I'm sure but we're going to go ahead and get started for the sake of time. This is a single agenda item prior to our city council meeting and that's to talk about the exciting topic of our community center and I appreciate you all coming out and being here with us and what I'd like to do. Mr. Naff, I understand I'll turn the presentation over to you to address the council. Mr. Mayor and members of council, if you are, I'd like each of us to introduce ourselves and then the mic's going to come back to me. So I'm Brian Naff and I'm Chair of the Parks and Recreation Advisory Board. Cherry Vicksler, President of the Senior Center Council. And Mark Mechin, I'm here on behalf of UIC. And I'm Gene A.G. I'm here as chairman of the Commission on the Arts. Great. So, Mr. Mayor, as you alluded to, I'm going to put forward a presentation which, as you can see on the screen here, it's been authored by all the four representatives of these four groups that are here this evening. And then at the end, they each have some remarks that they want to give. My challenge, as you know, because you've seen the deck, is to get through this rather quickly, so that there is time at the end so they can make their statements. And then hopefully there'll be time for Q&A. Before beginning, it is important for all of us want to thank Mr. Sherwood and her family and for all the people that support her for, indeed, this tremendous gift that she's made available to this city of Fairfax. I mean, obviously, I don't think any of us ever expected that we'd be sitting here this evening, and if it weren't for her, I don't think we would. But we also thank you, Mr. Mayor and members of Council for inviting us to be able to have this opportunity. This next chart is a new one. I just wanted to set the scene for you and for others who are in the audience are watching on television. The four of us are here this evening because we received a letter from the mayor on the February 21st where he asked if the four of us are four groups if we could come here tonight and provide our input and advice on those requirements that just drive the design and construction of a first-class community center. And so that's what we've done. And we've spent a lot of time working on that very proposition. And more specifically, as you'll see in the details of the presentation, we've looked at the potential users and tried to analyze what the current needs are and what the anticipated needs are. So I just wanted to, this is another new slide you're not seeing, just kind of give a quick summary though, which I think just kind of outlines the whole discussion that we're going to have this evening. This very much is a bottoms up briefing on center requirements. Each of us individually since late December, once you accepted the gift, have been working really hard to understand what does this mean for my group, my organization. So whether it's the seniors or FPYC or whether it's a commission on the arts or a preab, we have worked with all of our groups that we're associated with, and I should acknowledge that many of the people that were involved in this bottom-up's review are sitting behind me. So there are members tonight of Prab and of all the commission on the arts and seniors and FPYC and also committee appearance on committee. So there's lots of people here who contributed to this process. And obviously this involved in tremendous work by each of the four that are here, in extensive discussions and outreach. And in the end, when I'm pleased to report to you is that we all work to collaborate on a single brief. And you'll hear none of us this evening say that this is, that we're set in stone, and we're walking away from this process. We understand that this is going to be an iterative process. And obviously what's going to drive this are dollars. And we did not address dollars. We weren't asked to address dollars. We have strong opinions on dollars as individuals and maybe as groups. And we look forward to maybe having that discussion, but that's your prerogative. It's not ours. So you're not going to see dollars addressed here this evening. It's just not something that we felt that you want us to go in this direction at that time. We also assumed, because the Sherwood gifts stipulates that this is gonna be at Van Dyke. But we didn't take the time to argue where at Van Dyke this goes, as you know already, because you've seen the presentation, we have some thoughts about how you create synergies with Van Dyke and all. And I know there's great concern in the community right now about placing this at Van Dyke. But we think this is very much an issue that needs to be driven once one has decided dollars, square footage, square footage then defines the footprints of the building, the footprint of the building and then tells you how many parking spaces you need. And then the architect, which we're trying to hire right now, is gonna give their best advice to all of you on where to put it at, Van Dyke, that's the process. So we didn't invest any time in that. Couple other points. There seems to be a myth out there associated with seniors. And I know Jerry will address this later, but I want to assure you, because I know firsthand, that the seniors are very much willing to leave greenators. If we can provide the footprint that they feel they need in a new community center, then they will gladly leave. Why not? They would get a brand new facility. And as articulated in this brief, all the things that they're currently doing, all the very activities are captured in the requirements brief that you have in front of you. Another thing that I know is really important to you and I don't dismiss it as an important issue to each of you and that's the future of green acres. I am telling you that if successful, we're able to move everything under one roof and