City Council Meeting

at 6 56 p.m. the city council concluded its closed meeting to discuss personnel matters i move that each of us certified that to best that to the best of each council member's knowledge one only public business matters lawfully exempted from the open meeting requirements in the virginia freedom of information act and two only public business matters matters identified in the motion convening the closed meeting were heard discussed or considered all council members in favor of the certification motion please signify by voting aye aye those opposed to the motion motion vote nay the motion passes unanimously all right and good evening i would like to call the regular meeting of june 10 2025 to order we have a packed agenda tonight i know that we are going to be hearing from a lot of the

people who are in the room and i would like to ask everyone that we all listen carefully and quietly to all of the speakers so that we can hear what it is that people have to say i think it's important for everyone's voice to be heard tonight if you are able and so choose please rise for the pledge of allegiance i would like to ask the juneteenth committee to come down for the juneteenth proclamation down in the well the proclamation's my favorite time of the evening whereas juneteenth has been celebrated by the african-american community since the late 1800s marking the anniversary of the arrival of union general gordon granger to galveston texas on june 19 1865 bringing news of the emancipation proclamation enacted two and a half years earlier freeing enslaved

people from bondage and whereas this year's theme of african americans and labor holds special significance in our city and in virginia where so many of our treasured historic landmarks were built by the skills and labors of african americans over hundreds of years the contributions of black labor from booker t washington to president barack obama have left an indelible imprint on this country and the support of african americans within our labor unions ensures we safeguard economic opportunities for all and whereas the city of fairfax though small in geography holds a meaningful place in virginia's black history with communities of free and formerly enslaved african americans contributing to the

social spiritual and civic life of the region since the 19th century and whereas local landmarks such as the mount calvary baptist church fairfax rosenwald school known as the fairfax colored school germantown cemetery and family homesteads stand as enduring testaments to the presence perseverance and legacy of african americans in the city of fairfax and whereas june 19th each year is recognized as a time to celebrate the journey of black americans from enslavement to full citizenship through reconstruction the jim crow era the civil rights movement to the black lives matter protests and the ongoing quest for racial justice what began with stolen lives and stolen labor in virginia in 1619 and spread across

the southern colonies and then the western united states culminating in a civil war over establishment of free states or slave states reached a turning point with the ratification of the 13th amendment in 1865. now therefore i catherine s reed mayor of the city of fairfax in concert with the city council recognized june 19 2025 as juneteenth in the city of fairfax and urge our residents to join our juneteenth celebration at old town square on saturday june 14th at 10 a.m let's come together to celebrate the arc of the moral universe as it continues to bend toward racial justice across our city our commonwealth and our country it's a long agenda tonight so just come on out of the way esteemed and wonderful and valued workers staff here in the city this is

no secret in the city of Fairfax at all that one of the most valued services this city provides is curbside collection you know it I know it let's not be bashful about it it's what we love and all of that happens because people make it happen and we may not see them remove all of those weird things we put on the curb and we may not see what happens to it and this is where Stephanie Kupka and Melissa come in because all of the recycling and the composting we are looking at zero waste and it's really important even though you don't see it to know how committed this city is to environmental sustainability through great waste management and good recycling programs and without further ado whereas the nation celebrates the week of June 16 as

national waste and recycling workers appreciation week and whereas the city employees who provide this essential service handling the solid waste in our city are often overlooked despite their vital importance to the sustainability and sanitation of our city demanding recognition and appreciation for their dedication and hard work and whereas our crew members generally work very long hours and operon operate under all weather conditions ensuring the efficient removal of weight waste and recycling thus playing a crucial role in preventing the spread of disease protecting our natural resources from pollution litter and illegal thumping heaps and help maintain the appearance of the community providing an

essential service and dedication to our residents and the city and whereas committed staff members employed by the city make a significant contribution to the safety health and welfare of our residents and whereas the city of fairfax values and celebrates all of our trash and recycling workers street cleaners truck drivers and all others employed in refuse and recycling in the refuse and recycling industry to serve residents and now therefore I Catherine s read mayor of the city of fairfax do hereby proclaim June 16 to 24 2025 as national waste and recycling workers appreciation week in the city of fairfax and encourage all residents and local businesses to participate in opportunities to thank

our hard-working staff members in the sanitation industry so let's start with some applause we have an absolutely incredible crew our refuse and recycling workers parks and rec our city jobs program all the private haulers who help keep their city safe and clean and free of debris we could not do it without them so thank you Mary thank you members of council and let's celebrate national waste and recycling workers appreciation week thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you thank you of the trail but that option still requires the city to repay an estimated 1.7 million dollars our support for the George Snyder trail is based on the following the trail has been part of city plans for a number of years it was

included in the 2014 parks and recreation strategic plan the 2018 multimodal transportation plan the 2021 city bicycle plan and the 2035 comprehensive plan the trail is fully funded building the entire trail is consistent with past council action and building the entire trail honors the commitment Fairfax City has made to our local government partners to complete this critical portion of the regional trail network on the other hand building only the western half of the trail would be a breach of the city's long-standing commitment to our regional partners to build the entire trail building half the trail will result in the city repaying an estimated 1.7 million dollars adding an obligation of 1.7 million dollars to the city budget would require an increase in

property taxes a hit to other city budget items or a combination of the two adding a 1.7 million dollar obligation to the city's taxpayers is simply unacceptable smarter growth thinks that building the entire George Snyder trail is the right decision based on its own merits however building only half the trail with a dollar payback at 1.7 million is unreasonable and unacceptable the residents have made their voices heard on multi-million dollar paybacks they have said no please listen to them in closing smarter growth acknowledges the challenges this issue has presented requiring you to balance a wide array of opinions and financial concerns we are asking you to do the right thing and build the entire trail

thank you our next speaker is Mary McDaniel I'm Mary McDaniel and I live in the Mosby Woods subdivision I have two disclaimers tonight I'm speaking as a private person not in my capacity as a member of the city's electoral board also I do not speak for my entire neighborhood I'm speaking again tonight in favor of completing the George Snyder trail in its entirety the full build plan has been developed by a wide array of city experts groups professionals and it's had extensive public hearings and input over the space of over 12 years the halfway or Western plan has been thrown together in the past month or so by a few people with limited time to review its consequences there's been little notice of this idea there have been no public hearings this is this meeting is our only opportunity for input

the lack of planning for the truncated trail I think is going to end badly for us let's start with Mosby Woods when the Snyder trail was designed it included a connection spur to the subdivision on the western end and the idea was to give the neighborhood easy access to the trail but several years ago that spur was removed due to objections from some residents about giving easy access to non-neighborhood people the western trail now dumps all the users at the entrance to Mosby Woods the choice then is to use the sidewalks or the lanes on Route 50 or to a stay away from heavy traffic to go through Mosby Woods on Cardinal Road now let's talk about the stream restoration project that's going on the entrance to the subdivision

it creates a wetlands area to help with stormwater management that project and the full build trail project remove unhealthy non-native and invasive growth from the area if the trail is not built as currently approved that section of vegetation will not be rehabilitated the city will waste the money that it plans to spend on the native plants for the rest of the the restoration project because the mature non-natives and evasives that sit on higher up on the hill will overtake and destroy the stream project I've heard the objection that the building the trail will be an ecological disaster no in reality failing to build the entire trail will create multiple disasters financial disasters already been talked about there's a true ecological disaster from not linking multiple trails neighborhoods and the region it's also in destroying the

the stream restoration project due to eventual overgrowth finally the reputational disaster to the city is huge we made promises to the state and to the entire region the facts around this trail have not changed breaking promises is a hard thing to overcome at the polls in November the majority of the people in this city showed support for the full build if the voters wanted the trail canceled or substantially changed with all due respect there would be a different the mayor sitting at the dais tonight please think about that and remember when you fail to plan you plan to fail our next speakers mariana fornier i'm a little unsteady i took a fall this past week so so oh you started already okay good evening i'm mariana fornier and i've lived at 101 34 spring lake terrace for 47 years the council voted 6-0 to explore other options i was out of town did this happen at this time our council is under pressure to vote without having important information deadlines and payback amounts are not carved in stone i believe they are being used as a leverage to push for a quick

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when it was written and who was responsible for the information. We cannot go forward without an updated, verifiable, objective chart authored by an unbiased third party. We must have in hand a realistic assessment of maintenance costs. According to our temporary city manager, the trail will not be policed. The effects of that policy could be disastrous. The proposed placement of Western trails is a poor choice. According to the Fairfax City Environmental Forum, the Western portion of the GST has been called an important wildlife hotspot. The forum goes on to say, we are not against trails, as some continue to say. We fully support multimodal transportation. We are against the unnecessary scope of these bikes and the unnecessary destruction of our

remaining wildlife areas. A recent memorandum was sent out by Christopher Harry, the director of the Department of Public Works and Environmental Service, and Jay Cole, the executive director of the Fairfax County Park Authority. It stated that a hard surface trail should only be located in RPAs as a result of last resort, because of the damage they do to the environment. They concluded that hard surface trails should not be shown in RPAs and SUPs on the countywide plan to include active transportation and trail network programs unless environmental assessments are completed beforehand and show minimal impact to water quality and resources. In the past, mistakes have been made, like flammable turf, which messed up our Fourth of July.

If we take more time to truly work out other options, we will have less regrets. Maybe we should even consider the original gravel trail. There should be no vote until the council gets necessary information that is needed. Thank you for your time and attention, and I've made it under three minutes. Thank you. Our next speaker is Tom Ross. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Tom Ross. I'm a resident of 3520 Country Hill Drive in Fairfax City. I also had the pleasure of serving where you are tonight, sitting on the dais, representing this city for four and a half years as a member of city council. I'm here tonight to talk about the Snyder Trail. Tonight, you're facing three options. One, complete.

The entire George Snyder Trail is envisioned in the plans, supported by a number of city councils councils in the past, by boards and commissions, by a number of citizens, people you will hear from tonight, and from other regional partners that we have that work closely with the city. Two, cancel the project in its entirety. That action would require the city to pay back up to, as you've heard, up to $3.7 million in taxpayer funds, which include mine as a taxpayer and yours as a taxpayer. Three, cancel half of the proposed trail. That action would allow the construction of the trail from Route 123 to Fairwoods Parkway, and still end up costing the city about $1.7 million in payback funds for not completing the eastern portion of the trail.

It will come as no surprise to you that I strongly urge you to support the completion of the entire project as envisioned. This project will provide a very important element to the city. It will provide opportunities for recreation and conservation in a way that will be used by thousands of people in the community, exposing young children and others to a great resource that will connect our community. It will provide a great opportunity for us to be seen as a capable regional partner who follow through on our commitments. And that's a very important item to remember. If we cancel the project, either in full or in part, we will be seen as an unreliable partner in the future. We will not be following through on our commitments.

I urge you to vote tonight to support the option that permits the entire project to be completed. We can deal with the environmental impact. There are steps that have been proposed and are being discussed that will mitigate the impact of the trail. Will there be an impact? Of course. But I think the greater advantage is for us to fulfill our commitment, complete this project as envisioned, and make it real for the future of the city of Fairfax. Thank you. Our next speaker is Leslie Cullen. Good evening. My name is Leslie Cullen. I live at 3411 Spring Lake Terrace. I've lived in Fairfax City for over 10 years, and I'm here tonight to voice my strong support for completing the George Snyder Trail and to express why it's far more valuable to our community than sending back $3.7 million in grant funding.

That money isn't just dollars. It's an investment in a safer, more connected, more vibrant Fairfax. The trail would provide a safe route for walkers, runners, kids on bikes, and commuters. Right now, we lack that continuous protected path that link our neighborhoods with schools, parks, and downtown. This trail fills that gap and makes Fairfax more livable for everyone. If we give the money back, we don't just lose the trail, we lose credibility. We applied for this grant. We told the state that this project matters. And now, with construction prices rising, we may never get this kind of funding again. This isn't just a trail. It's a statement about who we are. Do we invest in public spaces that bring people together?

Do we prioritize sustainability, safety, and long-term planning? Or do we back out and pass up an opportunity we may never get again? I urge you, let's finish what we started. Let's build the George Snyder Trail and invest in a better future for Fairfax City. Thank you. Our next speaker is Megan James. Hello, Madam Mayor, Council Members. My name is Megan James. I reside in the Daniels-Runwood neighborhood. The clerk has my exact address. This year, you have made very difficult decisions about our budget. You reduced our police department budget by $652,000. You cut more than $2.2 million in training, staffing, and incentives for our city employees. You slashed $100,000 in grants to nonprofits and effectively ended the Home Improvement Assistance Program with a $400,000 cut.

There were more budget cuts than just these. But these examples alone total over $3.3 million of real sacrifices that affect the services, the safety, and the support for our community. So how can you now consider walking away from the George Snyder Trail and handing back $3.7 million, or under the partial bill, $1.7 million, back to the state with nothing to show for it? That's not just money that we don't have. That's money that should be invested in our residents, our schools, our infrastructures, and our staff. VDOT believed in Fairfax City. They funded this project because they believed in our vision for a connected community where residents can move safely and easily on foot, on bike, or using mobility aids.

Between our schools, our neighborhoods, our parks, our businesses, and our transit. This is not just about recreation. It's about resilience. It's about equity, safety, and long-term value. Finishing the George Snyder Trail as planned connects Fairfax not only to itself, but to the region beyond. It gives our children a safe route. It helps seniors stay mobile. It gives families an alternative to traffic. And it shows that we follow through on our commitments, especially when our outside partners have stepped up. At a time when our residents and our city employees are already being asked to do substantially less, why would you make a choice that willingly make a choice that leaves our city with even less still?

Let's finish what we started. Let's honor the investments we've already made. And let's build the entire George Snyder Trail. Thank you. Our next speaker is John Cappy Russell. Madam Mayor, members of the council. My name is Cappy Russell. I live in the Daniels Run Woods neighborhood. The clerk has my exact address. I grew up on Capitol Hill. That proximity taught me a lot about politics. I learned how to count the votes. I learned how to gauge the weight given to powerful interest groups. And I learned how a loud and organized and menacing constituency can often get what it wants even if they're small in number. I speak to you today to remind you that being loud and being motivated is not the same thing as being right.

