People who exercise at the Herndon Community Center or area teen-agers looking for a pick-up basketball game at the Ferndale Avenue facility's gym will need a little extra change in their pockets beginning next month.
During last week's public session, the Herndon Town Council unanimously approved an increase to the town's park and recreation fees which will raise daily and annual fees at the community center for the first time in nearly a decade.
As a result of Tuesday's vote, it will cost a little more for residents, and visitors, to use the Herndon Community Center. Beginning Nov. 1, daily full-use admission rates for adults will go up by 50 cents, from $3.50 to $4 for residents and from $4.50 to $5 for non-residents. Daily admission prices for youths under 17 and seniors over 60 were raised by a quarter, from $2.75 to $3. It will cost residents, single and married, an additional $45 for a one-year annual pass.
The council also authorized an increase for fees on pool, room and gymnasium rental rates.
The Industrial Strength Theater rental will also raise its fees as a result of the council 's actions on Tuesday night, though the increases will not take effect until Jan. 1, after the current theater season is finished. It will cost Herndon's nonprofit arts and community groups an additional $25 to rent the facility. Out-of-town nonprofit groups will have to pay $250 per performance, up $75 from the current fee. According to the Director of Parks and Recreation Art Anselene, the fee hikes for residents is the first such increase in nine years. Non-resident fees were increased in 1999 when Fairfax County transferred ownership of the center to the town, but town resident rates have not changed since 1993.
<b>IN OTHER BUSINESS</b>, the council ended a protracted two-year process by unanimously approving a long-awaited Herndon license plate. The winning design reads, "Town of Herndon, Established 1858" and depicts the town depot. The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles will begin production of the plates only after 350 paid applications have been received, according to Mary Tuohy, director of finance. Applications will be available at the Herndon Municipal Center. Tuohy's department will collect each application until it has received the first 350. The special town plates will cost $25 annually, Tuohy said.
Without dissent, the Town Council filled the town's opening on the Planning Commission. A former Fairfax County commissioner and one-time council candidate, Judith W. Downer, a Herndon real estate agent, will fulfill the unexpired four-year term, effective Sept. 24, which ends July 31, 2004. Downer replaces Christopher Riddick, who resigned from the Planning Commission last month after he moved to Loudoun County.