the Parks and Recs Department is no longer, no longer needs green acres. So that leaves a big, kind of, you know, rope with a big stone around someone's neck on what to do with green acres. But that's not something you're going to see in this brief and we can address that. The only thing we recognize is that we continue to need to use the fields there. And then finally, when it's all said and done, and for everybody watching and listening, this presentation this evening is going to argue what the recommended square footage is. But as you all know already by looking at this presentation, there's basically three things that drive the square footage. That's the performance space that's been articulated by the Sherwood agreement. That's the activity multipurpose room. What size you decide to go with, you know what our recommendation is. And then finally the core space. And the core space gets driven by the total square footage. The core space is your bathrooms and your hallways and your storage. And you don't know what that figure is until you define everything else. But as you saw in here, that's a very high figure. So that figure could come down if you start playing around with the other requirements. Next slide. So as we all know, very quickly, the Sherwood agreement stipulates certain things. It talks about putting this at Van Dyke, although it doesn't say where at Van Dyke. It talks about two rooms, rehearsal, performance. It talks about the money, the $5 million being used specifically for construction, and then it talks about construction is only 21 months away, so the clock is ticking. Next slide. You know that in your discussions prior to accepting the gift, you talked about another kind of so-called requirement or recommendation. You had talked about a large room or a bank-root room, whatever you want to call it. It's the same thing as the performance room. In 2004, much to your credit, you consistently argued the same thing. And we drove that into the 2004 study. You wanted a large room. Why? Because you argued, you've argued to us, Prav, and others that a large room doesn't exist in the city. And when it be nice to have that, that could be used for all city users, but then also make it available for rental purposes? Get some money on it. Make it a place available to have a wedding or some other function. Okay. You had talked prior to the gift acceptance and December something around the along the lines of 5,000 square feet. This chart was meant to tell you what different square footages mean. I think it's hard for any one of us to sit in a room and say, I think it's this square footage. I know I can't do that. And so we wanted to give you some benchmarks of rooms that you've all been to over time. And then they therefore can mean something to you. For example, the room we're sitting in right here tonight is 1,200 square feet. And that's a good number because some of the rooms we're telling you as far as our requirements are 1200 square feet. Next chart. What we did to get ready for tonight, each of us individually and then collectively, is we looked at the body of work that already exists out there. We didn't have to reinvent the wheel when it comes to the community center. We've been talking about it for 40 years. And while there have been many studies, the most recent data points available to us is indeed the 2004 study, which is this document right here, which you know when it was written was a product of commission of the arts, Pratt and city staff. And there was recently the huge group work that was done. And then finally there was a study done in 2007, which I'm going to talk about for a second. So the point was, though, we had all of this work in front of us, and we asked ourselves in our groups what has changed since 2004. What's new about the dynamic associated with what we're doing at Green Acres, which, as you know, is our temporary pseudo-community center. And that's all we've done is we've tried to validate where we currently are and we've tried to look ahead. The next slide, just really quickly, this is an important survey, in my opinion. It was one that was conducted throughout Northern Virginia and the city of Fairfax paid extra money to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority to have some unique questions asked of our own city residents. As politicians, I think all of you would greatly envy the level of confidence that's shown here, that was rarely achieved in any kind of polling. But these are excellent poll results that were gained within our own city residents. And the key things that we wanted to draw to your attention that came out of this recent study just of last year is what our citizens are saying with regard to indoor recreational use. And on this chart and the top bullet, as you can see here, a message that comes out loud and clear is a walking and jogging track, indoors. And you know that we're not going down that road. They talk about a weight room for cardiovascular equipment. They talk about aerobics and fitness and dance, and we are going down that road, and we've tried to capture that in our recommendations, and then finally there's the whole idea of a swimming pool, which we've decided not to endorse, and we're not giving that to you as a recommendation and light of the fact that Oak Mar was raiding around the bend from city jurisdiction. The next bullet talks about arts and crafts, something we've been talking about for years, and then finally the last bullet, the dead center there, the emphasis is on indoor exercise and fitness facilities. So those are good benchmarks, and we took advantage of those new data points for us, and we tried to take care of it next chart, and then the next chart. On this chart here, some of you have been dealing with this issue much longer than I ever have. I'm looking at Scott for