It doesn't matter how loud you are. That doesn't make it right for the city to abandon our commitments and break our word, burning our credibility with partners we may want to call upon in the future. It doesn't matter how loud you are. It doesn't make it right to shut down a recreational and commercial opportunity that is specifically designed to be accessible to all city residents. Certainly not just to protect access for only a select few. And it doesn't matter how loud you are. That doesn't make it right to waste city funds on repayment for a job not done. Whether you waste only half of those dollars, waste them all at once, or waste them a little bit over time. With scant two year terms I know it's tempting to be just a politician.

Counting the votes, weighing the interests, rewarding the loudest constituents. But when I knocked on doors, and when I worked the polls, and when I voted in November, I did so in support of what I hoped were leaders. People who could see the whole board. People who could think broadly about the years of careful planning that went into projects. And the years of enjoyment that those projects were designed to return for residents in the future. So I am watching your votes carefully. Hoping that you all will be leaders in preserving our city's good name and resources. In doing the right thing. And in building the whole of the George Snyder Trail. Thank you for your consideration. Our next speaker is William Needringhouse.

Hello, my name is Bill Needringhouse, President of Fairfax Trails and Streams. I organized the idea of the Fairfax Cross County Trail 27 years ago. And organized several hikes across the county. As we entered the city of Fairfax, then Mayor Mason would greet our enthusiastic but weary hikers with very welcome refreshments. We hiked a route close to the planned Snyder Trail as we envisioned a trail mostly away from traffic. With Jerry Conley's strong support from the top, our grassroots bottom-up effort, the trail officially opened in 2007. People loved this 41-mile trail with one glaring exception. The three miles beside fast traffic on Germantown Road and Blake Lane sidewalks. The trail bypasses the beautiful parks in the city of Fairfax, which could be its heart.

We worked closely with the city of Fairfax for the last 15 years under various elected officials to help prioritize the long-planned wooded route for the Snyder Trail. We worked closely with VDOT's I-66 widening to make the trail along Route 123 as good as possible. At our urging, VDOT changed the trail's alignment from immediately adjacent to 123 to its current route that used the available open space in this huge intersection to make this route a pleasant future part of the Cross County Trail. With the Snyder Trail at 100% design, with all the needed right of way acquired and paid for, opponents very late in the game proposed truncating or killing it. The Washington Area Bicyclists Association got it right in their letter yesterday to the city.

And I quote, we have a fully funded infrastructure project supported by the city's own long-standing comprehensive plan that multiplies the connectivity and utility of existing local and regional trail networks to the benefit of city residents and visitors alike that was thoughtfully developed and revised by staff with plenty of opportunities for community input that will help alleviate congestion by making it easier to walk and bike and that will effectively catalyze habitat restoration and address stormwater issues. The George Snyder Trail is clearly a project with enormous net benefits to the city, its residents, and the larger region and must be allowed to move forward. In our decades of following bike-related infrastructure, we cannot recall a jurisdiction backing out of a project this late in the process

with so much dedicated funding at state to willingly hand back hard-won dollars at any time as eyebrow-raising to do so during a period of lean budgeting borders on malpractice. Thank you. Our next speaker is Dale Lastina. I'm Dale Lastina. I reside at 10025 Bluecoat Drive here in the city of Fairfax. I'm speaking to you this evening as an individual citizen of Fairfax City. I support the building of the whole remaining part of the George Mason, or George Snyder Trail. In so doing, I associate my position with that of Mike Fazio's Fairfax City Citizens for Swarer Grove. They have been keenly involved with the issues of the George Mason Trail for most of its existence, which goes back 11 years.

From that, they have concluded that the trail should be completed and built now. So do I. This evening, I strongly recommend that you vote to do so. Thank you for your attention. Our next speaker is William Pitchford. Good evening, and thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. My name is William Pitchford. I live on School Street in the city of Fairfax. A little later this evening, you will be asked to vote on a resolution to modify the approved and fully funded George Snyder Trail. I'm asking you to deny this motion and proceed with the full George Snyder Trail as passed by the citizens of Fairfax in 2023. I'd like to offer a few points on why you should reject this Western Half Resolution and continue with the full trail as approved and funded.

The Western Half Resolution is fiscally irresponsible. As currently approved, the full trail is a $21 million project to improve the urban force and provide access for all city residents to this section of the Accutane Creek. Much of the $21 million comes from VDOT and the I-66 project. The Western Half Resolution will return almost half of that $21 million, which will most likely go to the town of Vienna and Falls Church. In addition, the city taxpayers will be forced to pay back up to $1.7 million for work that has already been done. This is on the heels of an average 17% tax increase homeowners will see this year. The Western Half Resolution reroutes the approved trail along Route 50. However, it does not address where the money will come from for this section of the trail.

VDOT has said this section would represent a new project. Again, the city taxpayers will be forced with another unnecessary tax hike. The Western Half Resolution is bad for future economic development in the city. Only the full trail as approved provides the vital link to connect city residences with Old Town, North Facts, and Fairfax Circle, and as part of the Fairfax City Comprehensive Plan and Small Area Plans. Only the full trail will provide that vital link for the I-66, Wilcoxon, and Cross County Connector Trails that will help grow tourism in the city of Fairfax. The resolution is bad for the environment and local community. If you walk the area today, you will find a patchwork of deep rutted trails that over the years have washed away most of the topsoil, especially along the stream.

The larger trees are gradually dying and being replaced with scrub oak and other invasive species. The recent stream restoration project has helped. However, without this section of the trail, the erosion will continue, and a large part of the community will be denied access to this section of the Acton Creek. The arguments against the trail system are the ones opposed to other successful trail systems areas, such as the WND and CCC. I ask you to please deny the Western HAP motion and continue with the full George Snyder Trail as approved and fully funded. Thank you. Our next speaker is Phil LaTassa. I speak tonight representing the Friends of Acton Creek. Now is the time for all good people to come to the aid of their watershed.

The Acton Gravity Sewer, the 495 Hotlanes, the I-66 Hotlanes, the Fairfax County Parkway widening at Pope's Head Road, the Franconia to Lorton Railroad expansion, Dominion expansion of transmission lines for the insatiable data centers, these projects and more, and yes, the bitter memory of our very own Northfax West that has now belatedly brought the stink eye from the Department of Environmental Quality onto this city. All these projects and many more, one after the other, year after year, acre after acre after acre, take away what little natural habitat we have managed to preserve. Any bits not taken directly are left under degraded and diminished condition awaiting the next blow. Each and every one of these projects offers its own lofty and imperative justification for violating what has been set aside for preservation.

Each and every one of these projects claims a de minimis impact, willfully disregarding the truth of their cumulative effect. Trails do not have a large footprint on the landscape, but small impacts that seem trivial in themselves erode the ability of the land to support wildlife and its habitat. We should not believe that our forests, which have given up so much, will somehow be undiminished by each additional impact. Forests deserve to exist for their own inherent merits, not only as venues for human modification. Do we cherish any of our natural habitats enough to stay our hand? Is it possible for preservation to prevail over pavement? Is half a loaf better than none? No. In the case of the George Schneider Trail, none of this bitter loaf is better than half.

We ask the city to have the fortitude to stand firm in the heroic decision to pause the George Schneider Trail and seek an alternative path outside our wooded preserves. Thank you. Our next speaker is Toby Sorensen. My name is Toby Sorensen. I live at 10137 Spring Lake Terrace. During the time I was a city school board member, I served as the board's representative to the Environmental Sustainability Committee for three years, working with people who were truly experts on environmental matters. We discussed tree canopy, invasive plants protecting the watershed, recycling, how to encourage developers not to clear cut when they built. We advocated for the hiring of a city arborist. I also served as the board's representative to the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board for five years.

This was not long after the recession of 2008 when recreational funds were severely restricted. We spent a lot of time discussing how to deal with limited spending. Under the direction of the forward thinking director, Mike McCarty, we worked with staff to develop a strategic plan that would set priorities and outline how to accomplish them. One of these priorities was the building of the George Schneider Trail as part of the cross-county connector. The county was considering bypassing the city, which is at the midpoint of the county. We did not want that to happen. We wanted to be part of that ambitious plan and advocated for it. I know times change, as do priorities, but I still believe that the full trail is good for our community.

It will give families with strollers and people in wheelchairs access to nature. Cyclists will be able to pass through our beautiful city without having to breathe in automobile fumes or disturb the calm of neighborhood streets. The trail plan has been worked on over many years and many modifications have been made. There are costs and benefits to every decision local governments make. Some trees will be lost, but new trees and vegetation will be planted. Storm runoff will have to be dealt with. Hard surfaces will be added, but more people will have access because of them. I do believe the benefits outweigh the costs and that we do not have to choose between the environment and trails. A small city like Fairfax is able to accomplish many things thanks to the support from the state and partnership with the county.

Please show our community that we are good managers of our finances and good partners with the state and county. By abandoning the George Snyder Trail, we would be turning down money that would benefit the city. In fact, we would have to use tax dollars to pay back what has already been spent. Who would want to partner with us in the future if we reject a plan that has been years in the making? The environment will be temporarily affected, but the full trail will allow more people to access and appreciate nature. We live in an area that is rapidly urbanizing and having friends and neighbors enjoy the wonders of nature is a precious thing. Please support the full George Snyder Trail. Thank you for listening.

Next speaker, Steve Welke. Steve Welke. Mayor, City Council, thanks again for the opportunity to speak. My name is Steve Welke and I live in Roseby Woods and it's great to hear feedback even if I don't agree. So that's just encouraging. I appreciate the opportunity to view your activities online and I was glad to see that the GST issue was discussed in the last work session. Although I wonder how the most contentious highest impact issue in our city right now was relegated to the last item on the agenda where discussion started at 11 p.m. Observing the tones of voice and the comments shared was very enlightening. During that work session, the city manager stated, when you use someone else's money, they set the rules.

A fair statement, so let me chase that. Imagine you own a home on a fully wooded lot like a five acre property in Clifton. If I came to you offering to pay for a gravel path deep in your woods so it was invisible from your house, I could see you agreeing to the project. But if I change the rules 10 years later to a paved monstrosity that would strip mine most of your trees, would you still take my money? Well, that is the predicament that a prior city council has left for you. So let me chase a comment that someone made at a prior public hearing about counting on city council to keep promises made over the years. I'm not sure how a prior city council approved the current GST plan, but that was before the latest stream renovation of which we've had several invisible efforts over the years resulted in a travesty.

As I've asked before, if you support the current GST plan, please go to the entrance of Mosby Woods and look for yourself. It doesn't fit with the woods part of our neighborhood and it certainly does not reflect tree city USA. So now you know what the current GST plan would look like. And like any government entity, you're working with the up to date information you have. Just because a prior administration makes a decision doesn't mean the current group can't learn from that decision and learn that it was detrimental to their citizens. I see agreement that the city wants to keep their promise to make a connection. We have learned it needs to happen a different way. That is not devastating. An alternative approach that this council unanimously approved.

So current city council, you have a difficult choice to make. Please make the courageous decision to shed the burden of a curious rule maker who isn't willing to negotiate, but issues ultimatums. Don't allow the current destructive project to perfect protect Fairfax city, both now and for decades to come. What would you do if it was your personal property? Thank you. Our next speaker is Val Morgan. Just to start with, there won't be any woods left and the top soil will be long gone and you'll be planting in like horizon A or horizon B, which will not support growth. I sent the council members a email and I left out one word on the quote from the Nature Conservancy. The total quote is protecting nature is vital.

I also love quotes. Another one is life isn't meant to be wasted. If you want to waste yours, that's on you, but you should not have the right to decide to waste the life of the trees, all the plants, all the critters above and below ground. Destroying all the life in the woods. Sure, maybe someday in 50 years or so, we might have something. And the other problem is you don't know what life is in the woods. Most of you. The other day I took a walk in the woods. It was much cooler than it was down in the soccer field. I finally thought of turning on my Merlin app to see what birds were there. In 25 minutes, I heard 13 bird species. One hawk, who was very easy to hear. 12 songbirds, including two songbirds that come here during migration to breed, to raise their young.

And they come here to this spot where they are every year. And one of them is a blue-gray gnat catcher. It's a very small bird. And darling as hell. You can look it up and gnat starts with a G. That's a confusing word. The other one is the great crested flycatcher. A lot more boisterous and larger. And you think you should kill them all. I don't think you should kill them all because you will. They will come back, as they do year after year, to a dirt pile. They don't have plan B. In your heart and soul, you've got it. Do you think you should be judge and jury on all this life that was a total bad decision from the get-go? Because they didn't think about this. They just thought, first, it was going to be just some dirt or some gravel.

So you're going to make this choice so that we can have more asphalt. We already have a lot of asphalt. Be brave. Vote to cancel this ridiculous trail. Our next speaker is Ellen Pence. My name is Ellen Pence. I live at 3211 Adams Court. And I've been a resident of Fairfax City for 58 years. I'm speaking against the roadway construction of the George Snyder Trail. I walked through the woods at noon today. It was hot today. But it was shady and cool and quiet. Up or down through the... I walked along the creek bed and then up into the woods in Stafford Park. I went up to Fairfax Boulevard and then to Stafford Drive and up on the ridge in the forest. Where I could see the logging process still going on below for the stream restoration.

We in our group have been called names by the opposition. We have been called the minority. First of all, we are not the minority. We have several thousand supporters. And some of us have a long history of supporting environmental causes. I never thought of myself as a tree hugger. But I guess that's what I've become. I have worked to make people aware of climate change for many years as a volunteer. But in a democracy, you should know that it doesn't matter whether you are the minority or the majority. What's important is whether you are right or wrong. This project was mucked up from the beginning. Too much so-called free money with strings attached and no consultation with the citizens of Fairfax City.

