President Mark McConn called the meeting to order at 7:15 p.m.

Council Members:

Lewis Grimm – 2nd Vice President, Franklin Farm Foundation

Priscilla Knight – Secretary, Sully Station II

Mark McConn – President, Bull Run

Jim Neighbors– Sully Station

Jeff Parnes – 1st Vice President, Chantilly Highlands

John Tillman – Oakwood Estates

Presenters/Guests:

David Bulova, HOD District 37

Rick DeBezia, EPH

Janet Howell, Senator, District 32

Jim LeMunyon, HOD District 67

John Litzenberger, Sully Planning Commissioner

David Marsden, Senator, District 37

Sara V. Mariska, Esq., Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley, Emrich & Walsh, P.C.

Stan Settle, EPH

• Delegates Dave Bulova and Jim LeMunyon, along with Senators Janet Howell and David Marsden, reported on work the General Assembly did this year.

• Delegate Dave Bulova
  • Delegate Dave Bulova (D) said delegates and senators wrested with a lot of controversial issues, which took up a lot of debate time. He said Northern Virginia contributes a huge proportion of the money for the budget, yet we didn’t get what we hoped to get for transportation. Other sections of the state did.
  • The cost of living is much higher in Northern Virginia – anywhere from a third to half again more. A bipartisan effort helped Northern Virginia get some more money for its schools.
  • Gov. McDonnell wanted to tie State employee bonuses to how much they could find to cut from the budget. But since the budget has been slashed in recent years, there’s not much meat left on the budget “bones.”
  • Transportation was “a bust.” Delegate Dave Albo was taken to task by a delegate from Shenandoah who claimed Albo wanted too much money for Northern Virginia.
  • Bills on Bulova’s Agenda
    1. Telephone bill cramming – A third party puts a charge on consumers’ bills without asking them if they want this feature. The new legislation says consumers must be informed about third-party billing. Subsequently, Verizon said it will stop all third-party billing.
    2. Gov. McDonnell vetoed Bulova’s homeowner association bill that would allow a common-interest board to help change homeowner documents. The House of Delegates didn’t get a two-thirds majority to overrule the veto.
    3. Two constitutional amendments will be voted on in November. One involves private-property laws. A loophole exists in a state law that allows the state government to take private property and sell it to a developer as long as the property is used for the public’s benefit. The General Assembly wants to fix the loophole with a constitutional amendment that defines what public uses and benefits are.
    4. Bulova got through a bill to keep district roads under district jurisdiction. VDOT had to review too many road-improvement requests. Now, the decision-making process will be done at the district level. The secretary of transportation supported this legislation.

• Senator Janet Howell
  • Sen. Janet Howell (D) became a new senator to the Sully district after re-districting. She said this year’s session was a terrible disappoint for her. “We needed transportation and school funding, but we got an abortion controversy.”
  • Howell said she has been in the Senate for 21 years and is fifth in seniority. She’s on the Education and Health committee; the Courts Committee (even though she’s not a lawyer), Rules Committee, and Finance Committee. Finance is very powerful.
  • She expressed how angry Democrats became when Republicans took senior Democrats off some committees. Consequently, there was no way to stop controversial bills, such as bills that dealt with abortion and guns. Virginia had been the gun-running state before the one-gun-a-month law was passed. Now, that law has been repealed.
  • The most infamous bill required a vaginal ultrasound probe for girls/women seeking abortions. “There was no stopping it. The business community became upset about the bad reputation Virginia was getting.” The vaginal bill was modified.
  • Howell said legislation will now make it harder for people to vote. She said a lot of groups, including AARP, are angry.
  • The Democrats wouldn’t vote for the budget because it needed more funding for public education. “Northern Virginia was getting walloped.” Howell said she wanted an additional $300 million for Dulles rail. At some point, the “sane senate” re-emerged and moderate Republicans helped to get progress, but the $300 million for phase II was not approved.

• Delegate Jim LeMunyon
  • Del. LeMunyon (R) helped to push through legislation that says VDOT must comment when they think a change in roads will cause congestion. VDOT will start evaluating every transportation change and rate each according to which will solve congestion. One problem area is the intersection of Braddock Road and Pleasant Valley Road, which backs up into South Riding in the mornings. The Loudoun County Board of Supervisors and VDOT are looking at several solutions, including rotaries. The Rt. 28 and Rt. 66 interchange “is a mess.”
  • A new law says localities may evaluate sound from roads and highways at their own expense, and VDOT must accept the evaluations.
  • The House of Delegates addressed safety questions and licensing of home contractors. The state can’t enforce licensing laws, but now counties will have enforcement rights.
  • LeMunyon said there were not the votes for increasing the gas tax. He explained that in Southside and the western part of Virginia, people have to drive much further to get to work. Therefore, their representatives will not vote for a higher gas tax. He said we need to take a broader look at tax reform.

• Senator David Marsden
  • Sen. Dave Marsden (D) said he worked well with Jim LeMunyon on traffic congestion bills. The environmental community had problems with some of them, but they worked with them and they became neutral. “That’s what you have to do to get things done,” Marsden said. He recommended public hearings for whatever change is proposed.
  • Marsden noted, “We’re still short on transportation money for Dulles Rail.” He said soon we won’t be able to transfer funds from maintenance for construction.” He said the House killed a bill because it was a tax increase. He noted that a pledge not to raise taxes, signed by 37 House members, is “killing the Legislature.”
  • Lewis Grimm asked whether or not the General Assembly will change the term limit on the Commonwealth’s governor to allow more than one term. He said Virginia’s governor has a lot to handle in the beginning of his or her term. Then, as a lame duck, the governor doesn’t have much influence. Grimm said West Virginia had the same rule, but changed it and the state has had better success. Marsden noted that each administration changes agency heads and all of the new heads are not qualified. A two-term governorship would solve this problem. But, Virginia is so well run that some people say, basically, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.”
  • Marsden said the Senate killed legislation to start school before Labor Day because of water temperature. Virginia Beach business owners say more tourists come to the beach later in the summer when the water is warmer. The tourist industry fought the bill. Marsden said the rule is “silly” because more than 50 percent of jurisdictions give school boards the authority to open schools before Labor Day.

• Residential Development on EDS site fronting Centreville Road between Wall Rd and Cox Offices
  • Proponent: Sara V. Mariska, Esq., Walsh, Colucci, Lubeley, Emrich & Walsh, P.C.
  • Action: Site Plan
  • Location: EDS site fronting Centreville Road between Wall Rd and Cox Offices, Oak Hill, Virginia 2017
  • The original development proposal covered all the property east of the EDS/HP site stretching from Wall Road to the Cox offices. The revised proposal is more limited, starting where Kinross South intersects Centreville Road north to the Cox offices, and not covering the property south of the Kinross South intersection to Wall Road.
    The property was rezoned in 2007 for multi-housing development. The office and retail section stayed the same as approved, but they would like to reduce the number from more than 1,000 units to 80 townhouses and 720 multi-use units. Edge Drive will be improved. With fewer housing units, traffic will be less. The ball fields will be dedicated to the Park Authority. They will have dark-sky-friendly lighting and bathroom facilities. The fields will cost $1 million to construct. The SDC said we’ll see them again after County Staff reviews the plans.

The meeting was adjourned at 9:40 p.m.

Respectively submitted by,

Jeffrey Parnes
1st Vice President
Sully District Council