example or you Mr. Mayor. You've been here you've heard discussion about a community center for years and years and years and this is just simply a list of all the things that have ever been dreamt up about putting in the community center whether it's a theater that's indoors or outdoors, or there's been discussion of a swimming pool, performance space, all these things have been mentioned before. Next chart. So, where are we? We've got 40 years of discussion under our belt. We have the 2004 study. We have all the outreach that we've recently done, and then the extensive consultations with these groups. And then there have been a number of people that have approached me and the rep sitting here from the public that wanted to talk about Van Dyke and wanted to talk about a community center and we've tried to answer those questions and been good volunteers and good fact providers for them. Next slide. We think we've created or we want to create a destination for all city residents. And all of us sitting here this evening are not so parochial that we're arguing that this is just for me. We're sitting here this evening arguing that this is all these things. And we collectively support all these things for this community center. So I think that's just a really strong message that I hope that you recognize that we've all come together, that this is something that's great for everybody that's sitting in this room, particularly the four reps that are before you. Another key part of any future community center are going to be the partnerships that we forge, not only with the stakeholders and the users that we're trying to take eight or two, but then you can't forget the neighbors Around this if it happens to end up at Van Dyke and those are the immediate park neighbors But there's also St. Leo's and so one shouldn't forget about how St. Leo's reacts to this and then finally we all agree that any community center Is going to tackle the two bullets that are there and that's our quality of life and our cities economy The next chart shows you all the other community centers that are there, and that's our quality of life and our city's economy. The next chart shows you all the other community centers that are located in Northern Virginia. These are all dedicated community centers, and I know many of you have been to these community centers, and you know when you talk to the directors of these, that these are all important benefits to the quality of life and the economy of those particular jurisdictions. Next slide. So before I go forward, what you're about to see in the following slides is the bottoms-up requirements, the results of those bottom-up requirements, and what we came up with. This is a room-by-room analysis that we came up with, and followed by a very specific outline. For every room that we've identified, we've tried to articulate the purpose of the room. What are the features of the room? And where possible, we've tried to match it to green acres so that you would have a benchmark or even match it to the 2004 study so that you could see the differences. What are we, why are we different today than we were maybe a couple of years ago? So again I want to underline this process. We focused first on what are the needs, what are the purposes, then that drove what type of rooms we want and what are the features, and only after that was done. Did we ever talk about square footage? So square footage came at the end and it came to the end for us both individually for our groups and then collectively. So room run and there are 11 rooms for the audience. There's 11 rooms and then there's the lobby and then there's core space. Room one is one that doesn't have a benchmark against the 2004 study or the or green acres because we don't have this room. This is a room that Mr. Sherwood and the agreement have asked be included in a future community center. So this idea of having just rehearsal space for all the things listed here, music, dance and theater and performance and then we've articulated the unique features here. As you know the Sherwood agreement talked about a thousand square feet for this particular room. Just for the sake of everyone listening, we're not going to give you our final recommendation until the end, Haiti, leave you in suspense, but that's the way we approach this. Room two is the performance space. In 2004, as I mentioned earlier, you drove that requirement. You asked for 3,500 square feet. You didn't call it a performance space, but that's actually what you were asking for. You're asking for a large room that would be available to city groups and also for rental. At Green Acres, we really don't have that. The closest thing we have is the cafeteria, as you can see on the chart. These are all the things that you would want in an adequate performance space. If you're going to attract the groups that we want to do all the things listed here, whether it's receptions or theater or dance or music, and it would have to have some really cool features associated with it. And so this is a room and we'll try to say this where appropriate that we very much envision is divided. So we see this divided into three different rooms. So you might have a performance in the evening and you need a whole space, but during the day you could divide it and it's three different rooms that could be used for a quiet activity or a meetings or something like that. So yes, this is sure what is called a performance space. But we are wanting to underline to you that this is multi-purpose space. And it should be thought of as that and used as that. And we all agree to that. The next chart is just a graphic depiction. If we do this right, we can have a performance space or a multipurpose space that allows you to have a stage in the traditional sense, which is on the end of a room. But there's no