The transportation staff, not the city council, was running the show for years through several city councils. Ripping out an urban forest to build an unnecessary paved road is the wrong thing to do. So, please do the right thing. You can go all the way back further than some of these people have gone back to the year 2007 when this little pathway was built. It's in a very small urban forest. It's not big enough to handle a big roadway through it. That will just ruin it. There won't be any forest anymore. So, please don't do that. Thank you. Our next speaker is Tom Blackburn. Thank you. I'm speaking tonight on behalf of the 5,000 member Northern Virginia Bird Alliance. When this project was first conceived, it looked great.

The city could have a trail for free. At the time, the trail was simply a line on the map. There was no indication that the construction would cause environmental devastation. Now, however, everybody knows how damaging the trail will be. I will give you only one example out of many. Just 150 feet after the west end of the trail starts, they'll begin excavating below grade in order to make the trail relatively level. By the time to get to 275 feet from the start of the trail, the trench will be 12 feet deep, with a 12 foot retaining wall on one side and a 22 foot wide slope on the other side to move it up to grade. By the time you get to 375 feet from the beginning of the trail, the excavation will switch to fill dirt to build a causeway up to 4 feet above grade and up to 22 feet wide.

The damage to what's left of the city's urban forest will be enormous. The quick question here is what do you do now that you know how damaging this trail will be? At first blush, the answer is easy. Build a trail with somebody else's money rather than having to give back some of the money that was spent to design a trail. But these funds for the trail are not free money. They come with a cost, and the cost is the damage that will result to the environment from going ahead with the trail. I urge you to cancel it. Yes, you have to cover the costs that were spent. The funds you would have to pay are really a payment to protect the city's natural resources. The trees, the plants, the top soil, the water quality of Accutane Creek, the birds, and other wildlife.

The value of what you preserve by canceling the trail will far exceed the value of the funds that you have to return. Building only part of the trail is not a good option either. Damage to the forest will still be substantial, and it will also exceed the value of the funds you avoid having to return. A quick word about the people who support the trail. Don't you find it odd that on the one hand they claim that the trail will benefit the environment by reducing emissions spewing vehicle traffic, which is by the way speculative since it hasn't been studied, but they don't give consideration to the amount of damage to the environment that will be caused. Even though that issue has been clearly demonstrated, please be good stewards of your city's environment and cancel the trail.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Avril Garland. Thank you for letting me speak. I'm also joined the last speaker in asking you to please cancel this trail. My life is in total shambles. I canceled every single thing this week I had to do, except for this event. I think what you were doing is absolutely insane. I can only call it an act of vandalism. This is a beautiful amenity, a lovely forest. It has salamanders, it has owls, it has birds, it has turtles, and it's a very narrow forest. And to think that you're just going to go through, bring in bulldozers with this 14-foot path, there's very little of this beautiful woods left. And I would beg you to please cancel this dreadful idea. Thank you.

Our next speaker is Doug Cox. Hello, Doug Cox, Fairview. I know the time is ticking. Yeah, you know how I feel about George Snyder Trail. There's already a George Snyder Trail. Gets you to the Fairwoods, easy enough to get the rest of the way. Not a single person ever talks about going on I-66. So, poof, let's get that off the thing. All right, so I want to talk about accountability. How did the city get to the point where we spent $3.7 million that we would have to pay back for but nothing? Absolutely nothing. So, I'd like to know, maybe from the city manager, someone, where can we figure out, as citizens, what grants have been applied for or in process, so that we don't have any more of these tar baby projects that, oops, we got so far along, either the city residents pay back millions of dollars or, hey, eat it.

All right, so the next one online, besides George Snyder is a picket memo number eight of the budget. The response says, the city's already spent $700,000, folks. You either build it or pay it back. That's a terrible trail. Terrible trail. Terrible trail. And I'll just say, it's kind of shameful how this goes. So, how do we figure out, as citizens, what grants have been applied for? What projects are in the staff pipeline that we can look at? Does anyone want, you guys all have my email address. If you want to let me know, I would appreciate it. You know, people are getting upset because they want low taxes. They want a nice environment in the city. And what are we getting? The great Mosby mud hole, which the George Snyder trail is looking like is going to be part due of that.

You can't sit there and say, oh, we want to stop sediment from going down to Accatink. Accatink, ignore everything the county is talking about with Accatink, and then upstream rip out all the trees. It's urbanization causing all this problem. It's like a push me, pull me government. I make a problem, and now I've got a solution over and over and over again. I keep hearing these things about, oh, a lot of buzzwords going on tonight, folks. Reliable regional partner, invasive species. Okay. How will we look? I believe, Mayor, you were saying at the last working session two weeks ago about how will we look if we turn back money. We look fine. All right? Smart scale. You know, the thing that rejected the first attempt at George Snyder.

Smart scale. Smart scale. Smart scale. 2017 to 2020. 8 to 10% of all smart scale projects from 2017 to 2020 either get canceled or rescored. Picket should be rescored. Know why? Because it's on the grant. What's on? The scorecard is a bunch of malarkey, and we see that in several of these things. I'll send it to you. Next speaker, Shelly Vance. Shelly Vance, Cambridge Court. I watched the George Snyder Trail portion of the June 3 work session. I was surprised that the mayor was impressed by the quantity of emails, some 65. The council had suddenly gotten from the public to move forward with the full through the woods trail. According to the mayor, the emails were from people and addresses we know.

By the mayor's thinking, a majority of the public supports building the entire trail in its current footprint. What is impressive is how far back opposition has been demonstrated through emails, by in-person walks through the affected woods, and by in-person speakers at council meetings. Why has the mayor not been equally impressed by the month after month, year after year support for moving this trail out of the woods and onto predominantly existing infrastructure? These are also people you know, and the addresses they call home are most often in the city. What is impressive is the sheer number of student residents who turn up at every council meeting to speak against the through the woods footprint,

compared to the occasional speaker in support of the current design. At any given council meeting, there's hardly ever a speaker supporting the current trail design. This and previous councils and the mayor have heard from the majority of the public that has bothered to weigh in. I don't doubt that there were 65 emails to the council calling for the full through the woods trail. It has come to light that these emails were computer form letters in an obvious campaign at this late date to flood the zone, but they must be put into perspective against the years-long broader picture. In an email to the council, I mentioned two trail-related petitions that have been circulating for some time. At an April 2025 council meeting, I spoke about the disparity between these two petitions.

As of this morning, now one has 301 signatures asking for a full through the woods bill. That's 16 more signatures than last week. The other petition has over 3,200 citizens who are in favor of canceling the through the woods trail. That's nearly 200 more signatures than last week. These citizens want a different configuration for the trail that protects our urban forests and makes use of the current infrastructure. Even if we're generous with the first petition and say that the 65 citizens who emailed the mayor and council members are not among the 301 signatories on the pro-build petition, a total of 366 citizens pales in comparison to the more than 3,200 citizens who have voiced their opposition to it.

The pro-build group is less than one-tenth of the opposition to this woodland-destroying trail. This is what is impressive. Our next speaker is Josh Silverman. Josh Silverman. I'm Josh Silverman. I live at 4111 Sideburn Road in the Green Acre District. I'm Josh Silverman. At the risk of sounding repetitious, I'm also going to talk about the Snyder Trail. I will not delve into the history of how it was fully funded and agreed upon over the past 11 years. Previous speakers have done that. I am going to talk about how the efforts of a small community are putting their interest over that of the entire county. And the reason I say this is that the cross county trail, which has been alluded to already, is the primary trail through the county.

It connects several other trails and gives access of multiple communities to interact with each other. But the section that goes through Fairfax goes along Blake Lane and Germantown Road, which has the singularity of being both dreary and dangerous at the same time, particularly to bikers. And we have an alternative. That is taking the Wilcoxon Trail, which has already been well established and has been used for years, and which points directly to several of Fairfax City's parks. And in order to complete that connection, the Snyder Trail is a vital link. And in denying us that link, it just ruins the entire cross county trail. So I urge you to vote for the completion of the entire trail as it was originally conceived.

Thank you very much. Our last speaker for this portion of the general public comment is Judy Frazier. Hi. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I am here tonight to speak about the George Snyder Trail. I don't have any grand words. We've heard a lot of pontifications and pronouncements and grand claims for this trail. It's got a lot to live up to based on tonight's comments by some of our city, former city leaders and others, even improving the urban forest, which surprised me. I am here. I've been doing this because I respect the forest and its inhabitants, and I see no reason to disturb them. They have been undisturbed and unmolested for 160 years at least. Those woods have been there since probably at least the Civil War, and they certainly were mature.

At the earliest aerial photos we have of the area, they were already a mature forest. So those inhabitants have been there for a very long time. They will be disturbed and distracted, and I'm distracted here, but they will be disturbed and damaged and killed by this type of construction. In the forest. So I'm here because I respect the forest and its inhabitants. Now, much of the cross county trail, which I love, I've walked the whole thing from the Potomac all the way down to Fairfax City with my father and my sons. It's a lovely trail, and much of it is woodland natural surface trail among the woods, among the trees. It's not graded. It is a very different trail from what is being proposed here tonight.

And I don't think people understand that. This is a very different animal than what the cross county trail is in the north part of our county. So I also wanted to mention the memorandum from Fairfax County Department of Public Works director, and J. Cole, the director of the park authority, to their transportation director. This is basically like David Summers and Stacy Summerfield talking to Wendy about not doing these types of trails anymore. They are saying we have over 30 years of experience with these trails, these shared use paths and resource protection areas. Too damaging, too destructive to put them in our resource protection areas. Has anybody reached out to Mr. Harrington or Ms. Cole?

They are right there, the county government center. Let's talk to them and find out what the issues are about these trails before we go building one. Let's learn from our neighbors, our partners' experience with these trails. Last, I just want to mention this letter from the temporary city manager to VDOT saying that this hybrid will assuage community concerns. I think you've heard tonight that nobody is assuaged by this hybrid option, and I think it was really outrageous that he went forward and sent this to VDOT on your behalf, and then told you last week somehow that you would be damaging the city's reputation by not bending the knee to this. So please deal with this one. Thank you. Thank you.

We can move to the consent agenda. Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda? Councilmember Hardy-Chandler? I move adoption of a consent agenda for agenda item number 6A, consideration of the May 6, 2025 special meeting minutes. Agenda item 6B, consideration of the May 13, 2025 special meeting minutes. Agenda item 6D, consideration of the May 13, 2025 regular meeting minutes. Agenda item 6D, consideration of appointments to boards and commissions. Is there a second? Second. All right. A motion has been made by Councilmember Hardy-Chandler and seconded by Councilmember Peterson. Are there any items Council would like pulled for additional discussion? Is this the... Seeing none. A roll call vote.

Councilmember McQuillan? Aye. Councilmember Bates? Aye. Councilmember Peterson? Aye. Councilmember Hardy-Chandler? Aye. Councilmember Hall? Aye. Councilmember Amos? Aye. Motion passed unanimously. We'll go to the public hearing. We only have one public hearing tonight, which is a public hearing in Council action on ordinance for the Virginia Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy in Parencee Pace Program. I'm going to recognize Stephanie Kupka, Sustainability Program Manager, to provide the staff presentation. Good evening, Mayor and City Council. I will pass it off to Sonia Sukkar-Ferre, our climate energy manager for the public hearing presentation. Thank you. Good evening, Council members.

Wonderful to see you again. We were last presenting May 13th, so just a little over a month ago at our work session. So I thought it was best to maybe move through the presentation as fast as possible unless you all have any specific questions and I can pause in the middle of the presentation to address them. Just to recap here, CPACE, which is the Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy Financing, this is a statewide program that the City of Fairfax hopes to opt into, which would basically open up and allow private financing lending to take place here in the city for commercial, industrial, and multifamily projects to basically invest in green building improvements and upgrades. Just a quick recap.

I defined what CPACE stands for, the financing tool. Also, just to mention that this is also something that can support our future green building policy. Oh, excuse me. Sorry. Moving along. The future green building policy, which is in development hopefully by the fall, that you all will have. So this will be something to complement that. We'll move through quickly the Virginia PACE authorities role, which is the state administrator, the program administrator, that is overseeing the program on behalf of the state. Virginia Energy is the department. And then just to reiterate, there are 19 localities across Virginia that have already opted into the program. So this would be, City of Fairfax would be adding to this group of counties and cities across mostly North Virginia, but also throughout the state.

So just a reminder, the PACE authority, and they're really responsible for onboarding, approving all the loans, marketing outreach. We had Matthew Easley present last time on his support for the program, and he would be working closely with our department, with Stephanie, on marketing and outreach to developers, contractors on this program. There's a, there's about 150 million in the pipeline of projects, with 16 million worth of loans closed. This is a voluntary special assessment on private property. So this statewide program basically standardizes the ordinance. It is not a public tax and it is not collected by the locality. It's a voluntary special assessment. And therefore they can, you know, provide these attractive loans.

I think this is very important, just staff time. It is very limited. The work that we've done right now is really with the city attorney, the city manager, even the city treasurer, and just IDC. And just identifying who of the city would be supporting the oversight, acting as a liaison with the program administrator. Again, the city would not be collecting or dispersing these CPACE loan payments. And the city can delegate the CPACE lien enforcement to the CPACE lenders, which we've decided is the best approach. So over the last 30 days, we've talked with the city manager on the best approach and the city treasurer. And we feel it's best to basically delegate that enforcement to the third party, which in this case are the capital providers, the lenders, should there be a delinquency in any of the loans.

And just to reiterate, I believe most of the council members feel strongly, you know, this could really support economic development. The goal here is to help not just the city meet its goals, but for these type of financing options available for developers and contractors so that they can do these upgrades. Weatherization, resiliency, better, you know, basically enforcing their buildings to withstand what's happening. Extreme heat, climate impacts, flooding. So a lot of these improvements would do that. I think I covered that. Again, just to reiterate the staff roles, added some visuals to help basically understand who in the city is designated. So right now the city attorney has been very involved in the development of the ordinance.

We've been talking with the pace authority pretty frequently to just help basically review the ordinance, the details. There are two agreements. There's a program agreement and a locality agreement that goes along with the ordinance and the way that it is written. If it's passed tonight and adopted, then we have about 30 days to sign these two agreements. And again, it's just reinforcing who of the city would be designated as the liaison when the loan, the closing documents come before the city. We've also again reiterated that the treasurer basically is allowing a third party to enforce any lien delinquencies. The city manager would act as a program manager. So again, supervising the program, the liaison role.

