More than 100 citizens attended a Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services (PRCS) public hearing on July 22 regarding a pool and community center in the Round Hill area. The facilities would be funded through proffers made to the county as part of the 1989 rezoning application for the property that is now the Villages of Round Hill, Mountain Valley and Lake Point.

In her opening remarks, PRCS director and meeting moderator Cindy Welsh reviewed the proffer language, which states that the county has the option for the developer to either build the facilities or make an equivalent monetary contribution to the County. This contribution is due prior to the issuance of the 800th zoning permit.

According to a handout provided by PRCS and distributed at the meeting, the pool proffer (ZMAP-1989-004, -#41a) is for a junior Olympic swimming pool, and the community center built under proffer #41b must comply with the 1987 PRCS Service Plan, which describes the required center as a minimum of 11,000 square feet, including:

• Multi-purpose room
• Several community classrooms
• Kitchen
• Game room
• 4,200 square foot gymnasium
• Lockers/showers
• A 25-meter outdoor swimming pool

Both proffers include language that allows PRCS to request that the applicant provide alternative facilities or alternative services.

The County and the developer, Oak Hill Properties, have been holding discussions to determine a scheme that will be suitable to the citizens of the Round Hill area, Welsh said. As a result of these discussions, she continued, the County is considering the following combination of contributions as fulfillment of the proffer:

• Renovate the old Round Hill elementary school/Round Hill Center for use as a community center
• In lieu of another County swimming facility, add an additional section to the pool at Franklin Park

Loudoun County Supervisor Jim Burton then spoke, adding to Welsh's remarks that, under this plan, Oak Hill would build two pools, one the expanded facility at Franklin Park, the second a homeowners association (HOA) pool for the residents of Oak Hill properties.

The floor then opened for public comment. During this time, Burton acknowledged that the County Zoning Administrator had determined that two pools are required under the proffer language. Welsh also remarked that an indoor facility has been discussed and, in reference to the question of ownership of the old elementary school, confirmed that the Loudoun County School Board, which currently owns the building, plans to vacate the facility and pass it over to the County.

Most of the comments during the pubic input session centered around the pool. All speakers were in favor of at least one new pool in the community, but there was a wide difference of opinion on where that facility should be located, who should be able to use the facility, and the type of facility that should be built with the proffered money. Some of the comments recorded on the subject of the pool were:

• Multiple complaints that the Franklin Park facility is too expensive and too crowded
• Strong support for an indoor pool, and a suggestion that it could be built with large doors that could be opened during the summer months 
• Wherever the pool is located, it should be easily accessible to the Round Hill community via safe trails.
• Villages HOA members stated that if a HOA pool were built, it should be for the exclusive use of HOA members since they pay membership fees.
• The HOA pool funds should be combined with those for the Franklin Park expansion to build a top-notch indoor facility at Franklin Park.
• The County should not consider building a pool in Woodgrove Park.
• Several comments on the difficulty in getting children into swimming lessons at Franklin Park and Ida Lee Park in Leesburg due to overcrowding at both facilities. It was argued that an indoor pool would help relieve this overcrowding and allow children to take classes in a critical life skill.
• A dual indoor-outdoor facility benefits everyone.
• Rather than an HOA pool, a membership-only pool could be built; residents of the entire Round Hill community would be eligible to purchase memberships.
• Discussion by the Franklin Park swim team coach about the number of potential swimmers she must turn away each year due to limited resources and the difficulties the team faces competing in an outdoor facility without lights.
• A Loudoun Valley High School swim team member described how he and his teammates practice at Ida Lee, the only indoor facility in the County. Practices run late at night, and many of his teammates do not get home from practice until after 11 p.m. on school nights.

Comments on the renovation of the old Round Hill elementary school for use as a community center included:

• The center need not be "state-of-the-art" as long as it is adequate to serve the functions of a community center.
• Rather than renovating an existing facility, the County should take this opportunity to build a new facility.
• If the existing facility were renovated, it is likely that rather than a recreation center it would be used primarily as a day-care center similar to many of the County's other community centers.
• The old elementary school will never be a true recreation center.
• Mary Anne Graham, Round Hill Town Councilmember and former Vice Mayor, spoke in favor of renovating the old elementary school. She argued that it is centrally located to the community and within walking distance for many of the area's senior citizens.

Toward the end of the public comment session, Round Hill Mayor Frank Etro spoke on behalf of the Town Council in support of the County's recommendation to use the proffers to renovate the old elementary school into a community center and build an expanded pool at Franklin Park or one at the community center. He asked that the Board of Supervisors and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services "look ten years out" when making their decisions. He noted that a lot of homes were being built in the area at by-right zoning and these new residents would increase demand on community services.

Mayor Etro also asked the citizens assembled to consider the meaning of the word "proffer." A proffer, he continued, is money that was promised to the County for County use. While Etro has always believed -- as a Planning Commissioner, as a Town Council member, and as Mayor -- that if the developer promised the HOA members a pool then the developer should build an HOA pool, he asked the County to press to get the full proffer value for public use by County residents.

Several residents, of both the Town and the Villages, spoke after Mayor Etro in support of the proffer money being used exclusively for County facilities. Round Hill Town Councilman Scott Ramsey suggested that talk of an HOA pool vs. a County pool was divisive and that the community should stick together to ensure that at least one new pool gets built in the area. A Villages resident later argued that Villages HOA members can fight their own battle and that the County should ensure that the Oak Hill proffers be used for public facilities.

After two hours of public comment, PRCS Director Welsh closed the public input session. At that time, a citizen asked Oak Hill President Kevin Rogers to respond to any of the comments he had heard at the meeting. Rogers started by saying that he had been party to discussions with the County over these proffers for several years and that "ideas of what the proffers mean have changed often." He claimed to be an advocate of talking publicly about the process and declared that he "was not running away from the proffers."

Another citizen questioned Rogers on this point, citing a statement made in a flier sent out by the Town of Round Hill that claimed, "Now Oak Hill has asked the Board of Supervisors to remove those proffers." Rogers and Burton both denied this statement, and Burton declared that Rogers "will meet his obligations."

According to Welsh, talk of using the County proffers to build an HOA pool, which Mayor Etro construes as removing the proffers, was not initiated by the developer but rather was an alternative the County had discussed as a way to offset costs.

Citizens who would like to voice their opinions on any of these issues should call or write to Supervisor Jim Burton (AldieManor@aol.com), the entire Board of Supervisors (bos@loudoun.gov), PRCS Director Cindy Welsh (prcs@loudoun.gov) or County Budget Officer Ben Mays (bmays@loudoun.gov).