reason we can't design this in a way that you can have theater in the round or music in the round. And this is actually being done in some community centers in northern Virginia. And I just have that as a sample for you. The teen center is next. This is room three. We currently use two rooms at Green Acres, spread over 16, 74 square feet. And our teen program has really grown in the past couple of years. And we're really, really, really quite proud of that. And that's a function, of course, by staff and how good staff are. So there's my kudos to you, Leslie, and all of your staff. But this is something we want to make sure that we have at a new center. And imagine that the the synergies we might get by being so close to to the high school and all, if indeed we create this at at Van Dyke. This room would have to have some things that are very unique to the teens. Also, it won't be attractive to them, and they're listed here. Okay? This is though a room that's very much seen as multipurpose. The teens use it on Friday or Saturday night or during the summers, they use it themselves during the day and at night, but during the school year and all, there's no reason when the teens aren't using it, that other groups can't use it. The next slide. This is the room that's really, when you walk in, you immediately know this is not my room. This is a room that's geared to age and size appropriate. It's for our children. And we believe that it needs to be a dedicated room, as opposed to some of the others I've already talked to, because it's going to have all kinds of equipment in it, mats and toys and chairs and desks and all that you won't be able to use by other groups. So this is a room that very much is theirs. And I think they'll be pleased with it. We see this as a divided room into two. So you could have one age group on one side and one on another, or you could open it all up, depending on the children's groups that's using it. Room 5 is one that has been talked about as Gene can say for years and years and years. We have clambered to have a room that one that calls the arts and crafts room. And so this is a room that we have to construct. We have to design the requirements of it will be very specific so that we have really good lighting, good natural light, overhead light, but sinks and good tables and the proper floor and all. But we very much endorse this room in the new community center. Room six is a dance room. We have that now at Green Acres. We envision this in 2004. We very much see this as a multipurpose space. So there could be a group that's in there that's very much dedicated to a bunch of team girls who are taking like a ballet class, but maybe an hour later there's an aerobics class that's taking place here. So this is a room that's very much reflective of the trends that have evolved since 2004. The fact that the seniors now are doing aerobics classes and fitness classes and all of this. So we want to make sure this room has enough space and enough equipment to cater to many different audiences. Room 7 is our seniors room. I have talked many times to you with great pleasure about the growth in our seniors programs. A true credit to Karen Bixler who runs that program and her assistant. And over time they've been at Green Acres now since 2003. This program has grown and they've needed more space. But it's not enough to think of the seniors in a quiet classroom setting. They currently use that Green Acres all kinds of other rooms. They use the half gym that's over there. They use the cafeteria as you know it. We see this as divideable and multip-purpose. Okay, so if the seniors aren't don't happen to be there in the evening, there's no reason then that there can't be some meeting or something else scheduled there. On the kitchen, there's a lot of debate by the four of us sitting here which we can all test to. We have a full kitchen at Green Acres in 2004. You very much drove a smaller kitchen, a warming kitchen. We have collectively now all agreed that we do need more than just a warming kitchen. We serve meals to our seniors on a daily basis. The teens take advantage of the full kitchen right now at Green Acres, and we believe that there are a cultural events that will take advantage of a sizable kitchen in a new community center. And there's also rental groups that we'll want to use that. Room 9 is what we call the exercise room. So this is very much different than the dance room. This is a room that has cardiovascular equipment in it. So we keep on hearing this loud and clearly from users at Green Acres who are currently using what little cardiovascular equipment we have. I know that we have a lifetime fitness and we've got goals and we've got others. But the public seem to be telling us we want a public place to be able to go and do cardiovascular exercise. And so that's what this room tackles. One of the things that I know Mr. Greenfield can attest to is we currently don't have a place at Green Acres for people to change. So you can come to green acres and you can do multiple activities, but you either have to go to the bathroom, which by the way is a bathroom for kids and not for adults, or you've got to do in a classroom. So we don't articulate in room 10 a room that has showers. That's a bridge too far. We do want though a room and it could be two rooms It could be one for men. It could be one for women. It could be three rooms. The third room could be one for children and Families, but we do want a place where someone can go go to a locker or a cubby and change and then go and do the activity But we strongly believe that there's gonna be so much use of this this community that people will be going there for multiple activities. Room 11 without a doubt is the room that I know will be discussed a lot in the future by all of you and hopefully with all of