Stephanie would be working closely with him. They foresee possibly one to two, maybe more projects every year. The more the better. The economic development authority would also play a role in basically helping to identify any potential candidates that are out there. They help to promote the program. Hopefully there's some resources that we can market and promote that as well through the economic development authority. These are just the eligible projects. We've spoken about this in the past. All the wonderful improvements that can be done. And again, these are the cities and the counties currently with the economic development authority. We're currently with the program in place. So we would be adding to almost 50.

There's already 50% of the state population that has the CPACE program in effect in their city or their county. So tonight we're hoping you will all adopt the ordinance. Once you adopt it again, we can then move forward to sign. You're giving authority to our city manager to then sign the program agreement and the locality agreement and basically we'll work to implement it. So if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer. Thank you for the presentation. Are there any questions of staff? Okay. I will open the public hearing. Ms. Shinneberry, has this public hearing been properly advertised? Yes, it has. No one has signed up prior to the meeting. Is there anybody in this room that would like to speak on this agenda item?

Okay. I will close the public hearing. Is there a motion? Council members, Hardy Chandler. I move that the city council enact an ordinance amending chapter 90, Taxation of the Code of the City of Fairfax, Virginia, to add a new chapter, 14, creating the City of Fairfax commercial property assessed clean energy, parentheses CPACE financing program. I further move that the City Council approve the forms of, one, CPACE program agreement and, two, locality agreement included as part of the staff report presenting this item for consideration by the City Council with such non-substantive changes as may be approved by the city attorney from time to time. I further move that the City Manager, with the concurrence of the city attorney, be authorized to execute any documentation necessary or appropriate to fully implement this program within the city.

Is there a second? Second. A motion has been made by Council Member Hardy Chandler and seconded by Council Member Peterson. Is there any discussion on this motion? Seeing none, a roll call vote. Council Member McQuillan? Aye. Council Member Bates? Aye. Council Member Peterson? Aye. Council Member Hardy Chandler? Aye. Council Member Hall? Aye. Council Member Amos? Aye. Motion passed unanimously. We will now go on to our second general public comment period. Thank you. Have a good evening. I had four speakers sign up prior to the start of the meeting. After we go through these four speakers, if anybody else would like to speak, I would ask that you just line up by the window side and we'll take you one by one.

Okay. I'm Mike Fabio, 3920 Chainbridge Road. And I'm here to ask you to build the entire George Snyder Trail. Um, at the 2020 public hearing at 60% completion, the plan enjoyed broad support from city and regional groups. And in June 2020, it was included as a vital part of the Northfax small area plan. In July, at 100% completion, the plans were reviewed by third party and revisions had been made. And in January 2024, the city council rejected an attempt to alter the scope of the plan and property acquisition commenced. I want to emphasize this is not a road as I've heard. It's 10 foot wide trail. Some is boardwalk. Some asphalt already exists. Viewing areas will be incorporated to overlook the creek and there will be educational markers installed.

You will not have that if you cancel the trail. Trees will grow back. There are 436 trees to be removed and replaced three to one with 21 native species while invasives will be removed. Now only a fraction of that number is on the shorter Eastern half. And, uh, you need to keep that in mind. 14 pages in the plan earmark specific trees and methods for their protection. Retaining walls will limit the grading S impacts of the forest and 965 shrubs will be planted. There will be bioretention basins, drainage features alongside and underneath the path, and boardwalks over the wetlands and rain gardens. Safety features include a grade suitable for all ages and abilities, a line of sight and trail buffering designed to eliminate blind spots,

more use of the trail, more eyes on the trail to reduce crime, a safer route and a more pleasant than Fairfax Boulevard. And it avoids beach drive where there is no sidewalk and Draper drive where there are many areas without a sidewalk. The financial losses have been given you, but if you include the 9.5 million for the George Snyder trail extension that could be lost, and you've already canceled $9 million for the Country Club Hills connector trail, add it together, this council could be responsible for the loss of $43.2 million in its first few months. That's outrageous, unacceptable, and a dangerous precedent. And by the way, I walked down Route 50 with my dog today, and it was a scary, scary way to go up Draper Drive.

Thank you. Our next speaker is Susan Kyler. You have a decision to make tonight. Will you vote on the GST resolutions or you will postpone the vote until you get more complete information about costs and other options? At least four council members will likely vote to cancel the GFT if the threat of having to repay funds already spent was removed. The decision whether to cancel or build seems to hinge on the amount of money to be repaid in the repayment schedule. I understand that after the recent budget decisions, at least two council members might not have the stomach to approve a resolution that may require the city to pay $3.7 million, and that the smaller amount of $1.6 to $1.8 million for the partial build may seem more palatable.

I submit to you that a good CFO can find $3.7 million and help negotiate terms favorable to the city. More importantly, I suggest that until you know the repayment terms and until you have a more realistic cost estimate for the full through the woods GST, you have insufficient information on which to base the decision. How can the easier to build western portion with one bridge be estimated to cost $11 to $12 million, and the full build in which the eastern portion has four bridges over more difficult terrain be only about $22 million? Most people are, as you heard tonight, are for the full build or for cancellation. They are not for the so-called hybrid compromise to build only the western portion,

which, like the eastern portion, is in a floodplain and a resource protection area that many wildlife call home. This partial decision the city is being asked to make is driven by the idea that half of the GST is half as bad as the original project in terms of fiscal and environmental impacts to the city. I ask you to recall the judgment of Solomon, a story from the Old Testament in which King Solomon ruled between two women who both claimed to be the mother of a child. Calling for a sword, Solomon ordered the baby to be cut in half, with each woman to receive one half. The first woman accepted the compromise as fair, but the second woman begged Solomon to give the baby to her rival, preferring the baby to live, even without her. Solomon ordered the baby to be given to the second woman,

as her love was selfless as opposed to that of the first woman's disregard for the baby's actual well-being. To this day, Solomon's approach to justice is an archetypal example of an impartial judge displaying wisdom and making a ruling. Will you then opt to destroy half this wild space's inhabitant for myriad species? Is $3.7 million too much for this ecosystem, but $1.6 or $1.8 acceptable? And if you do vote for the full or partial bill, will you vote then in a month or two to approve a waiver to the Chesapeake Bay Act ordinance to build a floodplain in a resource protection area? Will you justify the waiver as passive recreational use? Please vote your conscience and common sense. Delay the vote until you have more information.

The money can be found. Thank you. Our next speaker is Janice Miller. Thank you. Thank you. Good evening. It's nice to be here this evening. First, I would like to start off by thanking you for your service. I, like most of our residents, appreciate the time and effort each member spends on city business on behalf of our community. I truly believe that we appreciate what you do. My name is Janice Miller and I am here tonight to request the mayor and council move forward with a current design to build the full George Snyder Trail. This project has lingered far too long and must be resolved this evening. There are a couple of points that I want to make. The first is the George Snyder Trail is not only a trail, but it will also become a park.

It is, it will, it is, it'll be a park in a wooded area that is similar, but much smaller than our treasured Daniels Run Park. Build it and our residents will come to visit and enjoy. Follow in the footsteps of your predecessors who were forward thinking all those years ago when Daniels Run Park was established. The second thing I would like to mention is connectivity. The proposed full build trail, both the eastern portion and the western portion, offers the connectivity that the half trail does not. Why build only half a trail that does not offer this necessary connectivity? Please do not continue to believe that biking and walking along Route 50, Draper Drive, Beach Drive, and Cardinal Road satisfies the connectivity when those routes are a poor substitute for the real deal.

Also, please remember that Route 50 is a busy federal highway spanning the continental United States from Delaware to California. Draper Drive is in the midst of an industrial area with multiple driveways and curb cuts and an occasional sidewalk. Cardinal Road is a residential street that takes non-residents, that is, strangers, into a neighborhood. I hope you'll remember council members eliminated the CCH Trail in part because CCH residents didn't want strangers in their neighborhood. Surely, what's good for CCH should also be good for Mosby Woods, Cambridge Station, and Mosby Woods condos. As I stated earlier, this project has been going on far too long. Ongoing discussions continues the angst and division in our community.

End it tonight. Please, please, please vote for the full George Snyder Trail and move on. Thank you. Our next speaker is Marissa Perona. Good evening, Mayor and Council members. My name is Marissa Perona of 9892 Cardinal Road, and I'm a mom of two young kids and an avid cyclist. I'm here tonight to speak in strong support of building the entire George Snyder Trail. I know there's been pushback, mostly about trees. I understand that concern, and Mike Fabio did address some of the efforts the city intends to enact to mitigate trees lost. But I also watched us quietly lose an enormous number of trees during the stream restoration project with no public input. Why is this trail, which has been part of our city's public posted plans, it's on every sign, for years, now being second-guessed when it offers such a lasting value to its residents?

We can't lose sight of what this project adds. We can't lose sight of what this project adds. Safe, accessible space for residents to walk, run, bike, and connect with each other and with nature. That's especially important for families like mine. I often drive to Vienna or Falls Church with a bike trailer and bikes on the back of my car just to get my kids out on a safe bike ride. It's not sustainable, and it shouldn't be necessary. I recently joined both Fairfax Citizens for Smarter Growth and Fairfax Alliance for Better Biking because I believe in a Fairfax that's forward-thinking and family-friendly. The George Snyder Trail would be a crucial east-west connector, something we are sorely missing.

Currently, on my solo bike rides, I access the Jerry Connolly Cross County Trail via Draper Drive. Each time, I test fate through endless blind auto body shop entrances blocked by an array of ice cream trucks. The CCT is worth it. It's one of the best trails in the area, and it's amazing that the person who planned it is in the room tonight. But it would be great to not have to risk my life in order to access it. Trails are about more than recreation. They create a sense of place, helping us build community, support local businesses, and help people fall in love with where they live. My daughter's in the first grade. When I asked her what she'd do if a trail was built near our home, she didn't hesitate.

Scooter to Compass Coffee. That's her dream. And it's mine, too. Living in a city where the kids of the future can safely walk or bike to school, to parks, or to meet friends. This is the Fairfax of the next generation. Let's build it. Thank you. Call for the next speaker that's lined up by the window. Good evening. My name is Beth Iannetta. I live at 10916 Berry Street in the Westmore community. I was asked to come tonight. I was actually not feeling well and in quite a bit of pain, but I decided it was important to be here tonight. And I also told my mother to watch at home, so never disappoint your mother. So, hi, Mom. I have 25 years of working in local government, both in planning and project management in both transportation and parks.

One thing that I came across when I was doing some research for this project is a quote that Councilman Peterverson had given is, what do we want to be when we grow up? There's been comp plans, area plans, pedant bike master plans, steering committees, design workshops, workshop sessions, public hearings over the years. We've been telling you repeatedly in many different formats what our vision is for the city, and it includes this trail. Why would any city resident give their time to contribute to a vision which this body repeatedly asks us to do? And if at the end of years of implementation your position is, we don't value your input at all. We'll either cancel it or cut it in half. We'll be doing it in half.

I'm glad your timeline has actually been moved up, because I feel that you owe us all a clear decision and a justification for your decision for how you decide to move forward. In addition, in listening to many of the oppositions to this trail, I felt it was important to consider what a positive outcome of this could be. I had written to Councilman Bates, and I've reached out to several people. He did forward my inquiry to the park staff, but I think there's an opportunity here to create a volunteer trail ranger program or ambassador program to help address the invasive management and safety concerns that have been raised. There's many successful programs. There's the capital trail ambassador program, the DC Trail Ranger program, volunteers who are on the W&OD Trail.

They give their time and their effort to battle these things like many city residents do in neighborhood watch programs and or the invasive cleanups, which I've actually worked with, friends of Akatink Creek. The headwaters is in the westmore, which I learned several years ago. This would be a positive outcome, I think, to the very spirited debate, and you should consider these things moving forward, that it's not all bad. But please consider the fact that we've been telling you what we want to be for years, and this completes that vision and gets us moving on to the next vision. So don't shortchange our value for our contributions to the vision of this city. Thank you. Good evening. My name is Sarah Pease, 10209 Shiloh Street. That's in Mosby Woods. That's at the front end of the neighborhood, the area most likely to be affected by this plan.

I'm not an environmentalist. I mean, I like trees as much as the next guy, but that's not why I'm here. I'm here to talk to you about an issue that I think is really key and people aren't talking about. I've heard a few people, lots of people, that they want to walk on a trail with their kids and it's going to be a lovely and safe experience. Those woods aren't safe. A year ago, next month, we had helicopters flying over our neighborhood. We had the city's version of a SWAT team supported by the county going in and raiding those woods and pulling out two guys who murdered a guy at Fairfax Circle. One of those two individuals had already been arrested three times in the last four months before that incident for assault.

And they were living in those woods. Less than a month later, we had shots fired into a house on Cardinal Road from those woods. Anybody here who lives on Cardinal, the western end of it, will tell you, you regularly see drug deals going on at the western end of Cardinal that backs up to the entrance to the Oakton Park Apartments. We've asked numerous times for the fence to be put back up. It doesn't matter. They'll just pull it back down. Those woods are not safe. At the work session after the last council meeting, the city manager said there are no plans to patrol that. So for all the people who think this is going to be a lovely and safe place to walk and ride your bikes, I mean, let's not forget, it was, what, three years ago when a guy was murdered at the entrance to the trail down by the Harley Davidson dealer and his body was thrown in the dumpster.

Riding between Draper Drive and the ball fields. A lot of people, a lot of my friends who walk their dogs, ride their bikes, they don't feel safe until they get to the ball fields. I don't like getting on at the Draper Park. I feel safer on Route 50. I've gotten on behind the Home Depot because I didn't feel safe in the part of the trail behind Artie's. And I've had homeless guys lying on the benches reaching out for you as you ride by on your bicycle. It's not going to be patrolled. You guys have already said that. The city manager has said that. Thank you. Good evening, Mayor and Council. My name is Roger Custer. I live at 10131 Cardinal Road. I want to thank you for your public service because this is a very difficult decision, as is the budget every year.

