South County Federation Holds Its Monthly Meeting

Paramount among the issues covered at Tuesday night's monthly South County Federation was a looming decision involving a waste treatment plant on Furnace Road managed and operated by Covanta.

The meeting was in the library at South County Secondary School.

Mount Vernon Supervisor Gerry Hyland indicated there was an interest by the county to purchase the facility when the lease expires in 2016. Appraisers representing the county are currently preparing an estimated offering price that has a winter deadline for submission. Hyland indicated that a bid from the county would be sent to Covanta well before the deadline arrived.

At present, 90 percent of the 3,000 tons of trash treated daily at the facility is from Fairfax County. It is the exclusive destination for Fairfax County trash, whether collected publically or privately. Should the lease expire without a new agreement between Covanta and the county, Covanta could then conceivably seek customers outside of the area, a development that concerned both Hyland and members of the Federation, as new out-of-town customers would bring, at a minimum, more truck traffic to an already congested area.

A Covanta representative was not in attendance, but it was suggested by the Federation board that an invitation be extended to one.

The meeting was wide-ranging and covered a number of other issues, as well. Another major issue concerned the Visioning Task Force, a citizens group created by Hyland earlier in the year. Fresh off the first public meeting of the Task Force the night before (STORY HERE), Hyland was met with several pointed questions by Federation members about the composition of the eight committees (and an executive committee).

Specifically, some expressed concern that the committees were weighted in favor of Mount Vernon residents and/or members of the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens' Association (MVCCA). Hyland denied this and indicated that the chairs of the committees were evenly divided between the South County Federation and the MVCCA.

A member of the Federation worried that, while the chairs to the Task Force may have been evenly split, there did appear to be a preponderance of Mount Vernon residents making up the rest of the spots on the committees.

While admitting that he did not know what the specific breakdown was between the MVCCA and South County members on the committees, Hyland said that had he focused only on evenly distributing persons from both groups, that would have only emphasized geographic boundaries.

Hyland noted, as he had the previous evening when addressing the task force, that individuals were chosen to be part of the Task Force based on their individual talents and not their affiliations or locations.

Additionally, Hyland addressed the possibility of district boundaries being re-drawn as a result of the 2010 Census. He anticipated some changes as he currently represents 124,000 people and Lee District, represented by Jeff McKay, has 104,000.

Also, members recognized the Lorton business community who assisted the Lorton Community Action Center in its back-to-school campaign that donated over 300 backpacks to Lorton children. The support of the business community has also been critical to keeping many of the offerings at the Workhouse Arts Center free to the general public.

Other matters included but were not limited to:

• A decision on whether the new middle school will open in January or August of 2012. The building is expected to be completed in time for the earlier of the two dates, but a number of factors are in play as to which date is chosen, not least of which is the possible interruption of instructional time that would come with a January opening. The matter is under review by Fairfax County Public School officials.
• The pedestrian area on Lorton Road under the I-95 bridge.
• An ill-kept section of land off Furnace Road.
• The maintenance and responsibility (legally and otherwise) of stormwater ponds.
• Creation of a Facebook page for the Federation was approved.