Coraggio Consulting
Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, Business Meeting, Wednesday, October 16, 2024

Date: Wednesday, October 16, 2024
Place: Board Room, First Floor, Government Center, 1 Harrison Street SE, Leesburg, Virginia
Length: 8h 50m (video)
Official meeting video (county, Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/player/clip/7769
Agenda (Granicus): https://loudoun.granicus.com/AgendaViewer.php?view_id=73&clip_id=7769

Machine transcript (speech-to-text) produced by Coraggio Consulting. Not an official county record. Names and numbers may be misspelled; check the video at the timestamp before quoting.
Speech-to-text: whisper.cpp, model large-v3-turbo. Produced 2026-10-18. Timestamps are [HH:MM:SS] into the meeting video.

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[00:03:14] Well, good evening, supervisors, good evening, staff, and good evening, Loudoun.

[00:04:15] I'd like to call to order the October 16, 2024, Loudoun County Board of Supervisors business meeting. This room has a hearing loop. If you need hearing assistance, please switch your hearing aid to the telecom mode. If you need a headset, we have those available as well. Today, my colleague, Mr. Crony, will give us words of inspiration and leads in the Pledge of Allegiance.

[00:04:37] But before she does that, there are two things. I want to say happy birthday to Mr. Crony, which his birthday is today. And I want to say that Mr. Crony was on my staff, one of my staff aides for Western Loudoun County for eight years.

[00:04:56] Laura, you are one of the most well-read, well-studied, caring people I have ever met. And your knowledge of Western Loudoun County is bar none. So much of the good things that we've done on Western Loudoun County, of the land that we've saved, the things that you've taught me, were all because you walked into my office and said, Chair Randall, you've got to look at this.

[00:05:20] You've got to understand how this works. And you have been, you were an excellent on the staff, and I am so, so, so proud that you are my colleague. So happy birthday, Laura, and words and inspiration are yours tonight, ma'am. All right. Well, thank you, Chair Randall. I really appreciate that.

[00:05:38] It was a pleasure working with you for eight years. You are my mentor, and I appreciate all that you taught me. So today is my birthday, and celebrating this year took on a unique significance as I reflected on my role as Little River District Supervisor. It gave me the opportunity to reflect on both personal milestones and community achievements, and I feel deeply honored and privileged to serve Loudoun County.

[00:06:03] Friends and family remind me of the many new connections I've made while in my new role We are a community that looks out for each other, the friends, family, and neighbors who enrich our lives and make every day meaningful. As I celebrate today, I do so with hope that the year ahead brings even more opportunities for us to grow and work together.

[00:06:23] Thank you. Judge of Allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation, under God, indivisible, liberty and for all.

[00:06:41] Okay, I'm going to read the consent agenda, and in the past hour, there have been changes made to the consent agenda.

[00:07:01] And so I'm going to go through it as smoothly as I can, but please understand that I may have to make some qualifications or statements. only because things have happened in the past hour. All right. First, I should say that additions and deletions, item 5, which is LEGIE 2023-0030, the Acrola Town Center Residential SCPA 2022-0001 and ZMOD 2022-0013, ZMOD 2022-0014

[00:07:38] and SPMI 2023-0016 has been deferred at the request of the applicant, it will be heard on the November 7th board business meeting. So that is an addition or a deferral to another meeting.

[00:07:53] The other addition we will have is when we get to appointments, Ms. Bricksman has made a request to have a suspension of the rules for one of her appointees so that he can attend the meeting because the meeting will be held before we come back on the dais again.

[00:08:09] That's fine with me and so we'll do a suspension of the rules at that time. Are there any other additions and deletions on the deus at this time? All right. The proposed consent agenda is as follows. Item one, proclamation to recognize October 2024 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Loudoun County.

[00:08:31] That is for approval and presentation. Ms. Bricksman, if you would join me down front for that. Item two, resolution to recognize 44 years of county service of the retirement of Mr. Steve Rogers. That's for approval and presentation, and we're going to do that very shortly. That's not -- we're going to do that in about 15 minutes.

[00:08:47] Everybody, if you're here for that, just hold on. Mr. Hemstreet, you will join me down front for that. Item R3, Proclamation to Recognize Diwali Holiday, Approval and Presentation.

[00:09:02] Mr. LaTurner will join me down front for that. Item R4, Resolution of Commendation for the Freedom High School Girls Soccer Team. That is for approval and presentation. Ms. Letourne will join me down front for that. Ms. Letourne, did they win state?

[00:09:19] Ms. Letourne, did they win state? Yeah, they won state. Six times? Class six. Oh, class six state. Oh, okay, the highest. Okay, undefeated. All right, very good. Item R5, proclamation to recognize the Ark of Loudoun.

[00:09:36] Class four approval and presentation. Ms. Umstead will join me down front for that. That was R5. R6 is accommodation for Eagle Scout, Thomas Scheffler. That's for approval only. R7, 10th anniversary of the Dulles South Food Pantry.

[00:09:56] Yay. That's for approval only. But, Ms. Letourneau, please let me know when you're going to present that so I can join you. Item 1, confirmations and appointments. Item 2, administrative items report of October 16, 2024. Item four is the LEGIE 2023-0052, the ARM farm rezoning.

[00:10:17] I have supervisors as staff, when we get ready to do the consent agenda discussion, to come down front. I have some questions for staff about this application, depending on the answers. I might then take that item off of consent, depending on what those answers are.

[00:10:38] But right now, I'll leave it where it's at. Item 8, LEGIE 2023-0066 Lakeview Center Plaza. Special Exception 2023-0009. Item 10, response to board member initiative proposed installation of Mark Cross Rock at Ashburn, Marriott Way, and Match Point Way intersection.

[00:11:00] Item 11, response to board member initiative pedestrian safety on Gloucester Parkway at Laurel Ridge Drive in Deerview Drive, item 12, board member initiative to approve access to early voting, item 13, board member initiative for traffic calming in the village of St. Louis, item 14A, contract renewal with architectural service for building renovations, item 14B, contract renewal for architectural services, item 14C, contract award construction for the crisis, receiving and Stabilization Center. Yes. Item 14D, Contract Award Construction Engineering Inspection Services

[00:11:39] for Route 9 and Route 287 Roundabout. Item 14E, Contract Award Roadway and Civil Design Services for Route 15 and Braddock Road Roundabout. Item 14F, Award Authority Increased 9-1-1 Equipment and emergency notification software and services.

[00:12:00] Item 14G, award authority, increased education software solutions and services. Item 14H, calendar year 2025, payment standards and utility allowances for the housing choice voucher program. Item 14J, American rescue plan, staff recommendations for reallocation prior to the obligation deadline.

[00:12:25] The obligation deadline is to the end of this year. Item 14K, 2025, Retiree Health Plan Update, Premium Review, OPED Status for the County White Group Health Plan. I do want to say that there is not so much a corrected motion, but one other part of that motion that did not make it into the package, and I just want to read that into the record.

[00:12:53] What was missed in the item was the term. I further moved the recommendation of the Economic Government Operations and Economic Development Committee that the Board of Advisors direct staff to review the rates and caps for the retiree health plan and other post-repartment benefits, OPED, every five years from this point forward.

[00:13:12] I believe that was something Mr. Letourneau and Ms. Bricksman discussed at the Finance Committee meeting. I think it was made as a friendly but didn't make it into the item. So as we vote in the item tonight, consider that as part of the motion as well. Item 14L, County Y, I'm sorry, County Employee Deferred Compensation 457 Plan Record Keeper Request for Proposal and Investment Selection.

[00:13:38] Item 14M, Request for Use of Space and Be Waiver within a Community Center by SPARC. And item 15A, Arcola Quarters for the Enslaved Stewardship Management. management. It's a very long consent agenda. I will make a motion to move the consent agenda. Is there a second? Seconded by Ms. Bricksman. Discussion on the consent agenda. If you have discussion on the consent agenda, please put your light on. I would ask that staff would come down for the Orm property discussion on the consent agenda just for a couple of questions and then we'll decide if we keep that on consent. Good evening. How are you? I'm doing well. Good evening. So I'm

[00:14:17] I'm the one that actually has questions on this item. It is my understanding that a data center has been proffered out of this, but it can still be a utility substation, correct? That's correct. Okay. Is it reasonable to conclude that depending on where you put a utility substation on this property, even if the data center has been proffered out on the parcel, the utility substation could serve another data center that's close to the parcel?

[00:14:52] Depending on the type that's proposed, it would either be essentially vested with the current proffers or it would require additional commission permit if it's serving distribution. So it has to come back to us?

[00:15:08] Yes, ma'am. So let me say this in clearer English. So then what we're saying is no data center, well, if a data center wanted to use a utility substation that sits on the ORM property, if that's what it's actually built there, that data center would have to come back to both the planning commission and the board for approval before that happens.

[00:15:32] Is that correct? For a commission permit. I'm sorry? For a commission permit. For a commission permit before that happens. That is correct? That's correct. That's all my questions. I'll leave it on consent. Thank you very much. And my, because I'm still doing opening, so in my opening time still I have a couple of other things.

[00:15:51] One, I do want to say that the SPARC space fee waiver is very important. We have had for quite a while now, we have citizens of our county who have disabilities that are so great that they're not able to work outside the home at all.

[00:16:11] They may have feeding tubes. They may need to have care doing their daily ADLs and that type of thing. And we haven't had in this county enough spaces for those individuals to be cared for. What this item does is put 10 spaces in the Sterling Rec Center on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Fridays from 10 to 2.

[00:16:36] and so that we at least have more spaces for people to be cared for who have those disabilities for their families. And so I am really, really grateful that that's happening and thank everyone for all the support for that.

[00:16:54] I will say, Ms. Tacroni, the village of St. Louis, traffic calming is a very good item. We've had many meetings out there, and we know that that has been a huge issue for the Village of St. Louis.

[00:17:11] And so I'm very happy that we're getting that underway as well. I may have some closing remarks, but right now, anybody else want to speak on the consent agenda? Ms. Glass. Thank you, Madam Chair. I want to thank my colleagues for supporting the Ashburn Road and Match Point Way crosswalk, along with the Sterling Community Center fee waiver for SPARC, as the chair was speaking of.

[00:17:35] The crosswalk will provide safer pedestrian access for the Quartz and Ridges community to their field, playgrounds, and other amenities. I'm also excited that we will be allowing SPARC to run a one-year pilot program for disabled young adults in Loudoun who have aged out of LCPS.

[00:17:53] I look forward to seeing how this program will benefit these individuals. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Miss glass. Mr crony. Thank you, chair Randall and like chair, chair Randall. I'm very happy that the board supported the traffic calming in the village of St. Louis.

[00:18:13] We're going to do a speed management study on St. Louis road in the village to reduce potentially the speed limit from 35 to 25 and add traffic calming treatments similar to the village of Aldi along Route 50, so that's kind of my vision for St. Louis is traffic calming that's very similar to the village of Aldi.

[00:18:37] And since 2022, we've been talking about safety issues in the village, and this board member initiative really addresses the community's concerns that have been raised at numerous community meetings. And I would like to see poll-mounted speed display signs prioritized and implemented as soon as possible for the safety of the community.

[00:19:03] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Cronin. Ms. Brixman? Thank you, Madam Chair. I just wanted to thank my colleagues for supporting the initiative to research and investigate more early voting satellite locations in the county.

[00:19:23] This is not for this year. I just wanna make clear it's not for this year, right? Because we're about 20 days away. So our goal is to have a couple more early voting satellite locations starting in November of 2025. And the item says that we would like staff to come up with options for each electoral district.

[00:19:46] I don't think in the end we will approve four or five new sites, but there are some documented sort of pockets and holes and voting deserts in the county, specifically Ashburn comes to mind. So this allows staff to go and do that research, and then the board will have another opportunity to amend our ordinance and add site-specific address certain early voting locations in the county in addition to what we already have.

[00:20:16] Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, Ms. Brixman. And then lastly, I will say that This is a really heavy consent agenda, which means we've done a whole lot. We're not going to talk all about it, but we've done a whole lot. The Arcola Quarters for the Enslaved Stewardship Management Plan is also really, really important. It is so important that we take care of our historic properties and manage them well.

[00:20:36] So that's also being proposed on the consent agenda tonight. So I want to make mention of that as well. All right. I made the motion and seconded by Ms. Bricksman. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. Supervisors, you will notice that item number 7, which is the Groot Creek Village, did come off the consent agenda.

[00:20:56] With that coming off the consent agenda, I'm actually, when we get to action items, I'm going to put that first. I'm going to put that first because they had not planned on coming in at all because as of an hour ago, it was actually on consent. So since they did come in, I'm going to go on and jump that first ahead of the other action items.

[00:21:13] Okay, supervisor, if you give me just a second, I do want to go through some of the things that have happened in the past. Two weeks, I almost said two months because it felt like that. All right, I told you all that I would bring back to you what I was doing on the health policy committee.

[00:21:34] I am the committee chair for the National Association of Counties Health Policy Committee, and I started off with four planks and topics I'm going to want to work on. I took one away because I didn't know, because NACO very much, the policy committees or the committees from the National Association of Counties that puts forward actual legislation in front of Congress.

[00:21:59] And so if I'm not quite sure how to either do an influence campaign or legislation, then I took it off because I just didn't know what to do with it, to be quite honest. And I'll try to figure it out later, but for this year, one of the planks came off.

[00:22:17] But the four planks that the Health Policy Committee, and we had the meeting of the entire Health Policy Committee agreed on, are the first one is physical and dental health, with the focus being on dental insurance and options for economically disadvantaged children.

[00:22:37] I read somewhere that the two things that really impact people's health is your mouth and your feet, right? If you can't eat well, if you can't walk, if you can't work out, those two things. And so what we're finding is there are a lot of economically disadvantaged young people, children, who don't have -- who are not getting good dental care for a myriad of reasons.

[00:23:01] One of the discussions I will have when we have this discussion with one of the other policy committees is what types of food is available for these young people to have, for these children to have, because if you live in a place where it's a food desert and you have nothing but, you know, convenience stores and such around and not the right foods to keep you healthy and keep your teeth healthy, that's an issue as well as having the correct insurance. So it's physical and dental with the emphasis being on dental coverage for economic disadvantaged children. The second plague is sexual health, with the focus being

[00:23:38] sexual health and education for the aging population. At this moment, when I'm saying aging population, I'm talking about 70 years old and older. What we're finding, and this is great, is that older people are having sex, and yay, that's a good thing, but they're not always having it in the healthiest manner, and for lots of different reasons. Older men are not using condoms, And that's a problem because older men can pass on all kind of issues, and they have, to older women.

[00:24:14] And it's a lot of shame around whether or not you're having sex if you're 70 years older. And we want to do two things. One, we want to decrease that stigma. We want to say live your life as fully as you want to until you're not living it anymore. Go for that. But let's do it in the healthiest manner possible.

[00:24:31] So it's both decreasing the stigma and then talking about how you have to have healthy habits for your sexuality right through your entire life. The third plank is mental behavior, substance dependence, and the focus is going to be on what I'm calling drugs of entry.

[00:24:54] Some people have called them gateway drugs. I never really like that term, to be quite honest. My feelings, and you guys have all heard me say this before, is we make a huge mistake in this country when we focus on the drug and not the disease of substance dependence.

[00:25:10] And so when 25 years ago we were focusing on free-based cocaine, also called crack cocaine, we put people in jail and change sentencing laws. When 15 years ago it was methamphetamine, we put all the medications for my allergies behind the counter.

[00:25:26] Right now, we're focused on opioids, and we're doing a better job of focusing on opioids. But we continue to focus on the drug at the time. And if you focus on the drug, you're going to focus on the drug instead of focusing on the entry behaviors and the things that lead people into it.

[00:25:42] And so, really, it's much more focusing on what's happening in middle school than what's happening when you're 35. I care about what's happening when you're 35, but if we can kind of influence some of this behavior in middle school, it would be helpful.

[00:25:59] One example is I found out not long ago that there are for sale and offer to children markers that are scented markers. Well, we don't want to teach kids to sniff markers, and so things like that, we don't want to teach anyone to sniff markers.

[00:26:20] So although, you know, what they're scented with is not supposed to be toxic, the behavior that you learn to sit in class and sniff a marker is not a behavior we want to teach. And so sometimes we do things without thinking about it. And so some of those entry behaviors and entry, entry behaviors, I'll say, then leads to something else and something else and something else.

[00:26:46] And so that might be more of an education campaign or more of an influencing campaign than legislation. I haven't really figured out how to make legislation out of don't sniff markers, but we're working on it.

[00:27:01] We're working on it. And so anyone who has any help on that would be great. And then the fourth plank, and that's the one that I'm really excited about and that NACO is really excited about is social health, environmental health, and wellness, with the focus being social media and gaming as it relates to your mental health. And what we know is that social media and gaming impacts everybody and their mental health. It impacts young people different than it impacts adults, but it impacts adults. And so, you know, if you're a 33-year-old

[00:27:40] woman and you're having a tough time for whatever reason you look on online and like all these women look fantastic all the time and they all have perfect marriages with their handsome husband and their great little kids and 2.5 children from picket fence and you look at you like what is wrong with me like why can't I even get out of bed this morning why is my you know why is I can't even comb my hair what's going on and so what we do with social media is we compare what we feel on our insides with other people's outsides. And your inside will never be able to beat someone else's outside when their outside is being put up there for everyone to see in their very best light.

[00:28:18] We also know with young girls, they are often trying to match what they see online. But what they're seeing online is not real. Like, you know, no one looks like that, right? Those pictures are airbrushed and all types of things. But when you're 13 years old, you don't know that that's not real. You think that's how people look. And then as far as gaming, what we're finding with mostly our male population, and by the way, the average age of a gamer is 34. And we're finding that gaming is, it has some positives to it. All these things have positives to it. But gaming really is decreasing the amount of social activities outside of the

[00:28:57] gaming community. We're finding people who are gaming for six, seven, eight hours a night, which means you're not doing anything else but that, and it's leading to more anxiety, it's leading to more anger issues, all those things. And so NACO has been really, really forward-leaning into talking about and figuring out all of our mental impacts of social media and gaming.

[00:29:27] So those are the four planks that we have put together and that we will be working on, And I will continue to talk to everyone around, and I really do want to take a moment to thank my staff, especially Justin Hennessy and Chris Crentine, who has been so helpful in talking about helping me understand how to write legislation and how to do an influence campaign and all those types of things.

[00:29:53] And so I will keep you abreast. And then finally, MWCOG, Metro Washington COG, the two things we discussed at COG, and Mr. Crony, if I missed something, please tell me, is the housing affordability, planning and programming grants. If anyone would like me to send them the COG package so they can read it, I won't go through it all now.

[00:30:12] I think it's fascinating, but you might not think it's as fascinating, and so I'm happy to send it to you if you'd like me to. The second thing was the Capital Area Food Bank Hunger Report, which was, as we sadly suspected, every single community in the Washington metro region had more people who were needing to visit their food banks.

[00:30:35] And as we come up on the holidays, we're going to have even more people needing to visit food banks. And all the reasons why that is true was also in there. So, again, if anyone would like to read that, I'm happy to send it to you. again I thought it was not just fascinating but really really important to find out what's what's going on and why and so I will send all of those things to you all right having said all that I'm going to do my voice for a cause now my voice for a cause today is silence no more because it is domestic violence prevention month silence no more is a hands-on non-profit charitable organization

[00:31:13] who aims who is committed to working with survivors of domestic violence with the aim of building a system of support to sustain that victim for at least two years. And so it's not just, it's not domestic violence triage. It's domestic violence treatment with a two-year outlook.

[00:31:34] Sinus No More works with various organizations, agencies, community members, and survivors to make a difference in the battle against domestic violence. Through advocacy, education, communication, community commitment, Sinus No More is working towards building a platform that will sustain a victim for a two-year survivorship and beyond.

[00:31:52] Today we have with us Skip Wyatt and Silence No More founder Lisa Jones. Thank you both for coming in. We appreciate you. I have some questions I'm going to ask, and I probably won't throw in one you're not ready for because I'm looking at your faces right now, so I probably won't do that.

[00:32:08] What programs and services do you offer to domestic violence victims? First, thank you so much for having us. I appreciate this so much and bringing awareness to this platform. Sonus & More has created an atmosphere for victims and survivors to attend and participate in support groups, awareness trainings that offer Q&A participation.

[00:32:31] We do human trafficking training that also offers participation in Q&A answering. We do volunteering, which surrounds survivors around support systems and other survivors throughout the year.

[00:32:47] We do annual ceremonies and team buildings, which we call -- excuse me, I'm nervous. We have volunteers that support survivors four to six months out of the year.

[00:33:03] Tell me why Sun is No More, which is unlike other nonprofits or even faith-based organizations that address domestic and sexual violence and trafficking, tell me why you all decided that you would do the two-year program, a two-year outlook?

[00:33:21] That's a long time. Why two years? Experience. Experience doing surveys and working with other survivors to understand what helps them. So I can say for a fact, if you are being victimized for two, three years, two, three weeks is not going to help you.

[00:33:42] It takes a good six months just to realize everything that you have been through, Everything that you have experienced, what you have lost, financial loss, whether it's fear, once you are free from your victimizer, you have to get free from yourself.

[00:34:00] And so it takes about a good two years of partnering and extending. You may need financial. Sinus No More cannot provide all that help. So we partner with organizations that will provide that, and that takes time. You're not going to learn about your financials that you did not have access to for two, three years.

[00:34:18] That takes help. okay wow wow i hadn't thought about that um what organizations uh do you partner with so we're actually very lucky and we've been able to establish some very strong partnerships throughout the county with local businesses other local non-profits a couple of our non-profit partners women giving back which i believe has actually been one of the voices for a cause previously they're a wonderful resource of referrals and partnership for us LCWAG is another one. We've also been very fortunate to partner with local businesses.

[00:34:56] Walmart has been a huge supporter for us. We also have it's a first financial bank you want to say. So you know trying to build that partnership that's going to satisfy those different aspects that a survivor really needs when they are looking to establish themselves outside of that dv relationship that they've come out of the biggest support that we have are the survivors that we've worked with the ones who make it through come out and they turn around and they

[00:35:29] say i'm ready to help the next person them lending their strength their voice they they remain the biggest support that we have but in the community it's our you know our local officials it's um you you know, public services, it's the businesses, it's the, you know, the other non-profits.

[00:35:49] It's really up to the community as a whole, and that's why we're here. So let me ask you a question, but first before I ask it, Ms. Glass, we take a picture because you're just closer to them, you have a better aim. We take a picture of them while we're doing this, do you mind? Let me ask you a question that's not on the list. So when researching for the domestic violence proclamation, it said that one out of four women in their lifetime will experience domestic violence or sexual abuse or something.

[00:36:15] That's 25% of women. And for our Native American community, it was 50%. 50. And of that 50% of Native American women who would experience some form of sexual domestic violence, 73% of the perpetrators are not Native Americans.

[00:36:35] So those were really interesting. I had no idea that these numbers were this high. I mean, 25%, those numbers just, they're just so disturbing. Later on, because we don't have time to do it right now, I'd like to have a discussion with you all about what does prevention look like in this discussion?

[00:36:59] I mean, because you all are doing amazing jobs at responding. But what does prevention look like? Because those numbers are so, so high and much higher than I ever realized. But my last question is, if somebody wants to seek help and they want to reach out to Silence No More, either if they want to seek help because they're being victimized or if they want to reach out to help, how do they do that?

[00:37:24] How do they reach you? So the biggest thing with Silence No More is we don't wait for them to reach out to us. We go to them. We are partnered with organizations, corporations that house up to 342 residents, all the way up to 5,000 residents.

[00:37:42] These particular partners have a DV sheet that have access to partners and to us. Those are referrals. We have great partners that GIF mentioned that we take referrals from. And then we can access where they are because every victim has different needs.

[00:37:59] Okay. Okay. So if somebody wants to help, even financially help, how do they reach out to you? We have a website that they can go to. And throughout the year, we provide trainings that are open to the community so that you know what you are actually donating to because it doesn't it doesn't just help for victims to be educated it is very helpful when the community and community leaders stay educated and aware do you want to tell your website i'm sorry it's we call it 99 percent complete and that is because until we get a hold of what's happening with domestic violence

[00:38:35] it's not complete. So it's 99%complete.com.com. 99%complete. 99 spelled out or 99 in numbers? 99 in numbers. 99 in numbers. 99%complete.com. Listen, I've seen the work you've done. I know the work you do. I know the work all of our DB organizations do. We'll have a resolution a little bit later on. But Ms. Wyatt and Ms. Jones, you all are doing, you are doing heavy work. And you're doing work that really sometimes governments can't can't do so we appreciate you and and

[00:39:10] unfortunately we need you and so thank you very much for all you do thank you for having us thank you mr himstreet do you have any um comments for us this evening sir uh thank you ma'am chair i've got four comments for this evening the first is that one of loudon county's signature agritourism events takes place this weekend the fall farm tour on saturday and sunday october 19th and 20th residents and visitors are invited to take part in a free self-guided tour of more than three dozen farms and ag-related businesses participating in this year's event. The tour showcases Loudon

[00:39:49] Made, Loudon Grown products, and highlights the diversity of the county's agricultural economy. There will also be many hands-on activities and demonstrations designed for all ages. More information is online at loudonfarmtour.com. Second, Loudon County Public Library's Eat Local, Reed Local Festival returns to Cascades Library this Saturday, October 19th from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.

[00:40:12] More than 70 local authors will be on hand to sign their books. The free family-friendly event will also feature food trucks and live music as well as balloon and henna artists. More information is online at library.loudon.gov. Third, Loudoun County residents with electric vehicles have more locations to choose from when looking for a place to charge their vehicle. The county has installed new EV charging stations for public use at the Ashburn Library, Ashburn Senior Center, Luckett's Community Center, and the Round Hill Aquatic Center. As you know, the county also offers EV charging stations at the Harmony Park and Ride Lot, our two Metrorail parking garages,

[00:40:48] and at the Bluemont and Sterling Community Centers and the Middleburg Library. Users are charged $2.10 per session. We expect more stations to come online at new locations over the next year. And then finally, I am pleased to introduce to you Nathaniel Wendland, who was our new chief information officer and director of information technology. Mr. Wendland is standing up here near the front. He stood out as a top candidate for this critical position among a strong and competitive group of applicants. He brings more than 25 years of professional experience in leading information security and technology initiatives for local governments and the private sector.

[00:41:26] Most recently, he was Fairfax County's Deputy Director of Information Technology. I hope you'll join me in welcoming Mr. Wendland to the team. What's his last name? Wendland. And you came from Fairfax County? Can I call Jeff McKay and tell him we got you from Fairfax County?

[00:41:43] Okay, I'm going to make that phone call. Thank you very much. Welcome aboard. Thank you very much. Like, Jeff, we won. We got it. So thank you very much. We appreciate it. Welcome to Loudoun County. Where do you live? Falls Church. Yeah, okay.

[00:42:03] You're this close. You're that close. Thank you very much. To my staff, can I please get the, do you have the resolution for Mr. Rogers, for Steve Rogers? Where's that at? There it is.

[00:42:20] Wonderful. We have a resolution for Mr. Rogers for 44 years of service in the county government. Joining me down front will be Ms. Brickspin, Mr. Letourneau, and Mr. Hemstreet.

[00:42:42] Would everybody who, where's Mr. Rogers? Hi, how are you? There you are. Who would you like us to have join you down front to start with?

[00:43:01] Who would you like to come down front to start with? All of you is fine with me. The whole crew, he said. The department head? The department head, yeah, the whole crew. Sir?

[00:43:26] Ah, yes.

[00:43:46] Mr. Rogers, thank you for being here.

[00:44:12] But I'm going to go ahead and read this resolution for you. Whereas Steve Rogers began his distinguished career with Loudoun County in 1980 and was appointed as the building official in 1991, a role in which he has served with distinction for over three decades.

[00:44:28] And whereas Loudoun County experienced unprecedented growth with the number of housing units growing from an estimated 32,932 in 1990 to an estimated 15,000, yeah, this does not real quick.

[00:44:46] So this would be 150,657 in 2024, and the population increasing from 86,129 in 1990 to an estimated 446,530 in 2024 during Mr. Rogers' tenure as the building official.

[00:45:06] Whereas Mr. Rogers ensured compliance with the Uniform Statewide Building Code during the development of data center construction, a changing landscape in commercial and retail development, And whereas Mr. Rogers has overseen 11 USBC code update cycles and updates to other related codes during his tenure, ensuring that Loudoun's buildings and infrastructure comply with evolving safety standards and building regulations, fostering a secure environment for residents, businesses, and visitors alike.

[00:45:34] And whereas Mr. Rogers has worked tirelessly throughout his career to uphold the integrity of Loudoun County's building standards, administering and enforcing the building code with fairness, consistency, and a deep commitment to public safety. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors on October 17th, 2024, extends its sincere appreciation to Steve Rogers for his 44 years of service and dedication to the Loudoun community.

[00:46:01] Congratulations, Mr. Rogers. That's an impressive, impressive resume. Would you like to have comments? Wait, wouldn't anyone else like to have comments first?

[00:46:21] No roasting is happening here? Is that what it is? Don't ask the group. Okay. Well, okay. They want you to stay. Here you go, sir. Well, actually, there's an adage. If you find a job that you love, you'll never have to work a day in your life.

[00:46:40] So, if it's correct, technically, in the last 44 years, I haven't worked a day. Oh, wow. That's nice. County staff, I've been privileged to work with. Thank you. I don't do this very often.

[00:46:56] It's okay. Throughout the county, particularly my staff, this is 83 folks that handle the Code Enforcement Division, very professional, dedicated to public safety and customer service.

[00:47:18] And it has been a real pleasure to have served as your billing official. And I thank the board for this appreciation. Thank you. Thank you very much. Can you give him a hand again? Okay, so we're going to take three pictures.

[00:47:37] We're going to take a picture with everybody, and then we're going to take a picture of you and your staff, and then we're going to take a picture of you and Mr. Hempstreet. Everybody else is going to be out the way. Okay? Those are the three pictures we're going to take. Good? Good? Okay. Now, I don't know how Glenn wants us to do these, because I...

[00:47:53] Those are the instructions. Squish.

[00:48:37] Will you step in?

[00:49:42] Okay.

[00:50:12] I think we actually have time to knock out one action item before we do the five o'clock speakers, because I do not think the Goose Creek Village is actually going to take very long. It was actually on consent. I think one supervisor took it off consent. I don't believe we need a presentation or anything.

[00:50:28] And this is in the Aspirin District. Mr. Turner. Mr. Turner. Well, I'm trying, but Mr. Turner's not here, so maybe we're not doing that. I don't know.

[00:50:44] Yeah, yeah, let's try to get this done. You all want to come down anyway for staff for Goose Creek Village? Okay, here we go. For staff for Goose Creek Village. Let's try to get this one knocked out. I'm sorry, guys.

[00:51:00] This is not a public hearing. This is an action item at a business meeting, so we don't need you guys at the table this time. We need staff there, okay? Thanks so much.

[00:51:20] Is it anything that we, again, this was on consent, so I'm going to imagine there's nothing new. There's no new information we don't know already. Is that correct? That's correct. Nothing that we don't know? All right. realizing that i'm going to ask mr turner uh would you like to make a motion because this is an item that we we we we we well know already would you like to make a motion sir you bet madam chair

[00:51:50] hang on one second okay it is on page seven of the item i move the board of supervisors approve legy 2023-0038 goose creek village west zmap 2022-0013 specs 2022-0034 zmod 2022-0047

[00:52:21] ZMOD 2022-0047, ZMOD 2022-0048, ZMOD 2022-0049, ZMOD 2023-0030, ZMOD 2023-0044, ZMOD 2023-0045, and ZMOD 2023-0047, subject to the profit statement dated October 9, 2024, and based on findings for approval provided as attachments one and three to the october 16 2024 board of supervisors business meeting action item second discussion on the motion mr mr turner i have no

[00:53:00] opening comments discussion on the motion anybody else miss um stop thank you madam chair first i want to praise the applicant and the applicants representatives who did a superb job on presenting this, but this converts commercial space meant for an office park into residential, a fairly high density residential with 221 units. This is going to cost the taxpayers in annual school

[00:53:36] operating costs about $1.7 million and in capital costs the equivalent of about $7.7 $4.1 million for those reasons. I will be voting against but the applicant did a superb job Thank you. Thank you. Anybody else?

