If Temple Rodef Shalom is to have a prayer of a chance of gaining approval for its parking lot expansion, it will need to appease neighbors objecting to the temple's stormwater management plan. "We want to see a good, workable plan to fix the stormwater management problems prior to consideration for the parking lot addition," said Adrienne Whyte, chairman of the McLean Citizens Association (MCA) Planning and Zoning Committee. Whyte's committee discussed the Rodef Shalom parking expansion plan at their Jan. 29 meeting. The temple will present a revised plan at the next MCA Planning and Zoning Committee meeting which will be held on Tuesday, Feb. 26. The temple has an application for an additional 74 parking spaces, reduced twice from 110 spaces and again from 81 spaces. Whyte said that while the application to expand the parking lot is unlikely to be denied, it has been deferred by Joan DuBois, the Dranesville representative to the Fairfax County Planning Commission. It is being connected to the flooding that has occurred in the temple's neighborhood. "This stems from poor stormwater management design in the first place," said Whyte. The temple agreed to fix the roof drain, built according to the county plan. "The county screwed up as much as the temple did," said Kirby Court neighbor William Kelleher. "The floods last summer indicate there is a problem – the baseball fields, my backyard. The pond serves no practical purpose. The pond is not doing its job of holding back the flow of water. The pond was added to keep the water level the same with the additional impervious surface," said Kelleher. The pond is not holding the water long enough – it's overflowing the pipe that carries the water into the stream and it floods Kirby Court and its homes, said Whyte. With the two issues tied together, little attention was give to the parking lot expansion, save for the concern regarding the potential loss of trees. Richard "Dick" Poole, chairman of the trees committee suggested that the full complement of temple parking would only be needed twice a year (Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement), that arrangements for the overflow parking could be made with the Haycock and Longfellow schools. "Have the trees to be felled been identified?" asked Poole, also wanting to know how many trees would be lost to the parking lot expansion. The initial plan submitted by the temple called for the loss of more than 100 trees, said Keith Martin, attorney for Walsh Collucci representing Temple Rodef Shalom. With the reduced parking space plan, "it's a guesstimate – about 50 trees now," said Martin. "I don't think it's possible to save any trees," said Martin regarding the current proposal of 74 parking spaces. "We will get a count for the next meeting," he said referring to the Feb. 26 meeting. "In defense of the temple – they made a significant improvement – far fewer trees to be cut down," said Whyte. "We don't like it, but it's far better than where we were. It's an improvement over the original plan." "I move to reaffirm the current position – that we can not support the expansion of the temple lot," said McLean resident Diane D'Arcy. "The county and the temple are working to resolve these problems," said Whyte. "The MCA position – until a good plan is in place to resolve the flood problems – is that the temple's application for additional expansion should not go forward."