us. All I can do is articulate you where we ended up and we ended up supporting a full-size activity room. We only know, have, as you know, at green acres, a third of a gem. Okay? And that third of the gem is used all the time right now by all the users of green acres. So if we want to successfully move from green acres to a new community center, we're going to need a multi-purpose activity room for all the purposes that are described here, whether it's pickleball by the seniors or volleyball or basketball or kind of a rock climbing wall on and on and on. This is a divideable room so you could have multiple activities and there's no reason that in the evenings this room couldn't be used for a concert if there was something else going in the other room which has been mentioned to me by city band. So I know this is an expensive and daunting proposition, but another important thing for me to point out to you is something that FPYC constantly reminds us of. I know that you like to tout, and we like to tout our new schools, and we should. We have beautiful new facilities for indoor recreation that our new schools. But I hope that you realize that most of the time, these facilities are not available that are new schools. But I hope that you realize that most of the time these facilities are not available to the general public. As you know the rules you've created give first priority to the schools. And so when you take away first priority the schools that leaves very little time for anybody else. So Mark and FUIC have to schedule in and around all the school. But that's not a complaint, Mars. It should be that way. It is school property. But this room will afford FPYC an opportunity to do some of their schedule and also. They don't see this as a room that's exclusive to their, their, their. They see this truly as a multi-purpose room. And if it's available for activities that they offer offer and it's available they like to use it The last two rooms as I mentioned already are driven by eventually the square footage So whatever square footage we violently Decide on you have to have an appropriate lobby the lobby as it turns out is probably gonna be the most exciting space in the community The place that folks go and they get greeted by a receptionist. It's a gathering spot where you might meet before you go to a particular class. It's a place where we're hopefully going to finally display a lot of our art, which is right now crammed into the second floor of Old Town Hall. So we're looking for places not only to do on the wall for art, but maybe some stationary art. But this is a, as anyone will tell you when you visit community centers, the lobby is it. The lobby's got to look great in order for people to keep on coming back. But the lobby space ultimately will be driven by the toll square footage. And then as I mentioned already, there's the core areas which are all the things that are listed here. So when you compare what we recommended in 2004, which was very much driven by you when you articulated how much square footage we could afford back in 2004, that's what we recommended to you and that's what we currently use at Green Acres, 22,000 square feet. Before showing you the final recommendations that we wanted to give you that were driven by our requirements We thought it was really important for all four leaders here tonight to emphasize that whatever we do at Van Dyke The environment is as important to us individually and collectively as it is for many of you and many in the audience We're we want to also preserve green space wherever this center ends up going. We want to preserve the open field area and hopefully one day that reverts back to open play as opposed to the schedule play that we currently have due to the shortage of fields. We also want to preserve as many trees and tree canopy and of course we want to make this lead compliant. It would be the first building in the city of Fairfax, which would be able to have lead environmental standards. So we recognize, without a doubt, each of us and all of our groups, that putting a community center at Van Dyck has an impact on the environment. As much as it has an impact on the neighbors and St. Leo's and everybody else. But we want to try to minimize that by directing the architect to consider these bullets that are listed here. Other important considerations are wherever this gets recommended, it could have an impact on existing things at the community center, or excuse me, at Van Dyke, whether it's the playground or the skateboard park or the pavilion, And again, none of us know that. We want to wait for the architect to recommend to you where they want to put this or what's the best place to put it. But once it's recommended where it goes, we feel very strongly about the words that are listed here. We want to relocate and we want to reconfigure. And we're possible. Why not try to make it better? We have the opportunity if we put it near where the playground is now to make it a better playground that has synergies with the community center. We're also very cognizant of whatever we build, there'll be operational costs that will be, you know, that we're going to have to worry about. And we're going to have to make sure we have sufficient cost recovery to operate this building. And then finally, as I mentioned earlier, the reference point to green acres as an asset for us feels as good as mine. Other considerations, none of us dismiss the fact that parking is incredibly important. And we of course have to make sure we have handicap spaces. Now what we're hoping is the architect will be able to recommend to you the knowledge that we know of the police station, which has right now 75 spaces in front of the police station. Can't imagine the name were than 10 are being used at any given time during the day. Why can't these parking