To: Fairfax County School Board, c/o Elizabeth Schultz, Fairfax County Planning Commission, Pat Herrity, Board of Supervisors, Springfield Representative, Dr. Karen Garza, Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent, Peter F. Murphy, Planni...
Don't overcrowd our schools and further gridlock Lee Highway
School overcrowding impacts the safety of our children and the quality of their education. We respectfully urge the Fairfax County Planning Commission, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and the Fairfax County School Board to:
1) Not adopt the proposed Plan Amendment 2013-III-FC1(A) and S13-III-FC1 to the Comprehensive Plan for Sub-units S1 and M2 in the Fairfax Center Area. The plan amendment will lead to more overcrowding in our schools and on our roads and has a negative environmental impact on protected land areas.
2) Develop a comprehensive plan for providing relief for school overcrowding in the Fairfax high school pyramid and its feeder schools before allowing any further development, especially at high densities.
1) Not adopt the proposed Plan Amendment 2013-III-FC1(A) and S13-III-FC1 to the Comprehensive Plan for Sub-units S1 and M2 in the Fairfax Center Area. The plan amendment will lead to more overcrowding in our schools and on our roads and has a negative environmental impact on protected land areas.
2) Develop a comprehensive plan for providing relief for school overcrowding in the Fairfax high school pyramid and its feeder schools before allowing any further development, especially at high densities.
Why is this important?
OUR SCHOOLS ARE ALREADY OVERCROWDED; MORE HIGH-DENSITY DEVELOPMENT WILL MAKE SCHOOL OVERCROWDING WORSE.
Development at the proposed densities for Sub-units S1 and M2 would result in 72-96 additional houses or town homes to be served by Willow Springs ES and Eagle View ES. Willow Springs was built for 750 students, currently has 1000 students and is projected to increase by 15% by 2018-2019 without any new development. Eagle View is projected to be at 118% capacity by 2018-2019. Both schools feed into Fairfax HS, which is projected to be at 107% capacity by 2018-2019. (http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/maps/index.shtml)
THERE IS NO PLAN FOR ADDRESSING SCHOOL OVERCROWDING; MORE HIGH-DENSITY DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT A PLAN IS IRRESPONSIBLE.
The staff report calls for passing the buck to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS): “To mitigate impacts of the proposed development … FCPS would look to the developer and support from the county at the time of rezoning.” Until citizens recently brought it to their attention, the School Board was unaware of the proposed change to the Comprehensive Plan, and has no plans to build new schools in this area.
FIXED RESOURCES AT SCHOOLS MAKE MORE EXPANSION THROUGH TRAILERS IMPOSSIBLE.
Both Willow Springs and Eagle View already have a semi-permanent network of trailers. Additional trailers are not an option because of fixed resources which cannot be expanded, such as gymnasiums, cafeterias, land, and parking.
LEE HIGHWAY IS ALREADY GRIDLOCKED; MORE HIGH-DENSITY DEVELOPMENT WILL MAKE BAD TRAFFIC EVEN WORSE.
This section of Lee Highway is already at a standstill during rush hour, and this impacts our quality of life negatively -- it makes it hard to get to our jobs, get home to our families, and drive our kids to school and extracurricular activities. Our school buses regularly have difficulty arriving on time due to traffic.
For these reasons, we urge you to maintain the densities of the current Comprehensive Plan at this time.
Thank you for your consideration of our petition.
Development at the proposed densities for Sub-units S1 and M2 would result in 72-96 additional houses or town homes to be served by Willow Springs ES and Eagle View ES. Willow Springs was built for 750 students, currently has 1000 students and is projected to increase by 15% by 2018-2019 without any new development. Eagle View is projected to be at 118% capacity by 2018-2019. Both schools feed into Fairfax HS, which is projected to be at 107% capacity by 2018-2019. (http://www.fcps.edu/fts/planning/maps/index.shtml)
THERE IS NO PLAN FOR ADDRESSING SCHOOL OVERCROWDING; MORE HIGH-DENSITY DEVELOPMENT WITHOUT A PLAN IS IRRESPONSIBLE.
The staff report calls for passing the buck to Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS): “To mitigate impacts of the proposed development … FCPS would look to the developer and support from the county at the time of rezoning.” Until citizens recently brought it to their attention, the School Board was unaware of the proposed change to the Comprehensive Plan, and has no plans to build new schools in this area.
FIXED RESOURCES AT SCHOOLS MAKE MORE EXPANSION THROUGH TRAILERS IMPOSSIBLE.
Both Willow Springs and Eagle View already have a semi-permanent network of trailers. Additional trailers are not an option because of fixed resources which cannot be expanded, such as gymnasiums, cafeterias, land, and parking.
LEE HIGHWAY IS ALREADY GRIDLOCKED; MORE HIGH-DENSITY DEVELOPMENT WILL MAKE BAD TRAFFIC EVEN WORSE.
This section of Lee Highway is already at a standstill during rush hour, and this impacts our quality of life negatively -- it makes it hard to get to our jobs, get home to our families, and drive our kids to school and extracurricular activities. Our school buses regularly have difficulty arriving on time due to traffic.
For these reasons, we urge you to maintain the densities of the current Comprehensive Plan at this time.
Thank you for your consideration of our petition.