Holmes Run Valley Community

Every spring Holmes Run Valley Citizens Association (HRVCA) partners with Friends of Holmes Run and the Fairfax County Parks Authority to pick up the litter that has accumulated over the winter along the section of Holmes Run that flows thru our community – roughly from Annandale Road south to Sleepy Hollow Road. Friends of Holmes Run coordinates the event for the full length of Holmes Run, and FCPA picks up the litter collected by the various teams that FHR has organized.

This year the HRVCA team’s clean up begins at 9:30 AM on Saturday, April 13, at the entrance to the stream valley adjacent to the intersection of Rose Lane and Slade Run Drive. Children are welcome and some people bring their dogs. Wear comfortable shoes and bring work gloves. HRVCA will provide hot dogs, chips, and drinks afterwards to celebrate our accomplishment. Typically, the event concludes by noon or 12:30. Come and go any time.

Please come meet your neighbors and enjoy some fellowship and fresh air while enhancing the quality of our stream valley.

HRVCA held its 2023 fall meeting in the cafeteria of Beech Tree Elementary School on 13 December from 7:00 to 8:30 PM. Principal topics discussed were:
*  Summary of our traffic issues survey project
*  New association initiatives/activities
* Dues collection and treasurer’s report
* Election of directors
* Crime report

2023_1213_Meeting_Results  describes principal meeting activities.   2023_1213_Slides  provides copies of the slides.  Our next meeting is planned for March.

Thank you for your interest in the activities of the Holmes Run Valley Citizens Association.

The Board of Holmes Run Valley Citizens Assoc is inviting members to a Zoom meeting to decide the next phase of our neighborhood traffic safety project.

The Board of HRVCA asks members to please participate in a Zoom meeting this Wednesday, Nov 15, at 7:30 PM.  The objective of the meeting is to briefly review the results of last summer’s neighborhood traffic survey and then decide how best to proceed with the implementation of measures to improve traffic safety in our community.

Members are asked to please attend the Nov 15 meeting if reasonably possible.  The survey will be productive only if it results in meaningful safety improvements that are compatible with our community.  Your experience and perspective are essential for identifying those enhancements.

Zoom meeting link is here.

Meeting ID: 821 0669 4406, Passcode: 807494

Call in number: 301 715 8592

In response to members’ concerns about traffic safety in the community, the association’s 12 Apr spring meeting agreed that we should identify the issues and consult Fairfax County and VDOT regarding remediation options.  To that end, on 21 July the HRVCA Board invited residents to participate in an online survey.  The survey closed on 10 August.

The objective of the survey was to identify traffic safety issues in the community and the locations where those issues arise.   In order to constrain work load and duration, the survey was limited to homes on or bordering on one of the eight principal streets by which traffic enters and exits the community, namely: Beechtree Lane, Devon Drive, Holloman Road, Kennedy Lane, Radnor Place, Rose Lane, Slade Run Drive, and Valley Brook Drive.

The report of survey findings is here.

Summary of our 2023 spring meeting results is here.

Principal topics discussed were

The report of the 2022 fall meeting of Holmes Run Valley Citizens Assoc is here.

Principal topics discussed

The summary report of HRVCA’s 2022 spring meeting is available here.

Principal topics discussed

This page provides access to papers opposing efforts by Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to develop residential communities close by Dulles airport. Occupants of these developments will risk exposure to intense aircraft noise similar to the levels so many find untenable today around Washington National airport. Earlier Boards have protected residents and Dulles from this fate with land use policies discouraging residential developments nearby the airport. Over the past three years, the current Board recklessly has abandoned these policies.

Paper One dated 9 Mar 2022:  A 21 Jul 2020 Meeting of the Board’s Land Use Policy Committee discussed two pivotal elements of past land use policies protecting the airport.  A 9 Mar 2020 paper addressed to Supervisors and Planning Commissioners and available here documented the abundance of misinformation that had been presented in the meeting as well as the critical omission of testimony from local aviation industry experts who had strongly recommended against the Board’s dismantling past policies.