[00:53:56] Sorry, there's one correction to the motion. We just caught I think there was an interversion deletion when we were finalizing so it also needs to include reference to the conditions of approval Also dated October 9th right now. It just includes the proffer statement. All right, Mr. Turner you want to just add that and including conditions of approval that's already in the motion i just read i thought based on the proper statement dated october 9 2024 and based on the findings for approval provided attachments one and three to the october 16 2024 board of supervisors business

[00:54:34] beating action item there's also conditions of approval with the same date that our attachment two that should be referenced as well as the conditions of approval dated october 16 2024 october 9th october 9th 2024 um board of supervisors business meeting action item yes thank you how long has this piece of property been sitting without having commercial development on it i don't have that answer available at the moment but i can do you have an idea a rough idea

[00:55:12] has it been over 10 years yes i believe so okay so my point is i think if this was going to be be commercially developed, it would have been commercially developed. It hasn't been commercially developed. I also think that, no, let's change that. I know that we have a dearth of homes in this county. We have a dearth of homes in this Commonwealth and in this country. And so we need homes. We are not even able to attract some businesses, especially retail businesses, because we don't have enough rooftops to support the business.

[00:55:51] And I think that it is a lack of humanity to break down nothing but what someone will cost when they need a home. People need homes to live in in this whole country. And you better believe what costs a whole lot more than building homes is having people who are homeless, having people who are precariously housed.

[00:56:14] That's much more expensive. When you look at kids who don't do well in school, the kids who don't do when all the cohorts are the kids who do not have a home to go to at night. Because if you do not know where you're going to lay your head, your algebra test just doesn't mean very much to you for the next day.

[00:56:32] Laying your head somewhere at night is much more important than that. Every study we've seen says that Loudoun County and the metropolitan Washington area and the Commonwealth and this country needs homes.

[00:56:47] And if we don't start approving homes pretty darn quick, you know what's going to happen? The state and or the federal government is going to try to take over local zoning. And then we're going to have things shoved down our throats with no infrastructure, no schools, no roads, no nothing.

[00:57:04] We never want that. We will lose our ability to do local zoning. This is a good application. And these people who are going to move here are much more than a number that they will cost. They will be our neighbors. They will be our friends.

[00:57:20] They will be our church members. They will start nonprofits. They will be in little league games. They will do all kinds of things, just like everybody else who bought a house did in Loudoun County. Mr. Attorney, would you like a closing?

[00:57:35] Yeah, Madam Chair. I just want to compliment the applicant. I think this is a good application. I do want to apologize that it was taken off consent one hour and 42 minutes before this meeting for no substantive reason that I can see. That's inconsiderate. I can only imagine what went through your mind when it was taken off consent less than two hours before this meeting, and I do apologize.

[00:57:57] That's all I have. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Turner, make the motion. I second the motion. All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion will pass 8-1 with Ms. Umstead voting against the motion. Thank you very much. We do appreciate it. We are one minute from the 5 o'clock time, but we're going to go on and trust that everyone is here for the public comments, 5 o'clock public comments.

[00:58:19] If I call your name and you're not here, I will roll back around to you since I'm calling you about one minute earlier. All right. The first person is William Clark, followed by Jean Francis Blanc, followed by Kathy. Is this right?

[00:58:34] No, this is not right. These are, this is from, I recognize these names. This is from public hearing a couple nights ago. Let's try this again. I recognize those names. Well, and because I recognize the name Jean Francis Blanc, it's a beautiful name.

[00:58:52] I remember saying that the other night not that these names are not also beautiful because they are all right But these names are Earl Dubin followed by Mellon Skinner followed by John Rizek. There we go Hello, sir. Either way. It's fine. You have two and a half minutes. We're ready when you are well, thank you Thank you madam chair and members of the Board of Supervisors My name is Earl Dubin and I am the project coordinator for the town of Hamilton

[00:59:26] Late last week, Mayor Wine sent an email to you all detailing three projects that we're requesting CIP funding, county CIP funding for, and I'm just going to just give a quick summary of those projects. Thank you. The first project, and our highest priority, would involve sewer relining of our older clay lines in the town of Hamilton.

[00:59:48] We completed phase one of that relining about a year ago. We have about 15,000 linear feet of clay lines in the town out of approximately 40,000 linear feet of sewer lines. And during a storm event, those joints have opened up over time, and that allows for infiltration and inflow of some of that stormwater runoff, which creates inefficiency in our wastewater treatment plant.

[01:00:15] So we're requesting this next phase, which, as I mentioned, reed line, 10,000 linear feet of our older clay lines is approximately eight thousand dollar, eight hundred thousand dollars, we're requesting that in different phases to continue moving forward with this project. The phase one project, which I mentioned that we completed last year, which did five thousand linear feet, was paid for through ARPA funds and also town resources. And hopefully this will create better efficiencies with our wastewater treatment plant and allow us to lift a sewer moratorium that the town has had in place since

[01:00:54] 2015. The second project is a pedestrian traffic safety project on East Colonial Highway. The town completed the first phase of that West Colonial Highway, which included sidewalk reconstruction and drainage. This project, which is a pedestrian safety project, would include traffic calming measures, new drainage, sidewalks, which would then connect the entire town. Colonial Highway has approximately 10,000 cars per day. It's more residential in nature with some churches,

[01:01:33] some schools, a park, which has regional use. And this project, which we, the town, has already used funds for concept plans, would cost $6.7 million. We're asking the county for 1.4 to begin design or also to do a match with federal aid. You know what, thank you for coming in so much. We appreciate you coming in. Thank you for that information. All right. Thank you for your time. Our next speaker would be Madeline Skinner, followed by John Rizek, followed by John Benedict. Good evening, Chair Randall. Good evening. And the rest of you supervisors.

[01:02:08] It's important for you all to understand how county decisions impact those who must deal with results personally and on a daily basis. The Philomont Firehouse, scheduled to be replaced on our horseshoe grounds has already taken its toll on some of its adjacent neighbors. The Radebaas sold their house in July. The first four interested parties walked away when they found out about the pending construction.

[01:02:28] Amanda will put her beloved historic log cabin on the market before the school year ends. Next door, the bakers who have lived there for over 60 years continue their worries about the negative impact the abundant use of well water will have on their hand-dug well that was there before they moved in. The $10 million bond referendum for Loudoun County Fire Rescue includes $1.6 million for the Philomont Firehouse, now bringing the cost to over $25 million.

[01:02:54] I'm not really sure how much more salt can be poured in this open wound. There was nothing right done with this process, this decision, one that will forever change the fabric of our village. But sadly, most don't really understand that statement. At the April meeting, some of you brought up how purchasing another parcel would add to the cost.

[01:03:12] Yet 60 days later, you approved another $1.6 million for this firehouse. Here's the kicker. Replacing existing firehouses in the West with larger structures does not improve the already below average response times.

[01:03:28] There is a report to support that. The average coverage for these firehouses is approximately 40 square miles with roads, bridges, and driveways. They cannot be accessed safely by fire trucks and tankers that are too heavy, wide, and long. So maybe many involved have missed the point.

[01:03:45] Western Loudoun needs smaller, more efficient apparatus, resulting in a smaller footprint for the firehouses, and maybe two to three strategically placed smaller firehouses that provide the much-needed quicker response times. As for the other eight-plus million for apparatus, I still see zero for the additional staff at Philomont to be able to staff the ambulance.

[01:04:04] It's been sitting in our bay for over three years. Seventy-five percent of the 911 calls are medical, not fire. So Philemon and our surrounding residents have to wait for an ambulance from the surrounding firehouses, all of which have staffed ambulances. But you see, that was one of the sale pitches used on the handful of people who spoke for the new firehouse.

[01:04:21] You'll finally get an ambulance. So he'll wait for another three years instead of adding one more person. I guess our 9,000 square foot firehouse is not enough to house five people. The county needs to understand the impacts of their decisions. Thank you, Ms. Skinner.

[01:04:39] John Vizic, followed by John Benedict, followed by Larry Lloyd. Good evening, sir. Good evening. Thank you for allowing me to speak. I'm here to talk about Mickey Gordon Park. I own the 90-acre farm that shares the property line with Mickey Gordon Park.

[01:04:59] I have been here a long time, way before the lights and the recycling center went in. The Middleburg citizens have only one park and recreation resource for their tax dollar, and that's Mickey Gordon Park. We went to four meetings with Parks and Recreation, and we consistently and professionally delivered the same message as we did the first meeting.

[01:05:25] Parks and Recreation came up with concepts A, B, and C, but they do not reflect the input from the community. The modest community suggestions for the park do not justify the $10 million price tag.

[01:05:41] The main topics from the community, not all, but the main topics were, number one, overwhelmingly Dawn to Dusk Park, take down the lights. Number two, low-impact park. Keep the rural character, historic, and agricultural setting.

[01:05:59] Bring baseball back. Walking trails, no paving. Offering only concept A, B, and C to me is like asking me if I would rather get kicked in the knee or get kicked in the shin, and I have to pick one.

[01:06:16] There has been talk about lack of use at the park. One could argue that Route 50 being only two lanes is under usage. The town of Middleburg is underused. No 7-Eleven, no McDonald's, no CVS. We like it that way, and we've worked long and hard to keep it that way. The Cricket League website has two cricket fields on it, and the cricket fields at the park this summer were not used for two months. There's two fields. Each one had a 30-day period where they were not used, although Parks and Recs is

[01:06:56] proclaiming a profound need for more fields. Nobody has a problem with the game of cricket or the people that play the game. At our meetings, there were a number of people from the Middleburg community that wants cricket pitches in their park, and that number was zero, absolutely none.

[01:07:20] Please recognize the African-American community that founded this park. Thank you. Thank you, sir. Thank you very much. John Benedict followed by Larry Lloyd followed by Megan Gallagher. Good evening. Good evening. Thank you. I am John Benedict I live in Middleburg, and I'm also here on behalf of the Board of Directors of Loudoun's Future I wanted to suggest that you actually take off the Mickey Gordon Park proposal from the capital improvement budget and instead

[01:07:55] Direct the department to make more modest improvements within the annual maintenance budget and with just scarce discretionary funds Mickey Gordon Park isn't the place to spend 10 to 13 million for traditional recreational facilities development It's really the wrong place for intensive use which is why the crick the championship Athletic complex for cricket was also not popular the community wants some improvements better maintenance But that could be done more modestly than concept a people support concept a is the best of the three choices is presented precisely because it's more modest in scale. Instead we should be

[01:08:31] thinking about a concept a light. Intense recreational development really shouldn't be a priority at this site. We shouldn't be treating all parks alike with a single-minded focus on athletic facilities served by paved roads, suburban parking lots, and field lights. This is mostly a natural open space offering a rustic and rural experience largely available in the county's growth areas.

[01:08:52] People traveling to Southwest Loudoun want and expect a park experience different from what they'd find elsewhere in the county and the park has been underused and that's not surprising given its remote location an inconvenient distance to serve the county's population centers it's it's long been under maintained for the same reason it's just not it's not just inconvenient for cricketeers in the eastern loudon the little league exec a little league exec uh told me for example it's unpopular with little league families traveling from persilville because it's just so far through the countryside and the county doesn't even own

[01:09:26] the site yet. The county can address the parks needs outside the capital improvement budget at less cost using discretionary funds and the department's annual maintenance budget. These types of improvements would meet constituents needs in both the west and the east for a fraction of the money while freeing up capital budget for more pressing facilities already planned elsewhere. We can restore and repair existing facilities, return baseball, put in the walking trails and signage to recognize the overlooked history of the park in the neighborhood and maybe even install a restroom but it doesn't need to be on the capital budget thank you thank

[01:10:05] you thank you sir larry lloyd followed by megan gallagher followed by lisa campbell good evening sir good evening you all know once again we are back and forth with this park the mickey gordon park um it's out of control with arguing over which one we're going to pick a b c whatever but we got to get some results off of this and first of all it's the history history to the park nobody

[01:10:40] mentioned that that's sad the park's been neglected for years now cricket player uses it so now we're asking you all to please make a decision and do the right thing to get it back. We had baseball this year. None of them played there at the Billboard. I went to the games. None of them won.

[01:11:02] We were told they were going to play there. Didn't happen. That's sad. So we definitely need to get this thing rolling. Several meetings back-to-back, members back-to-back, nothing resolve. I know we can get it done. So can y'all please do the right thing and get it done? That's all we ask from y'all. Dust the dawn lights. You know the rule. They have it at the Middlebury Community Center. I was there over the weekend. Big sign. Please respect the ground. Dust the

[01:11:40] lawn lights. What happened to the park? Still ain't got the right answer. And here we're back again trying to figure this out. So let's try to get something done for us. Okay? Thank you. Thank you, sir thank you um megan gallagher and i my i think my i i have as the last speaker lisa campbell is that correct for five o'clock yeah is that right i i'm on the second page oh i see it regina banks

[01:12:15] okay i do see that yes good evening ma'am good evening my name is megan gallagher i live in the little river district and in the town of middleburg and i'm here to also ask you to please remove the 10 million line item from your capital improvements budget for Mickey Gordon Park. In turn, I'd like to ask you to direct PRCS to make much less costly improvements to the park within its yearly budget. We never asked for anyone to spend that kind of money there. Locals like me were really surprised last year by the $10 million project to build an international

[01:12:54] cricket complex. So you can imagine their reaction to the new plan. The supposedly low impact modest plan cost just as much. That's 10 million dollars would be far better spent where the need is greatest. Serving residents who've been waiting years for cricket fields, soccer fields close to their homes. I went to my supervisor, Laura Tacroni's Town Hall for the Dulles South Park And I got there early and was helping collect the email signatures for her and talked to

[01:13:28] people who have a really urgent and pressing need and don't want to drive 35 or 40 minutes away in weekend traffic. That said, if PRCS is going to proceed with a concept A, I think they need to hear from you all that they need to be more creative in how they plan needed improvements.

[01:13:50] We keep being told county policy requires paving the roads in parking lots and lighting the playing field. Well, the paving alone is a million, and the park's on a gravel road. It just doesn't make sense.

[01:14:05] They can get support from you for a waiver from things that do not make sense in a park that's a rural retreat. I truly believe for a fraction of the money, you can meet local needs there, but you could also ensure a rural historic rich experience in nature that you won't have anywhere else in the county for all county residents who need a break in the west thank you thank you thank you ma'am um these are campbell and regina banks are our next two speakers mr hemstreet if we have time

[01:14:43] between now and when we can start proclamations which is 5 30 i might go on and grab this item and do it. It's staff down. Oh, I'm talking to nobody. I believe Mr. Hemstreet is up in my office in mediation at the moment.

[01:15:02] It's staff who could do Mickey Rorden Park. If you're here, will you just raise your hand or something? Okay. All right. We may do that next then. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. No? She hasn't even introduced herself. Good evening. We're ready when you are.

[01:15:20] All right, greetings Madam Chair, Madam Vice Chair, and Supervisors all. My name is Lisa Campbell. I'm with Bike Loudoun, Chair, since 2019. Regarding item 14N, Bicycle and Pedestrian Wayfinding Program, we at Bike Loudoun strongly support the proposed way signs along the routes from the W&OD Trail to the Ashburn Metro Station.

[01:15:43] With the enormous investment made to bring Metro to Loudoun and install bike racks, bike lockers, The way signs will encourage people to bike to Metro and represent county approval of a safe route to get there. On page 2-4, the report states, Easing wayfinding to comfortably connect bicyclists and pedestrians of all ages and abilities to key destinations around Loudoun is the foremost consideration.

[01:16:12] And then on page 2-29, the report states proposed pilot route number two features a combination of trail segments and low-stress shared road facilities that create a loop to the western portion. With the increase of traffic since COVID, for safety reasons, Bike Loudon no longer supports the western route.

[01:16:35] In fact, it opposes implementing it as currently planned. Our predecessor, Dennis Cruz, in 2017 had proposed the route, but he moved to Arizona in 2019, and times have changed. The traffic volume has increased considerably since 2019, and there's more housing development in the Lovettsville area and Brunswick.

[01:16:58] So, this road is no longer low stress. Half the route has become a commuter route. Google Maps directs drivers heading to Lovettsville and Maryland to turn off on Route 9 to Waterford, to avoid the daily, hours-long backup at Route 9 and 287.

[01:17:16] Recently, while I was going to help at bike events in Lovettsville, I've been sent along that route through Waterford along with a lot of other cars. The cars were going fast and traffic backed up a bit in Waterford. The big issues for that route are heavier, faster volumes of traffic, narrow roads, no shoulders, washed-out ditches, foresight lines, and there's no room for error.

[01:17:39] Please consider the safety of bicyclists before authorizing way signs that could lead them into danger. I suggest that the board proceed with the Ashburn way sign plans, but research safer routes for Western Loudoun and Bike Loudoun would be happy to help with that process.

[01:17:57] Thank you. Ma'am, thank you. Before you walk away, so just want to make sure you said you were with Bike Loudoun, and I do appreciate that. Yes. When you say, are you speaking on behalf, in other words, Mike Loudon has taken a vote for the position you're telling us right now.

[01:18:15] Yes. Okay, thank you very much. All right, thank you, ma'am. Regina Banks, you will be our last speaker for this 5 o'clock time period. Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Madam Ford.

[01:18:30] I am here on behalf of Mickey Gordon Park. I grew up in Middleburg, Virginia. I love Middleburg, Virginia. I love our rural area. I love our undeveloped area. And we spend a lot, a lot of time at Mickey Gordon Park, and at one time it was called Mercer Field.

[01:18:49] I would go to baseball games with my father. He was the pitcher for the Middleburg team. And then as I grew up, my father made sure all of us played softball. The girls played softball. The boys played baseball, and he was the coach.

[01:19:06] And then it went on and on and on. Mickey Gordon Park has been in our history, in our lives, and in our family for years. We feel a big part of Mickey Gordon Park. I feel it's important to also recognize the residents around Mickey Gordon Park for the lights, the dusk to dawn lights.

[01:19:25] Because lights that are on late at night are shining in their homes as they're trying to relax after a long day's work or whatever they've done and enjoy their homes, which is only fair. And everyone else should want that, to enjoy their homes without lights shining in the bedroom windows or in your dining room window from a field.

[01:19:43] I feel it's very important that we get the baseball back into Mickey Gordon Park. Baseball is such a big deal. We rooted from the baseball. It was also Halls Park at one time where we had picnics and we had barbecues and we all enjoyed and had family reunions.

[01:20:02] We would like that back. So I'm asking that you would please remove the idea of lights, continuous lights, or turned off at a certain time. I mean, dusted on isn't bad. adding additional lights would not be good. Getting our baseball back there at Mickey Gordon Park would definitely be a blessing. Historical signs and but I'd like my father's 96 years old, Korean War veteran. He spent a lot of time like I said at that park and that was a part of his life. I mean he used to take Mickey Gordon to work every now and then. So it's history for us and it means a lot

[01:20:39] And it's important to preserve Mickey Gordon Park as it is and not overrate it with a whole bunch of cricket players and different things. And I respect sports as it is, but let's keep our baseball. Thank you, ma'am. Thank you very much.

[01:20:55] I appreciate it. That was our last speaker for this time. Supervisors, as it turns out, we do have speakers at the 6 o'clock time frame for Mickey Gordon Park as well. So we can't do that item right now because I don't want to do an item where we have other people to speak on it.

[01:21:10] Are there any other speakers who have not signed up yet to speak for, to speak? Well, I know what he's speaking. Are there any other speakers who have not signed? Do you have any more down there? Do you have any more speaker seats down there? That's what I'm asking.

[01:21:28] I'd like to see the topics. I'm trying to take another action item right now, but I can't take an action item where somebody's signed up to speak. I'd like to try to stick one more action item in here real quick. I might be able to do commuter bus service, though. I don't think anyone's signed up for that.

[01:21:44] at least yet no no one has signed up for commuter bus service yet so is the staff here for that not yet no okay no no don't don't don't no don't do that uh hmm no we have people signed up for bicycle and wayfinding so i can't do that yeah we're just going to do the uh it's going to take

[01:22:17] it's gonna take a long time uh palestine mickey court in fact okay i'm looking i'm looking right now uh is that uh is staff here for item number 14 in which is a bicycle and pedestrian wayfinding program you're here for that is that yes come yeah i see yes i i don't i don't i don't know if you are here for that you want to come on down we may want to get this one kicked out and then we'll do proclamations if you're not here that's that's okay because I'm calling you out

[01:22:54] of order it's fine if you're not here we're not all here that's fine that's fine okay I tried I tried everything I could I did my very best to move us along folks okay well then then I would do this for resolutions is everybody who is here let me see let's have dinner no we're not known board they come they take too long they take too long we're going to go on to the resolution see who's here for those we're going to go to the resolutions and see who's there for those because

[01:23:34] I'm not having staff like nonprofits is mr. words is he here he's not here well he don't see him now so and then I can do it okay um is everybody here for the for Diwali holiday the Ark of Loudon are you here hey hey Ark of Loudon there we go really jazz hands all right miss um step will join me

[01:23:58] down front for the Ark of Loudoun resolution all right this is a resolution to honor the Ark of

[01:24:56] Loudoun whereas the Ark of Loudoun is a 501c3 non-profit organization founded in 1967 whose mission is to advocate for educate serve and support people with disabilities and their families. And whereas the Arc of Loudoun includes five integrated, comprehensive, and direct service programs co-located on its campus in Leesburg's historic district, including the Ability Fitness Center, the Ally Advocacy Center, the Aurora Behavior Clinic, the Aurora School, and the Open Door

[01:25:33] Learning Center. And whereas the Arc of Loudoun annually serves more than 5,000 people across the region, from Jefferson County, West Virginia, to Shenandoah County, Virginia, to Washington, D.C., with the need for its services growing as evidenced by waiting lists to enroll in its programs, and whereas the Arc of Loudoun is one of Leesburg and Loudoun County's major employers, with more than 100 highly skilled professionals and the largest private employer in the town of Leesburg's historic district now therefore be it resolved

[01:26:10] that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby recognize the significant achievement and critical importance of the Arc of Loudoun in the community and larger region and thanks its staff board and volunteers for their dedicated service for you Thank you so much for this honor. It is greatly appreciated. Everyone is one, has one, knows one. One what? A person with a disability. And I'd like to just take a

[01:26:45] minute of your time for you to hear from one of our families. Thank you for recognizing the work of the Arc of Loudoun and their contribution to our community. My name is Alina Arias and my granddaughter, affectionately known to many as Cocoa, is a beneficiary of their care. When Cocoa arrived at the ARC, she was locked in and unable to communicate her needs. She spent hours each day frustrated and crying. The staff at the ARC, and in particular the Aurora Behavioral Clinic, implemented ABA methods that slowly brought

[01:27:25] Cocoa out of her shell. Day in and day out for years, through many hours of repetition, their perseverance and respectful care helped Coco do things that most of us take for granted, such as playing with a toy, appropriately expressing a need or a preference, even knowing how to behave in a group of people. Not only did they care for her, but they taught the entire family how to translate the work done at the clinic to our everyday life with Coco. Through this steady and tireless engagement, Coco's life has changed completely. She has fun with her siblings and friends.

[01:28:04] She can be silly and playful. She can ask for a walk or a cookie. She can tell you she's tired or hungry. She is no longer a silent prisoner. She's a teenage girl, sass and spunk. While she may never be a professor at Yale, she is happy and functioning and well on her way to contributing to society in her own way. We're grateful to the ARC and to the Aurora Behavioral Clinic for this, and now we're grateful to you for recognizing the work Aurora and the ARC do in our community.

[01:28:44] Thank you. Should I say something? No. How old is Coco? She was 13. I would say spunk and sass is exactly what you get from 13-year-old girls. So very good.

[01:29:01] Congratulations. Thank you. Thank you. Did I misunderstand? I thought that-- was it some students at the Arc that recently won an award for some competition? We work with a lot of LCPS students that team up with us, and they often win awards, not our students directly.

[01:29:19] Okay. I thought I had heard that. Well, congratulations and thank you. Thank you. All right.

[01:29:26] Well, let's take a picture.

[01:30:33] If everyone here is for Diwali, let's come on down.

[01:31:07] Let's do that resolution right now, please. please.

[01:31:44] Okay, good evening. So tonight we are continuing our tradition, which is more than a decade old now, to recognize Diwali here in Loudoun County. So I'll go ahead and read the proclamation and then we can hear from a few members of our community here. Whereas Diwali, which translates to the Festival of Lights, is the most important holiday and religious festival in the Hindu calendar. And whereas Diwali is observed each year by Hindus, Sikhs, Jains, and some Buddhists throughout the United States and whereas Diwali originated as a harvest festival that marked the end of the growing season before winter and whereas Diwali is a shortened version of the Sanskrit word Deepavali which means a row of lamps and the holiday celebrates the victory of good over

[01:32:22] evil light over darkness and knowledge over ignorance as well as the Hindu New Year and whereas Diwali is celebrated for five nights every year where celebrants light small oil lamps place them around the home along with other festive decorations and pray for health knowledge peace happiness hope and wisdom and whereas loud and carney has loud and county has a large indian american population that's actively involved in our community schools sports volunteer efforts non-profits and businesses and these residents will observe diwali beginning october 29th 2024 with the main festivities occurring on october 31st now therefore be it resolved that the loudon county board of supervisors and all the citizens

[01:33:01] of loudon county recognize the many contributions that indian americans make to our community and hereby wish them a festive and enjoyable to wally celebration in 2024. okay okay oh okay good evening my name is yosha patel and i am a sixth grader at eagle ridge middle school in loudon county the baps sun style would like to thank the loudon county board of supervisors for recognizing diwali and inviting us here today every year at the swamina and mandir we celebrate

[01:33:39] diwali we also celebrate kdc which is referred to as the kids diwali celebration kdc is the most exciting time of the year we play a variety of games and we indulge in many different types of foods after the day of diwali we celebrate ankhut the first day of the hindu calendar year ankhut means mountain of food. On this day, we offer delicious vegetarian food to God as a symbol of appreciation and gratitude. When Ankhut is near, me and my mom bake a delicious meal

[01:34:16] to serve to God. In total, there are about 400 vegetarian dishes. Diwali and Ankhut will be celebrated on November 2nd this year. We hope you will come and celebrate with us at the BAPS Swaminar in Mandir. Your presence will be highly appreciated.

[01:34:33] Happy Diwali. All right. To the honorable members of Loudoun County, Board of Supervisors, and once again, keeping this tradition alive, and thank you for this thoughtful Diwali proclamation, the recognition of Diwali, the Festival of Lights, as Yosha mentioned.

[01:34:58] Loudoun County is a place where diversity is cherished, And this gesture reaffirms that inclusiveness and unity. And by acknowledging this festival, you're fostering a spirit of togetherness. And that resonates with everyone that calls Loudoun County home.

[01:35:19] And we'd like to share some good news. We've been in Fairfax County, our place of worship, on our Guru Man Swami's birthday this past September. We actually bought 21575 Ridgetop Circle in Supervisor Saints District, and we'll be moving our home there and hopefully to Loudoun County.

[01:35:42] It has gotten bigger and bigger and bigger. I've been to all the locations. Congratulations. On behalf of Rajdhani Mandir and Global Seva Fund, I would like to thank the Supervisor's support for recognizing Diwali as a Hindu festival.

[01:36:05] And that's the biggest festival for us. And we feel so homely and welcome in Loudoun County. And thank you for doing this.

[01:36:23] My name is Ashwin. I represent a non-profit Hindu cultural organization called as HSS, Hindu Swayam Sevaksanga. And we are very thankful for the Board of Supervisors for recognizing Diwali. As part of Diwali celebrations, HSS, uh conducts a yearly seva diwali which is basically collecting food items from everybody and donating it to the food shelters here in the laurent county so i just wanted to thank the board of supervisors for giving us an opportunity for conducting our events in the

[01:36:59] schools in the laurent county public schools and encouraging the hindu values and hindu cultures in the american public thank you welcome back to the boardroom hello

[01:37:36] Shastina Indra Vrdha Sarvaha Shastina Pukha Vishwa Vedaha Shastina Starakcho Arishtanemi Shastino Vrihaspa Tiradhatu Om Dyao Shanti Rantarikshagum Shanti Prithivishantirapaha

[01:38:13] shanti rokhadaya shantirvishivedeva shantir brahma shantihi sharvagum shantihi shantireva shantihi sama shantirvedhi sushantir bhavatu sarve bhavantu sukhinaha sarve santu niramaya Well, thank you.

[01:38:51] First of all, I don't think I've ever heard that word used before for diversity. I've heard diversity is important, diversity, but you said diversity is cherished. What a powerful word. Diversity is cherished. So thank you for saying that. And you are in sixth grade. Holy Moses, you're amazing.

[01:39:09] Were your parents? Mom? I mean, so impressive. Congratulations. You want to hold the proclamation and take a picture? Yeah.

[01:39:19] Ms. Bricksman, would you please join me down front for Domestic Violence Awareness Month?

[01:40:52] And with everybody here for that, please come down to the front, please. Domestic Violence Awareness Month, please come down.

[01:41:12] Hi, how are you all doing? Thank you. I totally forgot the word purple as well.

[01:41:31] Yeah. Okay. Whereas domestic violence affects one in four women and one in six men in their lifetime, Each year, domestic violence causes harm to thousands of Virginians, regardless of their race, age, sexual orientation, religion, gender, or socioeconomic status.

[01:41:56] And whereas, during Domestic Violence Awareness Month, we honor survivors and shine a light on this violation of basic human rights to be free from violence and abuse. And whereas, compared to the general population, Native American and Alaskan Natives are twice as likely to experience violent crimes, to include rape or other sexual assaults, and whereas, although progress has been made towards preventing and decreasing domestic violence incidents and providing support to survivors and their families, important work still remains to be done.

[01:42:32] And whereas we recognize that the trauma sustained from experiencing domestic violence is not something that someone gets over, it is something that someone survives. And whereas Loudoun County partners with various domestic violence and sexual assault services nonprofits and faith organizations to assist and support all domestic violence and sexual violence survivors, it's committed to domestic violence prevention.

[01:43:01] and we pledge to ensure every victim of domestic violence knows they are not alone and that we foster a supportive community that helps survivors seek justice and enjoy a full and healthy life.

[01:43:18] Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does hereby proclaim October 1st through 31st, 2024 as Domestic Violence Awareness Month in Loudoun County, And we encourage all Loudoun residents to become informed about the crisis of domestic violence, sexual crimes, and sex trafficking.

[01:43:40] Thanks, everyone. I know that's the word you'd like to have. I know. It's like, do we clap for that? I get it. I get it. I'm going to have you all speak first, and then I'll go over here, and then I will come down to our staff.

[01:43:55] Okay? Thank you. Thank you for this opportunity. I'm Valerie Cuffey I'm the assistant director of the prevention and protective services in the Department of Human Services and we're so happy for this opportunity to increase awareness as you said about this crisis it does take the community I love working with our partners that are here it takes the whole community we want to increase the awareness so that someone who is suffering knows that there is hope and not only hope that there's help for this and so we thank you for this opportunity we work together to increase our

[01:44:32] response and we work together with partners to actually make sure that we have services available we are looking to expand those services because this is really a great need in our community and thank you again thank you so much thank you chair oh good evening everyone my name is Samantha Clark and I'm the CEO of laws domestic violence and sexual assault services here in Loudoun County and I cannot say much more than what Valerie has said other than that Laws is the designated provider of domestic violence services here in

[01:45:07] Loudoun County and we provide all services that survivors need here in Loudoun County including many that our partners do as well and it's important to know like Valerie said that if there's a member of your community whether that's your family, a friend, a family partner, someone in your workplace that is seeking support and they don't know who to turn to. You can always call laws. If we can't help, we're going to find someone in our community that can. If you don't know what to do for someone you love and care about, call laws. We can help you figure out what to do. That's what we're here for,

[01:45:47] is to make sure that no member of our community feels like they're struggling in silence because violence thrives in silence that is where violence continues in our community is when we don't reach out for help don't know who to ask for for help and when we as a community don't raise awareness about this critical issue that continues to plague our community so like valerie has iterated we are so grateful to the board of supervisors to continue to raise awareness about this issue by having the proclamation by standing in front of our community and saying

[01:46:22] that Loudon cares about this, and that this is an important issue that we are going to continue to address here in Loudon County. No, we're good? Okay. Thank you. Anything you want to say? Did you want to say that? Let me just ask you a question.

