Citing the nearby intersections of Route 123 and Hunter Mill and Jermantown Roads as an example of locations that needs smart growth, panelists exchanged ideas with area residents on how to reduce sprawl, at a forum held by an area church Sunday.
"You can't park once and walk to every service," said panelist Stewart Schwartz, referring to the post office, churches and schools that straddle Chain Bridge Road. Schwartz is executive director for the Coalition for Smarter Growth.
More than 35 people attended Sunday's 2 1/2-hour forum, sponsored by the Green Sanctuary group of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, located off Hunter Mill Road in Oakton. Residents came to hear the three panelists, all smart-growth advocates, speak on how they can control development within their neighborhoods. They also listened to the panelists' discussion of sprawl and traffic in general in Northern Virginia.
"I'm very much interested in transportation issues ... and planning," said Vienna resident Jody Bennett, on why she attended the forum.
Panelists suggested several actions that forum attendees could take for both shorter and longer terms. One action was to put pressure on local officials to ensure that residents’ demands for smart growth are met. These demands could include the support of a regional comprehensive plan, better pedestrian access to Metro stations, the creation of affordable housing near public transit, better zoning decisions, and the re-planning of certain areas, such as creating more mixed-use, pedestrian-friendly development around Metro stations. In several instances, panelists cited the development surrounding the Rosslyn-Ballston Metro corridor as an example of smart growth.
"The main message I want to give you is a political one: you can do it," said panelist and former Fairfax County Board supervisor and chairman Audrey Moore, who served on the Board from 1972-92. "You can do something about this if you want to."
Panelists also urged the audience to push local officials for open space and historic preservation, and to seek alternatives to road construction that would ease traffic congestion.
One Vienna resident attending the forum said his problem was that although he supports smart growth, developers have been pressuring him and his neighbors to sell their lots, which are located 10 minutes away from the Vienna Metro station.
'Parcels like that need longer-term plans, so the people there are put on notice that these things could happen," said panelist Roger Diedrich, a volunteer leader in the Sierra Club.
Oakton resident John Holmblad said he came because he's interested in the issues. Holmblad voted against the proposed sales-tax increase for Northern Virginia last fall, which would have provided funding for transportation projects and road improvements for the area.
"The kind of land use that suburbia uses is not good," Holmblad said. "I think this kind of builds my confidence that I made the right decision," he added, regarding his vote on the sales tax.
Holmblad suggested that in addition to fighting for better zoning and planning decisions, other options like telecommuting, could prove beneficial as well.
"I think that more incentives should be provided to smooth out the rush hour," Holmblad said.
Vienna resident Jerry Poje, one of the forum's organizers, said that the question of what residents can do was helpful.
"I think the question at the end ... really focused on tangible possibilities," Poje said, on the response of working with local officials. "And this is the year to make that happen."