Paper Two dated 6 Apr 2022:  County staff is preparing an amendment to the Comprehensive Plan, PA 2020-CW-3CP, which would provide guidance for residential developments between the 60 and 65 DNL noise contours close by the airport.  The proposed guidance is utterly lacking in effective noise protection for residents.  On 7 Apr 2020, this paper was send to the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission pointing out the deficiency and opposing adoption.

Paper Three dated 12 May 2022.  This paper effectively summarizes the conclusions of the two papers above to argue that Plan Amendment 2020-CW-3CP should not be adopted.  The amendment would allow residential development in a 5-square-mile area bordering Dulles airport with little assurance that aircraft noise in homes would be effectively mitigated or that developments would provide viable neighborhoods for families given the noise.  The Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission received copies of the paper on 12 May 2020.  Hearings are scheduled for 18 May (PC) and 28 June (Board).

Planning Commission Hearing Testimony dated 18 May 2022.  18 May 2020 testimony before the Planning Commission argued that PA 2020-CW-3CP should not be adopted because (1) the proposed guidance for mitigating interior aircraft noise levels is inadequate and (2) the proposal to allow residential uses between the 60 and 65 DNL contours is based on out-of-date 1993 contours that were superseded by current contours three years ago in April 2019.

Additional Information for Planning Commission dated 1 Jun 2022.  On 1 Jun 2022, follow-up information was provided to the Planning Commission in an effort to clarify the 18 May testimony.  The objective was to make clear the need for an effective standard for interior noise mitigation.  An example of 45 DNL aircraft noise at Dulles was included.

Paper Four dated 14 June 2020.  The health and welfare of future occupants of the homes the Board is recommending between the 60 and 65 dNL contours is the first priority.  The county is responsible for establishing and enforcing effective, realistic standards for interior noise mitigation.  Without such standards there is no reason to hope that the homes will support viable family life.  The purpose of this  paper is to demonstrate that the Board has abdicated this responsibility.  Instead, the Board has adopted the tenet that home occupation at Dulles is a “buyer-beware situation.”  The paper was distributed to the Board of Supervisors and the Planning Commission.

Board of Supervisors Hearing Testimony dated 28 Jun 2022.  This testimony is a five-minute summary of Paper Four.   A copy of the additional information distributed to the Planning Commission on 1 June was attached to the written testimony.

The Fall meeting of HRVCA was held via Zoom from 7:30 to 9:15 PM on Wednesday 20 Oct. Twenty-one residents participated.

The agenda included election of the board, a pat on the back for residents who participated in the April clean up of the stream valley, Neighborhood Watch and a crime report, discussion of the Villages program (neighbor-helping-neighbor), and status of a number of county activities that affect our neighborhood or will.

The meeting report summarizes meeting activities and provides a link to a county briefing on the plan for adding sidewalks to Sleepy Hollow Road.

Our next meeting is planned for March.

Enjoy the holidays!

Clyde Miller.

The spring meeting of HRVCA was held on line via Zoom from 7:30 to 9:15 PM on Wednesday, 31 March.  Twenty people at 17 locations participated in the meeting.

The agenda included Friends of Holmes Run (FOHR) plans for a spring clean-up along the creek, Neighborhood Watch, neighborhood communications, and a discussion of development pressures on districts zoned for single-family homes.

FOHR is sponsoring a clean-up of the stream valley on Saturday, 17 April. The group in our area will meet at the entrance to the creek adjacent to the intersection of Slade Run Drive and Rose Lane at 10:30 AM.

Included in the meeting report is guidance from our Fall 2019 meeting on working issues with the Department of Code Compliance.  The material includes a link to several pages of suggestions from DCC itself.  The DCC material speaks to HOAs but the information is equally applicable to communities such as ours.

The meeting report, which includes links to the slides, is here.

Our next meeting is planned for October.

Stay well.

Clyde Miller