[01:46:39] So I recently went to an event that I was somewhere put on about sex trafficking, and it was really interesting because what I learned is, you know, we often think it's, you know, sex trafficking as, you know, somebody coming into our country in a cargo box or something like, you know, something like that.

[01:46:56] But what I learned is that there are people who leave their house in the morning, students even, and are victims of sex trafficking who go home at night, and you might never know it just to look at them. And so as well as domestic violence and sex crimes, I think the discussion of trafficking of human beings is also something that I know you all deal with and something we really also want to highlight to make people aware that even in this wonderful county of Loudoun, that's an issue for us as well.

[01:47:25] If possible, I would love to grab my phone because I want to read a victim's impact story. It's just right there. It's 30 seconds. Okay, yeah, go grab your phone. Go grab your phone. Anybody else want to talk to you? I'm going to pass these out while she's grabbing her phone.

[01:47:41] So after the phone grabbing, we can actually be ready to take the picture. How's that? Natalie, thanks for all you do. Yes, please. Thank you for all you do. I'm going to let Giff Wyatt read something and why it's so important for us to wrap our arms and surround ourselves around survivors.

[01:48:08] This is a statement from one of our survivors who also joined us in the fifth annual P7 Fashion Show. She was one of the survivors that was featured as a model in that fashion show, and she reached out afterward. And what she said was, I am proud, and I am more proud to know and be known by all.

[01:48:31] Thank you for holding and creating space for me to bloom and grow. Everyone who really, really knows me, either by choice, convenience, family, That's been the unanimous ask this weekend. So now that the show is over, you're going to keep meeting with them, right? It's silence no more.

[01:48:47] It doesn't end now, right? Lisa, everyone, not one person who knows and cares about me hasn't asked that, and it feels really good to say no. It isn't over because the show is. Thank you for choosing me. It didn't have to be me, but the universe knew.

[01:49:03] I told you, you saved me this year. I wasn't ready to receive the love and the healing that I have, But I'm so thankful to know and accept that I am healing and I am loved and I'm not alone. Wow. Okay. Well, thank you for the work you do every day.

[01:49:22] It is hard work. It is heavy work. My only ask is that you guys also take care of yourselves. Because when you do work like this, secondary trauma is real and can be really, really hard. So remember to take care of each one another and take care of yourselves as you take care of the community and to say thank you all.

[01:49:40] And let's take the best picture ever.

[01:49:42] we have a state winning track a soccer team here is that true like state winning soccer team

[01:50:58] pretty amazing would you please come down to the front okay so we have had go ahead and yeah just

[01:51:37] kind of perfect we have we typically recognize our state championship teams here but I dare say this might be one of the most impressive state championship teams we have ever had in Loudoun county in any sport so where do you listen to the accomplishments of these ladies freedom high school girls soccer team so i'll read the resolution whereas the freedom high school girls soccer team won their first ever state championship after a penalty shootout against defending champion colgan prince william county way to go and the final game at vhsl class six that's the biggest class state championship and whereas the eagles ended the season undefeated

[01:52:17] with an incredible 23-0 record, being ranked the number 11 high school team in the entire country by the U.S. Soccer Coaches Association. And en route to the state title, they scored 121 goals and conceded eight for a per-game average of 5.6 to 0.34.

[01:52:37] As I said, pretty impressive. And whereas the team graduated 12 seniors, several of whom will be playing in college, including Addie Hess, who scored 43 goals and had 19 assists this season, directly contributing to half the team's goals, and was named the VHSL Player of the Year and a member of the 2024 VHSL All-State Girls Team.

[01:53:00] And whereas Coach Chris Campbell was named Class 6 Coach of the Year. And whereas the team was supported through their historic run by coaches, teachers, parents, the Freedom High School community, and all of Loudoun County. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors does recognize and honor the Freedom High School girls soccer team for winning the 2024 VHSL Class 6 state championship and for their many individual and team accomplishments over the course of the season. Congratulations. Okay, would you like to say a few words on behalf of the team? Any of the

[01:53:36] players? First of all, I want to thank the board and Supervisor Lerturno for having us and the opportunity to be recognized. As you said in your comments of the resolution, it was a magical season for us. I think in addition to what these young ladies and 12 others who have graduated experienced as our team through hard work and dedication and commitment, I think it really was the best in high school sports. And I think we're very lucky here in Loudoun County to have the support of the county, our school administration, and the South Riding community who all got behind

[01:54:12] us for the spring and ended up with us in Richmond on June 8th to celebrate the big win it certainly was magical. And again, all the support that's offered from the county on down through our parents and administrators was incredible. So thank you very much for that.

[01:54:31] Thanks. I'm Neelam Chaudry, and I'm the principal at Freedom High School. And of course, you've all heard how great these girls did athletically. But as a principal at the school, I'm also concerned about the other side of people's lives, and that's academics and character.

[01:54:49] and I would say that these girls represent the best of academics and the character of their personality is extremely impressive, both individually and as a team. So it was my pleasure to follow them all season long and to be there when they finally won the state championship.

[01:55:12] So thank you, girls. Here, go for it. Go for it. You only got one side. um so this is my second year at freedom on the varsity team and honestly this year was such a honestly it was like probably the coolest experience I have ever experienced like in my entire life I got to play with my sister on the team and we were undefeated and one of the

[01:55:48] games we had it was during the school day and we had four we they let all the students come out and we had 400 students come out and support us and honestly just the support that we got this year it was just incredible and such a great experience all right post for a picture if we have parents you're welcome to come up kind of the

[01:56:14] front here and get some close pictures if you like okay although it is a just a

[01:58:29] teeny bit early we're gonna go on and start public comments if somebody's not here and I call their names I'll circle back around to them when I get to them We, by practice and professional courtesy, I do call on any elected officials we have in the room first.

[01:58:45] We do have an elected official in the room. Kenneth Wine is the mayor of the town of Hamilton, so he will speak first. He will be followed by James Russell. And then we have Carolyn, who's going to read a statement for Ms. Kozar, who is not actually in the room with us this evening.

[01:59:03] And then we will have Matthew Noonan. will go to the webex for all of all of those all the virtual uh calls at the end of everyone in the room is how we do it so if the mayor if you are here um mayor wine are you here wonderful good evening sir good evening thank you all thank you so much chairman randall and the honorable members

[01:59:40] of the board for an opportunity to speak on behalf of the town of hamilton a small town of 674 residents. I have three requests to bring before you this evening. The first request relates to I&I, which is infiltration and inflow in the sewer system. VDH is requiring Hamilton to reduce the amount of I&I in the sewer systems. And since 2015, there has been a sewer moratorium in place due to this issue, resulting in our inability to allow any new hookups to our, excuse me, to our system currently there are three individuals who want sewer hookups but we are unable to provide

[02:00:18] this service until the eye and eye problem is resolved in the last year we have relined 5 000 feet of sewer line and with approximately 10 000 feet remaining to be relined relining the old sewer lines will help fulfill vdh's requirements to complete the relining of the sewer lines we are requesting eight hundred thousand dollars to help in finishing this we will match it with two hundred thousand on the end of that the second request relates to our well 15 project the well is currently in the planning stages and the well is drilled but funds are needed to

[02:00:54] develop the well and bring it online we provide water and sewer not only for water not only for our citizens but also for the three county schools in the area hamilton elementary can culvert elementary in harmony middle school once the well is developed it will produce 200 gallons per minute and provide backup for our main well 14. this as well will ensure that we are in compliance with deq's waterworks regulations and provide a long-term solution to our current water concerns our current financial need to begin developing as well as 167 000 dollars with a total cost over

[02:01:34] the next several years of 10.6 million dollars our final request is for pedestrian sidewalk improvements total cost for this project is 6.7 million but the first phase of funding we are asking for is 536 000. this will help facilitate the planning and engineering needed to construct 5 000 feet of ada compatible sidewalks street lighting and pedestrian crossings and reduce lane with to provide traffic coming if you have any questions i'll be happy to answer them otherwise thank you so much for your time mayor i don't have any questions right now but um because it's not we

[02:02:11] don't we don't do q a right now however i probably i do have your contact information and i do think i probably will be calling you to ask a cup ask a couple of questions that'll be fine thank you sir thank you very much have a good evening thank you too uh james russell followed by the only name i I have is Carolyn. I believe it's Carolyn. Followed by Matthew Noonan. Good evening, Mr. Russell.

[02:02:37] Two weeks ago, this board informed us in the context of a correction that Loudoun County does not hold any investments in any, quote, Israeli banks or financial institutions, end quote. That's good to hear. That is, however, not what I said. Two weeks before that meeting, I mentioned that three prominent arms manufacturers hold offices in Loudoun County.

[02:03:09] They have benefited richly off of this genocide. Just look at their stocks. I mentioned a company called Digital Realty, the second biggest company in Loudoun County's data centers, a company that has its own data center in Israel, a company that is a leader in artificial intelligence.

[02:03:29] And we all know that AI has been an invaluable resource in the Gaza Holocaust. And I confess, as the months grind on, I fall victim to speculation.

[02:03:49] I wonder, what if those data centers, in fact, are at any point resourcing this genocide in Gaza? What if people on this board are aware that there is that capacity?

[02:04:10] Is that a coincidence? No, that is conscious complicity in genocide, the crime of all crimes. And again, speculating if that were the case, if this legislative body before me truly is complicit in a genocide, I can tell you with some confidence you have nothing to worry about.

[02:04:41] You have absolutely nothing to worry about. Enforcement against the Commission of Genocide is the responsibility of the International Criminal Court, a legal entity to which the United States does not submit. So if, if, if this board is complicit in genocide, you can do so with the confidence of total impunity.

[02:05:07] Our next speaker will be Carolyn followed by Matthew. Let me be real clear. Let me be extremely clear. I don't allow chairing or jeering for any issue ever. Not just for not this issue. The Board of Supervisors has a policy that we don't allow clapping during public speaking and we don't allow booing during public speaking. And let me be as clear as possible. I will enforce that policy. Good evening, ma'am.

[02:05:37] Good evening. My dear friend Duna couldn't make it this evening, so I'm here to stand in solidarity, to amplify her voice, and to share her remarks. Hello, and thank you all for taking the time to allow me to speak. My family and I have been residents of Loudoun County and the general northern Virginia area since the 1970s.

[02:05:58] My mother and her family left the Mount of Olives neighborhood of Jerusalem and came here to America in the 1970s to escape instability and violence. My father, who was born in Nablus, then left at age five with his family to seek safety in Jordan, had subsequently arrived in the States a decade after.

[02:06:21] My parents eventually met, got married, and had me. We have not been able to go to Palestine since. My parents have not been to their own ancestral homeland since they first moved here because they have been constantly frightened and worried of incessant violence.

[02:06:39] Unfortunately, as the years pass by and the older they get, the dream of showing me where they were born, raised, has become just that, a dream. Now that I have a child of my own, I hope that one day I can take all of us back to Palestine without fear of losing anyone while there.

[02:07:01] It's bittersweet knowing that the violence and turmoil may never end for Palestinians, yet still having hope and dreaming of the day you get to see your parents smile as they describe the sights, sounds, tastes, and feelings of where they and those before them came from.

[02:07:21] I want to close by saying how much I admire the cultural diversity that has reached unprecedented growth in the area over the last couple of decades. We collectively, as loco residents, have worked to make our communities as prosperous and inclusive as possible, which makes me proud to live in a place like this most of the time. Yet I cannot help but feel that the pain and suffering of us Palestinian Americans has gone largely ignored or deliberately silenced.

[02:07:57] And I demand this board put the utmost pressure on our state representatives to not only divest from Israel, who is currently committing crimes of war, but to also invest in advocacy for Palestinians and their right to humanity.

[02:08:15] Ma'am, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you very much. Matthew Noonan, you will be followed by Gary Nicholson. Good evening. I mentioned this in my past speeches, but I feel it always bears repeating as long as our local elected officials are silent on this.

[02:08:33] What we're witnessing in Palestine is an apartheid and a genocide because of American tax dollars and a lack of political courage from our politicians. Let me give you some recent developments. This week, an American, a son of Virginia, had his family's house bombed. In the aftermath of this attack, as a last resort, he called the Israeli government, giving them his address to ensure the ambulance, trying to deliver aid to the victims, was granted safe passage.

[02:09:00] Instead, the Israeli government used this information to target them again, killing him and most of his family. A refugee encampment outside of Al-Aqsa Hospital in Gaza was bombed this week. The inhabitants were burned alive. Doctors in Gaza are consistently finding children shot in the head with sniper bullets.

[02:09:19] Israeli military and settlers continue to starve the population, and Israel isn't stopping with Gaza or the gradual yet vicious encroachment into Palestinian West Bank communities, actions that are against international law, by the way. So in light of this, what can we do as a community to stop what we can all agree is nothing short of a catastrophe?

[02:09:40] What can this board do? Well, I'll tell you what they don't do. They won't call for a permanent ceasefire at the bare minimum. They refuse to hold the companies that are complicit in military occupation apartheid and genocide accountable Corporations over in sterling offer rat 28 like Northrop Grumman Raytheon and BAE systems just to name a few Is this not the purview of the board?

[02:10:03] It's fine with turning a blind eye to them Apparently we need divestment from the genocide and apartheid that we help facilitate in this county instead of pleading ignorance All right. Thank you. Our next speaker will be Gary Nicholson followed by math. I'm sorry Michael Merritt followed by Bill Thrillkelt. Good evening. Good evening, Chair Randall, Supervisor Takroni, fellow Board of Supervisors. My name is Gary Nicholson. I'm the commander of the Middleburg American Legion, a veteran service organization in Middleburg that provides service

[02:10:39] to veterans and youth in general. You may remember me. I came out here back in July. We're recognized for our youth programs, specifically our Boys and Girls State Program. And at that meeting, I mentioned that if I had another week, I would have put baseball on that resolution as well.

[02:10:57] So last week there was a meeting. Director Torpy came and presented a plan for Mickey Gordon Park, and I think you beat him up just as bad as the residents of Middleburg did regarding the plan. Pretty good plan. But I do want to assuage some of your concerns about the demand for baseball at Mickey Gordon Park.

[02:11:18] This will actually be the third year that I'm trying to bring baseball back to Middleburg. I started this process back in 2021. At that time, the park had already been converted to a full-time cricket pitch. After the meeting last year at Middleburg, a lot of concerned citizens came to me and provided the resources to start a baseball team, and we did that.

[02:11:39] But again, when we requested field at Micagorn Park, we could not play there. So we relied on the community once again to provide field service for this time. And we'll continue to do so until we can get service back at the field. But it's not just baseball that we're trying to preserve the legacy of.

[02:11:57] It's a historical legacy of baseball in general in Middleburg that goes all the way back to segregation when the Middleburg Braves were playing there. and as mayor littleton mentioned in that meeting almost a year and a half ago a lot of the data and the metrics aren't captured in the the metrics that parks and rec captures you know it's a real park people play pick up baseball and days of segregation as well with the braves you know they just played pickup games in crowds of nobody um just for the love of baseball so i know chair

[02:12:35] Randall you mentioned in that meeting last week that you're not a baseball individual but I guarantee you that if I can get you on that field with me and the boys you'll love you'll love the sport it's about the passion we will play anywhere anytime we just need a field to play on regardless of the facilities that you give us you just provide what you can and we'll be out there to play and it's not about you know baseball is just a byproduct we're teaching civics we're teaching a community spirit we're teaching engagement for the youth and thank you for your time thank you sir thank you everyone is laughing up here

[02:13:08] I deal with me playing baseball Michael Merritt and you will be followed by Bill Threlkeld followed by Leticia Machado I think that's how I say your name if I if I okay thank you good evening sir hi good evening thank you for the opportunity to speak Chairman Randall I don't if you remember me when over there in middleburg at the community center we sat together at the

[02:13:42] round table and we were debating on who knew more about black history over there than you or me so i just like to point out that uh one of the reasons i do like black history is uh is i'm proud that it'd be the first serviceman to serve after my great grandfather from my father's side and he served for the north and and after he served in the civil war 17 of his buddies died in the war uh trying to fight for or against slavery and that's one of the reasons i like it plus my

[02:14:17] wife went to benjamin banneker school along with my two boy or my two boys and her two boys and then also our two grandchildren when Gary came to me about the baseball I said yeah let's do it and no one really thought that we'd be able to get a baseball team going but with the support of the community with the support of American Legion we got it going and right now we're concerned that and the initial reason for that was to get make sure cricket didn't come in and take it take it

[02:14:54] over and plus the historical ramifications of losing the african-american history history there gary touched on it that willie hall started it in the negro leagues back in 1920 and did it for 30 years and willie hall was the was the guy that was a contractor during segregation and he was very successful building a lot of buildings including benjamin banneker school i can't get all this in in two and a half minutes, and I was concerned about getting an African American on our

[02:15:32] team, and my granddaughter, I said, well, because there's not too many African Americans playing baseball in Loudoun County, and I went to all the teams throughout the county searching for kids to play, and my granddaughter had a friend, and he came on our team, and he filled the roster, the ninth player and i'd just like him to stand jaw and that's my granddaughter and we had a wonderful season and we just want your support to try to get baseball back in middleburg at mickey gordon park thank you and maybe we could even name it willie hall park yeah that would be something

[02:16:08] thank you and congratulations for playing the game okay um bill felkel followed by leticia Machado and followed by and I think it's Sufjan Bebel. I think I'm saying that right. Good evening, sir. Good evening. Chair Randall, members of the board, thank you for the opportunity to speak briefly about Cornerstones. I'm Bill Threlkel, the Vice President of Community Building and Neighborhood Resources at Cornerstones. We have an agenda item before you later in the evening, request an exemption from a vehicular personal property taxes. I'll provide the clerk if it's

[02:16:45] allowed some materials to share. That would be some of my backup plan if I run out of time. We're a non-profit and human services agency, an affordable housing developer, been working in the larger Delos area for almost 55 years. Historically Loudoun County residents have participated in our housing counseling program which is funded in large part through grants from Virginia Housing. The next closest bilingual and that's Spanish-English. HUD-approved housing counseling program in the area is all the way into Arlington. We also have Loudoun County residents who utilize our food pantry in reston although there's plenty in loudon county and and

[02:17:22] our hernia community center particularly if they work in the arndon area we recently rented in sterling for 10-year lease a warehouse space with adjacent office and meeting space for the free from hunger center aka the food hub my office is at that hub and the trucks for which we are seeking personal property exemption are based at the hub for the work that i will describe next six days a week, we rescue food at the hub and redistribute it to food assistance providers serving food-scarce households in the area. This program brings new sources of food to assistance providers. It is

[02:17:58] not interrupting existing supply chains for those providers. Since about a year ago when we opened, we have sourced nearly 370,000 pounds of food and distributed more than 300,000 pounds. According to the Feeding America, this is equivalent to approximately 250,000 meals.

[02:18:17] More than 50% of what we've distributed has gone to Loudoun County food-based assistance providers, such as Tree of Life, Dulles South Food Pantry, Dulles South Soup Kitchen, and Catholic Charities Pantry. To do all this, we have engaged hundreds of area individuals and corporate volunteers who have donated nearly 2,100 hours to the food hub.

[02:18:37] Also in Loudoun County, we are honored to partner with Loudoun County and Wellington development in two attainable housing developments, 180 homes at Tuscarora Crossing in Leesburg and 70-plus units at Old Arcola Schoolhouse Redevelopment approved this year.

[02:18:53] I'm out of time, so I'll close and say thank you, and we look forward to working with you. Thank you. Thank you very much. Tisha, thank you very much. And you'll be followed by, I think it's Sofian Bebel, followed by Noral Zibda.

[02:19:10] and I hope I'm saying your names correctly. Good evening ma'am. Hello, hello again. I would like to address this board this time as a proud Latina. I stand in solidarity with my Palestinian brothers and sisters so you can see the diversity in the forces that are working together to stop the war machine that Israel represents and the liability that it is for the county and the country. None of us are free until we are all free. And although I rather much be focusing on my future as an immigration lawyer. There is a more urgent matter being live stream as we speak. So here I am

[02:19:48] learning all that I can about local governance, law, budget, revenue to address you properly and hopefully get your attention. And so far I've learned that Virginia attracts businesses by giving discretionary incentives of up to 150 million dollars for companies that meet the the criteria. I think it's 50 jobs or so. I need to double check that. Also, it is through the BIAB, the Virginia-Israel Advisory Board, that the Israel Ministry of Defense, along with Israel manufacturers and kibbutz industries, obtain such incentives and develop partnerships

[02:20:24] with leading federal contractors to bring their businesses here to the state. So, are we going to keep calling it economic development, or can we start calling it for what it is, is profiteering for the debt from the debt and destruction of Palestinian lives and culture because companies like Northrop Grumman and Raytheon which complicity in apartheid and genocide has been heavily documented are proudly championed by the county as economic successes to encourage other similar companies to make businesses here but in reality they are doing ethnic cleansing

[02:21:01] the one that we've been bearing witness for the past year. I asked this last time I was here, and I'm going to ask again. Is this the type of job opportunities that we want in the county? Is Loudoun County really proud of being partners with weapon manufacturers of weapons that are used to murder children?

[02:21:21] I don't think it is a complicated question, so I'm just going to end my time with an invitation for an open dialogue. this group of concerned citizens, we only want to find a strategist with you to refrain these companies that are profiteering from genocide and upper height to stop coming to the Loudoun County. Thank you. Thank you. Sufjan Bibel, followed by Nora Zibda, followed

[02:21:50] by David Blanchard. Good evening. Good evening. Hello, everyone. My name is Sufjan Bibel. I live in Sterling. And I'm here today with one ask. Before I make that ask, I'd like to say that I respect and appreciate what y'all do here at the local level. I've always appreciated how the local government influences our everyday lives and how accessible you are to us. Far away from Loudoun County, there are atrocities happening abroad, as they have said, specifically in Gaza

[02:22:25] and Lebanon, that are enabled, funded, and supported by many in our state and federal government. I know that your influence in this matter might be minimal, but I ask that you you introduce a resolution calling for a permanent ceasefire in the Middle East, such as several city councils and boards have done across the United States. The day will come when we're asked what we and our positions of power and privilege did when this genocide unfolded. When I answer, I'd like to be able to say that I did my best at the individual level, and that we united and fought

[02:23:05] together at the community level, and that my county board, the Loudoun County Board of Supervisors, did their part. Before I even talk about the federal government and their role, I'd like to able to say that many of us stood up for what is right thank you thank you thank you um nor zibda zibda i think that's a zip day followed by david blanchard followed by robert griffin good evening hi good evening chair randall and members of the board you know genocide is community suicide you know the expectation that a state that has broke broken multiple international

[02:23:44] laws and even our U.S. laws can continue to commit genocide funded with our own tax dollars and that becomes more cruel every day and expect us to have a safe, healthy, and normal lives.

[02:24:00] Having that expectation is apex of arrogance. How can we live normally when our tax dollars fund the genocide? The U.S. empire as a country and the U.S. society will imperil if we allow this genocide to happen with our money in our name.

[02:24:20] I never thought I'd see a day where burning patients alive with an IV hooked to their hands will be branded as self-defense. How is killing children and patients self-defense? How did the world become so depraved? So I ask you here, is this the world that you want to live in?

[02:24:38] Is this how you want us to raise our children? How can we teach our children to be compassionate, inclusive, do charitable activities, and go care for the environment? And we've talked about mental health care, and I know this board has talked about agriculture and all the good things.

[02:24:58] How can we encourage our kids to do all the good things when we turn a blind eye and we allow our tax dollars to support a genocide? I would like this board also to call for a ceasefire resolution. The people in Palestine have been screaming, and nobody, nobody is answering them.

[02:25:16] I know you are a local board, but we are all here asking you to call for a ceasefire resolution. Let's work together to spread goodness and humanity. I don't know if you accept this to be normal, what's happening in Palestine, that we all accept that this might happen to us in our neighborhoods, and nobody will come to us.

[02:25:38] Thank you. thank you um david uh blanchard followed by robert griffin and then we will go before we do the people who signed up this evening we will then go back to the webex and um have um uh miss bazar speak next good evening good evening chair randall thank you board again i'm david blanchard i'm a resident of middleburg and actually live on carter's farm lane where mickey gordon park is our favorite park in the county these days. This is a long process. I'm honored to be part of it

[02:26:16] as a citizen and humbled by the work that your staff goes into to work through all the challenges that are part of the demand of our fellow citizens in the county for Parks and Rec and fun things to do. I think just reflecting back on how this was brought to our community originally, it was a massive shock and something that was equivalent to putting a nascar track in the middle of idalee park their three arenas were presented to our community with lights and towers and concession stands in the middle of middleburg countryside western loudon is a natural resource for this

[02:26:53] county it's the equivalent of central park we need to treat it as such and think of it that way we all enjoyed the northern lights last week except for the folks on our road where the lights lit up the sky and blinded out the, you know, once in a lifetime potentially experience to see something as special as that. The lights are not what we need there. The road is not paved.

[02:27:19] We don't need pavement on the park itself. We should have a reflection back to the historic baseball that was there as part of a community of freed enslaved people that continued their traditions on Hall's Field and the parks there as well. So I definitely appreciate the work that goes into this. The Finance Committee meeting last week was tough to hear on all sides I would say and I know we're probably at an impasse. I would respectfully request that you consider funding a recalibration of the park back to baseball, removing of these atrocious lights and leaving

[02:27:58] this rural park as a rural park it does not need to be an athletic facility so thank you very much appreciate your time and your work thank you very much mr gifford give me one second please sir after you mr griffin you will be followed by um we're going to go to the uh to the uh webex for uh sarah bizarre i think she's the only person i see who's on the webex and then from there we will go to jim bingo mr griffin good evening yes thank you madam chair mr turner it's okay to lie

[02:28:32] to the public and to me but it is not okay to lie about me in a legal matter that did not concern loudon county whatsoever but you came and you offered a written narrative that was a false narrative, and you put your prestige as a Loudoun County supervisor on the line to bolster your false narrative in a matter that did not concern Loudoun County. You merely were sought as a

[02:29:09] witness to an event that did not concern Loudoun County. Furthermore, you also invoked Chair Randall in your false narrative. What did Chair Randall have to do with the matter, Mr. Turner? You should investigate this, Madam Chair, because he invoked the prestige, the truth. Whatever you stand for, that's good. Mr. Turner thought to use that as evidence in a matter that did not concern Loudoun

[02:29:47] County. Did you consult with her beforehand, as you apparently did in your narrative, your false narrative? What influence did you have on Mr. Turner, Madam Chair? And Ms. Briskman, Although you were not mentioned by Mr. Turner, undoubtedly, I think, you must have had conversation with Mr. Turner in this matter.

[02:30:22] I know you all dislike me. You dislike me for coming here and speaking my speech and my truth. But that is no reason why Mr. Turner should offer a false narrative, written false narrative, in a matter that did not concern Loudoun County at all.

[02:30:43] And you're much like Mr. Suhas, claiming that you're trying to defend democracy. When you demanded that our former representative impeach Donald Trump, re-assassins, assassination attempts.

[02:31:04] Mr. Griffin, your time is up, sir. All right, we're going to go back to the web and do Sarah Bazar, and then we'll be followed by Jim Bingo, followed by John Myers.

[02:31:20] Sarah Hussain Bazar. Yes. Good day. His name was Shaaban Ahmed. He was my year old, the same age as my son. Shaaban had dreams of becoming a software engineer, a future full of promise and potential.

[02:31:40] But that future was stolen from him on Monday, October 14, 2024. While connected to an IV fluid line, recovering from injuries caused by Israel's relentless bombing in Gaza, Palestine, Chaban was burnt alive and burned to death. His younger brother stood by helpless as he watched his older brother consumed by flames. The agony of that moment, captured and streamed across social media, is something I'm sure many of you have seen. By the way, today would have been his 20th birthday. But Chaban was not the only one. His mother too was burnt alive, her skin melting away as their tent reduced to ash.

[02:32:20] There were no casualties of war. There were victims of a genocide. But to the mainstream media, collateral damage for Israel's right to defend itself. I will never understand how today the existence of a people who are settlers and thieves of a land can justify the extermination of the indigenous people who have lived there for centuries.

[02:32:40] For over a year, we have been witnessing the genocide in Gaza, Palestine, one that has claimed the lives of over 16,000 children. A classroom of innocent lives lost every single day for over a year. This is not just a tragedy. It's an atrocity, a stain on our collective conscience, and a moral crisis we can no longer ignore.

[02:33:02] I agree with the statement made earlier. Diversity is cherished. This includes Palestinian children. I am here and will continue to bear witness of our demands that this board adopt a resolution for immediate and permanent ceasefire.

[02:33:17] A total financial transparency. You say you stand by your corrections. Show us your receipts. The world is watching, and history will remember where you stood in this moment of crisis. We would also like to know the reasoning behind the pushback of a recently scheduled meeting with members of this board that was scheduled on October 28th.

[02:33:40] Thank you. Thank you. Jim Bingle will be followed by John Myers, who will be followed by Jeremy Jones.

[02:33:51] Good evening, Ms. Bingel. Good evening, Chair Randall and board members. I'm Jen Bingel speaking for the Piedmont Environmental Council to offer our thoughts on Mickey Gordon Memorial Park and potential solutions for this Western Loudoun Park. Excuse me. As you know, this project got off to a rocky start with a proposal that didn't fit with the needs of the surrounding community. It was a big surprise, but after the initial community meeting and withdrawal of the special exception, the Parks and Rec Department took care of

[02:34:22] to engage with the community, they listened to the needs of community members and what they wanted in their local park and put forth multiple options for feedback. PEC submitted detailed comments along with many others on those options to the Parks Department with aspects of the plans that seemed to fit the community needs and add to the quality of life for the residents, including restoration of the historic baseball field, the walking trails to the front of the park, pollinator gardens, pavilion spaces, and the restroom facilities.

[02:34:53] We also encouraged adjustments, including the removal of lighting to keep with dark sky policies and keeping the gravel road and parking surfaces appropriate for the rural setting of this facility. It has long been a county policy to limit growth in the West, with the recognition that it helps to provide more facilities and services in eastern loudon for the bulk of the residents of the county what you've heard from residents is that they want a lower level of facilities in the park to fit with its history and environment that doesn't mean they want to be neglected just treated with respect for the values of the community this park can be

[02:35:31] improved in a more modest and appropriate way at a lower cost and can happen through the special exception process without being added to the cip we encourage the board to support improvements at mickey gordon memorial park without the costly price tag and respond to the local need for a low impact well-maintained public publicly accessible community space i think what you've heard here and from many folks who participated in the community meetings held by parks and rec is that in this

[02:36:03] case less is more thank you thank you miss mingle um john myers you will be followed by jeremy jones who will be followed by i can't read this writing i think it's um i i think that i i'm pretty i don't want to mess your name up i think the middle name is g-r-d-e-r greider but the first and last name i can't quite read so just tell me when we get there please good evening mr myers good evening chair randall members of louden county board of supervisors my name is john myers a lifelong resident of louden county and the president of the loud career firefighter association

[02:36:42] i stand before you today to address a critical issue that weighs heavily on our hearts employee retirement health care last year at the international association of firefighters fallen firefighter memorial ceremony we honored 574 firefighters who bravely lost their life in the line of duty in 2013. a staggering 72 of these deaths were attributed to occupational cancer This devastating statistic underscores the profound risks our firefighters face every single day and highlights the urgent necessity for comprehensive retiree health care.

[02:37:10] For many years, one of the most significant benefits of working for Loudoun County was the promise that, upon retirement, employees would retain their health care coverage under a blended 80-20 cost-sharing model. However, in 2013, this vital benefit was changed without any input from the dedicated employees who serve this community.