And being an elected official, thank you for listening to us and enjoying our right to free speech and having different opinions. So thank you for that. We all want the best for our city. That's why we're here. And I want the best for our city, just like you do. And maybe we have different ways to do that. I just don't think the George Snyder Trail is best for our city for three reasons. First of all is the environmental damage. There will be trees cut down that will take 80 to 200 years to be restored to the size and beauty that they are now. The wildlife habitat will also be destroyed and will deeply affect our city's wilderness. Second is that I don't feel like this project aligns with the urban forestry plan that we're working on as a city.

There's a public meeting tomorrow night where people are coming together and you're surveying the public. Some of the items on the survey that you can choose among the priorities for the urban forestry include developing and implementing a long-term woodland and natural area management plan, and conserving and expanding tree canopy citywide, and working across city departments to make sure there's decision support for this kind of decision when we are going to destroy tree canopy. So it doesn't seem like our Tree City USA status and our urban forestry planning that most of us here probably support and enjoy matches with the decision to build this trail and destroy these trees. The third item is that I'm a bike commuter.

I bike downtown, sometimes to my job, 19 miles each way. And I often avoid paths like this because of the debris, which can be dangerous or damaging to my bike. And if the city is not regularly sweeping and maintaining the trees and the leaves and the debris that comes there every time it rains or the wind blows, it's not a place where I want to bike commute, which is the original idea for this entire trail. So thank you for taking this difficult decision. I encourage you to cancel the project and not build the George Schneider trail. May I have you come forward? May I have you come forward? Thank you, Madam Mayor and members of the City Council. I'm Jane Kelsey, 4041 Autumn Court in the Autumn Woods subdivision, which is a very small community.

And I'm speaking for myself and some of the members of the community that frequently walk on the trails and ride bikes. I support what has been said in support of building the complete Schneider Trail. I work many years in planning and zoning for Fairfax County. And there wasn't one zoning case that came up where trails were not discussed. Most of the trails were approved because that is part of the comprehensive plan. It's required that you adhere to the comprehensive plan. So we had very few people in opposition. In fact, citizens came and asked that trails be put in that subdivision. Typically in the county, they were put in by the developer who proffered to provide those trails. So he provided most of the money, I guess, that went into building it.

In this case, the city has been given the money. And I believe that you should use that money for this purpose and not lose it. In our subdivision, the developer, and it's in the city, the developer gave the land for the trail. I don't know if he built it or if the city built it. It is not paved, but we walk on it. It's fine. But I know that some people would prefer, particularly those who have baby buggies, to actually have it paved. It's also sort of muddy. So I'm sure that some trees came down when they built the trail. But heaven's sakes, now they have to cut them down to get them out of the way. And the ones that are old, they do fall and fall right over the trail. And the city has been very good to take care of that.

So I believe that the other thing, that you should be physically responsible and not waste our taxpayers' money, because it is us that's really going to be losing that money, I believe, and having to pay it back if you do not build the trail. So I certainly hope that you will consider that. I know that walking even is dangerous. And riding a bicycle on Route 50, I certainly wouldn't want to do it. And I wouldn't want any of my children to do that either. So thank you very much for listening. Katie Johnson, 10132 Spring Lake Terrace. I'm here tonight again to speak on behalf of the Forest Extreme Rally, its RPA, its wetlands, and all the life it supports. The trail was not in everyone's vision.

This trail has been opposed since it's been since it changed from its original form of a $200,000 stone dust trail That trail actually exists as and is very well loved I can assure you leaving a mature oak hickory beach forest a climax forest Intact will not ruin the stream restoration. I can assure you the very best way to deal with environmental impacts is to avoid them There is no magic wand to fix a forest that has been irreversibly damaged or to simply wish away invasive species I have volunteered hundreds of hours dealing with native plants and Removing invasive species it is not easy work. Virginia spends a billion dollars annually on invasive species removal the invasive species would be introduced by heavy equipment and creating edge habitat where invasives thrive

I agree with the previous speaker that said we have beautiful parks the George Schneider trail will not Cannot improve our urban forest Cyclists do not need to bypass our city. There are existing connections that will preserve 600 trees. We've already lost 491 that's a thousand trees in a very small forest patch We live in a rapidly urbanizing area. Yes, we do which makes our small remaining force patches That much more important We are a small community We are a small mighty community. We are the city of Fairfax Daniel's run is not paved The Gert the current George Schneider trail is already well loved the cross can't this is a fun fact The cross County trail has only 15 miles of paved path out of more than 40

It's not our responsibility The forest is ours to take care of the forest is ours to preserve the forest is ours to protect. Thank you Next speaker Mayor Reed my comments might be three minutes and 50 seconds. Is it is acceptable to go over the three minutes? Given your emeritus status. I will grant that request. Thank you All right David Meyer a city resident three five zero eight Cornell Road There's an adage in city planning that adjacent communities should not be too different from each other in This statement is the implied acknowledgement that communities should have features that make them distinctive And the these elements of distinctiveness make jurisdictions attractive strengthen neighborhoods improve public health and access to the natural environment

Foster public safety encourage private capital investment to boost our tax base and our economy public trails contribute to all of these outcomes in Our northern Virginia region one of the challenges of as-built jurisdictions such as the city of Fairfax is finding locations to create trails The rapid growth between 1955 and 1980 generally with few exceptions did not account or allocate land for Trail connections By habit stance of history we are fortunate that nearly all of the proposed trails in the 2012 master plan did not require significant acquisitions of land Consequently our success in receiving funding for trails has been greatly disproportionate to our size and our population This is something truly to celebrate

This evening other speakers have addressed the benefits of the George Snyder trail And I want to speak to you in the context of our city's finances Many of my comments have been alluded to or addressed previously this project will be constructed primarily with funds from us Concession payment by the company that built the I 66 toll lanes These funds were available to jurisdictions only those jurisdictions that touch the I 66 corridor Hence our eligibility for the money The initial funding of this project was funded with zero tax dollars No tax dollars from the city none from the Commonwealth of Virginia and none from the federal sources However, not building the trail or not building the trail of its entirety

Will require taxpayer dollars city taxpayer dollars to reimburse the concession payment fund This reimbursement will result in our tax dollars being reallocated to other jurisdictions in the region This is nonsensical and it's indefensible At this time there is great volatility in our regional economy The draconian cuts and reductions in the federal employment and cancellation of federal contracts and grants have placed all local governments in a state of uncertainty This is not the time to needlessly waste either three million dollars or three 1.5 in taxpayer money when the outcome would be unambiguously negative both in the short term and long term Every dollar we have is critically important in this time of uncertainty

To do otherwise would could possibly put our bond triple-a bond rating at risk and being on the cusp of some school Renovations in the coming years doing so with the loss of a triple-a bond rating will cost us millions in additional interest costs I was raised in Vienna, Virginia and when I was in the sixth grade the W and OD The W and OD railroad ran 45 miles from Alexandria to Percival When the rail line closed visionaries on the board of the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority Now Nova parks Took the bold step to create a long trail to create a trail along the entire rail line Those visionaries many of whom are no longer with us Created one of the first and finest trails in the entire United States

It was a catalyst for nearly all the other trails we have both in the city and in our region The W and OD trail is only four blocks from the house in which I grew up It transformed our neighborhood It connected the neighbors neighborhoods on the north side of maple avenue to the to the neighborhoods on the south side of the town Property values rose significantly and now realtors Will tout the trails presence as a key amenity As our city council You will consider all kinds of projects in your two-year elected term Now some of these projects are pro forma Others though give you the opportunity to be real history makers To make our city more distinctive and truly create a legacy for future generations

This is one of those opportunities Embrace the project in full as an affirmation for all that is good And all that the good it will bring for our city residents now and for decades to come Trust me you will be glad you did it. Thank you Is there anybody else in the room that would like to speak at this time All right seeing none we are going to take a five minute recess before we proceed with the agenda of the Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. design of the way of design of the previous work sessions is per government accounting standards board GASB I would be required since this is within the fiscal year I would be required to either address this liability whether it's known or materially likely known that we would have this liability I would have to set that aside and make

that earmark basically from unassigned fund balance to assigned fund balance we're not paying it out it's just an accounting standard until we can have a definite answer from V dot of what that repayment schedule plan would look like have a follow-up question on that you know having done these trips twice and talked with both Moody's and Standard & Poor's and the conversations that we had the questions they had about the city clearly they have our balance sheet they they know what our numbers are but the conversations they have are also about all kinds of things you know someone pointed out earlier this evening we voted to summarily give back a five million dollar grant for a trail quite suddenly without being advertised or a public hearing if we were to cancel this

trail or only build half of it that's that's that's not just on the balance sheet it says something about our decision-making the same with the George Snyder extension if that nine million dollar grant were to be taken away because it's it's it's an extension of a trail we're not going to build you know this starts to add up as someone pointed out now that about now the the bill gets bigger not just for what's coming out of taxpayer funds it's what the city is summarily letting go so understanding that this is more I just want you to help everyone understand that the questions that are asked by rating agencies are not just whether our math adds up it's exactly how we're making decisions about what we do

with investment funds correct so both rating agencies have a different format of evaluating one of those pieces of the pie is called governance and that's exactly what you're stating their mayor is how government governments and the actions that they take both positive and negatively and how that impacts not just the financial aspect of things but the economic their residents and area and their local neighbors as well that that is a huge driving factor as well other questions from the dais at this time councilmember Peterson have you disclosed the 9.5 million as well I'm sorry disclosed the 9.5 you have a smart scale funding that's at risk that the mayor just referred to has that been under GASB is

that been disclosed along with a 3.7 so we would not have to repay that back is my understanding this would be affecting from the general fund so I would not have to disclose that if if we did have to pay it back from the general fund then I would be required to disclose that amount sir so we don't disclose a loss of revenue a foregone set of revenues that are planned we would disclose it as a reduction in revenue but not a liability okay thanks there's been a lot of conversation about money and I know that's a big part of this I think there's some other parts I do want it in a minute circle back to some of theirs but let me just ask a little bit more while we're on this so and I shared with everybody some calculations on cost

of repayment whether it's 1.8 3.7 and what that might look like if it was financed whether this is a straight loan at 25 years 5% or whether it's an interest re-loan and they're certainly precedent for that particularly with the agencies we're dealing with but there is some figure that this could be turned into in terms of financing which is not unlike what we do with our capital improvement projects right it could be in fact part of the debt package if we were to do that and when we look at there are three big things that are in our capital improvement project which will turn into debt and in turn turn into real estate tax obligations that I think we know about right now one of the Willard Sherwood Center the fire station and then the rebuilding of the property

yard combined I think those three I may have gotten my numbers wrong but I had them at 161 youth I think they may be higher than that like 170 or something 171 million dollars for three projects an educated guess is that all three of those are two out of three at least will need to be very significantly reconfigured for a variety of reasons not the least of which is the implications they have on taxes we also have a capital improvement budget or excuse me capital improvement project plan that involves things that it's entirely possible may need to be reordered for logistical reasons because it's tough to pull all those projects off in the period of time where they're there I think the basic question becomes what is the

probability of finding 3.7 million let's just use the higher end here in savings out of a hundred and seventy one something million that is out there with that set of projects not to mention the rest of the things that are in CIP I would hazard to guess that probability is very high so the financing what we could be looking at here is essentially creating a budget neutral process if we wanted to pay back we would offset that with savings from reductions in some of these other areas correct that would be a potential option is reduce future liabilities and offset the either 3.7 or the 1.6 million dollars until that's done though again I just need to reemphasize this I would be required to list that liability whatever the amount is on

the FY 25 ACFER until we can figure what the next step would be great but I think the critical point is the the 3.7 just again to use the higher number in comparison to that larger figure is like 2% or something we would literally be looking at the opportunity and need for a 2% efficiency increase or 2% savings increase to remove the the budget impact of this repayment that's correct sir thank you other questions councilmember hall just to piggyback on that a little bit so there's a concern over what adding the 3.7 or 1.6 or 1.8 million liability would do to our bond rating correct that was a concern of some I think that was one of the questions correct it's it's hard to determine exactly what that would do to

the bond rating in my discussions with Davenport specifically that is just one factor is a reduction in fund balance as long as we maintain above our minimum we would be in compliance we'd be going the wrong way but again that is just one factor of four or five things that both rating agencies evaluate okay but so then if we were to move forward with one of the projects that are in the pipeline in the CIP for right now I think there was a conversation about having to go out for 25 million dollar bond issuance which essentially is debt does that then have a similar larger or smaller impact on our bond rating to have to go out for you know ten times the debt or something along those lines or is that different so

absolutely it would be another factor that would be long-term capitalization and the amount of debt as a percentage that we're carrying as a city we've been very fortunate lately to have a low percentage amount with the potential schools and other CIP projects as identified by council member Peterson that potential debt ratio or percentage now will increase just like we have in our own personal lives the more debt that we carry the your FICO score can potentially go down because you're being leveraged and that's the best way to describe it but that is a factor not a sole determinant of how the bond ratings or the rating agencies will look at the city's overall rating okay so then just to sum it up and maybe

make sure I get it right there's some concern about how a 1.8 or 3.7 million dollar loan would impact us or debt would impact us but there's not the same consideration of a 25 million dollar loan impacting us because it's seen in some other way or just in the eyes of the public potentially so I would not say that there is any difference it's just evaluated independently by the rating agencies or collectively whether both factors are going to happen or not I don't think one single factor is going to reduce our bond rating by either Moody's or S&P it's usually a collective of items whether it's I'm not saying this is going to happen but poor governance you're leveraged more and we have reduced revenues so at

that point just like in our own personal lives if you lose your job and you max out your credit cards and you do all these other things your FICO score is going to go down very similar to the city side it's a combination of things not necessarily just one okay that's very helpful thank you I would just follow up on that to say that taking debt to invest in school renovations or the property yard or capital improvements is different than reducing your general fund balance to build nothing so we're basically taking taxpayer dollars and we're saying we're going to spend this money for the privilege of not building a trail or not building half a trail it's not quite the same thing is debt financing to invest in something that

