The Gum Springs Conservation Plan – A Dishonored Promise
WHAT HAPPENED TO ACCOUNTABILITY?
Why is
the Gum Springs Conservation Plan No Longer Honored by Fairfax County?
The Gum Springs Conservation Plan
was developed pursuant to its formal designation as a “Conservation Area” by
Fairfax County. The designation represented a commitment to support, protect,
and invest in Gum Springs, in accordance with measures outlined in a duly
adopted Conservation Plan developed by the Gum Springs community.
Notwithstanding its own action to designate Gum Springs a
Conservation Area, Fairfax County disputes that Gum Springs is an authorized
Conservation Area. As such, the County has refused to work with the community
of Gum Springs to re-instate the Conservation Plan that was adopted by the
County Board of Supervisors.
The County maintains that the authority for recognizing the designation
of Gum Springs as a Conservation Area no longer exists under the current Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan. In revising
the Comprehensive Plan, the County omitted that authority, or basis, upon which
the Gum Springs Conservation Area and its Plan relied.
The Gum Springs Conservation Plan – A
Dishonored Promise
EXCUSES
Why did
the County end the Authorizing Provisions for the Gum Springs Conservation
Area?
Q: Was the County, under its
previous Comprehensive Plan, legally authorized to designate Gum Springs a
Conservation Area and to develop and implement the Gum Springs Conservation
Plan? What was the reason for eliminating the provision from the revised
Comprehensive Plan?
Q: If the County was so authorized,
was the County entitled to de-designate Gum Springs as a Conservation Area when
it eliminated the authority for its designation at the time of its revision to
the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan?
Q: What provisions of Virginia Code
currently apply to Gum Springs, as a formerly designated Conservation Area?
Another
Excuse: Gum Springs is “No Longer Eligible”
The Gum Springs Conservation Plan was originally developed,
and justified, to address conditions which meet the definition of a “blighted
area” in Virginia Code. The County now maintains that the conditions of “blight”
have been addressed, and therefore, Gum Springs no longer meets eligibility
requirements for a Conservation Area.
However, the Virginia Code specifically states in its
definition of “blighted area”:
This definition includes,
without limitation, areas previously designated as blighted areas
pursuant to the provisions of Chapter 1 (§ 36-1 et seq.) of
this title.
A Renewed
Promise – Also Broken
The Board of Supervisors subsequently invited the Gum
Springs community to submit a revised and updated Plan and committed to work
with the community toward its adoption. Their unanimous vote of January 6,
2009, (Summary pp 25-26) states:
The Housing and Community Development (HCD) staff will work with the Gum Springs Community (New Gum Springs Civic Association) and reactivate the Gum Springs Conservation Plan for acceptance by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
The Gum Springs Conservation Plan – A
Dishonored Promise
TIME FOR ACTION
Inaction by
the County has been harmful to Gum Springs!
During these years of evasive and disingenuous behavior by
County officials, Gum Springs has seen its integrity chipped away, and its
livability jeopardized, by inappropriate development, encroachment, and threats
of even greater harm to Gum Springs and its built environment. Further, the
Mount Vernon Supervisor refuses to remove from consideration a development
proposal that requires community approval, despite the community’s rejection of
the proposal.
ACTION IS
NEEDED NOW.
If the County’s intention in designating the Gum Springs
Conservation Area was to follow the provisions and/or the intent of the
Virginia Code (whether or not legally authorized), the County should commit to following
the framework that the Code and the Conservation Plan provide. If judiciously
followed in consultation with the Gum Springs community, the framework embodied
in the Code can support conservation and redevelopment that would benefit the
Gum Springs community as follows:
Conservation:
Preserve and protect the historic
character of the Gum Springs community, its built environment, pedestrian-friendly
streetscapes, and natural setting.
Affordable Housing:
Support single family
owner-occupied housing. Prevent further redevelopment that has created an
imbalance between affordable moderate-income single-family housing and newly
introduced multifamily and gentrifying housing.
Redevelopment:
Establish and invest in parks
for the people of Gum Springs, wherever opportunities occur to remove
development that is inconsistent with the character of the community, and to
nurture the natural environment to counteract overdevelopment that has already
taken place.
TO SAVE OUR COMMUNITY:
THE GUM SPRINGS CONSERVATION AREA
MUST BE RE-INSTATED.
THE GUM SPRINGS CONSERVATION PLAN
MUST BE RE-ACTIVATED.
Ronald L. Chase
President
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