[02:37:26] This led to the establishment of four separate retiree health care groups. Only one group retained the original benefit, while the others faced reduced coverage based on arbitrary criteria set by human resources. This shift meant that devoted employees, some as much as 15 years of unwavering service, were allocated to lower tiers of coverage, leaving them vulnerable when they should be secure.

[02:37:44] In 2022, the county revisited the program and discovered that changes did not yield the expected results. Staff also acknowledged that non-public safety employees would benefit more due to their higher retirement ages, but they dismissed the valid concerns of approximately 100 public safety employees. Staff suggested it wasn't worth the effort to address our needs separately, showing profound disregard for a significant segment of our workforce, once again, without any input from those affected.

[02:38:09] This year, on July 1st, we witnessed the inception of the county's first ever collective bargaining agreement, which included a commitment to negotiate retirement health care following a proposal to the Finance Committee. However, during the meeting, the committee was put in a difficult position, pressured to vote without significant information or clarity on the implications.

[02:38:25] This scenario highlights why collective bargaining is not just essential, but a lifeline for our voices. Once more, decisions are being made without employees having a voice at the table, a voice that is now contractually required. Given the dangers of our firefighters' face, especially with the alarming rise of cancer deaths, it is absolutely imperative that we prioritize their health care needs in retirement.

[02:38:45] Tonight, you were asked to vote on a matter that this board has committed to negotiate, the cost of retirement health care for future retirees. I urge you to honor that commitment. Let us engage these negotiations now rather than push them aside. I ask you with utmost urgency to instruct staff to come to the bargaining table about retired health care and reject the item they presented.

[02:39:04] Thank you for attention to this critical issue and for standing with those who dedicate their lives. Thank you, Mr. Myers, and thank you for your service. Jeremy Jones, you'll be followed by, I think it's A. Skrider. I think that's how you say it. Good evening.

[02:39:20] Good evening. Today I would like to take the time to share with you a poem by Rifat al-Arir called If I Must Die.

[02:39:41] If I must die, you must live. To tell my story, to sell my things, to buy a piece of cloth and some strings. Make it white with a long tail so that a child somewhere in Gaza, while looking heaven in the eye awaiting his dad who left in a blaze and bid no one for bid no one farewell not even to his flesh not even to himself seize the kite the kite you made flying up above

[02:40:20] flying up above and thanks for a moment an angel is there bringing back love if i must die let it bring hope. Let it be a tale. Last year, on December 6th, Rafat was murdered by one of

[02:40:55] the bombing campaigns that we have mentioned. Something that he saw coming for over a year.

[02:41:08] This isn't okay. And it hasn't been for an amount of years that is probably older than

[02:41:40] everybody on this board free Palestine I think it's ace grider followed by Gary Katz if I'm not saying if I'm saying your name incorrectly I apologize could you let me let me know how to say it yes I shake their viewing yes I get that right if you have the letter a little bit different in Turkish thank you for opportunity to speak here earlier I came I came earlier and listening what was

[02:42:18] going on and a group of us the group was talking about domestic violence here we all remember and the person one of the speakers said violence thrives in silence so and we are very empathetic with that we are trying to prevent domestic violence homicide and and and i know this because I moved to U.S. in 1999 for my graduate studies, and I met so many nice Americans.

[02:42:54] They taught me how to drive. They taught me Thanksgiving. They taught me special Cajun cooking because I was in Baton Rouge at LSU, and here my neighbor teaches me how to make pear butter in Louisville in Western London.

[02:43:15] So, but still, I am kind of still can't understand how we are so empathetic and nice and kind domestically. And internationally, we cannot show this empathy. We, I'm afraid, we are going to be known as child killers, baby killers.

[02:43:34] Because I follow international news. I have families overseas, in Turkey, in Finland, in Central Asia. We need to get our head out of the sand, and we need to see how the outside world sees us.

[02:43:51] And this is not who we are, because I know Americans are nice people. They are hospitable. They are respectful. They are nice to their neighbors. And yet we are supporting killing of thousands of babies and children, women and men.

[02:44:11] This is not who we are. Thank you. Thank you. Gary Katz would be our next speaker. good evening good evening chair randall and board you know i wasn't really planning to come tonight i was actually listening on my way home i drove over there are too many lies that have been told this evening that i could not possibly debunk in two and a half minutes might need some cough drops

[02:44:45] again but someone needs to put the truth on the record you know what i haven't heard tonight i haven't heard for one call for the return of the hostages i haven't heard for one call for Hamas and Hezbollah to surrender. I haven't heard one call for any of the babies who are kidnapped and living in tunnels in Gaza right now. You know, how can something be so black and white and also so very nuanced? I think that for folks who don't really pay attention to it the way that

[02:45:21] some do, the way that I do, the way that many others do, it can be perceived very quickly with just misinformation or partial information to share a propaganda point very, very quickly. But then you have to peel that back and really dig underneath to see what's beneath it.

[02:45:37] And it's impossible to do that in two and a half minutes. But let's call out a couple of the lies that have been said tonight, that Israel is shooting children in the head. That came from a New York Times story that was widely debunked because it was completely preposterous.

[02:45:53] The images that were shown there were called out by ballistics experts through and through say this is not even possible to show this type of image another lie that was told tonight we still need cough drops folks another lie that was told is that the tent that was the tent area just stop one second give him 10 more seconds seriously i'm not doing this tonight i'm really not i'll clear the room i will clear the room everyone gets to speak everyone gets to speak and no one gets to be disrespected in this room not why i'm sitting up here continue please

[02:46:33] Thank you. The lie of the fire that occurred. Yeah, that was a horrific video. How did that occur? That occurred because they were storing weaponry in civilian areas. And the explosions that took place from the strike were not nearly as bad as the secondary explosions that occurred as a result of the munitions exploding that were hidden there.

[02:46:53] And that's why those strikes were made. You know, I was sitting at Rosh Hashanah dinner with my niece a week and a half ago. And she said, you know, Uncle Gary, I think we should still have compassion for the people who are suffering. And my response to her was, of course we do.

[02:47:09] Of course we have compassion for truly innocent life, for people who are put in harm's way. The difference is that Israel takes every step that it can to protect innocent life, whereas its enemies hide behind civilians and want the death toll and the suffering to be as high as it can possibly be because it makes for good sound bites and propaganda videos.

[02:47:33] Thank you for your time. Okay, thank you. And our last speaker is Annie Nicholson. So if she will come up, that will be our last speaker for this week. And then we're going to do our information item. Good evening.

[02:47:49] Ma'am, ladies and gentlemen, Laura. First of all, my apology. I've been not doing so well. Middleburg has been cooler than last year. and my horses are not too happy with me because I've been sick and not feeding them.

[02:48:09] I'm here today not to ask you. I'm here today to beg you. My husband, he's here today to ask you because he believed that preserving, promoting, preserving the legacy and promoting the future for our children is the most important asset this country has.

[02:48:36] But I'm here today to beg you to preserve those who have served. He served, I served. June 21st, 2008, 21 bombs hit our base.

[02:48:56] January 1st, 2010, July 5th, 2012, we lost so many soldiers. War is an ugly thing.

[02:49:13] War is an ugly thing. I know that better than anyone else. I've been to Afghanistan, Iraq. I wasn't even born here. But I have my husband and I sign up to serve you so that you can be at home.

[02:49:30] and protect us and all we're asking you is give us a dark space to heal give us a place for us to heal middle part give us a little hope so that we can come home and heal those lights you may not see it in a normal nature world like it's great god give us light we want light but in our world

[02:50:05] ma'am we need to heal we need nature and the darkness please take down those lights for the sake of us who fought for you so we can continue to protect you thank you thank you and that is our last speaker for um this time uh we are going to trying to figure out how people here for mickey gordon park because we might just

[02:50:38] do that item so we can just not so we can push you but so we can because you're still here um before we do the information item is staff down here from is staff here from mickey golden park can you come down and mr cruney you have a a different motion than is the motion in the package correct and as it has been um passed out to people already yes okay we actually we got it via email, and then it's also been passed out somewhere.

[02:51:11] Yeah, it's on the green piece of paper in front of you. Is that Mickey Gordon Park? Motion from Mr. Crony. Good evening, Mr. Torpy. Good evening, Chair Randall and board members. This item is seeking guidance from the board on proposed improvements to Mickey Gordon Memorial Park.

[02:51:31] As I'm sure you all are aware, staff was working on adding some additional cricket amenities out at Mickey Gordon and as a part of that process just was able to find out or determine that there was not an original legislative process that had gone through back in the early 80s when the park was first constructed primarily by volunteers so we started that process submitted to special exception as it was at this time that we started to receive significant feedback and pushback

[02:52:07] from the community on the plan and we agreed to pause that process began a series of community meetings and during those community meetings and after discussions with several board members as well as county administration we decided to pull that special exception with the commitment that that we were gonna continue that community engagement as a way of determining what the needs of the community were and that led us to really where we are this evening.

[02:52:42] Back in the summer and fall of 2023, we did go through significant, as was mentioned many times this evening, community input sessions out in Middleburg. And from that, we were able to come up with three concepts that are a part of your item this evening.

[02:53:03] You can find that as attachment number one. There are differences in each one of the concepts, but each of those three concepts do have some similarities. All three of them recommend converting the ball field back, the Pop Gordon field back to baseball.

[02:53:20] They also all have interpretive and historical signage as a part of a new trail system that is throughout the entire park area. It does create additional parking areas within the park and relocates the recycling facility as well as adds buffering along Little River Turnpike as well as Carter's Farm Lane.

[02:53:47] The difference is essentially concept A was taking what was there now and just adding those couple of improvements that I just mentioned. Concept B adds some pickleball courts on the northeast section of the park and also provides a secondary entrance off of Carter's Farm Lane.

[02:54:12] There's also a natural playground, a pollinator garden, a second pavilion with restroom attached to that pavilion and some enhancements to the existing pond. Concept C is kind of a combination of the two of those in between the two of those with everything that was mentioned previously, but also some pickle and tennis ball courts located in the central part of the park and then also has the playground, the pollinator garden, the pavilion and the pond enhancements.

[02:54:46] All three concepts do follow the recommendation of our standard of having paved parking lots and paved driveways in interior to the park. One of the things at the last public input sessions that we had when we proposed the concepts to the public, we did share with them that that is something that could be addressed as a part of the special exception process, similar to what happened at Lovettsville Park, where that ultimately was a gravel drive and parking lot that was ultimately built up there.

[02:55:26] So from the feedback and the online reviews that we received back from the public, we are recommending Concept A with a couple of adjustments, adding a few pickleball courts in the central part and another pavilion.

[02:55:43] of the feedbacks that we had was or that we received was the the historic pavilion that is there sometimes is is not large enough to handle some of the gatherings that that happen out there so a larger pavilion out there concept a does have real restrooms which was a big thing that we heard from the from the public and again it was our recommendation when we came to the Finance Committee to ask for your endorsement of Concept A with those couple of additions

[02:56:20] and send that to the discussion of the Capital Improvement Program as a part of the FY26 process. And from there, we would, whatever the board decides, we would go through the appropriate legislative processes that are needed to make whatever improvements are decided.

[02:56:38] So with that, Chair Randall, I'll turn it over for discussion. Mr. Turby, just for clarification, you're recommending Concept A, correct? Correct. And in Concept A, you have two baseball fields, correct? There's a small baseball field in the eastern part of the park.

[02:56:57] That's correct. That's over close to where the recycling facility currently is. And then reverting the one lighted field that was baseball that was converted to cricket several years ago back to baseball. - And then one cricket field as well?

[02:57:14] - There's one cricket field in the back part of the park that would just remain. - And is that a standard size cricket field? - It is currently slightly smaller than a standard. That's why in the cost estimates, there was some grading to expand that to a standard.

[02:57:39] - Okay, so Supervisors, Mr. Crony's motion, in my opinion, is significantly different enough from the one in the package that I don't know if we need to make the one in the package because I wouldn't, I don't think a friendly would be in order because hers is different enough.

[02:57:57] So how about this? How about we ask any questions of Mr. Torpy and then we go to Mr. Crony for her motion, which, as I said, is on your paper in green. I'm sorry, not on your paper in green, on the green sheet of paper.

[02:58:14] So, Mr. Letourneau. Thank you, Chair Randall. Good evening, Mr. Torpey. Good to see you. So, is there a rush to begin work on any component of this, and are there components that could simply be handled as maintenance items?

[02:58:33] There is no rush. One of the things that we were trying to do based upon the feedback from the community is at least get it as an official project and start that process. but there are some things that we could do as a part of maintenance, yes.

[02:58:49] I know we're working to add more Cricket capacity elsewhere. We do have Hanson and potentially the private development Arcola, but we're still a ways away on Dulles South neighborhood park coming to us for a decision.

[02:59:07] Would you say that's right? That's correct. Okay. And so we don't know if that will be Cricket. And if we move forward with concept A, we will lose the lighted cricket pitch that's currently in place, right? That is correct. Okay, thank you.

[02:59:23] All right, Ms. Umstead. Thank you, Madam Chair. I guess my problem is getting rid of any cricket field that is being used. So tonight one of the speakers indicated that for two months the cricket fields had not been used.

[02:59:48] But having talked to one of my colleagues, the information I got was that they are being used. So I guess my question is, is cricket being played at the park now? Yes, ma'am.

[03:00:03] The lack of or the break in the time was during the summertime, and typically that's a changeover period from the spring season to the fall season. There are a couple of weeks that are not scheduled, just like you have a spring baseball season and a fall baseball season.

[03:00:25] Summertime, there is some sport that's played, but oftentimes that's when the tournaments occur and things along those lines. So with cricket, one of the things that occurs is just like any other sport, you go through a playoff season and as teams get eliminated, the need for space reduces down.

[03:00:46] And the fact that we have pitches at Bolin Park and particularly at Hanson Park, that historically is where the latter part of the season is played. So as you get into the summertime, yes, there is a break where it's not being used.

[03:01:04] So it looks to me like we have two choices. We either go with baseball or we stick with cricket. Do you disagree with that? We have had multi-use in the past, and we don't recommend that simply because it's not the best to have.

[03:01:30] The pitch has a hard surface with artificial turf on top of it. It is typically how we do that, and it just isn't compatible with baseball. So we prefer one or the other, yes. Among those community members who came out and spoke, overwhelmingly, I think, as we heard up here, in favor of baseball and potentially no lights, was the community that plays cricket present during those meetings?

[03:02:04] there there was some folks that came out that played cricket and they were advocating for cricket fields one of the things that we did hear from them just like we've heard from other sports is if they had options elsewhere they would play elsewhere simply because of the travel time all right thank you mr mr turner thank you madam chair um i just want to make sure i have uh i understand where we are and where we're going with option a so where we are right now is we have one unlit cricket field

[03:02:43] one lit baseball field one one lit field that was converted to cricket so it's oh so we have a lit cricket field that's converted that is correct so there's two cricket fields no baseball field one is lit we have one small baseball unlit field as well okay um and then option a keeps the lit field reverts it to baseball that is correct keeps the unlit cricket field keeps the small unlit baseball field correct and adds a pickleball court um no option well that is

[03:03:21] that is one of the additions that i'm asking uh to be included with option a okay doesn't necessarily call for that. Okay. I'll save my comments for later. I've gotten a lot of mileage out of pickleball, but I really do. I have a serious comment about pickleball on this when we get into the motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm so disappointed when you said it. And that's a pickleball court. Mr. Sainz. Thank you, Madam Chair. Good evening, Mr. Torpy. Thank you for being here um yeah your your previous comments with mr attorney kind of highlighted the the

[03:03:59] current situation we have a lighted uh baseball field that was converted to pickle one unlit uh pickle i mean pickle sorry cricket court critical cricket field one unlit cricket field one smaller maybe like t-ball or something um baseball diamond little league diamond correct and then with the proposal it's converting the cricket back to baseball but still lit and the one cricket field unlit and then the smaller baseball so in your opinion if we were to move forward with converting the cricket back to baseball um we'll be losing cricket opportunities

[03:04:36] again correct that's correct and then is it in your opinion because i know some people mentioned oh they have to drive far to get to this field to play cricket ball but in your opinion don't other leagues say baseball soccer whatever if say if you're that the league is based in sterling for example yes they have games in sterling but they also have games sometimes in ashburn leesburg the dullest district and elsewhere because of field space is that correct historically we try for recreational leagues to allocate spaces close to where the league is based travel teams and travel ball that is

[03:05:15] accurate the issue with with cricket is the it's a very large area to play on so we don't have a lot of those around the county. Correct but to my point it's not uncommon for leagues again based in Sterling or wherever to travel to other locations to play their sport because of field usage. They will travel where they have field access. Yes because I'll give you a perfect perfect personal example my son played was in the Dulles Little League and he had to we had to travel

[03:05:52] outside of Ashburn to go play the games in Sterling, Leesburg and in other places quite often. So again it's not unheard of for teams to travel 30 minutes, 45 minutes as we heard in the comments to go play their respective sports because of field field usage. So it so my personal opinion I think losing a cricket pitch is not not great at this time. I should be honest with you in my opinion I would like to see that cricket pitch with lights because the light technology is very good technology where it's beamed right onto the field and it's not a hindrance to anybody in the area and I've seen seen that in use with

[03:06:32] other fields and at the the lights that are currently up in existence right now I visit that location at nighttime and it's it's fine so you have a motion for Mr. Crony and ask a question when the motion is made about that. Thank you.

[03:06:53] Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thank you for being here. Thank you for all the hard work. I know this is not an easy one. There's a lot of stuff going on. So I think I'm just going to talk a little bit briefly and then ask a couple follow-up questions. What my concept of this is and why I think we need to be similar to what I think a concept A is. I actually like Supervisor Crony's motion um i absolutely think we should absolutely not lose and we should make sure we enhance if needed baseball on this park i think of the historical significance it is very important that we continue to do that um obviously whether cricket remains there in a field or not i think

[03:07:29] is a little bit up to the supervisors and what we do but let me ask you this question why do we are why because obviously the communities that are playing cricket have to travel fair a fair distance for this is my understanding from talking to you and others before um and down route 50 and whatnot And yes, other teams do travel.

[03:07:45] I agree with Supervisor Sainz, but obviously they sometimes travel, which is closer to someone else. Here, everybody's pretty much traveling to play cricket here. I'm assuming we have a cricket field here, and it's been operating for a little while because we have a dearth or a lack of cricket fields in the other part of the county, and this was a field that was apparently available at that time.

[03:08:03] Is my assessment correct? So Mickey Gordon Park was the location of the first cricket pitch 17, 18 years ago. when the community came and wanted to start what essentially has become the Loudoun County Adult Cricket League.

[03:08:21] For years, that was the location, the only location. And that was because nothing else was available, is that right? That's correct. At the time, that was during a time where we were building other parks, but there was no standard that we had really for...

[03:08:40] How many other cricket fields do we have in the county now? And I'm sorry to cut you off, but we have overlay, two overlays at Phil Bolin, two that are being constructed, overlays at Hanson Park. We have one at Guilford Elementary, the one at Hanson Park, which is a dedicated one, and the two out at Mickey Gordon.

[03:09:01] So I think you counted seven or eight there. So if some of those are up, are they busier than this one? Is this one being used more or less than the others, or is it receiving similar use? can you speak to that? Hanson, the overlays at Hanson are not been used yet because we're just finishing up the construction on those right now. The overlays at Phil Bolin, overlays are not as... Do we anticipate they will be used more maybe or similarly? Well, I don't, I don't, Cricket is not going away. Yes, I understand. So it's going to get a lot of use.

[03:09:37] And I'm sorry to cut you off, but I have 15 seconds left. So the other last question I had is, is there a concept where we don't have to pave this? We can keep it more of the historic route. And also, obviously, if we have lights there, I would not be in favor of adding any more lights, but can we improve the lights that are there?

[03:09:56] Because I have been invited out by many of the residents to even miles away, and it is pretty glaring at times. So that's my thoughts. Okay, thank you. Yes, of course, you can answer. to answer the question about the the paving yes and that's one of the things that I shared at the last community meeting was that is something that could be handled as a part of the special exception process similar to what happened at Lovettsville Park that it comes through as a recommendation to keep everything gravel and that was one of the comments that we

[03:10:32] heard from the community a very common comment was please keep the rural character and part of that is keeping it gravel. With the lights yes those lights have been in existence out there I believe for 24 years now so the technology is vastly different today than what it is back in the early 90s when those lights went in.

[03:11:02] So I think that if the lights were to be replaced, and we were not recommending adding additional lights as a part of any of these concepts, it was just maintaining the one field as lit. And if that was the direction to go with the new light technology, it certainly would be vastly different.

[03:11:25] Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall. So, Mr. Torpy, you mentioned adding Pickleball and another park pavilion to Concept Day, but it's not in Concept Day now, right? That's correct. Okay. So, we heard from the residents that they want a more modest approach.

[03:11:43] So, when I make my motion for Concept Day, I definitely don't want any additions. So, will it follow having Pickleball with Concept Day, or does that need to be added? No, if the desire is not to have pickleball or an additional pavilion, then it would just be going with Concept A. Okay. And then the special exception process, you mentioned changes can be made like from paving to unpaving or keeping it gravel. Can that happen with other features in the park as well with Concept A through the process?

[03:12:20] When we've gone through the process before, there's been conditions of approval that have been placed upon an application and that's where that would happen. so we can make changes very similar to um several of our lights that have excuse me parks that have had um restrictions on light usage that was a condition of approval okay okay wonderful um i heard hansen i heard the hansen um cricket field you know the overlay cricket field is not open yet when will that be open we're coming to conclusion on that it should be ready to be utilized in

[03:12:55] In conjunction with soccer, I want to be clear that it's not dedicated to cricket, but that will be ready for use in the spring. Okay, so if, when we convert the cricket field to baseball, this could be a replacement then?

[03:13:11] It could help with the replacement, yes. Okay, I just want to make that clear. The current field at the baseball park, or the baseball field, it's very small, right? It's not at all near regulation. I wouldn't say that it is smaller than regulation. Yes, ma'am.

[03:13:31] Okay. The one on the field is closer, right, to regulation, the one that doesn't have, that wasn't a baseball field? That's correct. Okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Ms. Brixman. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm a little confused about what the ask is.

[03:13:48] So I understand the packet motion has the additional parking pickleball courts and pavilion, and you want it to go to the FY26 budget development, and then there's no mention about a specs in the packet motion, but then the motion that Supervisor DeCrony is bringing has a specs.

[03:14:08] Then I heard something about the CIP. So is it that after the specs is passed, then it would become a CIP project? So we would look for it to be approved as a part of the CIP, And when that becomes a project, when that time comes for that, it would initiate that special exception process.

[03:14:26] So if any motion we do tonight, does that mean this is going to go in like year six of the CIP? That would be up for the discussion during the CIP. Well, that's the normal process, right? Okay. Okay. Do we have capacity issues with baseball or cricket more?

[03:14:47] It depends on the area of the county, I would say, because you don't have a consistent provision of certain types of fields in certain areas of the county.

[03:15:04] The western part has an issue with all types of fields, yes. I see. Okay. And the overlays you're talking about, they're not preferred by the cricket players. So I've not heard that they have an issue with the overlays that are at Phil Bolin or at Hanson.

[03:15:24] And they actually came and asked for overlays to be included as a part of what we're doing at Hanson. I think where we may have heard issues with overlays is like down at Guilford Elementary, where you've got a soccer, a baseball field, and a cricket pitch all sharing this.

[03:15:42] Oh, that's a lot. That's a lot. That's a lot. Okay, so I don't know if we can really count some of those overlays. as capacity for cricket full capacity for cricket um in my opinion is it possible so so i don't know if you saw supervisor to crony's motion but is it possible to do the what she's asking in part two with renovation program funds yes and well that yes we can do that and the lights that you will be proposing are are dark sky compliant that's correct that's what i thought okay um what did

[03:16:18] well i don't know that pickleball is going to come up in front of us but what did the community say about pickleball in the meetings the original there was some just like with most of the amenities that we talked about there was folks that came out on both sides of pickleball um and essentially where we landed on that was trying to accommodate at a much lesser level than one of the things that was in the the one concept so the one concept that you see had a large bank of pickleball

[03:16:54] and we cut that down in half so that there was some but not a large amount okay thank you so i was at those meetings um at least three of them i was at those meetings and i can tell you what i heard from the constituents from my constituents and mr crony's constituents as they wanted the baseball fields back um that's what i heard and and it wasn't kind of it wasn't that nuance i I would say in a room of 200 people, there were 10 people who said something different than I want a baseball field to pack.

[03:17:24] I don't know why we're not listening to the constituents on this one. This is not that hard to me, quite honestly. In fact, the constituents have actually made it easier because I'm a slight disagree. Mr. Kirshner, I've been out there, and I've seen the lights, and I drove all around. I don't think those lights are very invasive at all.

[03:17:40] I really don't. But if they're saying to me they don't want lights, and they're like, don't give us lights and save us some money, okay. I mean, I'm not going to force lights in the community that doesn't want them, and then it would actually save us money to not do the lights.

[03:17:58] That doesn't make any sense to me. So at some point, this is one of those, I can listen to the community on this one moment for me. You know, there was, you know, there was, and Mr. Torpy has been amazing in this whole time because there were mistakes made, and mistakes were corrected.

[03:18:20] Mistakes of not really having this communication with the community were made. And then those mistakes were corrected. We went back and we had the discussion with the community. So now we have four meetings with the community. Let's listen to them. Let's listen to them.

[03:18:37] You know, we always talk about, like, putting things where the population is or the population that needs it. The population in Middleburg is not calling for pickleball as much. And they're not calling for cricket as much. The population in Middleburg is calling for baseball fields.

[03:18:54] Why aren't we respecting that voice just like we respect other voices when they say we do want pickleball or we do want cricket? Why aren't we respecting those voices? I want more cricket fields. Cricket fields are huge, and they're hard to find places for them.

[03:19:12] I actually hope that some of the land that we recently bought could maybe be something for pickleball. Because, I mean, for cricket, I don't pick a pickleball, just that's a whole other Miss Bricksman subject. But I want more cricket.

[03:19:32] But I do believe that in this moment, saying we will have two baseball fields, put the baseball fields back, and one cricket field that's almost to regulation size is appropriate. I think that's appropriate.

[03:19:50] And I think it's reasonable. And I think it is a nice compromise. It's not just cricket. It's not just baseball. It's both. I'm not quite sure what the issue is here, to be quite honest. Mr. Crony, you wish I could make a motion?

[03:20:07] Hi, Randall. So I move that the Board of Supervisors endorse Concept A for Mickey Gordon Park and direct staff to begin the necessary work to initiate the special exception process based on this plan. I further move that the baseball field at Mickey Gordon Park be restored and ready for use by the beginning of the spring baseball season in late March 2025 using PRCS Renovation Program Funds.

[03:20:32] Second. Actually, Mr. Kirshner, I'm going to take that second because, one, they're my constituents and two, I've been at all the meetings. But thank you. Madam Chair. Yeah. I'd like to split the motions. I'm going to give her -- I'd like to split the motions.

[03:20:48] Do I have to do that in my comment time? No, you don't have to. You can -- what I normally do is give somebody the opening and then I split the motions. If somebody requested, that's an automatic thing if the request is made. But I'm going to go ahead and give her an opening. Mr. Crony? Thank you, Chair Randall. So this is Middleburg's Community Park.

[03:21:05] I attended all the meetings that Mr. Torpy held, and thank you, Mr. Torpy. I appreciate all the outreach you did. And there were three unanimous requests for the park. One was to restore the historic baseball field.

[03:21:22] Two was to add multi-purpose natural surface trails with interpretive signage. And three was to maintain the natural rustic beauty of the rural park. Concept A is not perfect. I think we could reduce it and get to a more modest plan based on the community's needs.

[03:21:42] But in my view, we don't have that plan yet. We need to go through the special exception process before we put it into the CIP. Residents have unanimously asked that we try and maintain what's there and not add less is more.

[03:22:03] I liked what one resident said, and also I liked the idea of concept A light. So I don't think adding pickleball or adding another park pavilion is what the community has asked for. They've asked to get their historic baseball field back.

[03:22:21] And I know the American Legion has a team ready to go of youth, and they've been asking to play at the Mickey Gordon, the Pop Gordon Park, or the Pop Gordon Field, and cricket's been playing there.

[03:22:37] So they haven't had that opportunity. So this gives them that opportunity. We are keeping the cricket field that exists, that's more regulation size. It doesn't have lighting, but I know when we, when the community came out, the cricket community, they mentioned that they like to play dawn to dusk.

[03:22:56] So they weren't necessarily asking for lights at that park. And with Hanson coming online, I think it provides a lit field for them to play at, at the same time that we'd be, you know, restoring the baseball field back to what it was for years.

[03:23:16] It's a historic baseball field, and I'd love to get interpretive signage there about the history of that baseball field. I think that Parks and Rec can do some of the maintenance things over the years while we wait for the bigger CIP project, and I don't know what that'll look like.

[03:23:37] I'm hoping residents will come out and speak at the Planning Commission and board hearings for the special exception so we understand exactly what the plan looks like. but concept a is a good starting point and um i think that we'll see kind of it might get reduced because i'm hearing from the public that maybe they don't want all the bells and whistles it is a rural park and it is a middleburg community park thank you thank you miss brixman has asked to split the motion so miss brixman i'm assuming you are saying after the words community service and then number one and number two are two separate motions.

[03:24:16] Is that what you're trying to do here? Yes, Madam Chair. Number one and then number two separately. Sure, sure, sure. All right, so we will do that. We're happy to do that. I gave Mr. Crony an opening for both motions, but we can split the motions and have discussion first on number one.

[03:24:43] Number one, I'll read it just for the record. I move the Board of Supervisors endorse concept A from Mickey Gordon Park and direct staff to begin the necessary work to initiate the special exception specs process based upon this plan. So that's now the motion, and anyone like to speak on that part of the motion?

[03:25:01] Here we go. Mr. Kirshner. I'll just speak on both while we're at it. That way we can move things along. So I'm in agreement with both. going to support both aspects um i i think the basic two things and i i have a lot of people i know out there who i've spoken to like i said i've been to several of the houses i think just the intensity of a is really i think what we're most concerned about and in terms of the recommendations and i think that's what we talked about you know obviously we design parks for the county this is a little bit different area maybe being more appropriate for the area i think that's really what we want to focus on once we get to the um the pro a little more of the process and the special

[03:25:41] exception and then the other thing i think i've heard loud and clear is obviously bringing making sure baseball is a ongoing aspect of this park um and so and i've i mean i've spoken with the mayor on a number of occasions um i was texting him tonight he wanted to be here he couldn't be but he has a very good pulse on the community and his and bridges basic concept is listen concept a is okay obviously we got to work on some of the details because the devil's always in that but bringing baseball back to the community as soon as possible, preferably next year, it would be certainly the preferred process.

[03:26:16] Are there, as far as the second aspect of this motion goes, if I can ask a question, Madam Chair, is that, those are funds that we have available to us, the renovation program funds, is that going to put any additional stress on any aspect of our funds, can you speak to that?

[03:26:34] so the renovation funds that we have um for for this fiscal year do have projects that are already associated with those funds that said and this is a question for um for the board if the desire is just for the immediacy of turning the the playing field back into the ability to play baseball That's something that we can do from a maintenance standpoint with our renovation crew and wouldn't have to use those necessary or a lot of those funds.

[03:27:10] If it is a complete restoration of the baseball field with the replacement of the fencing, the lighting that you're talking about and things along those lines, that park renovation fund, yes, it would impact other projects if that was prioritized over them.

[03:27:25] So I guess I would have to ask Supervisor Tacroni if her goal is to get it back into playing shape for now and then look at the rest of that later, I think I would be obviously much more likely to support that. I'm not sure what the motion entailed. It's a little unclear. Yes. So we're actually, well.

[03:27:41] We're not even in this motion. She can answer that question. We still need our time, but we're talking about motion one. We are, but I mean, I'm just trying to move the thing along. How about you get to that question once you get to the second motion? How's that sound? Mr. Turner? Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm really concerned.