spaces then also be used for the community center? And of course they'll have to be more. They'll definitely be an impact on traffic. We'd be lying to the general public if we didn't admit to that. I would remind people that the community center was in Van Dyke on the footprint where we're suggesting that ago now from 1983 to 2004. So it was there for 21 years. Now, obviously, what we're talking about is on a bigger scope, which means there might be more traffic. And so there should be the requisite traffic studies. And I know that you'll drive that. And then other other things that are important to this is there's no reason that we can't try to lower costs by leveraging anything with regard to infrastructure at the police station. So whether it's the utilities or the water, you know, the water retaining pond or other things. And then it would be a mistake for us to not constantly remind ourselves that it's not enough to build the center, but we have to outfit it. We've got to put the right things in the right rooms, and that's going to cost money. And then finally, we don't dismiss that whatever decisions you finally take, you may end up recommending that this be a phased approach. And we would like to work with you on that. We think that we're going to be able to tell you what that phased approach might be. But that does need to drive the overall construction. You can't build a one-story building, as you know, and then hope five years later to add another story. It just won't work. So, and I know you've talked about that with the architect already. The last couple of slides talk about the exciting thing that I think Mr. Sherwood has created that we recognize all four of us sitting up here this evening, our groups recognize, is that we have this, you know, really it's a blessed opportunity to re-look the footprint of Andeit. Yes, it's a beautiful park. It is our most used park without a doubt. But it's also a park that over time has just become a hodgepodge of stuff. We've added over time volleyball courts, skateboard park with no consideration about the synergies with the parking lot, with the road, about where this should be or that. So why not use this community center to drive a new look of Vandike, protect all the things that are currently there, enhance them, make them better, and then all the cool things that can be associated with that in the future. The whole idea now about bathrooms, which you know we don't have right now, unless you're trucking into the police station. Or what could we do to enhance our current farmers' market and make it and have some synergy with a new community center, and all the points that you can see there. I've already mentioned the location and numerous studies for 40 years have all said that Van Dyke is the best place. The Sherwood Green, it talks about that, but we've not here this evening, we're not trying to articulate to you where it should go. It could be anywhere on the footprint from Bell Willard all the way to St. Leo's Church, but let's let the architect drive that. The only thing that we do know is that if we go from green acres to Van Dyke, we do one of the things that has been important to a lot of people for a long time, which is making a community center to all the residents of the city. So that's easy to get to by everybody and accessible by Q, which is not available right now at Green Acres. So as you know, I've spent now this evening talking about 11 rooms, very much a bottoms-up recommendation. And again, we looked at what are the needs, what are the desires, what are the activities, we tried to shape them by room. Many of the rooms we've tried to maintain a multi-purpose character, although we've called it by an A. Many of the rooms we've tried to maintain a multi-purpose character, although we've called it by an A. Many of the rooms are divideable so that we're able to get maximum use out of them. And then as I mentioned before, there's the lobby and the courier areas. So as you know, when it's all set and done, when we finally sat down in the four of us argued among each other about what was the square footage that we wanted to recommend. 32,500 square feet is what we came up with. Room one and two is 1,000 square feet, the rehearsal space, which is in accordance with the Sherwood agreement and the same with the performance space. We are not recommending 5,000 square feet. We don't think we could ever use a room that big for this purpose, either for renting or for performance or anything like that. And then as listed there, you can see all the other recommendations. As I mentioned before, the kind of rooms that stand out at view for attention, for debate or the performance room, room two, the activity room, room 11, and then the core space. So those square footages can change depending on the recommendations that you finally develop and then can have an impact on the rest of the square footage. So I'm really thankful, Mr. Mayor and Council, that you gave us the opportunity to give this presentation. I think now my colleagues each have some individual remarks and I appreciate your attention. Thank you. All right. I just have a few points that the Senior Center Council wanted to relate to you tonight and we do appreciate the opportunity to address you. Number one, because multiple activities would occur daily throughout the building, careful attention would have to be given to scheduling. The traffic issue, obviously there will be an impact of traffic on Old Lee Highway, but on a positive note, the bulk of the seniors who participate in this program are at the center between 9.30 and 1 o'clock. So that's a plus in that the schools are in session there so that traffic impact would be somewhat reduced. Attiquate parking to accommodate all activities held in the building, especially during special events. This past