Reston Association voted against rescinding their December 2013 resolution to add bocce ball courts to Cabots Point Park at their Oct. 23 meeting. Photo by Reena Singh.
Residents at Cabots Point lost the battle against bocce ball courts for now.
Reston Association voted advancing on their plans to add the game court to the park at their Oct. 23 Board of Directors meeting.
“I think there’s a lot of misinformation in the community right now,” said Lake Anne-Tall Oaks Director Eve Thompson. “The proposed size of the court is the exact size a bocce ball court should be.”
She said the utilities company marked more of the area than they should have to err on the side of caution. However, she voted against the proposal because she saw no other choice with the communication breakdown.
At the board meeting in September, nearly 20 people spoke against having the bocce ball court in Reston. Many stated there was a communication breakdown between the board and the residents that went against the proper procedure. Others said it would take away from their open green space.
Apartment Owners Director Ellen Graves said the board had “fallen on its sword” due to the communication breakdown, but did not agree that bocce would be a bad idea in the park if the board follows proper procedure.
“I don’t think bocce would be a bad thing,” she said. “It would be a sport most people could enjoy.”
South Lakes District Director Richard Chew disagreed that the communication issues came from Reston Association.
“The board did not fail with respect to its process,” he said. “We did exactly what we were supposed to.”
Rather, he blamed the Design Review Board for not resending letters to the residents informing them that RA approved of the resolution to add the court to the park in December.
“Now we’re asking to unwind something that we did in good faith,” he said.
Board President Ken Knueven, like Thompson, said there may be misinformation about the project. Although the motion was made by him, he voted against the proposal.
“This should not be perceived as a director’s head project,” he said. “It was not.”
He said it was a shame that there was a communication breakdown somewhere in the process. However, he noted that he does not want to just see one bocce court in Reston - he wants to see many more.
“I really hope I see the same people for the Reston Master Plan community meetings as I see on this swath of land,” he said.
Hunter Woods and Dogwood District Director Lucinda Shannon said she was not on the board during the time of the vote and could never figure out the process to change open space land use.
“Our 2012 survey showed that our open space was the most valuable asset for our Reston members,” she said, noting that RA should put the court in a parking lot rather than use up space residents use for other purposes.
The vote to rescind the board's resolution for the bocce court’s construction failed 2-3, with two board members abstaining and two others absent from the meeting.
“In my history on the RA board, the board has shown very little political will against a local minority on a NIMBY (not in my backyard) issue - with very few exceptions,” said Chew.