Joint Board Matter with Supervisor McKay

January 12, 2016

Coordinating Public Use Priorities for Various Properties 

Madam Chairman,

In early February the Commonwealth of Virginia is expected to announce its selection of a buyer for the Northern Virginia Training Center property in the Braddock District. I believe that there may still be opportunities for future public uses on a portion of this site. Fairfax County needs to be prepared to put forward and discuss its facility needs with the public and the buyer, either through prospective proffers or even a possible development partnership. While the Board has had some preliminary conversations in that regard, given the many needs and the many sites countywide, I believe more coordination is needed.

Over the last three years, working with county staff, we have gathered, and developed, a menu of potential public uses for a segment of the NVTC site. Near the top, for me, is a workforce development/career and technical education facility, perhaps through a partnership with Northern Virginia Community College and Fairfax County Public Schools. A life skills training facility for people with disabilities is another possible, and high priority, use.

Some of these ideas already match uses identified by the Mt. Vernon community in its visioning process for use of the current Saudi Academy site – which the Board received last month. It is critically important that the planning process for both of these sites, and other potential public facilities in the County (the possible East County Human Services Center comes to mind) be coordinated. As decisions are made for long term uses of these sites, and others, they should not be made in isolation, but as part of a coordinated decision-making process involving the Board of Supervisors.

Therefore, I ask without objection that staff return to the Board within 120 days a framework for decision-making on possible public uses for the NVTC and Islamic Saudi Academy sites, along with other locations where similar public uses may have already been considered by staff. This framework should include an assessment of these sites for possible workforce development and educational opportunities. This framework should also take into account both previously adopted county priorities and the decision-making timetables governing these two redevelopment opportunities.