Saturday, the senior sponsor at a flea market, and the between 9 and noon, it was estimated that approximately 300 people came and went and I know that the cars were pretty much out to the end of sideburn road there so and then adequate parking as Brian said for handicap for seniors as well as people that would need those spaces for general activities. An easy transition from indoor to outdoor activities. While right now, green acres, a lot of the activities are indoors. When the weather is good, the two botchi ball courts have become very popular drawing a lot of people. We understand that we may not have those Bajji Ball courts at the community center, but that as well as picnics, there are groups that go walking outside so that's another consideration. If the initial building space is not adequate to hold existing senior activities, the Senior Center Council cannot support moving the Senior Center to a new community building. And if the Senior Center does not move to a new community center, can they expect improvements at Green Acres? I know you've all been to Green Acres, Mr. Mayor. I think you went to elementary school there. You know, there's in the area immediate to where the bulk of the seniors are meeting. There's no hot running water. We know about the bathrooms. The kitchen is quite a distance from where the meals are served. I would say that I think the seniors are excited about the prospect of having a new community center. I think some, you know, are a little nervous about it. I think as we get older, you know, change is a little more difficult. I can remember when the seniors moved from the Wood Center over to Green Acres and they were very concerned about that. They had a nice little, tidy spot there and they were comfortable but once they got into green acres and they had the space it really afforded the opportunity to grow and to increase the programs. So I think if this all should come about, should all come about, I think seniors would be very excited to move into a new center. And so that's all I have. I also want to thank the City Council and the Mayor for giving us this time to speak before you on all of our groups. It's definitely a great opportunity to provide our input and we really appreciate this. I apologize for my voice, obviously I was coaching this weekend. A lot of basketball, so I apologize for my voice cracking. Obviously with the four groups that are before you, we're looking to bring together the total needs assessment as Brian's indicated for a true community center. I'm covering all ages and all types of citizens that we want to a true community center. Covering all ages and all types of citizens that we want to use a community center. That would be from tots to teens to seniors and for all types of different activities. You know, from the arts to various classes and also to sports, a true synergy for the whole community. But for FBYC specifically, you know, this would provide an excellent opportunity for us to use a new facility or another facility, I should say, located in the city on weekdays and week nights. When others might not be using some of the rooms, obviously the large activity room, but also other rooms as well. We're not just limited to trying to use the one large activity room. We have a lot of teams. They're always in the organization organizers for those different teams are always looking for spaces to meet. And it's very difficult. A lot of times they're just meeting the people's houses. The club house is obviously there, but usually that's mainly reserved for the main groups that are handling all the sports themselves. We're always having conflicts because of our small location at Patriot Park, but over at the clubhouse. Providence. Providence Park, thank you. But this would also provide us an additional resources for an already overcrowded space for practices in games, obviously FPYC supporting wrestling, volleyball, basketball, and cheerleading. Cheerleading is not just stand on the sidelines anymore. A lot of dance routines that go on now with it, and they also need space to practice. And now we have a new sport coming up this spring, which is Phil Hockey. Phil Hockey also has indoor Phil Hockey. There's also an opportunity for them to provide additional space for them too. A lot of sports are involved in that large activity room we're talking about, but also all the other rooms in the community as well. With the increase in the population, the children, the young adults in the community, obviously the young adults are outside the FPYC purview, but they're also very much involved in the same types of sporting activities. So they're going to be involved and want to use these same spaces we will. These types of activities are going to be a great addition to the city's activity, active community. And with the continued development of draper and staffer for field space, this is going to allow FPYC to continue to be committed to moving the you should field, the you should of field space from Van Dyke, which will help with the traffic patterns at the park as well as the community center. With the centralized community center adjacent to the park, if it was located at Van Dyke, that would also allow our running program to better utilize a centralized location to establish an event and allow more of a community field to such an event. So again, another sporting activity that we could use, but with the trails existing there in and around Van Dyke, it's a great opportunity for another synergy to go along with them. Obviously with the new sports that we have, all the kids will be able to be much more involved with the various activities in and out of the community center. The large activity room that obviously we'd be mainly interested in, could also be used for many other purposes too, as Brian indicated the city ban