[03:27:57] There's no clear definition of option A in the item. There's a list of maintenance things that we're going to do, which are the same for all three. So I don't see how to differentiate between all three, and I'm concerned. I've heard like five definitions of what's in Concept A from everybody in the room.

[03:28:15] So if we approve this motion as it is, I'm not sure what we're approving. I think what we're approving is leave the cricket field, the unlit cricket field, revert the lit cricket field to a lit baseball field, don't change the lighting, don't add a pickleball court, don't add a gazebo, and pave the roads as part of the specs process or don't pave the roads?

[03:28:36] Yes, there would be paving. There also is additional parking. If you've been out there, there's not a lot of parking at all. So there's bringing the parking areas, whether that ultimately is gravel or paved up to the spec for the amenities that are within the park.

[03:28:53] It also includes adding real bathrooms. We've got port-a-johns out there now, so going back to real bathrooms, which includes water and sewer, like, you know, out there, it's going to be a septic field installation so that we have flushable bathrooms.

[03:29:09] - Is there an option, if we pass this motion, for you to talk to the community and say, okay, here's the elements of option A as it was approved by the board. And then what, if they go, well, I like these, but I don't like these, what do we do that i i believe option if going through that special exception process gives the opportunity for public engagement okay um but i do not think that and i'm just my sense is that the

[03:29:46] community does not want another community meeting yeah i understand that nor do you i'm sure okay so then the last thing i would say is if we go with this motion and we implement option a in the specs process and we revert the field do we need to go to the cip process can we do it within your current budget do we have to delay projects that are in your current budget to make room for this where's the funding it's all it's all about the timing so if if everything was wanting to be done immediately i don't have the funding in the park renovation fund to do that now the conversion

[03:30:25] of a baseball of the cricket pitch back to baseball just so that baseball could be played next spring that's something that could be done within our ops but the whole thing i don't have the ability to absorb that without impacting other projects okay so i come back to my original point then if we approve this motion as it is we haven't really given you direction do this all right away do this right away but do that later so where are we the second part would be to give direction to

[03:30:59] just do the baseball conversion right now okay good that's good thank you as well you said you said you said outhouse it's a miss briggs but i were like both like yeah mr uh latourno the loudoun county adult cricket league has over 50 teams i believe at this point it's at capacity The Loudoun County Youth Cricket League has zero teams because we don't have any capacity for a single child in Loudoun County to be playing cricket, despite massive demand.

[03:31:31] We have Little League teams all over the county. I coached, as you all know. My days are over on that. We are not meeting the needs of the community. So to answer the question that Chair Randall asked, the answer to the question is this is not a Middleburg Park.

[03:31:47] It's not even in the town. It's in the county. It is a system. Parks and Recreation is a system, just like Fire and Rescue is a system, just like the Loudoun County Public Libraries are a system. And yes, we should give great weight to those who are closest, but we also have to make sure that the system as a whole is meeting the needs of the community.

[03:32:06] And right now, we're not in this area, and it's not for lack of effort from Mr. Torpy and others, myself and other members of the board. It's because we just haven't gotten there yet. So my problem is concept A takes away the best cricket pitch and one of the most utilized in the entire county and replaces it with baseball for which there is, we'll say, light demand in this particular location because we have other baseball fields.

[03:32:33] We have many other baseball fields. So leagues are not requesting this. Leagues are requesting the cricket pitch. The other problem with this motion is that nobody's in agreement with virtually any of it. So, all the speakers tonight that came here did not want us to pass concert day. They want us to take the lights out.

[03:32:49] They don't want the road paved. Some of them do. Some of them may not. You know, they do seem to want the baseball field. So, I think we need to hit the brakes on this. This, to me, I don't see. I asked the first question was, are we in some kind of rush here to do this? Even if it goes to CIP, it's not going to the CIP for a while.

[03:33:07] But why are we going to initiate a special exception when there's something that there's obviously no consensus on? And when we haven't established a plan to take care of the use that we're eliminating, because we are eliminating the use with concept A. Now, I want to be clear. I'm not opposed to transitioning this field to baseball like the community wants, so the Legion team can have a place to play.

[03:33:29] I think that'd be great. But we have several other cricket potentials that are in process that have not even come close to being coming to fruition yet. The problem with the overlays is they share with soccer.

[03:33:44] Soccer's a spring sport. You go out to those fields right now, soccer's everywhere. There's tons of demand for soccer. I get complaints every allocation year at Hanson and Dulles South area because there's not enough soccer. So now we're going to have to kick soccer off for cricket on those overlay fields. We just have a huge pent-up demand right now, and we haven't been able to meet it yet.

[03:34:03] So let's pause for a minute. Let's try to get Dulles South Community Park. Let's get a plan there. Let's get a cricket field moving there. And then let's revisit this when we actually have our ducks in a row and when there's actually consensus on it. So I don't see any reason to rush this now.

[03:34:23] Excuse me. Mr. Letourneau taught me a word, a term some time ago. The term was paralysis by analysis when he says you take too long to do something. I don't know how we ever call something rushed that's taken two years to do.

[03:34:42] Only in government is something rushed that takes two years to do. This is anything but rushed. I remember, I guess, I don't know how long ago it was, when I said in this dais and mistakenly said about Parkview High School, well, it's a historic school, and I'm sure they want to keep the school, and I'm sure they don't want a new school.

[03:35:03] And the community went right on me, and they said, no, no, we do want a new school. And Mr. Sains very well schooled me on what we were about to do with Parkview High School. Our school system is a system. It's a system. But when we were talking about Parkview High School, we listened to that community, even though the school system is a system.

[03:35:25] We listened to the community of Parkview High School. One, they got a new school, and two, we got it in very much the way that Mr. Sains let that charge. It often seems that the systems we talk about break down when we get to a certain part of the county. And I'm going to just put that out there that I'm getting just real tired of it, getting real tired of it, to be quite honest.

[03:35:47] It is a system. Since I've been on this board for nine years, we've been talking about cricket pitchers for nine years. These kind of things could have went in the CIP or any time as well. It's not this one parks and this one community fault that we don't have more cricket pitchers.

[03:36:04] I want more cricket pitchers. I do. Why wouldn't we? But I also have to recognize that sometimes I'm going to acquiesce and listen to the district supervisor who has sat down, who has done the work, who has had the meetings, who has met with the community.

[03:36:25] Almost everything we do in Loudoun County is a system. We're one county. But that doesn't mean that each supervisor doesn't have the things that are important to them and that they listen to their constituents on. And I don't think that anyone more than Laura Tacroni has listened to these constituents.

[03:36:44] I haven't listened to, and I'm second. So, yes, it's a system. But I don't really know why one part of the system has to be damaged to serve another part of the system. I don't agree with that. I think we have to figure out how to get more cricket pitches, whether it's at Howland, Bernie Park, whether it's at the new piece of property that we just bought.

[03:37:09] part of the issue, and I had to learn this. Crippages are so big, it's hard to find space for them because they're so big. But when the community is saying, we have baseball leagues, we have been playing, we wanted to play, and we're playing again, how do we not hear that?

[03:37:28] So, this is just part one. You did an opening for both, but it's still your motion. So, on this part of the motion, part one, if you'd like to make closing, and then we're both, oh, I'm sorry, you have something to say?

[03:37:48] Yeah, I just wanted to clarify on the motions here. This does not create, this motion as written does not create a CIP project or send it to it. As written, it's just doing the field renovation, giving direction for renovating the field, and sending this concept to the special exception process.

[03:38:12] Is that correct? For public engagement. Right. Do you have concerns or you're just clarifying? You're just clarifying. Okay. Correct. All right. Thank you, Chair Randall. So this is a community park for Middleburg.

[03:38:29] We have community parks throughout Loudoun County, and we listen to the community that is surrounded by the park. And this is a community park for Middleburg. This has been a community park for Middleburg for probably 50 years, right, Steve?

[03:38:45] It's been a long time it's been a community park. I believe it was 82. Oh, 82 years. No, since 1982. 1982, okay. So about 50 years. No, that's not 50 years. Well, almost. But I have constituents who want cricket as well.

[03:39:06] I have a lot of constituents who want cricket. and I'm looking for places for them to play closer to their homes I'm looking in the east for places and I would encourage all my colleagues to be looking for parks because we're short parks and we need to find them closer to the community served concept a it's not perfect it going into the special exception process will allow the public to come out and give feedback on what they want to see in this park. I think it provides a baseline. It does need improvement, but it allows

[03:39:43] us to start with something, and I don't want to wait. We've been talking about this park, as Chair Randall mentioned, for years, and the Pop Gordon Field, the community has been wanting to play on that field for many years. Since 2021, they've started that league, and they want to play on that field. So it's time to move this forward. It's time to bring it, frankly it probably should have gone to TLUC rather than finance. That's my feeling about it because it is a land use project and it's time to move it through the special exception process and begin the community

[03:40:19] engagement, begin the public engagement to see exactly what people want. We know that the lights are an issue. We know that the public has asked for unpaved roads and parking lots. You know, we know that there is some work to do on Concept A, but this allows the process to move forward. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Crony made the motion. I second the motion.

[03:40:47] All in people say aye. Aye. Opposed? That motion will pass 7-2 with Mr. Letourneau and Ms. Stead voting against the motion. Second part of the motion, Mr. Crony, I'm going to consider that when you made an opening on both parts, that you made an opening on both parts.

[03:41:07] I'm going to consider that. However, I will ask if at this point you want to answer the question that was asked by Mr. Kirshner. So, Mr. Kirshner, would you like to ask the question again to Mr. Crony? I would, Madam Chair. Thank you. But the only question was, what was the scope, I think, of the, and I think it was kind of addressed that some of the, some of could be implemented, but the rest could not.

[03:41:34] And I just wanted to make sure that was clarified for purposes of the motion. Converting the cricket field to a baseball field that they can play on. The playing surface. Right. so it needs to be a field that's where they're able to play baseball and I think right now they aren't I understand that that the fencing is probably outside the scope and the light what are you talking that you're you're you're what are we doing right here are you did you get did you get your aunt well who's he asked the question I think that's I think she's just clarifying my question yeah okay and I think she's asking the right questions and I think we just need to

[03:42:13] clarified so we all know. We're in your time right now, although you actually used your time. That's fine. All right. So did you feel like that you got the answer you wanted? I love sharing my time. Did you get the answer you wanted? Yeah, I think so. She's just clarifying. But it sounds to me like the motion is just to cover the surface area, correct? The motion, just to cover. So to convert it, to allow it to continue to play. Yes. All right. And that's fine. Okay. So that's the question, that's the answer. Thank you. Mr. Letourneau. Okay. So of the two motions, I'm a lot more concerned about this one. The first one, we're going to go through that process. It's going to

[03:42:50] take a while. This one is kicking the cricket off the cricket pitch immediately with no place to put them. So I understand that, yes, the community would like baseball sooner rather than later. i'm for that but we've got to have a place to put these folks and we don't i i know we're having some hansen coming online but you know mr torpey as well as i do because we've sat through all these meetings and had all these discussions the demand is massive is it not it's huge right demand is large and we don't have a youth at all right now right so currently there is a it's a youth like

[03:43:29] clinic yeah they do a clinic but they're not it's not a league like the way no no it's not it's not a league but the clinic is they do have some teams they're playing at Guilford yeah but they're not they weren't able to set up the league that they came to us with and all that so anyway the the point is like I'm just really concerned about kicking them off in March and not having capacity to put them to so we can make a transition here I think we can plan to try to do this as we get other things online but we're not going to have enough online by March to be able to get there is the bottom line and so I hate being in this position but I get the point Mr. Crony sat with

[03:44:09] her constituents but you are going to be kicking my constituents off this pitch and telling them they can't play so I don't know why their opinion is not valid I think it is and they want a place to play too so at least let's try to manage this transition and not force it immediately before we have more capacity online that can actually handle the demand that's there which is significant Point of clarification, is a cricket pitch for youth larger than a cricket pitch for adults?

[03:44:39] Larger? Yeah, larger. Larger. No. No. Okay. Well, that's why I'm asking. No, it's not larger. Okay. It's not a matter of the size of the pitch. It's just the capacity overall because of ... Well, I guess I'm asking in your time, because you might know this more better than I do, I'm asking if ... You know how a basketball court can be, you can use half the court for some time.

[03:45:02] Is that not true for a cricket pitch? So you could do that for like a clinic. Go ahead. No, I'm sorry. I thought you asked whether or not the pitch was larger for you. I did, but now I'm asking a follow-up question. I got that answer, and I guess I'm basically asking, to be clear in Mr. LeTerno's time, can an adult cricket pitch also be a second or act as a youth cricket pitch as well?

[03:45:25] Yes, you can use the same field for both. Okay. But not at the same time. Well, no, not at the same time, but you can use the same field. Yeah. Yeah, okay. So if we don't have enough adult space, we're certainly not going to have enough use space. So that's the problem. All right. Thank you. Mr. Sainz.

[03:45:43] Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Letourne raises actually a very good point. So let me ask this question, Mr. Tarpey. Obviously, Stonehill Middle School, which is on Evergreen Ridge, Driver Road, whatever it's called, excuse me, has a lot of open field.

[03:46:01] I know that's obviously LCPS, but have you given any consideration of possibly trying to use those, that field for? - One of the, when we did assessments for cricket pitches, some of the field space that we looked at at school sites, you don't have the same elevation on the large enough place for an entire pitch to be had.

[03:46:26] So Stonehill, if I'm remembering correctly, That was one of the issues is you did not have enough level space to have a pitch. Hypothetically, if we were to go and work with LCPS and went and did a project to level it off and all that to make it good for a pitch, would that possibly be an option?

[03:46:50] We could always talk with LCPS. So I'm going to throw a suggestion out, try to figure something out. If the maker of the motion would be open to this as adding verbiage to give direction for Parks and Rec to reach out to LCPS, maybe Stonehill or another location to see if we can improve their field to add a pitch or find an alternative to compensate for the loss of this pitch by the same time frame.

[03:47:27] That's a friendly? Yes, ma'am. That's a friendly. Can you say it one more time for me, please? Do you mind? Just for the record. Direct Parks and Rec to work with LCPS or whoever to find an alternative location for a new cricket pitch in time for the transition in late March 2025.

[03:47:48] If possible to find it in time. Okay. All right. That's a yes for that friendly. That's fine. Okay. Thank you. Ms. Umstead. So I like Supervisor Sane's approach, but what I don't know is what happens if LCPS says, well, we really can't help you, and there is no replacement cricket pitch for the one that's planned to be discontinued at Mickey Gordon Park.

[03:48:19] I'm leaning heavily to voting against this motion because I think to take away a cricket pitch that is in high demand, and I'd just be quoting Mr. Letourneau on this, but one that is in high demand when we don't have one ready to go immediately to replace it, I think is a mistake.

[03:48:47] So what I don't know, though, is Supervisor Sainz, Madam Chair, if I could ask Mr. Torpey, if Mr. Torpey is confident that we can get an agreement with LCPS to get a replacement cricket pitch up and running before we do anything to remove this pitch and convert it to baseball.

[03:49:12] By the spring season, I would say I'm not very confident of that. We can start the process, and even if there's one identified, I'm not sure that by the spring season we would be able to do that. Okay, thank you.

[03:49:28] Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Torpy, how many lit cricket pitches are there right now in Loudoun County, including this one? There is two dedicated, including Mickey Gordon and Hanson Park, and there is two overlays in use, two at Phil Bolin Park, and there's two lighted Hanson ones that will be coming online in the spring.

[03:49:58] But again, the Phil Bolin and the Hanson ones being overlays. There's four lit right now, including Mickey Gordon. No, there's. With two more coming online. That's correct. Four existing, two coming online short by spring. Yeah, with two of them being overlaid. How many unlit cricket pitches are there in Loudoun County?

[03:50:18] Two. Including the unlit one at Mickey Gordon? Correct. Okay. Would it address Supervisor Letourneau's concerns, and would it fit your schedule better if I proposed a friendly to have the baseball field at Mickey Gordon restored and ready for use, not later than baseball season of fiscal 27?

[03:50:47] Does that give you any more breathing room? And that does give us a little more slack. It gives time. I just can't speak to what we're going to be able to do with LCPS. I just don't know that without having a conversation.

[03:51:03] And that would have to be a friendly ask of the maker of the motion, too. What you're asking is friendly to the maker of the motion. But I wasn't there yet. I wanted to get information on whether it's going to accomplish anything or not. It doesn't sound like it's going to accomplish anything appreciable.

[03:51:23] I thought I had another question. I'm sorry. I can't think of it. Thank you very much. Ms. Bricksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. So on number two, if you were to use PRCS renovation program funds to replace the pitch with the baseball, would that displace any other projects?

[03:51:50] simply replacing the turf no okay okay um so so this is why i split the motion um i think with concept a we'll have plenty it'll go in this with the specs it'll go in the cip we will have time to massage the plan and and figure out what we want to do there um i honestly you guys are gonna be so surprised but i don't think this is really an appropriate spot for pickleball i have i have a sense that it's probably not an appropriate spot for pickleball believe it or not if if the

[03:52:28] community doesn't want lights they probably are going to be opposed to pickleball but again we've got we do have time right we have time as supervisor letourneau said i am i am in agreement with supervisor letourneau i am very uncomfortable with taking away a pitch that is being used that is in high demand before we have other pitches ready and I'm not opposed to making this to restoring this back to the classic baseball field I know that's what the community wants I don't

[03:53:01] have opposition to that happening but I can't support this part two of this motion unless I am confident that by spring of 2025 we're going to have another pitch because this pitch is being booked and it's being booked in season probably full time and it's being used and so I honestly I don't really think it's fair to kick the cricket folks off that field immediately should we move cricket out of there maybe maybe we move all cricket out of there eventually but it is being

[03:53:36] used right now as as a recreation you know for recreation for for our community and so I won't be supporting the second part of this um of her motion that's why i asked to split the motion i did ask my colleague if she would consider a friendly amendment that it wouldn't be converted until there was a pitch available and and um she didn't want to do that she knows the community really wants this baseball field right now so i won't be supporting part two of the motion but i

[03:54:09] do support eventually restoring it back thank you so I I do want to say something that's interesting you know these are great problems to have they are this is a great but we have a community that is active that wants to play sports that's healthy that's out there you know the of all and and I'm not minimizing what was happening but these are you know these are these are first world problems we're going through right now they are great problems to have and i and i want to say that i also i do want to say thank you to mr torpey for all the work you've done i understand the ideal of

[03:54:47] not wanting to take away cricket fields that are in demand but but we also took away with talk without talking at all baseball fields we didn't talk at all we took away baseball fields and we can say they were weren't in demand you know we we we can talk about the fact that you know the fields we're really not very well taken care of but but we can't say we don't want to take away these cricket fields because they're they're in demand but we did it with the baseball fields and we didn't say you know as use a term for mr turner with without a buy your leave we just took away baseball fields so in some way we're kind of some ways we're correcting what we did what we

[03:55:25] should not have done and still leaving a cricket field there because remember we started off with three baseball fields. And now we will have two baseball fields and a cricket field. And to Mr. Torpy's answer, it's not that the youth don't have baseball fields, I mean, cricket fields. If you have adult fields, you have fields that youth can play on as well. It's up to the adults who play cricket to say, okay, well, let our kids play on this field this time. I mean, it really is.

[03:55:57] You can use those fields for youth or adults. From what I understand, and believe me, I know nothing about cricket, and I'm not going to go, with due respect, sir, and play baseball. It's not going to happen. But, you know, this feels like a, you know, is the term Hobson's choice?

[03:56:19] It feels very unfair either way. Neither one of these choices feels good. But at the very least, we had three baseball fields there. Now we will have two and one cricket pitch.

[03:56:35] What is cricket season? They have a spring season that typically goes from March through the end of June, middle of June. And then you kick back up in late August and they play until the season ends, which is end of November at times.

[03:56:53] So almost the whole year. Correct. Is what you're telling me. And there is no place else at Mickey Gordon that we can create a second cricket pitch. There is, but that is what started the pushback.

[03:57:12] I mean, leaving, because right now we have two baseball fields. Leaving two baseball fields, not changing that, and creating a second. So it would be two baseball fields and two cricket pitches. Is that possible? we would have to go back and look at the redesign of all of that because that impacts parking, that impacts everything.

[03:57:39] All right, I understand. And to the discussion that happened at Finance Committee, based upon what we were hearing, over time as we continue to build cricket pitches, the cricket community is wanting to play closer to where they live.

[03:57:57] Sure. We understand that. And so I'm not sure it would be a good recommendation to add another one out there. Okay, that's right. All right, Mr. Crony, would you like a closing? Thank you, Chair Randall. So I would like to see the restoration or at least have it come back as baseball.

[03:58:20] I agree with Chair Randall that seven years ago it was taken away from the baseball community, and I do want to take care of the cricket community as well. I'm glad two new fields are coming that are overlay fields at Hanson at about the same time, so it'll be spring, probably March of 2025, so I don't think we are replacing, in a sense, that field with the Hanson fields.

[03:58:49] And I would encourage us to look at other potential overlays like maybe at Brambleton Community Park. I see that they have some three rectangular fields there that maybe could be put into an overlay. That would be, that's just my idea. I know you don't have to speak, but it would be close to the community served.

[03:59:09] Mickey Gordon is historic. The Pop Gordon Field is historic. It is one of the oldest baseball fields in the region, so I think it needs to come back, and we need to play it.

[03:59:28] I love what Chair Randall said at Finance Committee, if you build it, they will come. It was a forgotten park. I would agree the maintenance wasn't there, and so now we're going to take care of it. We're going to bring it back, and I believe they will come. I believe the American Legion will come, and there will be baseball games played at Pop Gordon Field again.

[03:59:50] I do want to, like I said, I do want to take care of the cricket community, and I'm a creative person, so there might be some ideas that we all come back with you to serve the community. But I think this needs to go back to the historic baseball field that it was, so the community can enjoy it.

[04:00:10] Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Croning made the motion. I seconded the motion. On field, please say aye. Aye. Opposed? No. All right. If you're a no, raise your hand, please. All right. That motion will pass 5-4. Supervisors Umstead, Letourneau, Sains, and Brickspin voted against the motion. Mr. Turfey, that was a lot. Thank you very much.

[04:00:34] Thank you. We will not have any more community meetings about this issue right now. Thank you. If I leave us on this day as for another item, Ms. Bricksman, her head's going to come off her body and twirl around. So although I was going to do the information item, we're not because I want Ms. Bricksman's head to stay on her body.

[04:00:56] I do also want to take, and just trust me on this one, just trust me on this one, supervisors, a 10 minute break before we read into closed session for a very good reason. So we're going to take a 10 minute break, come back and do item one and then read in closed session.

[04:01:15] I mean, I'm sorry. Come back and do the information item and then read into closed session. Yes, no, we're gonna take a 10 minute break, come back and do the information item and then read in closed session. Thank you.

[04:17:51] She's not there, I'm just, I'm getting. You are, very good. Thank you very much. Okay. Usually she gives me a thumbs up back. That's how, there you go. That's how that works. Okay, we are back, and we have all, none of us have eaten any real food, and we've all eaten sugar.

[04:18:15] So here we go. And now we're going to listen to the environmental report, because, exactly, and yeah. And then after this, take a break.

[04:18:40] It was an accident. It happens. Yeah, they are. All right. Good evening, gentlemen.

[04:19:02] Good evening, Madam Chair, members of the board. Thank you for allowing us to present this item to you this evening. The long-awaited non-regulatory energy and environmental issues item. As you may recall, during the strategic workshop that the board had, there were a lot of questions that came up about how we did business in the environmental arena and the offer or the request was made to bring back an item to discuss primarily the non-regulatory environmental programs that the county does deliver and frankly how they deliver it and how that looks compared to other jurisdictions.

[04:19:39] So I guess I should slip to the next slide. I'm not even up. Can you help me? Supervisor, this was kind of a result of the retreat and what came out of the retreat in that discussion and some discussions of what is actually regulatory, what's non-regulatory and what are those two things look like and the differences if you remember just to jog your memory although if you weren't there also that's what this that's what this came out of yes thank you madam chair appreciate that um so i will tell you mark and i are going to do a little

[04:20:14] bit of tag team on this back and forth so uh all the talk about cricket and and pickleball we wanted to play a little bit back and forth okay i'll probably pay dearly for that bad joke yes sir Moving along. Okay, Mark, take this next slide, please.

[04:20:30] So just as some background, Chair, members of the Board, a lot of this stemmed out of the original 2014 Environmental Strategic Plan that was attached to this item. It was a long plan that talked about improving communication and ultimately separated regulatory and non-regulatory departments in the county.

[04:20:51] And I just want to point out that the 2020 Environmental Initiatives Review created the Environmental Commission. And since 2021, as you can see, we've been quite busy and your commission and staff have done a lot of work to make energy and environment topics top priority here in Loudoun County.

[04:21:07] We're very proud of that. So if we go to regulatory and non-regulatory. Right. This is my slide. So what we wanted to do is take a few moments and kind of frame the picture of what when we say regulatory, non-regulatory, what does that mean? So we're all on the same page because there's a lot of questions about that.

[04:21:23] So this is detailed in the item itself. at a high level when we look at regulatory we're really looking at who is regulated right um and for the context of the county it's mostly um the the public entities that are regulated by required mandates uh that the county has to deliver so they're required they're common in the building community um and then and they're they deal with planning and public health and development those are really the the uh the crux of the issues but you'll notice that uh mr torpy was herself here So any project that HEED goes through, any project that DTCI goes through, any project that DGS goes through, they all are regulated.

[04:22:00] So somebody has to regulate that. And any of the development projects you talked about tonight a lot, they're all regulated projects. Non-regulatory are those things that the county provides that are not required but beneficial. And examples of that are the renewable energy strategy, the energy strategy elements for renewable energy, EV chargers, watershed management planning, tree planting programs, these are all very, very beneficial for our energy and environmental stewardship ethics.

[04:22:31] Now, I will say that we're not the only ones that do this, so we partner with the Soil and Water Conservation District, Virginia Cooperative Extension, and many others. The LIRA effort that the board has embarked on with the invasive species, LIRA, the invasive species effort is a voluntary effort and so that fits nicely into that group of soil water general services and virginia cooperative extension that's a that's a voluntary type arena this area continues

[04:23:04] to expand and grow because the voluntary programs tend to get stewards the people that buy into it recycling for the most part is voluntary it is a mandate upon the county to at a minimum we must recycle 25 percent but uh while there is a regulation out there most of our recycling is done through voluntary efforts promotion and uh communicating and educating the public to to encourage that so that's really the the distinctive that we're we're talking about here in this context so i want to talk a little about the benefits that we observe and have both anecdotally

[04:23:43] and and quantitatively observed as far as benefits of separating these two the most evident one is that we need to ensure that the regulated departments meaning dtci dgs and prcs are not the regulators there needs to be a separation the old adage of the fox in the hen house so you should never have the regulator also be the regulated so for example if general services

[04:24:18] was regulating construction projects it would be very inappropriate for dgs to be doing construction projects like we do it would be very inappropriate for dtci to be an environmental regulator because they're building projects that are regulated so you that separation is very valuable we separate them now building and development does not do any projects that require the regulation they are the regulators that make sense they're the regulators so okay yes ma'am

[04:24:57] so building development they're the regulators yes ma'am who and they're regulating they are regulating the general public they're regulating general services when we when we do our stream restoration when we do any of our stormwater projects when we ever do any of our uh cips associated with landfill. They regulate us. Okay. And we love them for it. Okay. All right.

[04:25:25] I got you. Right. And they also certainly the outward facing to all the development community in Loudoun, they are the regulators. Got it. Okay. And to a lesser extent, the health department does as well when it comes to wells, permitting wells and septic fields, things of that nature.

[04:25:42] The other benefit that has proven out to be factual is that it minimizes confusion of roles for the regulated development industry. They understand that they go to building and development or planning and zoning of the health department for those regulated activities, but if they want to partner in another element that is non-regulatory, pre-planting, whatever the case may be, they know they can go to a defined organization.

[04:26:08] It also minimizes confusion of roles and responsibilities within the departments themselves. They have a clarity of understanding what their roles and responsibilities are, and it maintains a clear line of communication with non-regulatory non-profit partners case in point uh over the last several years county administration has rightly aligned the the delivery of funding and programs that were non-regulatory from dgs through the soil and water conservation district so at one time it was scattered but now those programs are are channeled through general services because those programs are non-regulatory case in point the uh the funding that the board provides for

[04:26:47] the implementation of agricultural best management practices which are regulatory. That programmatic support is managed through general services. Same thing with watershed management planning implementation. Same thing with flood engineering studies. These are non-regulatory things that we that they assist the community with but the county provides assistance and that's through the uh through department general services because it's not regulatory.

[04:27:11] So does that help? I mean it does. Okay. It does a lot. All right. So it has plays a valuable role Now, I can tell you, personally, I have managed a department in another life that did them both. So, if you want to speak to the challenges of doing it together, we certainly can, but I won't do that now.

[04:27:31] But I know firsthand of those challenges that we just talked about here. So, one of the other things we wanted to highlight was the existing coordination that's going on among departments, among state agencies, among regional organizations. Madam Chair, members of the board, there is a lot of coordination with environment and energy issues.

[04:27:49] There can always be more, but we just wanted to highlight a few here. In particular, our relationship with the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments has helped us tremendously with the energy strategy and access to regional experts on many topics, and we're anticipating working with them again when we do a natural resource strategy, which this board has also approved.

[04:28:12] One of the things that was asked at the strategic planning retreat back in July was how to comparator jurisdictions, Fairfax, Prince William, Arlington, and Alexandria, handle these issues of environment and energy and just from looking at their websites I can tell you that they're all the same but different. Each of them does have a named environment and energy capacity somewhere on a public website which we don't as visibly have. Some it is contained in the same department, some in different departments. For example in Prince William they have a public Works and Environmental Services Department, and then they have a separate Office of Sustainability

[04:28:52] that reports directly to the county exec. But all of them address environment, non-regulatory and energy climate in a named fashion or office. One of the things, too, from our July annual report that the Environmental Commission presented to you all, there were some recommendations to address things for better communication and guidance.

[04:29:17] What we're going to go into now in this item addresses, I think, all of these items except possibly item number two. So we can show how some of the relevant conversations that went on with the Environmental Commission and how we can do things even better than we're doing with environment and energy are solved by some of the upcoming actions that we have planned in general services.

[04:29:37] So we try to categorize these into basically four opportunities. Looking at these recommendations, the conversations that the board had had during the strategic retreat, in other areas and i uh when we pulled this together it became abundantly clear the amount of work that the board has already invested into a particular path um which is this this concept of non-regulatory and regulatory and making making making a great deal of investment into those non-regulatory elements so an example of that is is the alvarez and marcel report which is our

[04:30:12] our organizational assessment um within general services to to ensure that we were functionally aligned and so we're already in the the we're implementing the second phase of that and during the um fy26 budget you'll see the the third phase of that we had a budget development discussion in finance on that particular item but what you're seeing before you right now are things that are already in play uh you know we already are creating a deputy director for environmental services that's currently with uh our human resources partners and they're evaluating that

[04:30:46] as a reclass and that will oversee the uh the dominant elements of of dgs in the regulatory or in the environmental uh non-regulatory environment and why that's important is because when you look at that you have uh waste management and public works and environmental services which is what mr avini has um they are incredibly integrated with so many other things that we do but more importantly they are also supported by a very robust uh centralized management administration uh element within dgs that able is able to support not only our fleet facilities

[04:31:23] and uh transit operations but also the environmental operations so it's a cost saving and equity element there we have also created a waste management assistant director a waste another waste management division manager those are currently underway and the board approved a energy and environment division manager and the stormwater engineering program manager in fiscal year 25.

[04:31:46] these are all underway and they are integral to meeting the needs of of of those recommendations from the environmental commission opportunity two uh is really a throwback from the 2014 uh environmental uh strategic plan and it it talks about creating an environmental leadership team within the uh the the governmental organization so what this does is it takes those key leaders of of the environmental organizations, building and development, planning and zoning, health department, DGS, DTCI, and Parks and Rec.