then ends up with value once the thing you've invested in is complete I think is the difference would that be correct mr. Martinez there is a different weight in what would be capitalized whether it's a capital improvement or your financing debt with debt that's not looked very favorably it would be better if it was there was a physical tangible asset that could potentially be repossessed or sold at a later date as a backing to this debt councilmember Peterson I'd love to pick up on that and maybe just to start for the benefit of everybody who doesn't sit in the inner circle here and receive the emails that go back and forth between us there there there's been an awful lot of new information generated in the last two

days alone but very very recently regarding this issue and I'm sensitive to and sympathetic to many of the comments that were made by people just reacting the fact that there's so much new information here it's it's a lot of changes have happened etc and so I have looked at information and offered some information as well and I again I'm sensitive the fact that this is information that hasn't been seen or shared with the public but I think it's very important in the presentation that we have here there is a table and it does some comparison of the options and that was the result of a request I believe from councilmember Hall I think maybe two weeks ago to try to get rolling with some sort of comparative

analysis which is a really important thing to do I'll just say that honestly ideally and normally this would have started in 2019 at the very very beginning of the project we would have framed it and it would have looked at different options and all of the different things we would want to use for evaluating and comparing them because typically this takes time and it's best that this happen in a collaborative manner so the public is able to be involved and we're able to reach agreements on things like costs and benefits but that said when I looked at the table there were some things that stood up stood out that were missing and one of the biggest things is the value of the not just the forest the watershed the

wildlife the functionalities of this whole ecosystem there's a whole science and a whole practice called ecosystem services valuation and in fact FEMA has guidance for this and I went to the FEMA guidance to see how that potentially would be applied for the George Snyder trail and ran a couple scenarios and I didn't have enough time to do what needs to be done which would be a bonafide analysis of the estimation of the avoided cost associated with ecosystem services if you don't build a trail but I did put together enough numbers just for purposes of illustration to suggest they're big enough to cause a pause for concern so we're looking at for the half build just using some median values here the ecosystem services loss that would

occur it's a hundred and fourteen thousand dollars per year check the median value for the full build 228 thousand a year the high end of that is more like for the full build almost three hundred and eighty thousand a year and damages these are not numbers that you could take to the bank because again this is just some very initial analysis based on benchmarking and structuring from the FEMA guidance but these are real numbers these are used for actual project evaluation and project determinations that's why FEMA has developed this when you add them up over 30 years which actually is less than you would expect the impacts to be you're looking at a couple million dollars of damages here whether it's either the half build or the full build so

these losses that people have expressed concerns about repeatedly over the years can be translated into values and in terms of the tangible asset that would be yielded from a 3.7 million dollar payment or for that matter a 1.8 that is known officially as an avoided cost for ecosystem services and that would be a documentable cost savings that would be associated with this kind of an evaluation I just want to make the point because it didn't get done apparently in the past it is done normally and it suggests these are pretty significant impacts here that we should take into consideration and we can translate them into the financial implications of our decisions here okay so so speaking of that I think we at this time if then we can have further discussion but we need to know what we're talking about so I'm going to ask if there's a motion to either a reaffirm modify or cancel the trail

council member Bates thank you see here I move to adopt a resolution to modify the George Snyder trail project v.upc one one two eight one six to remove the portion of the project east fairwoods parkway segments B C and D and construct segment a one only with the understanding the repayment of project expenditures incurred will be required for the segments of the project that will no longer be included or constructed as part of the project second a motion has been made by council member Bates and seconded by council member Amos is their discussion on the motion council member Bates thank you so back in January of 2024 I had the vote in favor of and otherwise introduced motions to remove the eastern portions of the trail and on the other side

On the other hand, I did oppose canceling the trail over the full build. I've heard a lot of feedback from the community. A lot of people are very passionate about their positions on the project. Personally, my position hasn't changed since then. That was before repayment became an issue. That has certainly shaken my resolve a bit, frankly. I still am in favor of the western half. My rationale is that the eastern half, as we've heard from our own staff, would be, we've heard about the impact on the forest on that side and that the species on the western side are more common and the trees are less established. Also, of course, the trail is mostly along the edge of the forested area as opposed to through the middle of it like it is on the eastern side.

And, you know, add on top of that the impact of the trail itself. If it's through the middle of the forested area, then we have the increased chance for that to lead to additional invasives growing. And, you know, on the one hand, we are going to be doing a lot of replantings regardless. But on the other hand, the trail itself still represents a permanent decrease in the amount of land available for trees to grow on. I certainly really rather hate the idea of paying money back to VDOT and of doing away with the eastern half of the trail itself. But I just can't justify building that given the impact and given the fact that we do have Fairwoods Parkway, which, you know, we just put in place multimodal improvements on,

and Cardinal Road and Draper Drive, which are in the city's bike plan, rated as being suitable for teens and adults with adequate bike handling skills, all the way from, you know, from the end of A1 to the intersection of Draper Drive and Fairfax Boulevard. So I just can't in good conscience cancel the entire project without any guarantee that an alternative project would be funded. But I am in favor of the western half over the full build. But again, as before, I'm still in favor of the full build over canceling. And that's where I am. And I certainly don't hold against anybody else who's in favor of the full build or in favor of canceling. And frankly, I think that we all need to do better at not taking these things personally

and not holding it against anybody for simply expressing their views and for holding a certain position on this project. At the end of the day, it's a trail. I mean, you know, it's not the end of the world if this doesn't go quite the way that you wanted to. And, I mean, at the end of the day, we need to keep things civil and respectful and respect each other's opinions and respect that we may have disagreements and we may differ in our positions and even our values. But at the end of the day, we need to come together as a community and acknowledge that we're all in this together. Thank you. Council Member Hardy Chandler. Thank you for those comments. They make my social work heart smile to hear you talk about that.

To complement the comments that you made and to kind of expand a bit, my position is that this is about a trail, but this is about more than a trail. I think it is about our governance and our decision-making. And we have to take – the world did not start January 20 – January 2025 when we took office. There's a history that we have to pay attention to. But I also think as some of the people who spoke up, there's a future that we have to pay attention to. And this is something that's a multi-generational decision that we're making. The payback is part of it. I do think that paying back any portion of the money is irresponsible. But that's a small portion of this larger issue of what this decision-making means for us as a council

in terms of our governance of the city. I do think our commitments are important. And even if it weren't specifically the people on this dais who made those commitments, we inherited. We took the baton of those commitments from the council members who came before us, from the mayor who came before us. And we will pass the baton to future council members. I think that's an important piece of – that's reflected in this decision. I think the other piece that is critical is that even though we're certainly representing the city, we're not in a vacuum. It's important that we be regional partners. And for that reason, I absolutely cannot support cancellation of this trail. I just wanted to make those comments.

Council Member Amos. So I'll be completely honest. I walked into this meeting thinking that getting the Western option back was a good thing and that we had reached a compromise. But honestly, via email the past few days and the testimony here tonight, I think from what I'm hearing, the preference is one or the other. I think people don't want half a trail. And I'm trying to remember, I think it may have been Sue, but someone used the baby analogy that I had heard before. And I was a bit stunned because I've heard that multiple times throughout my life. And then to hear it on the dais is a very sobering perspective. And so while my original intention was to support the Western half based off of the feedback that I've received,

that's not what the community wants. The community wants something full or nothing at all. And so I will be reassessing that as we move on to the next motion. Other comments? Council Member Peterson. Just if I might ask, Council Member Bates, are you comfortable as a part of this with the loss of the $9.5 million and smart scale funding for the extension of the trail that we understand from staff is at risk if the full bill does not take place? Certainly wouldn't say comfortable with it. I would say that given that VDOT has said in their letter to us, to my recollection, that the Western half still represents a transportation benefit to the city, my educated guess would be that we'd be at greater risk of losing that if we were to cancel the trail

than build the Western half at any rate. But, you know, certainly not ideal and something else that, you know, that kind of shook my resolve somewhat. But, you know, given that we're coming out at Draper Drive and then crossing over to the other side of Fairfax Boulevard and then the Wilcoxon Trail is on the other side of the Harley dealership, that segment as it is right now certainly doesn't measure up to shared use path standards and that's why that project was seen as being needed. But there is a much greater buffer with Fairfax Boulevard there than at other points along Fairfax Boulevard. Fairfax Boulevard. So it certainly would not be ideal, but, you know, I've given that a lot of consideration over the past year, year and a half.

And I think it's, to me, you know, that part of it is, I think, still worth considering the Western half. But I would hope that we would do all that we can to make sure that those improvements happen, you know, whether under this, that current project or future project. Any follow-up, Council Member Peterson? No. Council Member Hall. So I'm still sitting here struggling. I'm, like, shaking. I'm feeling, like, physically ill. This is, it's a trail. You're absolutely right. It's a trail. It's one decision. It is not something that defines our entire term up here. It's been made extra hard tonight, I will say, because, you know, I didn't walk in here thinking I was going to vote for the West. I really didn't know.

But I was happy to get the Western bill back on the table. I really was. I thought it was a compromise that it seemed like residents were willing and able and happy to support. It seemed like it provided the connectivity, not as fantastic as a full build would in some views. But it also was an opportunity to continue the plan in some fashion. And it also, I think, mirrored what the previous council had tried to get to towards the end of their term but was unsuccessful. The payback, obviously, is a concern, whether it's a full cancel, whether it's a full build. I'm still not sure we're going to get there with the budget that's been established, which is also a concern. But I'm not sure that I can support a Western build either at this point.

You know, I had this conversation earlier, I think, with some of you. Sitting up here, you have one vote, right? So you can vote, you can say how you want things to go. But I also think it's really important to understand where my vote falls with the rest of the dais and what that ultimately means that this council puts forward. And that is where I'm really struggling because I'm trying to see things, you know, three steps down the road. And I'm not necessarily sure that I like where that's going to end up. And so that is also weighing on me heavily as far as what my vote is going to be here. So I'm just trying to share some of my thoughts on how I'm trying to process all of this. So, yes, it's a trail.

Yes, it's one vote. And for those of you who, you know, have emailed us and said, if you vote this way, I'm not voting for you again. If you vote this way, I'm not voting for you again. And I would invite you to actually come sit up here and try to make these decisions with us. It is not easy. And it is hard. It is hard to do this. It is hard to read all the emails and try to respond to them and try to do what I personally set out to do, which was to get the community engagement and the feedback and to be responsive to all of you and to try to understand. And I know we're not getting it from all 24,000 residents. I will not even try to kid myself into the fact that your survey has a good population and yours doesn't and vice versa.

Quite frankly, we're doing the best we can up here. We're not going to make everybody happy. We're probably going to piss off a whole lot of people tonight, too, in some way or another. But I would ask that you reach out to us and that you try to think beyond what it is exactly that you wanted out of tonight, because that's what we're all up here trying to do, too. So thank you. Other comments? Council Member Bates? Thank you. I want to thank Council Member Hall for sharing that and add that she's certainly not alone in feeling shaky and physically ill over this. I mean, and I've had an entire term behind me, but, you know, it gets a little bit easier with time, but doesn't go away. And definitely second her comments that I think that we're all doing the best that we can to just try and do the right thing.

But, you know, again, I think it's important that we all come together after this and start the healing process. Any other comments? All right. All right. Seeing none, a roll call vote? Mayor? Yes? I'm sorry. I would be remiss if I didn't tell you a little that there could be a parliamentary issue, depending on how this shakes out, listening to the comments. issue depending on how this shakes out listening to the comments if there is a possibility that you would want to revisit this motion this evening one option would be for the maker to withdraw the motion and keep it as one that could be made a little later if you all don't think the Western option would pass otherwise you'd have to do a reconsideration depending on how the vote

goes but there is a motion on the floor I'm just alerting to you to a procedural issue depending on how this shakes out and thank you so much and thank you so much are we good with proceeding with the vote councilmember Bates you made the motion councilmember Amy she seconded the motion we're good with the roll call vote councilmember Amos nay councilmember Hall no councilmember Hardy Chandler no councilmember Peterson no councilmember Bates aye councilmember McQuillan no okay motion failed is there a motion to reaffirm or cancel councilmember Hardy Chandler I move to adopt a resolution to reaffirm previous approval of the George Snyder trail project V dot UPC one one two eight one six as designed is there a second second a motion has been made by councilmember Hardy

Chandler and seconded by councilmember Bates is there any discussion on the motion councilmember Peterson I'd like to offer an amendment and I'm looking out of the corner of my eye and our city attorney for listening and helping commit this to writing I'd like to amend the resolution with a motion to cancel the trail with the following caveats and conditions the first is that hold on just one moment the motion on the floor is to reaffirm the trail and I've offered an amendment to that but your amendment is to cancel the trail that is correct you're effectively offering us up you're effectively offering a substitute okay sure right which is appropriate under Robert's rules just as a starting point so the

substitute motion thank you would be to ask for the assistance of our chief financial officer to do a couple of things the first would be to identify the best possible financing of a 3.7 million dollar payment which could be any different set of approaches but the best possible or at least options for that simultaneously to identify 3.7 million dollars of savings from the 171 million dollars of capital improvement projects tied up in the three projects we spoke of earlier and in addition to that to examine the potential for reordering of the CIP to identify additional savings as needed to do that so that the repayment of 3.7 million dollars would be budget neutral I also think that it would be helpful as we do that

to clarify the costs of the repayment just to be sure that we're all in agreement on the 3.7 and I say that simply because there's been a lot of back and forth on a bunch of cost figures both for repayments and for cost to build in the last couple days and I think that deserves to be cleared up as a part of this whole process but again the substitute motion is to do those things I also would like to add one additional thing and that is that this involves a rescoring and restart of the 9.5 million dollar start smart scale grant so that it will not be left stranded and that it can become a part of a proposal to do the connection of the trail that would link to Fairfax Boulevard such that this last remaining

segment the extension is something that could move forward and not be a stranded asset thank you okay that sounds like a really complicated thing to try to make a motion around mr. Lueckman it's it's certainly a motion I'm not sure that it's you've identified certain savings certain examinations and hold other person rescoring it's entirely possible that one or all of those items could not be accomplished which would kind of leave this whole thing in limbo certainly not within any and I understand the discussions about VDOT deadlines but certainly not within the first deadline which was June 30th for choosing among the binary options of canceling or proceeding with the entirety of the trail I would turn to

the CFO and director of public works to see if these are items that could be examined and undertaken in any reasonable time frame as as far as the rescoring of the George Snyder trail extension again it would have to go through NVTA in the CTB I'm not sure we can meet the current deadline that we are set upon for the hybrid option so I can't really answer when that would be able to happen so I can't really answer when that would be able to happen regarding the evaluation of financing and or identifying items within those three projects that totaled 171 and rescoring or redeveloping the CIP the first two parts I think would be reasonable to do within a few weeks of evaluating the best refinancing option I think that is doable we can work with

