Cooperation Leads to Victory for Kincaid Forest and Tavistock Farms

Leesburg Patch recently posted a letter from Leesburg District Supervisor Kelly Burk in which she thanked many parties for working together to achieve a desirable outcome – the recent decision of the Board of Supervisors to change the planned location of a new Juvenile Detention Center (JDC).

This change had been sought by residents of the Kincaid Forest and Tavistock Farms neighborhoods in southeastern Leesburg.  The Board’s decision will result in the JDC being located farther away from residences than originally proposed.

Burk’s letter traced the six-month process that started with an informational meeting last November, followed by a community meeting in which residents raised concerns about the location of the JDC as well as issues related to the use and construction of roads.

At Burk’s request, the Board of Supervisors in February authorized the creation of a steering committee to try to work out these issues.  Members included representatives from the Town of Leesburg and Loudoun County Planning Commissions and the Kincaid Forest and Tavistock Farms homeowners associations.  County staff from the departments of Construction & Waste Management and Transportation Services also provided support to the steering committee.

The steering committee held a series of meetings that led to several recommendations on which the group was able to reach consensus.

Last week, the Board of Supervisors voted to switch the locations that had been proposed for the JDC and a warehouse, as the steering committee had recommended.  The committee’s other recommendations, regarding traffic calming strategies and the construction of Crosstrail Boulevard and Miller Drive, were referred to the Board’s Transportation & Land Use Committee for further analysis.

Although the transportation-related issues are still being discussed, the decision to relocate the JDC already represents a victory for the residents of Kincaid Forest and Tavistock Farms.

Burk deserves credit for her leadership on this issue, and her letter thanking all parties is smart politics.  After all, she is running for re-election, and this is an issue that is important to many Leesburg residents.

It is also important to give credit to each member of the steering committee.  They were:

• Mary Harper , Town of Leesburg Planning Commission
• Gigi Robinson, Loudoun County Planning Commission
• Kathleen Quinn, Kincaid Forest
• Lisa Wylie, Kincaid Forest
• Amy Sibley, Tavistock Farms
• Nick Meyer, Tavistock Farms

In addition to Burk, others who participated in all three meetings and who also deserve credit are:

• Sally Kurtz, Catoctin District Supervisor
• Lewis Rauch, Loudoun County Department of Construction & Waste Management
• Dale Castellow, Loudoun County Office of Transportation Services
• Milton Herd, Herd Planning & Design, Facilitator

Despite interests that differed in some respects, members of the steering committee were able to put their egos aside and reach consensus on several key recommendations.  Facilitator Milton Herd even noted in his report that at least one of the members was “less than enthusiastic” about a key recommendation, but did not oppose including it because it was reflective of the broad consensus of the committee.

This was important, because the committee had decided at the outset that its decisions would be made by consensus.  A strong objection by any member could have scuttled any recommendation.  But that didn’t happen here. 

This is a good example of community leaders working cooperatively with government representatives to achieve an outcome that, while perhaps less than perfect, is acceptable to all parties.

It would be refreshing to see this example followed at all levels of government, especially the U. S. Congress, which increasingly finds itself stalemated on the most important issues.

Steering committee member Ann Sibley was quoted in Leesburg Today as saying that “you cannot hold hands with clenched fists.”  This is a variation of a quote most often attributed to Indira Gandhi: “People with clenched fists cannot shake hands.”

In this case, the clenched fists were held in reserve until they could be raised in fist pumps of victory.