[04:32:22] And they actually create an environmental leadership team to create that synergy, create that conduit for communications and collaboration, and ensuring that a comprehensive solution and information sharing is provided through the environmental commission, to the board as needed through your strategic initiatives.

[04:32:43] and that element is there to ensure that we're actually collaborating. This happens at a number of levels, but not at this concerted effort. For example, DTCI and DGS work collaboratively all the time dealing with new buildings and the energy savings and the energy elements associated with that.

[04:33:01] But this does meet that and is a very cost-effective way of getting after that communication and collaboration need with legitimately no additional cost. So the third opportunity that the Environmental Commission identified a real concern with identifying gaps and then having subject matter experts in-house and these are just a couple examples of of what uh one of what the board has already done and and then one that will you will likely see in the fy26 budget so the flood mitigation you may recall that uh last year the board approved the flood localized flood assessment and mitigation

[04:33:41] program and asked us to bring back the personnel for that in the fy26 budget so you will see that position and they will be focusing on flood mitigation this has been an increased problem universally but certainly in our older urbanized areas and it's been recognized as a problem globally and this is something that we're all seeing and needs to be have subject matter expertise in-house this is a non-regulatory component the other element is dam safety last meeting i believe you all passed a an ordinance that required developments to

[04:34:16] identify an inundation zone downstream of a dam we are seeing increasing challenges with dams across the the commonwealth but certainly here in virginia the general services has several dams you're looking at one of them now on the picture that is a high hazard regulated dam that we need to have the expertise in house to deal with the several dams that we have recently accumulated this is regulated the dam is regulated that dam is regulated yes mitigation is not regulated but the dam is regulated yes but that is a proprietary regulatory concept so

[04:34:48] meaning that we are regulated by somebody else i've confused you it's it just seems so random the why it's regulated or where it is just me in general i'm sorry so the regulatory entity for dams is the department of conservation recreation at the state level and they regulate anybody that has a high hazard dam what we've discovered is is not only internally to to the county that we need that subject matter expertise but there's a need amongst the community

[04:35:22] to have that kind of guidance and assistance for emergency preparedness and how to properly inspect the dam that's a actually a a landowner assistance program that would that would need to be developed but this is particularly focused on on our needs as a county so i bring these two up because they are subject matter experts that the environmental commission has identified the need to start filling those gaps with subject matter expertise the board's action with the flood mitigation project and program actually does that and the dam safety is an example of what the board could do should they choose

[04:36:01] to do so in the fy26 budget there's many more examples of this we just chose two of these okay and the fourth opportunity is uh is uh to look at a name change for general services now as part of our our organizational assessment and the implementation of their recommendations we are going through a pretty significant strategic planning strategic planning envisioning process in in general services we are pursuing an accreditation accreditation through the american public works association which requires us to do a great deal of policy and procedure work and

[04:36:37] really defining roles, responsibilities, and aligning functionalities. This is a great opportunity and a great process to use for that. Now, and if the board would indulge us with that, we would actually like to incorporate this question into that process and really let our employees discuss that and say who are we, you know, based on the services that we deliver and to whom they're delivered.

[04:37:03] And we didn't want to throw out names to discuss tonight, but we do think that there may be an opportunity to to freshen that um based on on where we are and what we do today so those are the four opportunities i am trying to move quickly um because you have a very long night ahead of you but the four opportunities that we we would like to pursue um we don't believe there's any action necessarily for the board to do so unless there's a direction you do not want us to go um we can move forward on these with the the existing authorities that that you have already given us um so that is uh that that's what we have as far as the opportunities we also wanted to

[04:37:40] just kind of highlight some of the things that we have going on right now in in our department and within the county uh we are very proud of this list uh madam chair and members of the board i mean i think if you look at all of these non-regulatory issues um uh loudon has has put a stake in the ground when it comes to environment and energy and i dare say that all of these uh will have some impact in all of your districts and we look forward to coming back to the board and reporting on the next steps for all of these studies and what they might mean for the county.

[04:38:11] So it is it is a long list and we have a good staff and and members in other departments as well and consultants that are helping us but it's it's a pretty extensive list a pretty robust list and this is just my lame attempt to try to add some pictures and and names to this because we are doing a lot of different things when it comes to these items and sometimes they can kind of get lost so it's nice to add some pictures uh we're we're very proud of this work that we're doing on on behalf of the board and the residents of the county and i like pictures

[04:38:46] i like pictures too pictures all right that was really helpful and a little confusing Questions? Ms. Bixfancy, I will go to Ms. Okay, there we go. Ms. DeCrooney.

[04:39:03] Thank you, both of you. I think this information was really helpful. It's something that I brought up during the strategic retreat to establish a department of energy and environment. Um, this is a restructuring instead of the creation of a department, but I think it gets us closer to what I'm, what I think we need as a county.

[04:39:27] Um, I like the four main implementation pieces. Um, I think, I think they're excellent. Um, I, the, the county environmental leadership team, I think we used to have something like that, right, in the county for, for cross, um, department communication.

[04:39:44] There may have been prior to my tenure, but that certainly was a recommendation in the 2014 study that never really got off the ground, and we think it's a great opportunity now to really hone in on that. Okay, and then I do support renaming.

[04:40:01] I think that's an excellent idea because I think it's confusing general services. You don't think of environment and energy. You don't think of those functions. One thing I wanted to ask you is it looks like you're going to have two departments or two directors, one for environmental services and one for fleet, transit and facility operations.

[04:40:23] So they're both non-regulatory? They are both non-regulatory. So this was a recommendation coming out of the Alvarez-Masel organizational assessment was to have the span of control elements that General Service has because of the lines of efforts that we deal with.

[04:40:40] They made the recommendation that we, they referred to it as hubbing, hubbing-like programs under the umbrella. So the deputy director for fleet transit and facilities will focus on what they call the physical plant.

[04:40:57] Right. And so dealing with those maintenance issues and those rolling stock services. And the other will be environmental. Okay. So, one question I had, I believe B&D has non-regulatory activities that they do, like watershed management plans and tree planning programs.

[04:41:20] Has that been problematic, having regulatory and non-regulatory in B&D? So, their natural resources program, when the board created the environmental commission, they dissolved WIRTEC, which is the Water Research Technical Advisory Commission, and those responsibilities were transferred over to the environmental commission which included the watershed management planning okay so that has since been uh moved to um to dgs now what i will say is because of the expertise that they have there uh we partner very closely with them but their natural resource team is predominantly designed to serve the environmental regulatory

[04:41:56] requirements that that department has to deliver now i would have to defer to betsy on the on the on the elements of it uh they also have an arborist um and but again that arborist exists uh to meet their mandates under the regulatory programs they certainly provide assistance and and education and guidance but the construct is is is based on their regulatory requirements okay thank you because they're and they're paid through through regulatory permitting fees

[04:42:24] thank you mr turner thank you my chair um so mr brown um is it is it or mr vanney is it your intent then that opportunities one through four basically implement in a practical way the environmental commission recommendations we do with the exception of the second one which is dealing with streamlining enforcement actions we believe that is something that needs to be be addressed to the community development agencies, which would be primarily B&D and DPZ.

[04:42:57] Okay. And without any guidance from us, your intent is to proceed forward with opportunities one through four, unless we have objections, and I don't think we do. Yes, sir. Okay. I thought of a name for your department. Did you? The Department of Energy and Environmental Works.

[04:43:15] But then I thought that's going to end up being the Department of EW, and then I thought is general services and maybe the department of is maybe not so bad sorry that was thank you sir we'll take that into consideration moving along thank you very much madam chair the things we put staff through is just not even acceptable it really worked on that for a long time miss brixman uh thank you thank you madam chair um this was a fascinating item so so thank you um I read it cover to cover, and it was fascinating.

[04:43:52] And it's good to get confirmation of all the good work that we're doing that we don't see on a day-to-day basis. So I really wanted to compliment you on that. And also, you know, I always say I have not been bored in this job for one second. People ask me if I like this job, and I'm like, I love this job.

[04:44:09] I haven't been bored for one second. And one thing I learned recently was about our stormwater management and the public-facing efforts and the stream restoration in my district, the efforts to inform the public twice, and then having the tours recently.

[04:44:31] I think they had something like 40 people go outside, Madam Chair, and walk up and down a stream restoration area. And the storyboards were amazing. I mean, it was amazing. So thank you for that.

[04:44:46] And I got a little blue duck that, I mean, even the branding was on point. So thank you for that. I am supportive of all four points in the item, of course. I had a question about the district energy concept that you started, that you talked about on page eight.

[04:45:06] Could you explain that to me a little bit? So certainly, and I'll actually let Mark explain that. He's better at it than I am. So when the Environmental Commission came and did their annual report, one of the things that was brought forward was a concept of district energy, which works in a campus approach where you use waste heat from buildings or a number of buildings, and you kind of recycle that energy rather than let it be wasted and use it to potentially heat another building.

[04:45:35] It's commonly seen on college campuses. It's very common in Europe. Where I went to school at Virginia Tech, they would heat the dorms with the waste heat, and so everyone was always opening the windows in the wintertime because it was so hot with the heat coming off of the radiator. It didn't smell.

[04:45:50] It was hot. It was just steam coming off the radiator. So the concept of district energy could work in a campus setting that we're doing. And is this similar to the waste of energy? Is that the same thing? Or is that – that's different, right? It is different. That's different. Okay. Yes, ma'am. You know, they're doing that with – when they're drilling oil, and I can't remember what state it is, but they're drilling oil, and the heat that comes off of that processing is actually powering a data center.

[04:46:16] It was on 60 Minutes recently, so that's a great concept. And then where are we? So when I started reading about district energy, I thought maybe you meant energy that we're producing in Loudoun County, like with solar arrays or wind farms.

[04:46:32] Is that part of the department's work moving forward? We're doing power purchase agreements, something that this board requested us to do. And that's where we sign up with a developer who actually takes on the responsibility of putting solar on Loudoun County rooftops or ground mounted.

[04:46:52] And we get that energy from the developer, and they basically use that energy to pay the bills for us. So we are doing that as well. We're also putting solar, as you know, on a number of our buildings here in Loudoun County. And as well as using geothermal as well in certain places.

[04:47:12] I saw that, yeah. I have more questions I can take offline with you guys. But, I mean, you can finish. Go ahead. So I was just going to say, you know, later on this year, we're going to be bringing you back the board member initiative response dealing with beneficial use of landfill gas. And we just reviewed that earlier this week, the findings of that.

[04:47:32] And it's really, it's exciting the opportunities that exist for that, which is reusing it for beneficial use. So those are the kind of things that this board has really opened the door for us to explore. Mr. Brown, the secret that people don't really want to talk about is that you are really smart.

[04:47:55] Just don't talk about it much. You really know what I'm talking about. You're really smart. This was helpful because I hadn't really, although Mr. Hempstreet's been saying this for a long time, I hadn't really no idea what was regulated and non-regulated. It does seem random. It seems random that dam safety is regulated, but flood mitigation is not regulated.

[04:48:16] It would seem both of those things would be regulated. So some things seem a little random. It feels like things that are regulated are almost things that really do have to deal with health and safety and life, and things that are not regulated more are for, I won't say aesthetics, that's not true, but stewardship.

[04:48:36] Stewardship, that's a great word, stewardship, and not, just overall, I think that's a pretty good. So that was really very helpful. I look forward to getting more information. I love what we've done already.

[04:48:52] I didn't realize how much we've done. We've done a lot. We have done quite a bit already. you know, the board gives direction, and staff, you guys, I mean, you have really taken this on and worked on it so hard, and I appreciate that, and I look forward to you all coming up with a name that Mr. Turner has nothing to do with creating.

[04:49:14] Yes, ma'am. Is that a board directive? That is a directive from the chair. That is a directive from the chair that Mr. Turner is not part of naming your new department, But I don't think that the department name does at all capture all that's being done, to be quite honest. It really doesn't.

[04:49:29] And so I do look forward to having that discussion because, you know, that might have been the correct name some time ago, but no longer is it capturing all that we're doing. So, yeah. I don't believe that there are any motions to be had, but we really do appreciate it.

[04:49:47] Thank you very much. And please thank the Environmental Commission for this as well. Thank you. Thank you. All right, supervisors, just give me one second item then.

[04:50:08] Okay, we were doing that. We're going to go on and do the item number three. We'll go right back up top and do the feasibility of commuter bus service into Loudoun County, item number three.

[04:50:29] And Mr. Kirshner has a motion on the dais on this one, but we'll get to that. Well, he has a hope, potentially a friendly, although I think to this motion, I might just let Mr. Turner, I mean, Mr. Letourneau make this motion since he's been the one that's kind of pushed this effort.

[04:50:53] Hello, how are you? So, Madam Chair, members of the board, thank you again. Oh, hey, Ernie. I didn't go far. We said bye and everything. Well, you talked about rolling stock. You talked about, you know, so this is the other side of general services.

[04:51:09] Okay. this is a 31 slide um presentation we're going to truncate it yeah let's do that is this the 20 yeah okay let me just double check here so we have the the one that we have in front of you you still have the the formal 31 that started at 44 and this is a truncated version of 22. we will work very fast through this okay to ensure

[04:51:39] that we allow time for for questions so with me is Gladys Horwitz who is our transportation services administrator you know and I just said he was smart I just said that I take it all back yes yes I know see there it is and mr. Nick Brighton who is very smart with with with Baker Michael Baker who was the consultant that helped us put this together so I just I want to just frame that that the question came up about what about commuter services into loudon county um we

[04:52:17] currently provide services for our our residents go out and so the board asked us to explore what would that look like and so this is what this is and i'm going to stop talking oh are we able to get that one out oh there's a different presentation than the one in our i have it on the screen package what did i do wrong okay all right so uh the purpose of this uh this uh excuse me the study was to your mic answer thank you all right that's okay the purpose of this study was to look at the

[04:52:56] feasibility of longer um route commuter service into loudon county from counties that either abut or are proximate to loudon county so uh at some point very shortly there will be um a study area map. Basically what we looked at is a number of different areas of Virginia and then we included two counties uh two abutting counties in Maryland and then two counties that are just over the border in West Virginia. So what we want to do is look at kind of large scale uh commuter service or potential for commuter services into Loudoun County from these outlying areas. So uh one of

[04:53:36] the the one of the steps that we took uh well it was a three-pronged approach. We looked at the demographic data, and a lot of that information that kind of feeds into travel patterns and what decisions people make when they travel and they commute. We looked at existing services in both areas that were in the study and then outside, and then, of course, in Loudoun County.

[04:53:56] And then we looked at any operational obstacles and challenges that there may be to providing this kind of longer service. So it's not your traditional short-term 30-minute, it's a much longer route. So just as an example of some of the information we've looked at, one of, I think on the next slide, what you can see here is two maps.

[04:54:20] The first one on the left, just really briefly, are trips that start in these areas and then end in Loudoun County. And then the one on the right-hand side, excuse me, that's orange-ish yellow are trips that start in Loudoun County and then end in other areas. So really the purpose of these two maps is to look at them and kind of compare them because what you're wanting to see on daily trips is some of kind of a match.

[04:54:43] They should look somewhat similar. And what that tells you is that most of the time, those are gonna be commuting trips because people are starting from Berkeley County and ending in Loudoun County and then they're starting at the same place and then ending where they started. So this match kind of helps us identify, this of course is just a map, but when we break down the data into tables, we can kind of see exactly how many trips we're talking about, where they start, where they end, and then kind of how often that happens per week. So one of the next steps we did is look at, we talked to both employers and employees

[04:55:17] through a survey. And I would say, you know, real quickly, the key takeaways in that were that cost was a significant factor in commuting. One of the very, you know, kind of key issues that is going of kind of be helpful in the kind of the pilot part of this and the implementation piece of this is getting people familiar with commuter service and what options there are.

[04:55:42] So we spoke to a lot of different, excuse me, a lot of different stakeholders both on the employer side and the employee side. And on the next slide, you will see just a breakdown of the different industries that we talked to.

[04:55:58] And what you will see is that there is a pretty healthy representation of education, health and tourism sectors. That's not, of course, the only thing we looked at, but generally speaking, these would be how those were classified. So we had 21 different employers based in Loudoun County, or at least partially based in Loudoun County across 11 different industries, and over a thousand employees participated in the process.

[04:56:23] So on the employer side, real quickly, what I'll just say is that the two kind of takeaways from these charts are that A, over almost three quarters of employers said that they believe that commuter service was a valuable or something that their employees would want to consider or would use.

[04:56:42] And then on the other side that transportation continuously came up as a core component of recruiting and retaining people over time. So various different issues, how much it costs to get there to the number of, or their access to vehicles, the things like that.

[04:56:59] So these, transportation was definitely on the forefront of this employer discussion. And then finally, we talked to the employers a little bit about where their employees were coming from. And as you can see from the distribution, there are some winners and losers, so to speak. West Virginia is a significant, had a significant number of commuters, or Loudoun had a significant number of commuters originating in West Virginia, so did Prince William and Stafford counties, but there was a pretty nice distribution across the board of our study area.

[04:57:30] So we, you know, this kind of told us what we already kind of expected, but we wanted to see in numbers that there was pretty good representation, but there were some areas where people were coming from in some areas that weren't as popular for commuters.

[04:57:47] So on the employee side, really quickly, I just wanted to show that over half of people would consider using public transportation to get to work at least a part of their commute per week. That doesn't mean every -- all days. And on the right-hand side, you're looking at just kind of cost of commuting, and this is a lot less kind of helpful, but what it basically does is to try to get some sort of regularity in how much people are willing to spend per month on their commuting.

[04:58:14] So you can see there's quite a range there, but we did look into sort of price, kind of what the price might be, and we can talk about that later. And then finally, one other thing I just wanted to point out, this is from the employee side, so we looked at where employers had their employees, where employers said their employees were originating, and this is actually self-reported.

[04:58:36] So the gray dots represent concentrations of people in different regions, and then that's where people are starting. And then that reddish yellow heat map is sort of where they're ending up. So you can kind of see people are coming from all over in the study area, but where they're ending up is very concentrated, obviously in Loudoun County, but very much kind of in that east-west belt. And, you know, that would include Leesburg down to Ashburn and so forth. So based on all this information, and I very briefly went over all the different pieces that went into it, we came up

[04:59:16] with seven different routes. These were based on both data we got from stakeholders, data we got from the census, and then other transit adoption rates and things like that. And so from there, we looked at not only just developing the routes and how long they were, but also stops.

[04:59:36] Some of the key pieces of this are making sure that the stops are accessible. The length of the trip isn't too much, the number of stops. There's a balance between how long the route is and the number of stops there are because at some point, you verge from regular local service to commuter service if you have too many stops and it's stopping too often.

[04:59:55] People are not going to be interested in that. So on the next slide, we just kind of list out some of the assumptions and the factors that went into our evaluation criteria and how we looked at all of this. And again, like I said, the balance is a very important piece of it.

[05:00:11] We wanted to focus on, you know, leveraging existing infrastructure and existing transit services in Loudoun County, along with providing newer service to areas that may not be already fully served. But one piece of the puzzle is gonna be that the first mile last mile connectivity is always gonna be important because one thing about commuter services, it's not gonna take everyone to every place that they work.

[05:00:36] What people always be willing to go to a park and ride, but you have to really consider they're going to get from the bus stop to where they actually work. So our analysis looked at a lot of different elements to this, but, you know, a lot of that goes into effectively operating cost.

[05:00:55] How much does it cost to actually run the service? And that includes driver hours and things like that. And then finally, what is the ridership expectation for the service? So when we looked at the seven different routes and kind of charted it out, what we found is that there were some pretty um there's there's some consistency on kind of a there's a tier a and then there's a tier b and that tier a really ended up being dale city and warrington routes and so these ended up having a very high um or very sorry very low average cost per rider because of the combination of their

[05:01:34] operating costs and the number of riders that they have so these outperformed based on our modeling The other different -- the other routes we came up with pretty significantly, the other ones aren't necessarily bad, but they just didn't perform as well as the other -- as the two I mentioned, Dale City and Warrington.

[05:01:52] So when we looked at -- sorry, the next slide -- when we looked at how to measure kind of what this would look like over time and then kind of key performance indicators, real quickly on the left-hand side, you see a year one, year two, year three. The idea there is that this is an adoption rate over a three-year time period.

[05:02:11] So the goal is 25 percent adoption rate. Year two would be 50 percent, and then year three would be 75 percent. So you're trying to build up the ridership to get to that 100 percent kind of full use of the service.

[05:02:30] And then this chart on the right-hand side is much more of a long-term kind of demographic uh excuse me um analysis of kind of like showing how ridership would look as based on what we assume the projections are not just for loudon county too but also where people are originating from i think the key takeaway there is that service kind of persists the demand for that service persists and it doesn't necessarily tail off like you might see in some other places so we expect growth in loudon county to continue and i think this shows that we expect uh use of a

[05:03:06] commuter service in a lot of these areas to sort of maintain that upward trend. So we came down to two recommendations, or two potential pilots for the recommendations, again, Dale City and Warrington.

[05:03:22] Those two routes had similar cost and similar trip times, so they are longer than you might see in commuter service, but they also pick up a significant number of people from origination points that aren't covered by commuter service now.

[05:03:39] These ended up, because of the combination of ridership and average cost, to have the lowest cost per rider. And our recommendation would be a one-way fare that wouldn't exceed $8.25. And then, of course, one of the things that we'd really want to, you know, you'd look at over time is the key performance indicators, which would be ridership, obviously you want to monitor that, on-time performance, which is very important for commuter service, and And finally, the service cost and making sure that stays consistent based on what you forecast.

[05:04:10] So on that note, I will turn it over to Gladys. Thanks, Nick. All right, so I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the benefits of implementing commuter bus routes into Loudoun County. Businesses in Loudoun County have reported significant challenges with recruitment and retaining employees, and providing the service could help with a lot of the transportation costs and peace of mind for commutes that folks have, while also supporting their recruitment and retention.

[05:04:38] Offering commuter bus services could also enhance economic development efforts by improving access to employment opportunities. These transportation options can potentially attract new businesses and a larger workforce to the county, further driving economic growth.

[05:04:55] And lastly, the benefits of operating two commuter routes from Dale City, as was mentioned, or Warrington, would remove an equivalent number of single occupancy vehicles from the road, greatly contributing to the reduction in the region's carbon footprint.

[05:05:13] I also want to go through a couple of key factors for ensuring success of commuter bus routes into Loudoun County. Effective strategic planning is critical to successfully implementing the new commuter bus routes to ensure that we have a seamless transition from conception to execution, maximizing the benefits for the new routes. A strong marketing campaign is vital for the success, so we have to make sure that we target outreach to different employers, continue that collaboration with our

[05:05:50] neighboring jurisdictions, and keep up with the different partnerships and stakeholders. There's also, as you heard from the recent survey results, indicated that a limited number of employers currently offer commuter benefits to employees.

[05:06:06] So by raising awareness of available commuter incentives, the cost of using transit can be reduced, making the new bus routes more attractive to potential riders. Appropriate fare levels are also critical to ensuring the service's success.

[05:06:26] So keep in mind, more than three-quarters of employees who were surveyed could drive themselves to work for less than $200 a month, which equates to approximately the $8.25 fare. So that's where that came from.

[05:06:43] Following the first year of service, fare elasticity analysis will be essential. And before launching the pilot service, Loudoun County will conduct a Title VI service and equity fair analysis and compliance with federal regulations. It's also important to pursue opportunities, partnership opportunities to enhance the success of the new commuter bus routes. And lastly, it's also important to pursue grant opportunities for this effort. So our staff

[05:07:18] recommendation, should the board desire to pursue a commuter service in Delauden, we recommend that the board directs staff to plan and implement a two-year commuter bus pilot from Dale City and Warrington into Loudoun County. The operating costs, costs for marketing and outreach, Title VI service, and fare equity analysis, as mentioned, are included in the proposed commuter, but the pilot route will be incorporated in the fiscal year 26 budget. The starting fares are recommended

[05:07:51] to start at $8.25 during the first year of the pilot and after the first year of operation re-evaluate fares with a fare elasticity analysis. And as also mentioned, grant funding and partnership opportunities are also to be pursued.

[05:08:09] I'm also going to touch a little bit on the fiscal impacts. You can go to the next slide. So the fiscal impact of the staff's recommendation option to establish a pilot program for commuter bus service into Loudoun County would require approximately 1.7 million of one-time local tax funding in fiscal year 26 operating budget. And that's going to fund the operating costs of the two new routes, cover the outreach and marketing, the Title VI analysis that

[05:08:44] needs to be completed. And you also have the opportunity to consider continuing the pilot program, second year as part of the FY27 budget development process. So as you see here, what we did is we broke down the estimated expenditures for fiscal year 26, and then we also included estimated fare revenues for either an $8.25 fare or a $12 one-way fare, which is what the current commuter bus service is planned to increase.

[05:09:21] Our fares are planned to increase to $12 in FY26. So that's the different numbers that you see on the screen. And with that, we'd be more than happy to take any questions. Wow. Thank you. Thank you very much. Supervisors, if you have questions, please turn your lights on.

[05:09:39] Mr. Le Turner, I will go to you first. Well, thank you very much for all this. I'm excited. I'm excited that we're here. I don't really have to be sold on the overall benefits, but I do want to ask some questions on the modeling. So there's one sort of factor to me that's out there when we talk about commuting patterns, and that's sort of an X factor of pain, pain for the commuter.

[05:10:03] You know, how painful is this ride? How much traffic do I encounter? And then the other sort of side of it is for the Loudon resident who's sort of sharing traffic with commuters that are coming through the county, you know, an opportunity for relief.

[05:10:20] So I was a little surprised that the Dale City and Warrington, you know, analysis pops so hard and Frederick and Winchester didn't, you know, Frederick, eight riders a day, I guess, is the projection or per trip. Turn your mic.

[05:10:38] That would be the first year at 25%. So it's the first of the ramp. Right. But that's per trip or per day. Per day. Yeah. Yeah. How, I don't know. What's your degree of confidence in these projections? Well, so one thing to keep in mind is that a lot of the modeling is based on a number.

[05:10:59] There's not one single element that would obviously factor into making one better than the other. But a significant piece of it is looking at adoption rates of carpool, vanpooling, and basically alternate forms of transportation.

[05:11:15] So my, I would have expected Dale City, so I would be fairly confident in Dale City just because I think there is that culture of other alternatives. Warrington is, I think, also kind of, it probably experiences a little bit of that boost from the carpool, vanpool element because there's a lot of, there's been a lot of effort there on the state side and then other agencies.

[05:11:42] I think part of what factors into some of the others might be, A, those factors of the adoption rates and things like that, but also there might be a little bit of the X factor in what you're talking about with pain.

[05:11:59] Just because coming from another state or something like that, it may just be perceived as a longer trip. Yeah, I don't know. Others can cry. The ride from here to Warrington doesn't seem nearly as bad as the ride from Frederick, Maryland, to here because of 15. so i don't know it seemed a little bit odd to me that that route would be so do so well and frederick would do so poorly quickly one last question on the fair side i get the point and i'm probably inclined to go with it but is there some sort of insult to injury kind of element when we're charging 11 or 12 dollars for our other commuter bus services and now for

[05:12:38] the non-county residents they get they get only an eight dollar fare are we concerned with adoption if it's the same across the board. Yeah, we had discussed that internally and how that would look, I guess, to the perception to the public because our fares are going to be increasing in fiscal year 26.

[05:12:56] But this is a really different commute than the commutes going into D.C. If you were able to dig a little bit deeper to a lot of our survey results, you will see that a lot of the folks who could be potentially taking this service are working what they call the first, second, and third shift and even 12-hour shifts.

[05:13:17] So it's a little bit of a different workforce, per se, than what you have going into D.C. currently and also the fares that you're charging with folks going into Washington, D.C. and so forth. I would caveat that with just say it is a legitimate concern because it's a hurdle that we would have to be able to appropriately represent in a pilot construct because that is...

[05:13:46] That is a perception that we're subsidizing residents from outside the county with county funds for the benefit is clear, but it's still a perception that we'd have to overcome. And that is one of the cautions that I do want the board to take into serious consideration with this particular proposal, which is why my recommendation starts with should the board desire to pursue this, this would be our recommendation.

[05:14:15] because there are factors such as that that um are legitimate challenges um but can be overcome through uh appropriate marketing outreach and education that this is a pilot for the benefit of the revenue generating businesses within loudon county but it is a hurdle thank you this is the first item where every light on the board is on everyone's lights on miss um glass thank you madam chair and thank you for this presentation i think it's

[05:14:49] Very interesting that we're looking to go into other districts and bring in folks to our county. We discussed at our strategic initiative retreat allowing running the commuter buses back out from D.C. and Arlington with a route number instead of saying not in service.

[05:15:16] Has a determination been made as to if that can be done? And would we be able to do something like that with these two proposed routes? So we met with particularly Scott Gross on this.

[05:15:33] And all of our buses that return back if somebody needs a ride can get that ride. And if you see Scott behind me and if he's jumping up and down, then I misspoke. Is he jumping up and down? No. Okay. So they are available to them. just not defined routes because the the the users are not there uh with with a large enough to support a return um defined route but they are available if somebody needs to get a ride back they can do so and that's arranged through our dispatch okay thank you uh thank you madam chair

[05:16:10] a couple couple points i don't think i don't think one year is enough time to change behavior don't even think two years is enough time to change behavior so if this if the pilot only lasted one year I suspect you wouldn't get the ridership you would hope for you probably would have to have it going three to five years before you knew whether it was going to be successful you you raised I think a really legitimate point in your presentation which is how do you get

[05:16:49] people the last mile so presumably they'd all get dumped in a parking lot and have to get an uber or a lyft to get to work and so that would they be willing to add that cost on to the cost of the the bus ride the third I know supervisor Kirshner is going to advocate for route 15 which is initially like supervisor Letourneau what I thought would be the most would generate the

[05:17:24] most a man but your study indicates not one of the problems with route 15 is it's not widened yet and so you're gonna pay for bus ride and you're gonna be stuck in that traffic on the bus instead of in your car so it would not inherently appeal to people to give up their private vehicle to ride a bus when they're not getting anywhere faster several years ago when Supervisor Higgins

[05:17:59] was spending a lot of time on the route 15 widening project he was talking to senior staff at the county and the thought was there's no point running a bus on 15 until after we've widened it and can make sure that the bus will move quickly so I I think this is a really neat idea I'm not sure it's gonna work at this point but anyway thanks thanks for presenting mr. Turner thank you madam

[05:18:36] chair can you go to the slide that has the three blue images economic benefits and environmental benefits okay thanks one of the things with programs that I always ask is what's the definition of success how do you define success what's That's the metric.

[05:19:05] If the first box on the left is our principal purpose, to support our employees' quality of life and supported recruitment and retention, then that ought to be valuable enough, but we've got to measure what that success is.

[05:19:20] And I would think if the ridership meets or exceeds what our predictions were, then that probably is at least a superficial empirical evidence of success of the program, if that's in fact our intent. If our intent is to help our employees and retain our employees, but also to gain economic benefits, then at some point we need to be looking probably at the end of the pilot period for breaking even on revenues plus other evaluated benefits.

[05:19:50] So that means how do we measure new employees that were not here before that come in to populate our businesses in Loudoun County? Do businesses see an increase in our customer base? So that becomes a really difficult metric, but you've got to be able to factor that in.

[05:20:08] And then there's combinations. So if you did the first one was a principal mechanism and we fell short on our ridership, but we really valued the carbon benefits and the ridership we felt was sufficient, then that makes sense. I'm rambling, but my point here is it's going to be easy to drop into this program and think we're doing a good deed here and just keep it going because we're doing a good deed for our employees.

[05:20:35] But at some point, I would think this has got to be self-sustaining or we're being able to -- otherwise, we're just going to plug a million six into this program every year. And is that really worth the value? Any thoughts on any of that that I just kind of spewed out there? You?

