July 18, 2002
<bt>Former Name: The Hamel Tract
Acreage: 38
Location: Chain Bridge Road in central McLean
Acquired as parkland in: 1973
Purchase price: $600,000
Originally proposed for: 130 townhouses
Present use: Tennis courts, two soccer fields (one lighted), and one baseball field, garden plots, free mulch. Site of annual McLean Day festival sponsored by the McLean Community Center.
Strategist: John Shacochis, now 87, with the backing of his wife and the Lewinsville Citizens Association (now West Lewinsville Heights Citizens Association) As a management engineer for the Bureau of Naval Personnel, Shacochis used the first microfiche to store records for the government. He was Dranesville District Supervisor from 1976-80.
Length of effort: 1971 - 73
How it happened: The Hamel Tract got its name from the tax court judge who had lived in the house that is still there.
After he died, his estate sold the land to developer Hyman Bernstein for $400,000. He planned to build townhouses there.
John Shacochis lived with his wife, Helen, and children on Seacliff Drive, near McLean High School.
“Both of us were very, very civic-minded,” she said. “Hamel Tract was marked green on our [Fairfax County] master plan. Green was for parkland. “
John Shacochis, president of the Lewinsville Citizens Association, was concerned about where children would play if the tract was developed. Even though his own children would be too old to benefit, he began to distribute flyers in the neighborhood. “We pounded the pavement,” said Helen Shacochis.
They suggested the land be purchased as a park, with no houses at all built there. The developer countered that he would give over 20 acres for parkland, and build 130 townhouses on the other 18.
“Everyone was aghast,” said Helen Shacochis. “They did not want townhouses there. They wanted parkland.”
On the night of March 5, 1971, between 350 and 400 people attended a meeting at McLean High School.
On the next night, March 6, the Fairfax County Park Authority passed a resolution asking the Planning Commission to retain the whole 38.7-acre tract until a purchase deal could be worked out.
The Planning Commission complied, canceling a scheduled March 13 public hearing on the developer’s proposal to divide the acreage between parkland and development.
For Shacochis, that was a huge win. It signaled the government would acquiesce to the wishes of citizens that the land be preserved as a park.
Funding eventually came from a park bond referendum, and the parcel was purchased for $600,000. “That was a lot of money in the early '70s,” said Jack Hannon, a lawyer who served on the LCA’s legal committee. “People were still buying houses in McLean for $50,000 and $60,000.”
“It makes my heart good every time I drive by there and see those young children and young adults playing soccer and ball, and to know there is something green for people to enjoy,” said Helen Shacochis last week.
“I hope it stays forever.”