the park is in a neighborhood of good-sized houses with large yards. My daughter's softball team has used that park regularly for years and I have NEVER seen anyone using the open space. There are often people on the basketball court, occasionally one or two people on the playground equipment, but never anyone using the open area. And honestly, as explained by anonymous 1:09, this seems to be a reasonable plan, providing new park facilities, easier access to those facilities, and primarily using land this is currently unusable anyway. While providing a solution for the school.
But if there is an opportunity to slam all the development (except for that mystical "perfect" development that will instantly transform our district without any impact on anyone ever) then surely it will be slammed and blocked and treated as a greedy landgrab and of course, all the fault of Penny Gross.