[05:20:53] So at a high level, you know, determining what is success is critical for two reasons. One is obviously the effectiveness of the program, but also the perception of the value. and i will go back to the 825 versus the 12 we're currently subsidizing uh commuter services out of the county um at a at a rate uh and we would be subsidizing this at a at a greater frankly a greater extent um so you would need to be able to balance the you know what is the public seeing

[05:21:30] as a benefit for the expenditures of their tax dollars um and that's both their perception and comfort of it but also our fiscal uh responsibility uh in that there are clear values in each of these three categories you know benefits to our community as a whole um and this board discusses those elements probably every meeting uh when when the decisions are being made the question is is it enough um and that's that's why we are very cautious in this we you know it it does based on the modeling it does work but what does work mean if the emphasis is more on the environmental

[05:22:08] benefits and that is where the board wants to go then that's a that's a much more tangible outcome even though it's subsidized economic benefits as you mentioned supervisor turner are very difficult to define we'd have to spend a lot of time with economic development with buddy roger's team to really get some good metrics around that and what that would look like as part of the planning process and even the support of not just our employees of the county but the employers within the county what does that look like there was interest uh if this was successful for uh employers to look at um incentives just like the federal government

[05:22:47] provides a stipend incentive for for commuting which is frankly a significant benefit for our community commuter services and why people are willing to pay more um but that would have to be be done in the planning process. And I would recommend if the board does, say, move forward, that we move forward cautiously and bring back a very defined measurable metric or suite of metrics that the board is comfortable with before we actually pull the trigger on something of this magnitude. That's good. Thank you. Mr. Kirshner. Thank you, Madam Chair. If we could go to the

[05:23:24] slide and while you're pulling it up of the trip time. So one of the reasons I have an alternative motion or at least request for friendly to add frederick maryland is i just i i'm i'm i understand the numbers that you've come up with i do question them somewhat just because of my knowledge of some of this i mean i look at dale city dale city is going against traffic i mean you plug in dale city now you almost have the exact same travel time as i would this time of night and that's because you're going against traffic sometime in the morning if you're looking at places out west places up north out of Frederick you're traveling with the traffic and to me I disagree somewhat with Supervisor Umstead to me one of the reasons you're taking public transportation or a bus like this

[05:24:03] is because you don't you don't want to sit there in traffic and do nothing I mean I've taken these sorts of routes before in and out of D.C. when I was working on the hill and you could sleep you can read if traffic's bad you know it's no big deal and that's one of the big benefits to this And so, to me, Dale City is one of those that I don't think you're going to get the same kind of ridership you think you're going to get simply because of that reason, just because it's an issue of convenience more.

[05:24:32] And that's why people a lot of times take the metro. I think Supervisor Letourneau can talk to that. The other reason I think that the – one of the other questions I have for you, did you take into account – because one of the big purposes is not only benefiting our businesses here, Because I think in a lot of ways, let's be honest, this is kind of—it's a help to the affordable housing issue that we have, because a lot of people move out of this county because they can't afford to live here.

[05:25:00] But did you take into account these routes and how congested they are or are not? Because I would assume part of the purpose of this is to help reduce the congestion on these routes. So when I look at routes that have four lanes versus those that have a single lane, to me, the ones that have similar congestion but are single lane is honestly one of the routes we should probably look at in part in doing this as a pilot program.

[05:25:23] So did you look at the types of routes that we're actually looking at? Yes. So the first thing is, of course, we need to make sure that whatever routes we use can handle an over-the-road coach. So that gives you a baseline of the roads that you can even consider to begin with.

[05:25:40] One thing that I would stress is that when we do model these, any potential improvements to roads that are funded or not necessarily part of it, you're looking at the existing right-of-way.

[05:25:57] sure because we're certainly when we're looking at like you know the commute times and stuff like that it's always going to be a year or two that passed so there is an element to it where if you were to so 15 were to get widened that trip time shortens yeah but that's going to be over the next four or five years we know or over the next seven years we know we're getting ready to start construction right so there is an element to it where you might see improvements on some of the roads because the actual roads themselves are improved the route becomes easier like easier less congested and so forth but um generally speaking it's looking at the current status of

[05:26:33] the road okay and if i may just add slightly to that no i won't then i'll be quiet mr saints thank you madam chair thank you for the presentation we haven't had a motion or anything we have time still yeah you can do your own motion you can act you can talk within your motion he's smart enough right now none of us have eaten up here so give us a little bit insight on what type of buses will we be using so proposing i should say excuse me so as we discussed that we

[05:27:13] have a number of buses that will be that are proposed to be surplus pending the outcome of of this decision and they would be reallocated our existing commuter buses coaches that are used for for our existing service would be reallocated to this. So the bus that we currently use to go into the city would be possibly repurposed for this route?

[05:27:33] They would be, yes, sir. Okay. And then how many drivers is the items that we're going to have to possibly hire new staff? I'm assuming this driver is not behind-the-scenes folks. So our study actually didn't make a proposal to hire any new folks.

[05:27:50] That would actually be something that we would have to talk with our contractor for when we were ready to implement the service in terms of whether they had enough staff already to cover the needed routes. So we're not 100% sure if we need staff, new staff or not.

[05:28:11] If we would need to, right, hire new staff outside of what our contractors could provide. Okay. And, you know, I think this is worthy cause to try to explore, but hypothetically say we put it in motion and we're looking at the bus and we're just maybe five people six people ten people on on the on the routes like if that was the case we have very very low ridership would we would you come back and say okay yeah we propose two years but six months eight months and it's

[05:28:44] not looking this is not looking hot what would you recommend we certainly plan on monitoring the routes closely, especially during the pilot period. The first year is really going to be crucial, I think, with really making adjustments as needed, especially if we don't hit those targets that we've established, especially for year one. And then maybe it might be a combination of, hey, we need to tweak our marketing, do certain messaging, go to different areas and make sure we penetrate those areas more and work more closely with a lot of our employers and other

[05:29:21] partners. I mean, it could be a combination of things. But after the first year, I think it's going to be really crucial. And I feel confident that after two years, we'll have a pretty good understanding on whether it's worth establishing the routes to be a permanent, to be a permanent commuter bus route. And the last question for my time run, say if I rode the bus in, but then I missed the time to go back out, what am I supposed to do?

[05:29:47] Well, currently, sometimes it happens. We get calls from folks, and then dispatch, we work out something with dispatch. We don't like to leave people stranded. I'm sure that we would work something out. Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall.

[05:30:03] So I noticed in the staff item that Latin County Public Schools Fire and Rescue and Sheriff Office employees were not included in the employer survey results. I'm just wondering why they weren't, because Latin County Public Schools is our largest single employer in Loudoun County.

[05:30:24] So the offer was made, but we were not able to get that coordinated to get a definitive response back from them. Okay, so in my view, West Virginia is a route that I think I know a lot of employees that work in those areas come from.

[05:30:48] So I am also questioning Dale City. I mean, I think Dale City is okay, but Fauquier County, I'm kind of questioning that. Why would we do that as a pilot? And I'm wondering if we should go back and get survey results from Loudoun County Public Schools, Fire and Rescue, and the Sheriff's Office.

[05:31:09] So we certainly can, if the board would like us to go back and gather more information and bring this back at a future date with a more robust, the challenges, I'll use the example of LCPS. The request was made, but it requires the employer to be able to deliver that information to their employees.

[05:31:29] We don't actually do that and go into their – we didn't go into the employers themselves. We worked with the employers to deliver the information. But maybe with more time, we could get that information from them at that particular time. They were not able to provide that. I'm just curious because I think West Virginia – I saw it's 57 percent of employees travel from that area.

[05:31:46] I think that number would be higher if we did that survey. I'm also wondering if you think employers would be willing to subsidize some of the bus service because I noticed no employers offer free bus passes, you know, as an incentive, but they are looking to add kind of a transportation benefit.

[05:32:09] I noticed 14 percent of employers are considering such benefits. So I'm wondering if that could be something we look into because the cost is really expensive, 1.7. And I agree with Supervisor Umstead. I think a year pilot isn't going to give us what we need in terms of results.

[05:32:24] So I'm wondering if we could look into working with employers and economic development to subsidize this. Yeah, we actually have a program in place, an employer services program. And we have an employer services specialist who works closely with a lot of our Loudoun County employers to promote a lot of those commuter benefits that you've heard today.

[05:32:47] those incentives for folks to take advantage of vanpooling and carpooling and even transit. I know a lot of our local fares are going to go fare free, but a lot of folks will be able to possibly tap into that through their employer for the commuter bus. And that would certainly be a big help to offset a lot of those costs. Yeah. And one of the elements, one of the elements with that is they need to have something to subsidize. So right now with the limited to carpool vanpool in those locations um they don't have anything that they could provide incentives for so that is one of the benefits of providing a service on the pilot if they see it and see that

[05:33:24] it's viable then they might use that as an incentive to bring in more employees and retain employees but right now they have nothing to provide other than than uh right chair okay thank Thank you. Ms. Berksman.

[05:33:39] Thank you, Madam Chair. Did you say that LCPS, LCSO, and Loudoun County Fire and Rescue didn't respond to the survey? So I was specifically talking about LCPS, and it really was that they did not, it's not that they did not respond.

[05:33:57] They were not able to provide that survey out to their entire employees within the time frame that we needed. That you needed. Yes. That you needed. Okay. How much more time do they need? We could go back and ask them that. Okay. And what about LCSO and Loudoun County Fire and Rescue?

[05:34:16] So we'll have to get back on that for that with you. I think that they may have been captured in some of our survey information as to whether or not they're actually delineated. We know we did not target them specifically, but they may have been captured in our overall employee data.

[05:34:36] We'll get that back to you. Okay. Yeah, because I have also heard anecdotally from all three of those agencies and met a number of people from all three of those agencies who are living in West Virginia. Right. Some of the challenges with that type of shift work is you have to make sure that they're aligned with their schedules.

[05:34:56] Certainly, their administrative or civilian staff could have more than a traditional nine to five. But firefighter schedules and law enforcement schedules are very regimented. But teachers are more stable. Teachers and principals would be more stable. Yeah, okay, okay. I think I heard the answer to this. A lot of my questions were answered, and I trust your numbers, and I would agree to Dale City and, what was the other one? Warrington. I would do those pilots. I think they should be two or three years from the outset so that we get accurate information.

[05:35:30] But I think one of my questions was also answered, did you say that it would basically be a wash as far as how much money somebody would be spending on their commute versus driving and then the bus? At the 825, the estimate was what they're willing to spend, the average of what they're willing to spend to provide this service.

[05:35:54] So let me ask it this way. Would somebody be saving money on their commute if they were to ride at 825 each way? I would say no, they would not be saving money with their commute. That was based on what people would be willing to pay. Where the savings is is from the other pain points.

[05:36:11] Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay, can you real quick go to the routes, which had all seven of them, I think, or six? Right. So the one, oh, come on. The one from Frederick is like the only one that goes, that doesn't terminate in Leesburg.

[05:36:34] Is that correct? It would, it goes to, it looks like the only one that goes to Sterling actually. - It goes down to one Loudon specifically. - Only the one Loudon. Okay, all right, thank you. - So, you know, the reasons I like this are a couple of things.

[05:36:54] One, I love moving people into Loudon to work in Loudon County too. I think it does help with, it's a transit option. And so it takes cars off roads, which is always good for the environment. I'm surprised no one's named, talked about the environment yet, and two, it should help with traffic if it ever got up and going.

[05:37:12] I do agree that it's going to be hard to do this in one year. I would not send anything out of the state. I think it's so interesting that, you know, I learned that the first time we had a discussion about the second bridge crossing was during the Kennedy administration, and it is Maryland that is saying no, no, heck no, to even have a discussion about a second bridge crossing.

[05:37:36] So sending buses into Maryland to pull people out here is not something I'm really interested when they won't even have a discussion about a bridge crossing and they make it an issue every time we even bring it up. So that's not really something I'm willing to do. But I'm certainly willing, especially to Dale City, for a lot of reasons, a lot of reasons I would go do Dale City.

[05:38:00] I don't know how I feel about this yet. I remember when Ms. Letourneau did a roundabout that was outside of the county. And I remember thinking, is this guy crazy?

[05:38:15] And it was such a good idea because what he was doing was moving people. I mean, that roundabout was used much more by Loudoun County residents than it was by Fairfax County residents. And so it was really helpful to Loudoun County even though it was not in our county. So I'm wondering if this would have the same impact or not.

[05:38:31] And I honestly just don't know yet. So, I know the motion Mr. Letourneau is going to make and I'll go with that because I just don't know where I stand yet except to the fact that I'm not moving anything and anybody out of Maryland that much I know. So, thank you.

[05:38:49] Okay, you ready for motion? Yeah, I'm going to move that the feasibility of commuter bus service into Loudoun County item be referred to the Finance Committee. Second. I think, all right, I'll start the over.

[05:39:08] I think we need a little more time with this, this is an incredible amount of information, this is good analysis. I think there is going to be sentiment to move forward in some capacity. We heard the chair kind of draw the line on Maryland, I'm not sure I have that line.

[05:39:23] I think, because I see a benefit for our existing residents to get cars off of Route 15 more so than I do maybe some of the other routes. So it's complicated, there's a lot of factors. I like the questions that Supervisor Turner asked about defining success, because I think the board needs to kind of pick which of these criteria we're really leading with here in order to be able to decide exactly what we want to do, how much we want to do of it, and for how long.

[05:39:51] And I don't know that we have, I think it's going to be hard tonight on the fly here to kind of get that kind of consensus. So we can hopefully have a good discussion. I'd like to do this in November, provided we don't have a huge agenda, even if we do maybe probably not getting worse than this so that we can consider it as a budget development item as we've been doing with some other some other items and be ready for a good discussion going into FY 26 so I'm gonna shut up at this point since it's getting late and I think there's agreement to send us to finance and keep keep refining it a little bit motion is just to send it to finance we ain't got to talk about that motion we really don't just to send it to

[05:40:31] finance I'm open discussion and then I'm gonna close the discussion because we got to talk about going to finance. So do you want to have a closing? Nope. Okay. All in favor of sending this to finance, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. Very, very good.

[05:40:48] We are going to take a break and do two closed sessions in the break. Ms. Bricksman, will you please read us in the closed sessions two and three? Don't we say two and three right now. Thank you. Okay. I move that the, excuse me, I move that the board of supervisors. Oh, I'm sorry.

[05:41:04] Ernie, guys, thank you. Thank you very much. Okay, I'm sorry. Go on. I move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to sections 2. 2-3711A8 and A29 of the Code of Virginia to consult with legal counsel pertaining to the negotiation of a collective bargaining agreement where public funds are being expended and where negotiations in open session would adversely affect the bargaining position of the county.

[05:41:32] I further move that the Board of Supervisors recess this public hearing and enter into closed session pursuant to sections 2. 23711A3 and A7 of the Code of Virginia to consider disposition of parcels, parcel or parcels of property and to consult with legal counsel and staff members pertaining to the actual and probable litigation regarding the courthouse expansion project in the Leesburg Election District.

[05:42:00] I will second that. Any discussion on that motion? All in favor say aye. Any opposed? That motion passed 9-0.

[05:42:07] Okay, we're back in session.

[06:31:51] Ms. Brixman, will you please read us out of closed session? Yes. I move that the closed session be adjourned, that the Board of Supervisors reconvene its public meeting, that the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed session, and I further move, bless you, that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting discussion on the motion none all right all people say aye aye any opposed that motion will cast 9-0 everyone please affirm miss umstead affirm affirm affirm affirm affirm and i affirm as well thank you

[06:32:31] everybody all right supervisor i want to remind you all of two things when we have a 12 o'clock vote if we are go if we're over although i don't know if that book applies to closed session i don't know how that works for closed session so this is once you remember remember we have a 12 o'clock forward i also want to remind you that um by the rules of order which i am happy to suspend for this moment um after we come out of at this moment in the rules of order in in in order we're supposed

[06:33:05] to actually do the do our nominations and then uh comments uh before we do another item i am happy to suspend the rules of order so we can get items done if that's without without objection i'm going to do that all right having said all that we have a motion out of closed session miss umset would you like to make a motion yes ma'am i move that the board of supervisors approve thirteen thousand three hundred and seventy five dollars for the settlement of a contract claim brought by the Olive Branch Masonic Lodge. I further move that the board direct the county administrator or his designee to

[06:33:41] execute a settlement agreement with the lodge in a form approved by the county attorney to effectuate the settlement and obtain a release of all claims by the lodge. Motion is made and seconded by Supervisor Letourneau. Discussion on the motion?

[06:33:58] None. Anybody else? Final people say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. Let's go to our next item today, which is the Nonprofit Organization Request for Property Tax Exemption designation. That's item 14-I. He is here. We tried earlier. I did. I did. I tried.

[06:34:27] I tried earlier I know joke tried sir to get you out of here I was trying to follow the agenda man I know I know and I'm not trying to give you a solid man I was but didn't work so here we go yes here we go madam chair members of the board this is an item that's being forwarded from the Finance Committee tax exemptions for nonprofit organizations it's Supervisor Letourneau's

[06:34:59] favorite item we had six applicants who made it through the process finance committee recommended forwarding four of those to the full board for consideration they are b dash foundation cornerstones inc northern virginia family service and women giving back you heard a gentleman from cornerstones uh this evening who came out to speak with you there were also two that were not forwarded. I'll just mention them to you. It was Society for Imaging Informatics and Medicine

[06:35:33] and Willisford Conservancy. Both of those organizations have made application to you in the past for an exemption. When it came to the Finance Committee, I did mention that 88 percent of the exemptions that are currently granted are provided in dollar amount. 88 percent of the dollars that go to tax exemption are for two organizations uh falcons landing and howard hughes medical institute of the 5.1 million dollars in calendar year 24 revenue that was forgiven

[06:36:13] 88 or 4.5 million dollars was for those two organizations the list of organizations that we have that have been granted an exemption to date are 49 in total and those two comprise the majority of that money you were forwarded from county administration an amended draft motion earlier this afternoon that includes those four organizations for consideration for a public hearing on november 13th for the granting of an exemption and i'm happy to answer any questions

[06:36:50] that you might have relative to the item. Mr. Turner? Thank you, Madam Chair. Did I hear you correctly? There's 49 organizations that are receiving tax exemptions? There are a lot more than 49, but there are 49 that have been granted exemption by the Board of Supervisors. So once we granted exemption, it's permanent because we're not? That's correct. As long as they're using the property for the exempt purpose for which the Board granted the exemption, Included in your annual budget document is a list of those organizations that have received the exemption

[06:37:29] and the amount that they were provided. And that's also in your item today as attachment four. Okay. There is authorization for you to revoke an exemption should you desire.

[06:37:48] Do you know, I wasn't finance meeting, what was the basis that we just, First of all, there's a comment in here that a total of eight applications were received by the 2024 deadline. Two were granted an exemption by classification. Can you explain that? Yes, there are two different types of exemptions, one by classification, the other is by designation by the governing body.

[06:38:11] The classification determination, I can make on my own. That's for organizations like a VFW or a church or something like that. So I had two organizations that made an application. They did not need to make application through the April 1st deadline, but they did.

[06:38:28] So I processed them in the normal course of business. The other six were nonprofits that you all could consider for an exception. Can I ask, without putting you on the spot too badly, the tenor of the conversation as to why the four were selected -- why the two were not selected?

[06:38:45] What was the basis in the discussion and finance upon which we made the decision not to recommend two of them? characterize it as the organizations didn't, the majority of the benefit was not to Loudon residents, is how I would characterize the comments that the board members were making.

[06:39:09] I got 50 seconds left, so let me do a follow-up question. The information, informatics, the medical informatics, I thought they were based out of the Nova Loudon, and so I would have expected most of their clients are in Nova Loudon. Is that not the case?

[06:39:25] I don't recall their exact address, although it is on the documentation, I believe. They are here in Loudoun County. I would say that they provide services nationally, is how I would characterize their activities.

[06:39:45] Okay, thank you. Mr. Crony. Yeah, thank you, Chair Randall, and thank you, Mr. Warts. So with Cornerstone, they're just looking for a tax exemption for their trucks. Is that correct?

[06:40:01] It's personal property, yes. Personal property. Correct. They do not own any real estate here in the county. I thought they own that hub, that food hub, the Free From Hunger Center food hub. No, they don't own it? No, there's no request for real property tax exemption.

[06:40:19] Okay, so it's just for the trucks. Okay, and Willowsford, I listened to the discussion from finance, and it seems like the main issue there was public access to their 2,000 acres of open space.

[06:40:36] And I want to let the board know that I'm working with them on getting access, public access, continuous on a portion of the 2,000 acres. So whatever isn't contiguous with the residential, we're going to look at providing public access with trails and passive use.

[06:40:57] So I am working on that with them. But they do a lot for the community that's outside of just the residents. So hopefully we can work through that public access issue. I am surprised, and I'm glad you brought this to our attention, Mr. Wurtz.

[06:41:12] I had no idea that two non-profits totaling $4.5 million were receiving the majority of the benefit, right? Yes. And we can rescind that if we decide that that is not meeting the criteria, those two?

[06:41:31] No, you don't make the determination relative to the criteria. You could revoke the exemption if you desire to do that. But one of the criteria in the code is the revenue impact to the locality and its taxpayers of exempting the property.

[06:41:48] So that's one of the criteria. So I'm just saying it's 4.5 million, which has a huge impact to the residents and to the locality and the taxpayers. So but we could rescind it. If you decided to. Okay. Thank you.

[06:42:05] Mr. Sains. Yes, I have a motion if you're ready for motion. I have one quick question first. So I understand that Cornerstone is only asking for a personal property. However, I'm a little confused because the gentleman that came and spoke tonight said that 60% of their services, their benefits are too loud in County.

[06:42:26] But when I asked that question of your staff today and they sent me some information back, he said it was 40%. I do have a rule, and I understand Mr. Letourneau is always saying that we need to have some clarity around this, how we do this. And, you know, after this time, we're going to get together and work on that.

[06:42:44] But I actually have a rule in my own head that it needs to be at least 50% to Loudoun County. And this is, and according to your staff, it's 40%. Do you understand the disparity between what the gentleman said tonight from Cornerstone and what your staff found?

[06:42:59] I can't respond to the comments tonight. We can only convey the information that was provided to us by the applicant. Okay, so you got that from the application that was sent to you. Correct. So when your staff took that, and he actually said, he clearly said 40% to Loudon, 60% to Fairfax.

[06:43:16] I'm more than happy to double-check with my staff. Now, I can find the documentation that I have that was included in your item. Let me find it. Yeah, email. He sent us an email.

[06:43:32] We asked that very question and got an email back right before it came on the day. The application, does the organization provide services exclusively to Loudoun County residents? The answer is no. Loudoun, 40%. Fairfax, 60%.

[06:43:48] And that's on the information they gave you? That's correct. Okay, then I'm going to, then I'm going to, then I will not support Cornerstone because I'm sorry that it needs to be at least 50% to Loudoun County for me. Even if it's just personal property, a real property tax needs to be at least 50%.

[06:44:06] So I will make a friendly to that motion or you can take it out of the motion when you put it in there. But I won't support that. So you want to make the motion? Yes, Madam Chair. I move the recommendation of the Finance, Government, Operations, Economic Development Committee that the Board of Supervisors refer B-Foundation, Northern Virginia Family Services, and Women Giving Back, Incorporated from the list of all eligible applicants identified an attachment one of the october 16th 2024 border supervisors business meeting action item to the november 13th 2024 border supervisors public hearing for consideration of ordinance

[06:44:42] granting the requested property tax exemptions i will second that um and thank you discussion on the motion no mr eternal so that's a good example of why we should yeah no i agree with i know you know so we're gonna we're gonna try again we're gonna try again i tried it once we're gonna try again i did just want to maybe answer supervisor turner's question so the society for the medical imaging they don't serve patients it's like a trade association for imaging professionals or like a thought leadership kind of thing so there's there was really very little direct nexus to anybody here they just happen to be here and it's a great organization i'm sure

[06:45:16] they do wonderful work similarly willisford is great as well but anyway um i always abstain because i i don't like how we do this so no more needs to be said yep all right um when the closing Mr. Sains? All right. All in favor please say aye. Aye. Opposed? Abstain? Abstain. So that will pass 8-0-1 with Mr. Letourneau abstaining. Thank you very much. Thank you so much. All right,

[06:45:48] supervisors. Well, that was the easy one I think today. Let's do the bicycle number 14 in, bicycling and pedestrian wayfinding. Yes, both committees have seen this. This has gone through both committees. So I think, do you have anything different that both committees haven't seen

[06:46:27] already? Does anything change since both committees saw this? No, we have the last slide on the presentation has a summary of the SGOEDC motion that's also in the packet. Okay, I'm going to go on to Ms. Brickspin to make that motion then since everything else is as it was and this has gone through both committees, okay? All right, Ms. Brickspinch, would you like to make a motion?

[06:46:55] May I ask staff a quick question because it will be a, I further move in the motion. Sure. Okay. Will we, would we be able to, would we be able to address Mike Loudon's concerns about the, about the western route without slowing the projects, significantly slowing?

[06:47:17] i believe that we could address their concerns um at the same time as you know as the finance committee we're looking at a eastern pilot route we could look at it at the same time okay excellent all right thank you would you like to make a motion i would i'm i'm trying to find the motion sorry madam chair okay i wasn't expecting to go straight to okay here we go it's good i'm glad we are okay i move that the recommendation of the transportation and land use committee uh that the

[06:47:55] board of supervisors endorse the proposed countywide bicycle and pedestrian wayfinding program prioritization methodologies recommend recommended wayfinding sign typologies and proposed pilot bicycle wayfinding routes as described in the october 16 2024 board of supervisors business meeting action item i further move that the recommendation of the finance government operations and Economic Development Committee that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to identify the feasibility of an additional pilot route in eastern Loudoun County as part of the proposed wayfinding program.

[06:48:30] I further move that the recommendation of the Finance, Government, Operations, and Economic Development Committee that the Board of Supervisors direct staff to send the funding discussion for implementation of the proposed pilot bicycle wayfinding routes to include the additional pilot route development of customized wayfinding signage and prioritization analysis for further route selection to the fiscal year 2026 capital improvement program budget process for consideration and prioritization by the board i further move that the board of supervisors direct staff to work with bike loudon to investigate the feasibility of an alternate route in western

[06:49:07] loudon that addresses the route 9 safety concerns thank you is that what you needed is that good the motion thank you thank you madam chair i appreciate it um so i really appreciate the work on this um as we discussed in finance uh this started in 2017 and um and now we're taking it up now and i i was concerned that um we didn't have another kind of functional route in eastern loudon while we had a 40 mile route um in western loudon which i i think is great i don't want to take it

[06:49:45] away i want it to happen i know there's a ton of cyclists out there every weekend i know that it will be a tourist attraction but i just want to make sure that we're also doing functional routes where the majority of the population might need them and so that's why for my colleagues that's why i added the second eastern route to the project i actually alerted bike loudon to this item over the weekend when we were riding bikes and um she went and took a look at it and and i wasn't expecting her to make those comments tonight about route nine but i actually did drive out on um

[06:50:25] old wheatland road a couple weekends ago and it happened to be friday around rush hour and i went to the intersection with route nine and i thought oh my gosh um there there is a lot of traffic on this road and i didn't make the connection that that she did that bike the bike loud and representative made and one of her comments to me was that since there's been improvements on route 9 and also since covid the the traffic patterns have changed a little bit and that that maybe when we first envisioned this in 2017 we do have a little bit of a different ground truth right now so i appreciate just looking at that what the section she was talking about

[06:51:04] hopefully it's just a small section that she's worried about and working with bike loud and to make sure that we are directing folks on on safe routes because the last thing we want to do is direct folks to something that's you know on to a route that's not necessarily safe for them and I think that is all I have thank you Mr. Crony thank you chair Randall so and thank you staff so I think there's two hundred five signs that are gonna go in the Western Loudoun route is that

[06:51:38] correct that's what's being proposed okay so we are doing a rural uh cpam and zoeum about signs and i do worry um that there that's a lot of signs i think it's about five signs every mile um why why all these signs so as you approach an intersection you have a destination sign right that says at this upcoming intersection turn right to go to this destination stay straight

[06:52:10] to go to the next town so you make your decision and at the other side of the intersection you have a confirmation sign that says this way to the town that you're trying to get to or this way to the destination you're trying to get to basically confirming that you're on the right route and so every time you have an intersection of or a junction of bike routes you have three signs sometimes more depending on how many routes are being added, right?

[06:52:46] If you have a spur route, you might have additional signs there. And then on top of that, every mile, you have another confirmation sign just to reconfirm that people are on the route that they want to be on to get to where they want to go. So that's how the signs were identified for those routes.

[06:53:07] So I saw in an article that people were concerned about sign clutter and western loud and and making our county our country roads look trashy with all the signs these are just things i saw in an article um i mean will the public have an opportunity to have comment before we put up 205 signs we can build that into the um sign placement the next steps for

[06:53:40] determining where they go yeah i just think they're they're concerns about the number of signs and and just especially in western loudon so i just want to bring that up because we will take that into yeah consideration as we further the implementation here yes okay okay thank you sir you already spoke mr spoke didn't you you spoke already i don't know if you did on this item have you spoken on this item already didn't you just speak on this item oh okay okay yes yes sir thank you um just a really quick comment to follow up on what supervisor crony

[06:54:18] just said um i used to live in western loud and now i live in eastern loud and i ride my bike everywhere wayfinding signs are absolutely critical especially out west i mean you just have no idea what at least you know somebody's looked at the route and said this is drivers are aware they're going to be bicyclists on this road the bicycle bicycle the cyclists are aware of this somebody's looked at this and this is a recommended routing to get to where you want to go it allows private organizations to map out the preferred bike routes based on the wayfinding signs so a whole bunch of collateral benefits for the signage and i i i think they're pretty

[06:54:56] unobtrusive i don't think they're going to be large billboards two by four foot billboards they're going to be small wayfinding signs and you'll just get used to looking for them i grew up in new jersey and you can find a new jersey turnpike arrow all over the place and it really helps because you immediately know what to look for and where to go. So I think you're in good shape. Thanks. I'm happy to support this item. I don't think it's because where the majority of people in Loudoun County live because everybody in Loudoun County who are taxpayers are paying for this. And as Mr. Turner just said, bicyclists ride all over Loudoun County. I'm happy to support

[06:55:33] it because it's a good item to support, not because it's where the majority of people live in Loudoun County because we're one county. Ms. Briggs, would you like a closing? Thank you, Madam Chair. So I appreciate staff's work on this. Thank you very much.

[06:55:52] And Supervisor Turner said pretty much what I was going to say about the signage as an avid cyclist as well. I think it's critical, especially out there on the country roads, that we have plenty of warning, that we direct people.

[06:56:08] You know, those can be windy roads And, you know, at the intersections, there may be a couple different options that you need to know about. And I actually thank Supervisor Turner for mentioning that it alerts drivers that you could be sharing the road with cyclists.

[06:56:25] And I have to go back to look at the signs, but I think it would also be good to have those types of signs, not just the wayfinding, but you are sharing the road with cyclists, potentially, when you are on these routes. think would be would be really a good addition somehow especially given what bike loud and said tonight about their concerns on some of those roads where the sight lines aren't great and they're narrow and those sorts of things and I know that if you're alerting drivers to be watching for the cyclists I think that that they would be watching for the cyclists so I really I really

[06:57:03] appreciate this project I'm so looking forward to it and I won't belabor the point anymore because it's getting late. Thank you. Motion made by the Bricksman and seconded by Supres or Saints, the avid bike rider that he is. All in favor, please say aye. Any opposed?

[06:57:28] All right. Thank you very much. And we will go to the last item, which is the purchase of development rights discussion. Good evening. How y'all doing? Good evening. Doing all right? Good.

[06:58:06] So whenever we presented the DPZ work plan earlier this month, there was a motion made to bring just this component of the work plan back to the board for further guidance. So that is why we are here. We produced a very small staff report. I think the board's well aware of the history. We're happy to discuss more or answer any questions.

[06:58:28] Primarily, we are here, I believe, more so that y'all can talk with each other than perhaps talk to us. Basically, I'm here. Leave me out of this. Talk amongst yourselves. That's what you just said to us.