Aventport within two weeks identifying savings we could potentially do that as well within those two weeks trying to redevelop or rescore the CIP that was just approved by council that may take a little longer than beyond June 30th I would not feel comfortable comfortable sticking to that date for that one specific item but for the other two we would I would be able to do it within that timeframe of June 30th okay so there's a substitute motion on the floor is there anyone who captured this enough to read this back anybody anybody anybody anybody yeah it would have been helpful to have it in advance I understand you may have just posited it as you were were sitting there another option is is for you to test the waters by simply making a motion to cancel the trail and it's entirely

these other items could all be explored separately at a later date but so thank you but what I've heard is a lot of sensitivity from council members about the cost burden of repayment and to be frank I've heard and a number of occasions the statement that were it not for that 3.7 million dollar repayment burden they would favor a cancellation so in order to remove that 3.7 million dollar burden a method for doing that is to identify Savings that could occur that would make that a budget neutral decision and so that's why I think it's important for these things to be done together Right, so then councilmember Peterson I would ask that you read the motion again so that the clerk can properly capture it and

Then you're all's discretion that you take action on whether the substitute is acceptable To move forward I guess I have one clarifying question which chief financial officer raised which is regards timing and with respect the first two issues I mean there's looking at the best financial structure for repayment then there's the identification of the 3.7 which both of which you said You know can be done in two weeks or so the third one which is looking at potentially reordering the CIP I would be content for that either to be followed up on separately because I think it's inevitable that that's going to happen anyway And I do think that that will actually yield significant savings In the future, but if time prohibits us from doing that as a part of this substitute motion

I would remove that if we instead think we could accommodate it with some longer period of time That's great, but I'm happy to remove that to simplify it if that is the best course forward from the standpoint of financial response to this Thoughts mr. Martinez Again regarding the three potential requests in the motion refinancing Options we could definitely do within a couple of weeks Have a couple of different options for the manager and for council to take into consideration working in conjunction with our financial advisors Davenport Option or the second potential item there was find the savings within the CIP again that we could also do within That timeframe of before June 30th if need be and bring a couple of options back

to council to make those considerations now that would potentially Make an amendment to the approve fyi 26 budget that was just passed about a month ago up That would be within that timeframe But I still think I don't know if you're still keeping the other portion regarding Well, I'm scoring I Do look to director summers on that because it sounds like so Project mods and cancellations and restarts and rescoring I'm I'm I'm out of procedure by NBTA so Right the first thing would happen is we'd have to prepare the application right rescoring and then you know the last one that I'm familiar with is What we did for the eaton 123 so my? Ballpark estimate would be anywhere between three and six months

Yeah to get it rescored so on that Given the timing that you just outlined I'm also happy for that to be treated Separately perhaps but I my intent here is that we make every effort To make use of the nine point five million dollar smart scale grant for this extension, which is on route 50 It's a sidewalk widening project there and also to continue to pursue the completion of segments on 50 That go up to University Drive that are not yet completed But are planned in some cases they've been completed already, but there's some unfinished business there Part of the rationale is that corridor appears to be Inevitable in terms of future pedestrian and bike development it probably Depending on think how things go and I'll talk about this later this evening

Will become a BRT route for the city one of the five or six BRT routes in the city and we'll have a parallel bike and pedestrian Structure installed as a part of the BRT route, so I think that's inevitable Probably and I would just want it to be clear that the intent of this is not to leave this area unattended But to ensure that we have continued a continued effort for bike and pedestrian Access there so that said that would leave us with the two things in the motion the first well three things first Is the cancellation the second is to identify the best possible repayment financing structure? There could be multiple options and the third is to identify three point seven million dollars in savings

Also, that could be potentially a number of options if necessary they come back for consideration But those would be the principal elements of the substitute motion so Councilmember I hate to do this to you, but we need precision. We need an exact motion. You'll need to read it again It's in its entirety so that the clerk can capture it and again We didn't have the benefit of having this in advance. So that's the reason I apologize for asking you to read it multiple times But we need it we need you to read it. I I feel your pain because Many of us did not have many things in advance of this meeting. So we're doing our best here so Councilmember Pearson do you have it typed up already by chance? No, I don't okay

All right, I would be happy to type it up if that would be the most effective thing here. Otherwise, I will re articulate it Well, we're in the middle of a motion So you if you want to make a motion it has to be articulated such that it can be read back because someone has to second this So so if you would like to verbally state it so that the city clerk can capture it so that we can repeat it And we can look for someone to second this But what I said a minute ago still applies so okay either either you I would respectfully ask that you read the motion from the beginning again with each of the elements that you have so that we have a full motion on the floor That the clerk can capture just go a little slower so I can get everything I

Propose a substitute motion To cancel the george snider trail project And to identify the best possible financing for the repayment Currently estimated at 3.7 million dollars And to identify 3.7 million dollars Of savings From reductions in spending Comma particularly capital improvement projects That Not intentionally making this difficult Not intentionally making this difficult V dot requires a resolution for cancellation No worrying the motion that you just made and that's why we have the suggested cancellation motion That begins with I move to adopt the resolution to cancel That it up which you could still do and add your language if you'd like the motion to read that way I don't think if there is a desire to cancel this project

That it is desired that this be done simply by a motion without a resolution attached So if you're comfortable adding that language I think we can take that as part of the motion And we add it by saying what? Well if the clerk will read the very beginning of the motion Well if the clerk will read the very beginning of the motion Councilmember Peterson moved a sub 2 motion to cancel the george snider trail project and to Identify the best possible financing for repayment currently estimated at 3.7 million and to identify 3.7 million of savings from reductions and spending particularly capital improvement projects So my suggestion would be that you use the language in the sample motion that reads I move to adopt a resolution to cancel the george snider trail project v dot upc 1 1 2 8 1 6 in its entirety with the understanding the full repayment of project expenditures incurred

Will be required and then add the language that you added there I think it accomplishes what you want in your motion But it assuming it gets the votes it leaves the city in a position where there's an actual resolution Did you write all that down? Yeah, that's fine. Yeah. All right. Is is is there a second for this motion? Second A motion has been made by councilmember Peterson and seconded by councilmember Hall is there discussion on the motion? Councilmember Hardy Chandler There are decisions that have rippling consequences and I am very reluctant to support a motion that has Savings identification without consideration of the consequences of the Or especially unintended consequences of projects that we don't even know at this time

Remembering what we went through with the budget and how conscientious we were not only about the numbers but the potential impacts of those decisions I'm just concerned that this blanket statement does not give adequate consideration to what might be the possible unintended consequences of so-called savings things have costs and what will have to be the price of those savings it's an unknown at this time Other comments councilmember Bates So just to clarify mr. Martinez Mr. Martinez The act of canceling the trail within itself is not budget neutral in other words We could direct you to find three point seven million dollars in savings Regardless of whether or not we cancel the trail is that correct?

That would be correct yes Thank you Other comments on this? Okay seeing none can we have a roll call vote on the substitute motion Councilmember Amos Councilmember Hall Councilmember Hall Councilmember Hardy Chandler Councilmember Peterson Councilmember Bates Councilmember McCuillan Councilmember McCuillan Nay Councilmember McCuillan Nay Motion failed five to one So we go back to the original motion made by Councilmember Hardy Chandler and seconded by Councilmember Bates regarding the reaffirmation of the original trail Is there discussion on this motion? Councilmember Amos I wanted to join my colleagues in expressing my conflict with this whole thing with the George Snyder trail. I am not a fan of encroaching on the RPA and considering that my old position there was a significant part of RPA in our jurisdiction.

It's something that the Board of Supervisors has reiterated before that they do typically during board matters to reaffirm their support for maintaining and cherishing the RPA. So that's been a frustrating part for me and part of the reasoning why for example with the triple CT trail I was not a particular fan of that one either. Also seeing Director Harrington's letter from Public Works also expressed concern about in conjunction with the Parks Department directed the transportation about asphalt trails in our RPA locations. Now it's supposed to be a last resort so it's still technically an option but not supposed to be the primary one. In recognition of that I also am not a fan of paying back millions of dollars.

Especially during these troubling and trying budget times where we just went through a budget process that many of us did not feel good about and next year is supposed to be worse. And I don't know and my main difficulty through this process is I don't know if I can justify to myself and go to bed thinking that I just cost the city nearly four million dollars. And potentially much more next year. And so that's what I've been wrestling with these past couple months as we've learned more. So those are my comments. Other comments from the Dias Council member Bates. So again I do support the full trail over canceling the entire trail for the reasons I stated earlier. However if someone else changes their mind on the western half and wants to reintroduce the motion that I introduced earlier which is under sample motions in the meeting docs.

I would certainly still support it. But I will be voting in favor of this motion. Thank you. Other comments from the Dias. Seeing none. A note. Council member Hall. This was me thinking three steps ahead right. Trying to think is the western a better option. And I still don't know. But I will again remind people this is bigger than one vote. It's bigger than one trail. This sucks. It's not a fun place to be. And yeah. Thank you. Other comments. Seeing none. A roll call vote. Council member Amos. Thanks to all the residents and VDOT for your patience. Aye. Council member Hall. No. Council member Hardy-Chandler. Aye. Council member Peterson. No. Council member Bates. Aye. Council member McQuillan.

Aye. Okay. Motion passed 4 to 2. Okay. Motion passed 4 to 2. Aye. Council member Bates. Aye. Council member McQuillan. Aye. Okay. Motion passed 4 to 2. We will now take a five minute break before going into our work session. of the design of the design of the design of design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design design

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. design of the The facility addresses community needs from wellness with the health department and pharmacy to Recreation with the gym and fitness facilities and it's all contained within a project that is considered public and visitor safety

by incorporating security measures and designing for crime prevention and healthy environments and Again, we're happy to answer any questions Questions councilmember Hardy Chandler Going back to the exceptions and I might not work this perfectly, but are the exceptions aligning with the Direction that the ordinance changes are heading another you know what I'm saying there's Being a realignment of some of the ordinances and I'm just wondering if some of the special exceptions Potentially yes, I do understand you do I don't stand what you do potentially. Yes, I think Though what I would point back to is both of these properties are zoned single-family residential as Many of the cities a city-owned property is kind of outside of old town are and so a number of the exceptions really relate to

This site has been used for and would continue to be used for a different type of use that isn't single-family residential so things like lock coverage height Building coverage are all really geared toward a single-family home The city has has often in these cases Had these these types of projects approved by special use permit, which is Permissible under the ordinance, but that's probably why you see The exceptions that are a part of this but to your point. Yes, those are the kind of things that we're trying to work So it goes in that direction and it's part of the evolution of uses It is indeed. Okay. Thank you. Thank you Other questions Councilmember Peterson The environmental improvements

Lead etc. Do they require any special exemption? From a zoning ordinance standpoint No They don't I think all of the elements that are special exceptions are rate are related to Location form size of building. I don't think any of the Sustainability features have triggered any exceptions One that's just second question and and if this is a follow-up, that's fine, but I'm just curious For this building and any other new construction For renovation When well are is do you conduct an analysis? Of the energy savings that occurs as a consequence of the standards that are adopted for instance the lead standard Is there something that says because we did this? We are going to save energy in comparison to not doing this

Let let me ask either One of my colleagues at the county or the architects perhaps to shine some light on that piece of the analysis It come up if you could and and council member peace and if you could could repeat that that'd be great. Thank you, sir do you document the energy savings from the environmentally preferred alternative If you do and it's also part of the HVAC considerations and all that we do that we do so we do have a sustainability consultant who does do those kind of If that's the question I'm getting it correct So the critical part of it is whether there is a calculation against baseline of energy savings Because that becomes a source of financing you finance through savings and their energy financing models for instance and we'll pick this up

When we look at the green buildings policy But where it has to start is with some measurement that you do of the building in the first place and whether you have those numbers in place That literally you take to the bank There were there were scenarios in terms of the building's energy usage That as as miss Joe she noted that the team went through With an environmental consultant to look at what the savings of different measures may be if that's helpful Yes Martha sans for with purpose County so for lead there are Obviously energy savings over the ash ray standard which is a baseline building but on top of that as Deepa mentioned the county Requires an additional 50% savings so we have to beat that by more than 50% which this building is like at 49 almost 50% already

To look to it Yes, so we analyze the mechanical systems we look at the building envelope the electricity of the all-electric and all that and we Calculate the energy savings and all that's incorporated so the goal is and we are achieving that is 50% over even what ash ray and the baseline code requires lead also but we're going above that and you've scored it as the critical yes yes I mean obviously we submit for lead and we're in the early process But yes, that is a goal and it's the county's goal Fairfax County's goal is the lead gold all electric and 50% extra in addition to the requirements So yes, we are savings. Thanks Other questions Councilman Bates Thank you first off general question for

for staff as well as maybe the mayor This item is intended to be just about the land use aspect and not the the funding aspect of this project, right? Correct. Okay, so um in that case, I'll keep to that The so you mentioned that The so the 20% tree canopy requirement 3% is on-site 17% in total is all site does that include the off-site trees to the south as well to clarify that and and others may have some more detail 3% on-site the trees that would be located along Leighton Hall Drive would not be included so that would be additional that the project would be providing But they wouldn't contribute toward the on-site Nor would the off-site Currently though to be clear Um we are working with the city's urban forester on

