Sentinel

This Month

Note from the Editors

Message from Supervisor McKay

Neighborhood Watch

Update on King's Hwy Construction

Announcements

Babysitters

Classifieds

Board and Committees

Sentinel Archives

Note From the Editors

We would like to hear from you!
Please email or call the editors with your thoughts and suggestions, as well as any news items you’d like to include. Sentinel editors are Carrie Wehling Michaud and Jessica Kaplan. You can email us at (Jessica) and (Carrie), call us at 703-765-9448 (Jessica) and 703-768-9723 (Carrie), or drop us a note at 6823 Stoneybrooke Lane (Jessica) and 6820 Lamp Post Lane (Carrie).

Message from Supervisor Jeff McKay

If you’ve been to any of the Lee Nights summer concerts in the outdoor amphitheater at Lee District Park, then you know what a wonderful green resource this 138-acre park and recreation center located off Telegraph Road is in our busy district. It will be an even better resource now that we’ve creatively amassed the funds to upgrade the park and rec center into a state of the art regional amenity. Funding from a variety of sources, including Park Bonds, proffers, and private contributions is making these upgrades and additions possible.

Synthetic Turf Field Ground Breaking
Saturday, May 16 was the ground breaking for the synthetic turf field conversion project of rectangular field No. 4, across from the Lee District Rec Center. Players, parents, coaches, elected and Park Authority officials joined me in marking the occasion.

The new synthetic turf field will allow us to stretch our limited park dollars by increasing field capacity and supporting higher use than natural turf fields.  We’ll have lower maintenance costs because these fields don’t need mowing, fertilizing or re-seeding. And—new lighting will maximize field capacity and playing time.

The new field is expected to be ready for use this fall.

A New Accessible Family Recreation Area at Lee District Park
Have you heard about the accessible tree house being built at Lee District Park? It’s part of a family activity complex that will be accessible to everyone, including people with disabilities. The treehouse will overlook a forest and stream valley and its gently sloping ramps will make access easy for wheelchair-bound children and adults and those with limited mobility. Most of the funding for the treehouse comes from donations to the Fairfax County Park Foundation and the 2008 Fairfax County Park Bond.

The complex will include a spray park featuring water showers from fanciful structures, providing children with safe and fun activity on hot summer days. The spray park is funded by the Joey Pizzano Memorial Fund, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the lives of children with special needs. Construction of the spray park is expected to begin January 2010 and be completed later that summer.

Future features of this accessible recreation area will include a playground with slides, swings, and other equipment specially designed for use by all children, including those with disabilities, a fully accessible carousel and picnic shelter.

If you are interested in making a donation to help in completing this special place for area families please visit the Fairfax County Park Foundation’s web site at www.fxparks.org .

Lee District Rec Center
The reek center, with its Olympic-sized heated indoor pool, fully equipped fitness center, racquetball/Wally ball courts, mirrored dance rooms, and a preschool will be undergoing renovation late this summer. Aging mechanical systems including air conditioners, dehumidifiers, and the pool heating system will be replaced, thanks to the 2008 bond referendum.

News From Neighborhood Watch

Seems our summertime random rifling of cars has started. At the block party we had last Saturday, I've come to realize that there have been at least THREE "auto rifling" incidents over a couple of weeks in May, and they're even taking place in carports vis-a-vis just along the streets.

The typical strategy for these thieves is to park a get-a-way car up the street from where they drop off the buddies who go through the cars. These particular guys appear to be looking primarily for loose change, GPS devices, etc., and they do a limited search: glove compartment, center compartment, etc., and they are going for cars left open - no evidence of prying open a door yet.

Folks, I need for you to call me whenever you suspect someone has "rifled through your car". Of course, call the police FIRST if you see or suspect malicious activity, but call then me as well. Know that the police DO NOT inform me of reported incidents in our neighborhood. But if sufficient data is made available to me, perhaps we can better prepare for such events in the future, and at least provide information to the police they can act on to make an arrest and seek convictions.

My primary job as Watch Coordinator is to ensure that you know how to properly respond to events of a malicious or suspicious nature, and where to go to for help in securing your family, your home, and your possessions. Help me to do my job and talk to me. I'm not a policeman, but I have a good understanding of what they need to do their job to achieve desirable results.

So here's the plan:

• if it's an emergency, call 911. As time AND the situation permits, call me.
• if it's a non-emergency, call 703-691-2131. As time permits, call me.
• if it's something you think doesn't warrant even calling the police non-emergency number, but you're pretty sure something malicious happened, then call me.
• if it's something you don't even want to call me about, but you're nevertheless still pretty sure something malicious happened, then think about it for awhile. If you change your mind later, call me later. But at least come up and tell me at the next block party. Or, if it happens again, go back to the beginning of the plan and repeat. : )

Don Faxon phone: 571-437-7696 email:

Update on King’s Highway construction!!!
To file under “it will get worse before it gets better….”

Supervisor McKay’s office provided this information a few weeks ago; it has since been updated to give a start date for the construction of June 15 (courtesy of Mike Jurkowski): “Here are some more details regarding the South Kings Highway/Harrison Lane project for your information:

Intersection Improvements will add dedicated right-turn and left-turn lanes from Eastbound and Westbound South Kings Highway to Harrison Lane. Based on the results of a community walk-through with residents and Lee district staff, design revisions were required to minimize the impact of the roadway widening and utility relocations to the properties on the south side of South Kings Highway. The plans and plats have been revised and the County has worked on acquiring the land rights and utility relocations.

The construction contract for the Harrison Lane project is scheduled to go the Board of Supervisors as an information item on June 1, 2009. We
are anticipating the construction starting early summer and been working closely with the residents at the intersection who are directly impacted
by this construction project.”