[06:58:43] I'm happy to answer any questions. That's what you very nicely said. Leave me out of this and talk amongst yourselves. And that is, and I, listen, I totally understand that. That is not an issue at all. You feel the same way? Yes, you guys.

[06:59:00] All right. I'm trying to remember, was this Mr. Kirshner, Mr. Turner, and kind of Mr. Crony, who all kind of bought this at one time. So, Mr. Turner, I think that, you know, truthfully, I think the easiest thing to do is go to a motion.

[06:59:22] So how about you go to a motion? You want to make a motion? I will, Madam Chair. I move the Board of Supervisors to maintain the purchase of development rights program at the current prioritization level within the Department of Planning and Zoning Work Plan and authorize staff to review, evaluate, and offer recommendations relating to a pilot program.

[06:59:40] Motion is made and seconded by Mr. Crony. Discussion on the motion, Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. I don't want to beat this dead horse. I think the vote is going to go 5-4 one way or the other. I think that's where we are. I'm hoping for a little bit better than that. But I think everybody's familiar with the arguments.

[06:59:57] Let me just kind of summarize and reiterate my argument. There's no question that the grand PDR program that the board has been struggling with for years now was pretty ponderous and wasn't going to get enough votes to pass.

[07:00:14] PEC, to their credit, basically carved out a very nominal and manageable pilot program. I think based on the presentation that I received, it can be set up so it has minimal staff oversight, that there are ways to administer the pilot program with relatively low staff input.

[07:00:37] I would like to try it for two reasons. Number one, it's one more tool that we don't have right now that we could have to set aside development rights with conditions that we determine, guaranteeing public access, specifying the uses for that site when the development rights are given up.

[07:00:59] So the first one, it gives us another tool for all over the county, not just in the west. And if it's laser focus and a pilot program, I think there's some really good projects. I'm thinking of several things that we could do along Goose Creek and with trails along Goose Creek and Broad Run on the eastern side of the county.

[07:01:18] But the second main reason is there is a -- there are a lot of federal and state grant programs around the -- an established PDR program that are not available if the county just decided on its own, okay, we want to do this with this piece of land, those grant monies would not be available.

[07:01:35] Having an established PDR program, albeit a small one, opens up those coffers and allows us to leverage county dollars to maximum effect. I specifically asked today, a rep from the PEC, because I made the comment from the dais and I wanted to make sure it was not out to lunch, that when we spent $26 million on that 300 acres off of Evergreen Mills Road, that we could have pursued that under a small pilot PDR program and probably done the same deal for $6 million and specified the allowed public uses on that piece of land.

[07:02:08] I don't know that for sure, but I did a broad brush analysis with the person I was talking to, and they said, yeah, that probably could have worked. So it's another tool, and it opens up grant monies that we don't have available to us. This is a very modest proposal, and I think it's worth a shot.

[07:02:24] Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Turner. Mr. Letourneau? Thank you. Well, I think, as Supervisor Turner said, our positions are fairly well established on this. I do want to thank the PEC for coming up with a somewhat novel angle at this, but to me it just doesn't really work as a pilot because what's it going to prove out?

[07:02:46] It may be an entity within itself as sort of a means of land acquisition, but the first problem I have is if we're talking about LPAT specifically, most of that's within the flood plane and in an environmentally sensitive area anyway. So it's not going to be very instructive for us as part of a PDR, and it's going to land that is not the hardest to acquire of all the stuff that we're trying to do, we'll still have to come back and get permanent access to these properties, and we're still going to have to have a negotiation about it. So the strongest argument that I've heard is that we may be able

[07:03:24] to get certain grant money for this that we wouldn't otherwise. I'm not necessarily certain that that's the case, but I think that that's offset by the fact that I don't buy that it's minimal staff time and staff involvement because these things never are just preparing the items that are going to come to us and the discussions that are going to happen that alone but you know because it's a pilot the point of a pilot is to sort of prove something out so if it really was a pilot it would need to have more staff involvement because we would be looking at it to see if it could be expanded into other areas and other ways and I've been pretty clear that I just don't want

[07:04:00] do that. I think if we need to acquire land, we should acquire land for LPAT. There are other ways of acquiring land. There's negotiations we've had. We did acquire some land for LPAT through various land use applications and so on and so. In fact, we've done a lot of that and so on and so forth.

[07:04:15] So I just don't see this pilot as solving a problem for us in particular, nor do I think it's a particularly good representation of what PDR actually is and what it's typically used for. so i really wouldn't even call it a pdr pilot so in any event i think we need to just end this discussion the board's been in limbo on it and the work plan staff is tired of it i think coming back and forth and getting caught in the middle between the two factions on the board so we need to decide um and i'm hoping that we can just move on for now and certainly we've got plenty of things

[07:04:52] that we've got going on in this county right now all we talk about is how staff stretched thin particularly planning and zoning staff they don't need another program to manage so let's let's just end this yeah I don't think we should put words in staff's mouth they were real careful not to to say they don't even talk and we probably shouldn't put words in their mouth mr. Kirshner thank you madam chair so I don't I don't know how to kind of say this in any other way than I've ever said it and obviously I represent a big chunk of western Latin County but if we want to have a county that looks like Loudoun and not

[07:05:31] Fairfax we need to start doing something we need to start doing it really really fast because that's what's happening and it's going to happen probably within the next 10 years and PDR is just one of those types of programs and I think part of what is being proposed by the PEC and I went through the presentation yesterday is more than just novel it's actually somewhat proven if you look at Clark County and what they've done we're kind of leaving money on the table quite frankly if we're not going to explore this.

[07:05:57] I think of the, of the, of their, I think it was local funds was about 25% of the stuff that's been put in PDR. And that's pretty significant. That's more bang for your buck than, quite frankly, you're going to get anywhere else for any other reason. So when you drive, I mean, for those supervisors who want to vote against this, when you drive west and you enjoy seeing the winery to the right or the open field to the left, those are either in easements or they've been purchased by some past PDR program.

[07:06:25] that is going to become houses otherwise at some point. So you're right, what the PEC was addressing would not necessarily address most of those things, but it would give us an opportunity to look at how well this is working.

[07:06:43] And you would have a scoring system, quite frankly, that would prioritize parks and county uses and LPAT program, et cetera, et cetera. So if you take this off the table, we won't even be able to explore that.

[07:07:00] And that's, I think, we on TLUC, that's all we're asking. And it's not even going to be worked on right away. I mean, staff's got a number of other things far in front of this, quite frankly. So I think that, I think it's penny wise and pound foolish to just kind of discard this without the opportunity to look at it.

[07:07:16] And yes, it will require some staff time, but allowing TLUC to explore this is kind of what we do in our committee. And by just taking it off the table, you're neutering our committee when it comes to something that's very important, and that's land use, quite frankly, in this county and what the West represents to this county.

[07:07:32] Because, again, if you want Fairfax County, sure, 100 percent. But that's – I know what the chair doesn't want. She wants Loudoun County, and I think that's why we're all on this board. And we're one board. Fairfax County, why was it? Quite frankly, yeah, we're one board, and one board looks to kind of accomplish the comprehensive plan that we have, which is very distinct policy areas.

[07:07:56] And this is just one of those small tools. I mean, listen, you don't even have to fund it, quite frankly, which means it will never go anywhere. But until you explore something and look at it as an opportunity, then you're just dismissing it. So I think a vote no on this, quite frankly, is a vote for more houses and a West that will end up dying.

[07:08:15] Thank you, sir. Mr. Crony. Thank you, Chair Randall. And yeah, I mean, I think I think this provides an opportunity to preserve land across all of Loudoun County and it does lessen the cost to taxpayers Because you know that that would they would normally be homes which require services and it allows Residents to have open space and trails and parks. I mean, we just talked tonight about how we don't have enough parks we don't have enough cricket fields

[07:08:54] In Eastern Loudoun. So I see this as an opportunity to just preserve What the vision of Loudoun County the vision that people gave input in to the comprehensive plan and this is just a test to show that something like this which can be small or big it depends on on the board's direction again this is all board direction we can have a big impact you know especially with our LPAT program you know

[07:09:28] connecting those missing trails it is disappointing that we can't get the votes here to move forward with a pilot it's something that I think the board's been talking about since 2020 um the last board i know um tried to move this forward and then with covet it got put on hold and now we're we're killing it basically um i'm hoping that we'll keep it on tbd at least so that um if the board has a change of heart we can bring it forward and and do a pilot um i think pc's um proposal is excellent it it allows us to really test it and and to show that

[07:10:07] this can work for all of Loudoun County. And that's how I see it. I don't see it for just Western Loudoun. I see it for the entire county. Um, and I do think we're leaving money on the table. Clark County's figured it out. I mean, they, I think they give like 20% of the funding towards their program and they've preserved, um, thousands of acres for parks and open space and trails so it is disappointing um but i'm hoping that we'll keep it on tbd and and re reinvigorate

[07:10:38] it um down the road thank you thank you ma'am miss brixman thank you madam chair um so i spent 75 minutes on friday afternoon with pec um and went you know talked a lot about this this potential new idea, and I also appreciate their time and efforts. I don't have a hard heart toward the goals that they're trying to accomplish, and, you know, we sort of agreed to disagree on

[07:11:14] the concept. I am not convinced that having a program like this pilot, all the elements of it, I think are already supported in our policy. We can already do just about everything that is suggested in this pilot, because our policy supports it. Our policy supports the LPAT.

[07:11:43] Our policy supports us buying easements and or land itself for the LPAT. And the grants, I also believe our policy supports going out and finding grants for outdoor recreation of any type that we're trying to do.

[07:12:06] So, you know, I listen with an open mind, and I just believe that our policy already supports pretty much everything this program is trying to say that it does. Also, a number of the grant programs that were mentioned, by nature of their grants, their conservancy-type grants, would not allow public access to the land when we apply for the grant and if we get the grant.

[07:12:40] So I won't be supporting the motion. Again, it's not because I have a hard heart toward the cause. I understand the concerns of my colleagues, but I just don't think it's a good use of anyone's taxpayer dollars or of staff's time at this point.

[07:13:00] Thank you. First of all, thank you to PEC for coming up with this. I think it's interesting that my colleague says I wouldn't call this a PDR pilot program. That's kind of interesting, meaning in any discussions about we tried this once and it's not working.

[07:13:17] Well, this is not a PDR pilot, and I guess we haven't tried this before, have we? So, you know, listen, I think that I'm going to try to use all tools possible to ensure Western Loudoun County remains Western Loudoun County.

[07:13:37] We have the infrastructure to support homes in the, or we're at least trying to put the infrastructure down to support homes in the east. we have the roads, we have the schools, we have fire and rescue, we have what we need in the east, that's why we put houses there, and that's why, you know, urban policy area is more dense and more vertical. We don't have that same infrastructure in the west, so when homes go up in the west, even if it's by right, it costs us more, and that's not what we want to do, and it costs us not so much in the homes, because again, we should not look at people as cost, but we

[07:14:14] We lose abilities to have – even the ability to have more tourist attractions, more – because that's where all of our tourist tax money comes from. So, you know, I think we are a unique county because we have these distinct policy areas.

[07:14:34] And my goal is to keep distinct policy areas. And so all the tools that will allow me to build a robust urban policy area with dense vertical housing and performance arts center and sports and all those things, I'm going to put them there.

[07:14:55] All the goals in suburban policy area that allows us to do pocket parks and great education facilities and nice homes and walkable communities, I'm going to do them there. And everything in the West that allows us to keep Western Loudoun County open and free of by-right development, because that's what we're going to see.

[07:15:17] We're going to see by-right development, which gives us no infrastructure at all. I'm going to try to do it there. So I'm trying to focus on what is good for the whole county, countywide. And I think that this is good for Western Loudoun County, which means it's good for the county.

[07:15:36] so i'm i'm i i'm going to support the item mr turner would you like to have a closing sir uh close my thinking of our ears i'm sorry i closed my ipad i don't have access to the i don't need a closing you'll need a closing you'll need a closing all right uh mr turner made the motion mr crony seconded the motion all in people say aye aye opposed um miss bricks i mean miss glass would you vote would you vote okay that motion will fail 5-4

[07:16:10] with supervisors um turner to crony um chair randall and supervisor kirschner voting for the motion all right uh thank you uh now we i'm sure do i need to then make motion two i think i do do you think i do yeah oh i guess so okay all right i move the board of supervisors remove the purchase development rights program from the department of planning and zoning we're planning direct staff to discontinue work on this program until directed otherwise by the board of

[07:16:42] supervisors second um we certainly don't need to relitigate the whole discussion but i do want to state i think i'm speaking on behalf of everybody who just voted no that this is not a referendum on turning loud into fairfax county or getting rid of the zoning that we have in loud in which they don't have in fairfax county which is one unit per 10 or 20. in fact the pilot program was entirely in eastern loudon in this case so we have our differences i know we do on this program but i think the board has been pretty united in our desire to see western loudon maintain

[07:17:20] its royal character and access we may have a few differences minor differences really on specifics of how to get there sometimes but i think everybody up here is pretty unified on that and i think that that should be an important message coming out regardless of how you feel on this particular program anybody else mr kirsten i just want to answer that a little bit sure um yeah you can you can say that supervisor letourneau but i want to tell you quite frankly the next board may not feel the same way so that's the issue it's it's a future board not maybe not the next board the board after that is going to change the zoning in western land you just wait

[07:17:56] and see and until and if we don't preserve these proper pieces of property permanently they will get developed bottom line that's what's happening in prince william that's what happened in fairfax mr turner oh sorry i would say that i think mr kirsten is the proof of that is that and i keep saying this no board going back i think we're almost going back 16 years right now has approved a housing development in western london county yet we have a ever-growing ever-crowded western london county including the ever-growing ever-crowded roads because when they're built by

[07:18:32] right no one actually built uh puts in any proffers for that so i think that we're i i i i take mr to turn around his word i have no reason not to but i think that that the facts show that something else um happens i think you know i can't believe i'm gonna quote mr higgins but mr higgins should always say nothing is not going to be what happens something's going to happen depends on what you you want to happen and what we make happen. And every other way we decide, we try to say

[07:19:05] what we want to happen so that we have some control over it right now. Yeah. So anyway, would you like to close him? Well, now I do. Yeah. And we had that same thing happening when we had a PDR program in place. We had by right development happening in Western Loudoun. If a property owner is so motivated to develop, the PDR program is not going to deter them from that. But I don't think the conversation about tools in the toolbox is over in terms of how to do this. But I think that we can have an honest disagreement about whether

[07:19:39] this particular tool is the right one or the good one and still have the same goal. And I'm going to stick with that. So remember this vote is kind of the opposite. So just remember how you're voting on this is kind of the opposite. How you the opposite because of how the motion is stated. So Just be aware of that.

[07:19:58] So all in favor, you're in favor of taking it off, is what you're saying, okay? So all in favor, please say aye. Opposed? Nay. I think that's the same number. Ms. Glass, I can't hardly hear you down here.

[07:20:15] I'm not trying to pick on you. I just don't know what you're saying. I actually think you're whispering on purpose because it's an aye. Okay, that motion will pass the same thing, 5-4.

[07:20:30] Okay, if you have an appointment, please put your light on, and Ms. Brickspin's going to do a, she wants to do a suspension of the rules. Thank you, Dan. Hey, Dan, I got a text that said, when you said, like, you just sit there, I got a text from my chief of staff that said, Dan is just a man.

[07:20:54] He is. I'm like, he is. All right, if you have an appointment, put your lights on. miss umstead thank you ma'am i am nominating tyler richards to the redc mr crony i nominate donna wadowski to the little river district seat for the community criminal justice board miss uh excuse me mr sanes i nominate paula araho as the sterling district representative

[07:21:31] on the Animal Advisory Committee, and I nominate David Kaiser as an at-large representative on the Community Services Board. All right, Ms. Brixton, would you like to make a motion? I move -- well, do I have to nominate first and then move for suspending the rules?

[07:21:50] No, you have to -- no, you have to suspend the rules first. You have to nominate first. That's what I thought. Okay. I nominate George Lambert to the Heritage Commission as the Algonquian District Representative. All right. That nomination has been made, and keep going, ma'am.

[07:22:06] I move that the Board of Supervisors suspend the rules. I will second that. Thank you. Any discussion? All in favor, say aye. Aye. Let's try that one more time. All in favor, please say aye. Aye.

[07:22:23] Opposed? Okay. I'll tell you. Well, actually, you should have said it then, because that was the motion for suspension. So you should say it in the motion for suspension. Okay. Well, I'm suspending the rules because the Algonquian District seat has been empty.

[07:22:40] this entire term so far, and we would like to have him go to the November 4th meeting, which is before our November 7th meeting. All right. Can I just ask a quick question? Is his information in the packet?

[07:22:56] Yes. Okay. Yeah, his application is in. Thank you. All right, would you like to make a, would you like to? Thank you, thank you. Would you like to do the rest? Yes. Please do. I move that the Board of Supervisors confirm George Lambert to the Heritage Commission as the Algonquian District Representative.

[07:23:12] I will second that. Discussion on the motion. We're going to discussion on the motion. Ms. Bricksman. Would you like to hear about Mr. Lambert before you vote? Not really. Okay. No. Thank you, Mr. Lambert. You're awesome.

[07:23:30] All in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That motion will pass 9-0. All right. We do have board comments. Yes, we do. and and yes we do don't shake your head at me and disclosures and disclosures we do have more comments and disclosures shaking head is not helpful and and because of that I'm going to you first Mr. Kirshner board comments and disclosures yes sir yeah the news from Catoctin

[07:24:03] all right no real quick I do want to let everybody know on the board and anybody who may still be listening at this late witching hour that we have two more Saturdays for farm market October 19th and 26th from 8:00 to 11:00 so go get your last farm products we also have the loud loud and far fall farm tour coming up October 19th to 20th and that's the news from Catoctin see I did that in 40 seconds you have no disclosures no mandatory I did meet with Jen Mingle and Keely

[07:24:41] Murphy and T.A. Ehrman about the proposed PDR program yesterday. Okay, thank you very much. Ms. Tacroni. Okay. Disclosures on October 14th. My staff met with Molly Novotny and Angela Reyes regarding Stonehill on October 10th. I met with Denise Harover regarding the Orme farm application on October 9th I met with Colleen Gillis and Ben Wales regarding Fleetwood North on October 8th

[07:25:16] I met with Colleen Gillis Angela Reyes Ben Wales Dave McEnany and Neetma Shaw regarding Fleetwood North so I had the I just wanted to bring up that Buzzy Carter age 77 Valde Virginia passed away on October 10th, 2024. Hold on one second. Guys, guys, stop. Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys. Okay, say that one more time because I think it was important what you just said. It is important.

[07:25:50] No, you did not. He did not. Say it again, Mr. Crony. Buzzy Carter, age 77, of Aldi, Virginia, died on October 10th, 2024. He served the Aldi Volunteer Fire Department and community for nearly 63 years and was fire chief for over 35 consecutive years. He was chairman of the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Commission for many years, was the recipient of numerous awards, and was the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue, was in the Loudoun County Fire and Rescue Hall of Fame. His leadership,

[07:26:30] incident command skills and firefighting tactics were legendary, and he was directly involved in saving numerous lives over the years. He inspired many people to make fire and EMS work their livelihood. I'm sorry he's not going to get to see the grand opening of the Aldi fire station next year. I knew Buzzy. I have a little picture of him. When I went to the Aldi garage, he ran the Aldi garage for 47 years before he retired and he used to fix my Hondas. He is such a pleasant

[07:27:06] man. I mean it was so nice to speak with him just about what was going on in Aldi and yesterday I went to the visitation and saw family and friends. I'd ask everybody to keep Chief Carter's family in your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time and we will miss him in the village of Aldi and I want to thank him thank him for his years of service to Loudoun County. Thank you Mr. Crony.

[07:27:38] Mr. Letourneau. Disclosures. September 23rd I met with Amanda Williams of Cooley, Colleen Gillis of Curata and James Brothers and David Ramsey in Westbrook Properties to discuss the Arcola Town Center application. I'm going to come back to that in a second. On October 15th I met with Colleen Gillis of Curata, James Brothers, and Dave Ramsey of Westbrook to discuss the Arcola Town Center application.

[07:28:03] Sorry, didn't realize I was reading the same thing twice, just different dates. So we deferred that item tonight because we're just working on shoring up language that is specific to the use of the barn and the commercial uses in the site. We're not changing the overall unit count or anything like that, but we're trying to ensure that the commercial uses will be as intended the language is a little bit loose on that as it exists supervisor crony brought that to my attention and raised it and it was a valid valid concern so we're we're trying to work on that to just see if we can get that resolved for the next

[07:28:39] meeting so that's what's happening on that one that's all i'm going to say happy birthday to Supervisor Craig. Supervisor Sainz. Thank you, Madam Chair. On Monday, October 7th, I met with Molly Novotny of Curhetta and Angela Rasa of Toll Brothers to discuss the Stonehill residential application.

[07:29:05] On Wednesday, October 9th, I met with Denise Harver of Van Meter about ORMA commercial application. Thank you, Supervisor Umstadt. Thank you, ma'am.

[07:29:22] On October 3rd, I met with Denise Harover and Roy Barnett on the ORM property application. On October 7th, I met with Mike Romeo and Charles Yudd on the Greenland Park application.

[07:29:44] On October 9th, I met with Matthew Penning and Aaron Frank on the Milestone application. And on October 16th, I had a phone call with Colleen Gillis of Carada on the Spirit application.

[07:30:10] No further comments except happy birthday, Laura. Thanks. thank you miss the glass thank you madam chair uh i have three disclosures on wednesday october 2nd my staff met with representatives of milestone towers to discuss the trail side and belmont tower applications on thursday october 3rd i met with representatives of the moorfield oslo residential application on tuesday october 8th my staff met with representatives of

[07:30:43] the Greenlight Park Data Center application. And yesterday I went to a couple of locations with Mobile Hope. They, it was called the Listen for the Honk. That's the first time that I went out there with them. It was, I had a lot of feelings about that, you know, about going out there.

[07:31:14] i felt good that i was helping people um you know passing out vegetables to them they had two trucks out there one had it was a truck with essentials the other truck was a refrigerated truck so they had lots of fruits and vegetables that canned goods They had things for, you know, for children, for families.

[07:31:43] But it also showed me what need that we have in Loudoun County. You know, people always say that we are the richest county in the nation or in the Commonwealth, but we still have a lot of need out here. In the second location that we went to, the line was much longer than the first location.

[07:32:05] And my heart just went out to, you know, all the folks that are out there. And I just want to, first of all, thank all of our nonprofits that are out there and all the wonderful things that they do. And I also want to thank the stores that we're giving the, you know, the vegetables and, you know, all those good things that families need, that children need.

[07:32:30] They said they had received goods from Costco, from Giant, and I think Aldi. And there were a couple other stores I can't remember. But just thank you all for, you know, having such a heart to help people that are in need.

[07:32:48] Thank you, Madam Chair. That's it. Thank you. Thank you. Mr. Turner. Thank you, Madam Chair. On Thursday, October 10th, my staff and I, excuse me, met with Charles Yudd from Loudon Water, Ankur Walia, and Clayton Tock from Urban LTD, Mike Romia from Walsh Kalusi, and Catherine Bond, a private consultant, to discuss the application for Greenland Park.

[07:33:11] Friday, October 11th, my staff spoke with Amanda Williams from Cooley LLP to discuss the Vantage Data Center 3 site. On Friday, October 11th, I spoke with Denise Harover from Van Meter to discuss the application for Orem Farm. On Tuesday, October 16th, I met with Dana Adams, Steve Conner, Philip McCauley, John Stevenson, and Kaitlin Monahan from Vantage, and Amanda Williams from Cooley LP to discuss the Vantage Data Center 3 site. I have no other comments. Thank you.

[07:33:42] Thank you very much. Ms. Brooksman. Thank you, Madam Chair. By the way of disclosures, on October 4th, I met with Milestone Towers on the trailside park cell tower application on october 11th i had a meeting with a representative from the orm farm rezoning application i think i may have mentioned but i did go out to the waterford fair a couple fridays ago and got the chance to drive a wheatland road and also got the chance to go along with donnie walker and see all of his tree houses that he has built on his own

[07:34:21] literally built them. It was pretty amazing. I also went to visit the Eastern Loudoun Homeless Services Drop-In Center and really had a great conversation with the staff there and Ina Fernandez, the head of our family services. And the center's beautiful. It's already getting a good amount of use. It's over there on Ridgetop Circle. And folks come in and use the showers.

[07:34:50] They use the computer for, you know, communicating and job searching, and they use the space to escape from heat and cold. There's a kitchen there if they want to cook something. So I'm really glad that we have this set up on Ridgetop Circle and would encourage my colleagues to go visit.

[07:35:08] We also went to the Douglas High School Legacy event, which I'm extremely proud of how this board handled that. I'll call it a reconciliation for the forced sale of that property.

[07:35:24] Appreciate Chair Randall making that motion to make sure that we worked on that. And as Chair Randall always says, we don't always get to see the results of the work that we do. Often it's the next board or the next board, but I really, really felt proud when we were there because the Legacy Day is something that came out of a community and a committee effort.

[07:35:50] to to really ask the community what they wanted for the the wrongs that were that were done in the past so that that was really great i still i also invite my colleagues if they haven't been to go visit the douglas school and see all of the um associations and groups that are that are housed there now um by way of the gun violence archive there have been 13 465 total gun deaths It's about 600 more since we last met, and 420 mass shootings.

[07:36:21] The deaths include 190 children aged under 11, and 918 teens aged 12 to 17. I say these numbers every meeting, partly because I don't want us to grow numb to them, but I also don't want us to feel helpless, because I think that we can be creative and continue to be creative about ways to stop gun violence, especially the gun violence that is killing our children.

[07:36:49] And if you didn't see, I'm happy to report that the school board unanimously passed an initiative last week to update the students' rights and responsibilities for families' handbook with information about safe storage of firearms and include a notification to parents and guardians in the annual registration materials that explains the importance of safe storage and the legal obligation to protect minors, especially those 14 and under, from accessing loaded, unsecured firearms.

[07:37:21] And it is required that the family sign acknowledgement that they receive this information and that they are aware of the state law. And, you know, I'm particularly proud of this because it was the Algonquian school board member who championed this effort, and it was a unanimous vote. The U.S. Secret Service analysis shows, after nearly 40 years of school gun violence, that 76 percent of school shooters' guns come from the home of a parent or close relative. Nearly 80 percent of gun suicides of people

[07:37:57] under the age of 18 involve a gun that belongs to a family member, according to a study published by preventative medicine. A 2023 study by the American Academy of Pediatrics found that guns are the leading cause of death for American children and teenagers with rates of firearm fatalities among juveniles surging by 87 percent from 2011 to 2021. I appreciate the school board for passing this measure. I appreciate them thinking about student safety, and I want us to continue to be creative as a county to figure out more ways to keep our

[07:38:37] community safe from gun violence. Thank you Madam Chair. Thank you Ms. Brooksman. Never stop giving those numbers. On 10-4 my staff met with representatives from Cooley on Trailside Park. On 10-9 my staff met with representatives from Toe Brothers Curata on Stone Hill. And on 10-11 my staff met with representatives from Band Meter on the Orem Farm and Rezoning.

[07:39:04] A few things I want to congratulate LCPS. LCPS has the second highest graduation rate in Virginia, the first largest for a county their size. The only school system that was higher than theirs was Falls Church, who has a fairly small number of students.

[07:39:24] And so for all practical purposes, we are sitting at the highest rate. It is absolutely phenomenal what that rate is, especially given what they were forced to go through over the past few years. And so even with that, they have focused on educating and graduating children, and I think that's amazing, so I want to congratulate them.

[07:39:51] Mr. Crony, Louis Buzzy Carter was actually a very good man who we celebrated at the State of the County some years ago, and I remember it being so funny because where I set pictures for people at State of the County, I went to take his picture three times to get the right picture that we wanted to get for him, and his family came, and it was a great night.

[07:40:13] He was a great, great man who did so much for the county. I also attended the services today, the repass services for Pat Fisher, who was, amongst other things, Pat Fisher played for the then Washington Redskins, and if you look, he has been voted one of the 70 best, they were at that time, the Redskins ever.

[07:40:38] He is a very, very interesting man. His time as a football player was absolutely incredible, he was an incredible player, but This time after was also really incredible. All the things he did in Loudoun County, other nonprofits.

[07:40:54] And so his family honored me and invited me to take part today in his services and repass. And I was so, it was, you know, I walked into a room and it was like all the old football greats that we see and that we've seen on our televisions were there.

[07:41:12] And so it was so humbling to be there. so I did want to absolutely say his name. Finally, I do want to say that also that I was really honored, and I had not told my family this before, but I was really honored to be one of the 50 most influential people in Northern Virginia.

[07:41:30] I had not told my family before, which is why I didn't want to-- Yeah, thank you, though. It was a really fantastic night.

[07:41:45] I was joined by Stephanie Bedowski. I was joined by Aaron Spence, Buddy Reiser, Beth Erickson. So Loudon really did represent very well. I will say it was a wonderful night, not because I actually think I'm one of the 50 most influential people in Northern Virginia.

[07:42:03] I certainly don't think that. In fact, I think probably the most influential people in Northern Virginia are names you probably don't even hear a lot. They are firefighters. They are teachers. They are, you know, people who just work every day just to be nice, good, kind people. They are people of faith.

[07:42:19] So, you know, I think the people who are known probably are not really the most influential. We happen to be called that, but I don't think anyone believes that's really true. But I don't because that's, you know. But I will say that it does remind me that I still get to wake up every day and go, I get to be chair of Loudoun County again today, and that just never goes away.

[07:42:41] It never goes away. It's kind of the, it's almost like this magic moment when I wake up and I'm like, I get to be chair of the county again today. It's a wonderful feeling. And so, although, you know, influential is kind of who's known and not really who it is, it was a great honor, but mostly because it's such a great honor for me to represent what I do believe is the most marvelous county in the country.

[07:43:08] So I appreciate that, and I appreciate being nominated, and gosh knows, I appreciate serving in this position. So thank you. Okay, we are going to go back into closed session, but I need a break first, a quick break.

[07:43:24] Point of information. Yes, sir. Our deadline of 12 o'clock. We haven't hit it yet. We have not hit it yet. So what if we go in closed session and hit the deadline? Well, we're going to be in closed session before the deadline hits. That's what's going to happen right now. okay so um so no no we have to go yeah we have to vote yeah i need a break but you guys are going to read to go into closed session if you want to but i need i need five minutes before we read to go into closed session and then miss briggsman's leaving and mr turner's going to read us to go into closed session so literally five minutes and then we're going to go to closed session

[07:51:12] and he should well and and we can try to change it but we and we should because it's not the same There are two different things, and the General Assembly has them listed as the same thing. All right, let's do this, guys. All right, we're back in.

[07:51:28] Mr. Turner, would you please read us into closed session? I move that the Board of Supervisors resets this public meeting and enter into closed session pursuant to Section 2.33711A3 of the Code of Virginia to consider acquisition of parcels of property for public use in the Leesburg Election District.

[07:51:46] Hold on. Which district are we in? this is sister Leesburg district I thought this was good talking it's Leesburg I just want to make sure I just want to make sure cuz we're going to closed session that's all I just want to make sure the motions correct all right cool fine didn't you want a second that sure all right I guess you should have

[07:52:22] I don't know okay never mind sorry about that uh discussion all in people to say aye aye any opposed that motion will pass 702 Ms. Briggsman and Ms. Glass have left the dais and will not

[07:52:35] end it I'm not reading into closed session just for the record back Mr. Turner Mr. Turner you're

[08:49:35] reading this out of closed session sir picking it back up that's how it goes man would you please we just have a closed session I move the closed session be adjourned that the Board of Supervisors reconvene its public meetings at the minutes of the public meeting should reflect that no formal action was taken in the closed session further move that the resolution certifying the closed session be adopted and reflected in the minutes of this public meeting second any discussion

[08:50:11] on that motion all in favor say aye aye any opposed that number will pass 702 with Mr. Bricksman and Ms. Glass having left the dais. Would everyone please affirm? Affirm.

[08:50:27] And I affirm as well. I believe that is all the business for this evening. We are adjourned.

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