An allocation for off-site planting but the project is not at 20% at this point just to be very clear about that That's something that we will continue to discuss with the urban forester about Um what the options may be on off-site planting so we would we would have that definitively for The council at the time of public hearing but it is something that we're continuing to work on at this point All right, and in addition to that I you know, I don't know if you have it now But could you also get the current tree canopy on site? Yes, it's 25.6% the current existing at the Joseph Willard site. It's 25 close to 25% Okay, but again, it's as much smaller building. Yeah on this lot. So um Oh on the other hand the current building is is certainly not

You know lead certified and and not you know in addition green acres green acres and the willard uh health center not lead certified and not um powered by renewable sources or anything all right, um and the uh the transit center that was shown um Is that uh part of this project or um is that part of the uh blenheim project? That's part of the blenheim. Okay. Yeah, it's multi-modal project Yeah, so the two the two projects have been coordinating where um, you know where the stairs and where the ramp for example are are connecting to the sidewalk in front of the building the teams have been working together to align those with um with the multimodal project So the the ramp down to that is part of this project, but correct

The center of transit center itself is part of the planning project. Correct. Okay um Yeah, that's all I have for now. Thanks Thank you Other questions uh council member hall Thank you. Um, mr. Harden. I just want to say congrats on your graduate by the way very exciting Thank you um Appreciate it As far I thank you for pointing out that you had not or the project itself has not yet achieved the 20 percent Um, I will say from a tree canopy standpoint I want to be careful that we're not setting an expectation That it's okay to put trees elsewhere and not put them on the property in which they're being removed from um, and so I would encourage The combination of of the two entities to try to make this work a little bit better. Um, my concern

Similar to the adu conversation is that if you put them somewhere else and then that gets redeveloped at some point or that doesn't come to fruition Then now we're out in this case 17 of tree canopy or in I guess in some cases it would be 22 since we were at 25 and now we'd be down to three So recognizing it doesn't include the other trees that have been mentioned. So just something to consider I do want to point out here that the entire campus together with the lab the sherwood and everything We have a tree canopy of almost 37 percent. So the entire campus We are able to meet and far exceed the 20 percent required But it's this particular lot because we are applying for the lot coverage expense

exception that's the only reason we are not able to meet but The campus has more than 37 percent just wanted everybody to be aware of that Okay, so we're not actually losing trees then with the canopy that we're We will also looking at it gets a little confusing. So yeah Looking at the willard parcel independently That's that three percent Figure the project includes also the sherwood Property and the sherwood property extends all the way you know behind the police department includes portions of what Would be thought of as van dyke park So overall looking at What the canopy coverage is as miss joshie noted it exceeds the requirement when we look at that together but to your point we are trying to

Plant as much as we can on you know each parcel As we can just given the size of the building It is challenging And to your question that is something the city's been very judicious about you know from from memory I only recall one instance previously of where off-site Trees have been planted and so it is something we try to certainly be very Very careful about but we will look at that as part of this this effort and we will have maybe a A more complete picture when we come back Perfect thank you very much Thank you Councilmember Amos and then councilmember Hardy Chandler Yeah, just two quick questions so Going back to the tree allocation so how exactly is that allocated is that in partnership with our parks department on where that's distributed?

It would be and with the city's urban forester um as as was mentioned in the staff presentation van dyke park Has been identified as a likely location? But that's something that we would work with city staff on where that may make sense And hopefully at a location where they would be preserved and not in danger of of being removed in the future And then second quick question just a little selfish on my part is there's still going to be that little walking path from Leighton hall Past uh so we can get to van dyke park more directly it would not be affected okay Just making sure Yes councilmember Hardy Chandler in an earlier rendering was there an outdoor rooftop area also and would that have any kind of live

am I remembering something incorrectly or would that have some sort of life there is an outdoor rooftop area um that includes uh plantings they would they would be you know container type plantings and there's been some discussion about actually how much weight load that the the building could handle so I think that's something that the team is still looking at in terms of what the options are there but there would be some degree of greenery along the edge that faces out toward blenheim boulevard and then also between the area um for the for the seniors and the area for the infant toddler connection program I really appreciate that use of that space my other question and this might be getting a little bit ahead but is there any um thought we recently kind of contextually we recently had a report on

on parking in the city so just wondering if there is um if there is a plan for access to parking for non building events or for non building uses um just as we have ample parking the report showed correct so long as a couple of things don't happen right but I'm just thinking in terms of expanding that capacity um so the the project accounts for the existing sherwood center the existing jorgensen lab and um in the proposed proposed building in terms of parking requirements um as you probably noticed in that that parking study in the evenings and weekends there is uh a significant amount of parking that would be available because of the daytime uses um having cleared out that would be available for um you know full special events that may occur at the sherwood

center um is is really what that's geared toward but you know in lieu of that it could be you know visitation at van dyke park um or you know or something else happening on the campus there so certainly the idea is to have a shared parking relationship and that be available for all of the uses that are on that campus the van dyke park master plan does contemplate additional parking being constructed in relation to the park uh you know future eventual renovation um but the project will supply as it does now you know quite quite honestly with with sherwood and willard provide parking for the surrounding as well other other questions or comments very thorough i mean um the additional parking will

be great the volunteer fairfax awards were yesterday and chairman mckay made a bit of a joke about the parking but um i said well you could have said we've got something coming in the future so that you won't have to yeah so this is a great it's a great project again i know that we've talked about these long-term projects and how long they take and it goes you know it goes beyond one mayor it goes beyond one council the city did approach the county about this this is a it's is a again a major infrastructure project it's not something we could feasibly have done on our own without the partnership from the county and so i just i want everyone to be aware you know that we asked for this partnership and we're

invested in this partnership and it's it's not going to get less expensive to build something of this magnitude in the future and so as we move through the process of being asked to you know approve these exceptions for land use we we continue to move forward with the county to build something that will be one of the premier marquee buildings in the city and it's right next to van dyke park which is our largest most used park and it's next to our downtown which is something that we are busy developing you know and it's near combined properties and there's just a lot going on in the city and this project is a it's a cornerstone of that development that's taking place and also with the blinn and

boulevard project as well all of this is in concert and at some point it will be done and it will be remarkable um it will be remarkable when it's all finished and so thank you very much for the presentation we appreciate the whole team staying tonight to answer our questions um and with that i think i will now uh adjourn the work session and reconvene the regular meeting um i will ask uh miss zip if she has any thoughts uh as we conclude the meeting just just one announcement um the uh government center parkway project has kicked off it was in the april city scene but they have started clearing that project it will take about a year and a half i think they said to to finish it um it'll have bike lanes and

sidewalks so that is a good thing that is all i have to report connectivity is a beautiful beautiful thing council member mcquillen final thoughts yes um um tonight the george schneider trail was one of the most difficult decisions i've had to make since being on council i did not like the alignment of this project it's not the trail i would have designed i share many of the same concerns that were raised about the environmental impact however i also recognize our responsibility to be good stewards of our taxpayer dollars and i care deeply about our staff and their dedication it's not fair for a project they've worked so hard on to become a source of controversy i know those who originally supported this trail didn't expect it to come to this

our community deserves better and we can do better and i want to thank all of the residents for all of their feedback and outreach i'd also like to take a moment not just as a city council member but as a mother of a recent graduating senior from fairfax high school and this afternoon a mother of a proud about to be seventh grader in middle school this time of year is full of celebration but it's also a moment to reflect on the quiet perseverance it takes for so many students to get to this point while we often recognize the achievements that come with medals awards and applause i want to speak to the students who may not have been in the spotlight those who struggled who weren't sure they'd make

it who pushed through self-doubt and kept showing up anyway i see you because i was you success doesn't always come in the form of a perfect gpa or polished speech sometimes it's a courage to keep going when it would be easier to give up sometimes it's the strength to believe in yourself when others don't our kids have many gifts many of which don't fit neatly in a transcript some think in music some can fix anything with their hands some have a quiet wisdom or kindness that lifts everyone around them all of that matters so to every student who feels unseen uncelebrated or unsure you are enough you are becoming and you're just getting started so congratulations to the class of 2025 and to every young person out there making their way

forward thank you beautifully said council member bates uh thank you i just want to second council member mcquillen's comments and also um thank my colleagues for i think what was a very productive and cathartic meeting today um i want to commend my colleagues who stuck to their guns um for having courage to do that but also my colleagues who um had changed their minds you know that also takes courage and humility um and i'm glad that you know we've had some degree of um a resolution to this even if it wasn't quite the result i was looking for thank you thank you council member peterson well thanks and hopefully uh a few folks are still uh stand up and watching tonight or will see this tomorrow but i think as some of you

know i sit on a number of regional boards and commissions including those related to transportation one of them is the northern virginia transportation authority has a policy committee and one of the issues that it has been discussing has been the introduction of bus rapid transit to the region including the city of fairfax and where this is going is in the not too distant future the hope that an application for funding could be supported by nvta to take some initial steps towards the advancement of brt as we call it bus rabbit transit in the region bus rabbit transit by the way is fast frequent and reliable uh service um and it has some important nuances that um residents everywhere uh are concerned about

that need to be really discussed and understood including for instance the establishment of dedicated lanes on roads all that said um there has been um some degree of outreach uh by uh nvta as we call them around uh brt sorry for all the acronyms you know i'm so sorry and some of that has included the city of fairfax for instance a survey but it only included a survey of 24 people and there were some sort of show and tell um events as well and they were great and there were some people here but i i think this is a big enough issue and it's a transformational issue in the long term for the city that it really deserves a little bit more attention and opportunity i would like to recommend with the council and the mayor's support here that we have a work session and we invite nvta to come in

themselves actually it'll be uh their consultants to to do show and tell and involvement around uh brt i i i think it is um it's very difficult to imagine that this is not going to be a very significant part of the city's future but how it happens makes all the difference so i guess my request would be that we agree to find time to do that i did have a chance to visit briefly with our transportation director she's certainly supportive of working with nvta to arrange this session and do this so that would be uh that'd be my recommendation because i i really don't want the public to be caught by a surprise or the council so i will ask be asked to provide a supportive position at an upcoming meeting and i certainly

don't want to do that without supportive council and the community so i'd really prefer we get a chance to hear this through a bit so that's my request if it's acceptable to others so we we will have ms backman and the consultants give us a presentation in the fall when we reconvene after our august session and i my only question about that is timing to double check because there is a schedule of consideration and approval running through this one policy committee and it may be that fall is time enough but in case it isn't i didn't want to be remiss in getting this in front of people i can appreciate that we have things backed up for work sessions we've only got three work sessions well four work

sessions before we go on august hiatus so i agree with you bus rapid transit is not only something with nvta but it's something with nvtc as well and i'm sure it's and i know it's tpb and it's cog so we are all talking about bus rapid transit in the region but i do think nvta presenting a work session because they've been doing it in other jurisdictions is something that that there's not going to be an objection to it's just a matter of what work session since we're a little crunched between now and august but i take that we're working on that we will get a date on that anything else no that'll do okay council member hardy chandler well i just want to express my gratitude to my colleagues um i think uh june 10th is a bit of a

milestone in terms of navigating some difficult things but doing so respectfully and i also feel very fortunate that i live in a city that is so engaged and that cares about what's happening i'd much rather have that than silence we can tolerate different perspectives and that's what makes us richer so it's hard but the good things are hard sometimes i do want to encourage people to attend the juneteenth celebration uh that's coming up um that's also symbolic of uh so much of our history as not only a country but certainly our history as a city um so i really want to encourage everyone in fairfax city to come out and celebrate freedom because that's what this is all about that's what allows us

to even be here so those are my comments thank you council member hall i want to echo what everyone else has said so far i also do want to say congratulations to the class of 2025 i enjoyed being at your graduation and also to two of my favorite graduates tyler coats and jacob mcquillen congratulations best wishes we love you and i will certainly miss you both a lot in the fall as well my family um and congratulations to my own promoting eighth grader i will now have two high schoolers next year so yay andrew hall i'm going to call you up by name and cole mcquillen since you're going to go to middle school too um and i if you all noticed i have fairy hair because i went to the pride festival

and they were doing hair and it was very fun i know i go i go back and forth between feeling like i'm like 14 and then feeling like i'm like the 46 year old woman who's just going to own the fact that i did fairy hair and i'm really enjoying it so um yes every time i like catches it it just kind of glitz um yeah tonight was interesting um it it was an opportunity like you have said i think to come together to have a conversation it was a whirlwind it was crazy um but you know we do rely heavily on the community and your engagement and i'm sure there will be other topics other conversations other opportunities to connect and so please again don't hold them against your council members up here

it is a hard job um if we did not find common ground tonight between you and i personally i will certainly hope that there's another topic that we will be able to see eye to eye on in the future um and i think that that's really important you know we we are a small microcosm of what our community is and because of that we see things differently we don't always agree we're not always going to agree with you at home and vice versa um but we just like you and your own personal lives are doing the best you can that's what we're trying to do up here too and i think that that is really important for those at home to keep in mind is that we we're just doing the best we can and it's not always going to be what

you want but it's not always what we want either to be honest so thank you thank you council member amos i just want to echo all of my colleagues sentiments uh obviously tonight was very interesting and but i think we handled it in a very healthy and respectful way that i think the community can appreciate uh also want to express congratulations to the class of 2026 for both perfect high school and george mason shout y'all out too 25 oh my god see see this is this is what y'all this is what y'all get for uh doing this to me anyway uh and want to also say please attend the juneteenth ceremony this saturday in addition to that i think if they're still hosting at mount calvary is also hosting their own juneteenth

event following that one so wanted to shout them out too and in the spirit of juneteenth just always remember oppression is perpetuated in silence and so there's a lot of suffering a lot of fear mongering a lot of issues going on in the world today so don't be afraid to speak up and advocate and volunteer and we have such a passionate community i just want to make sure that we continue to to utilize that for good because i think we can do a lot of great things together and treat each other well thank your neighbor and be kind all good advice so yes it's it's june 10th and um i think good work was done up here i'm i'm very proud of what we accomplished it is juneteenth it's also pride month and again you know there's a lot of people in our community who need to feel seen and welcome and safe

and it's some crazy times out there so i ask all of us to to look out for our neighbors and to look out for the people in our community to make sure that the city really is a reflection of our values and with that we are adjourned at 11 26 p.m on tuesday you