is expressive and interested in using as well. And I think it's a great opportunity to again have a multipurpose room. All these rooms as Brian's indicated are a multi-purpose and we're certainly in favor of all of that. Obviously, if it's designed with the right floor to allow foot traffic for the ease of use of maintenance and clean up, it's probably going to be a much better way to use that large activity room for a number of different activities. But I would like to end on saying one thing and that's one child involved in FPYC is not just involved in FPYC. He's involved or he or she is involved in so much more than just that. And involved in this community, they may be taking our classes, they may be taking dance classes. They're just one sport is only one part of their community involvement. And so this community center would be a large asset to that child as he grows up and loves, learns to grow and love this community as much as I have in the years I've been here. But also is going to be an advantage for those parents and those volunteers that bring that child to that community center in and around it too. So it's going to be a whole synergy for the whole community. Thank you. Jane, you need to move the mic a little bit. As chairman of the Commission on the Arts, I want to speak to you about our process as we develop the needs for this community center. On February 5th, I conducted a meeting of arts organizations in our city. About 30 enthusiastic people attended and they were representing the various different groups that we have in our city. We explained the scope of the gift the Sherwoods had given us and expressed our thanks that they included so much about the arts in that gift. On the question we had a questionnaire and we asked each group to write down the amount of space they were using at the present and the amount of space that they would need in a new community center and the features that they would use. When we looked at what was needed, it was obvious that either the groups wanted space for themselves specifically that that was just not going to work. It was going to be too expensive. The rooms in the center would have to be designed to be shared by many different groups. And it was a pleasure to watch people who have such a variety of interests and needs work together to bring to you the basis for this building that will be an invaluable contribution to our city. The multipurpose room will be large enough for a city band rehearsal when the high school where they currently rehearse is unavailable to them. And the art room can be used for art classes for children to augment what is taught in school. But it can also be used for community meetings. Not only will organized groups such as the band be able to use the center, but small community-based instrumental in vocal groups as well as large ensembles, such as the Jub be able to use the center, but small community-based instrumental in vocal groups as well as large ensembles, such as the Jubilaires will be able to practice there. And I keep being asked why we don't have a community theater. I've been asking that for the last 20 years, have been in the city for 35 years, and the people really want that. And here's a chance to have one in a performance space that can also be divided into more rooms to accommodate other activities. There isn't so many exciting possibilities for activities for all ages and interests. But I want to add one thing. I think we're so fortunate to live in a community where organizations with such varied interests and needs can come together under the able direction of Brian NAP to bring to you suggestions for a building that can be used for such a variety of purposes. This is the kind of call cooperation that builds community. When the very groups such as music, visual arts, sports, exercise, seniors, and teens, all of equal value to the residents in the city can work together to envision a community center that can be used by all. Although I realize we're in time of economic problems, I hope you will explore different sources of funding that could be available to us, realizing that the longer we wait, the more expensive this center will be. This is for all the citizens of the city to use, and it will make Fairfax City a more sought-after place for people to live and raise their families and what a good compliment it will be to our wonderful new schools. I hope you are pleased with our final product knowing that came about with the cooperation cooperation of many interested and dedicated people. This is what a good livable community can do. Thank you. Let me if I could just say first of all thank you all very much for your leadership and providing this wonderful template for us to sort of launch from here as we over the next weeks and months try to tackle this exciting but important issue to the community and called a community center. Unfortunately, we're not going to have a lot of time for dialogue and discussion tonight only because we have a city council meeting that's going to start in about eight minutes next door. But I think you all did a wonderful job in framing the issues and your comments up front. Certainly, as we go forward, I'm sure we're all going to be anxious, and I'm sure every one of us tonight would like to start to jump in the dialogue and add to the issues, and we'll certainly get that opportunity to do it. But you framed him well, we're about to leave this exciting discussion and go into a City Council meeting with another series of exciting discussions for very different reasons that I call the perfect storm. And certainly that's going to have some bearing on all the dialogues as we try to balance the needs of the entire communities we go for. But I know I speak on behalf of all of my colleagues, you all have spent a tremendous amount of time and energy and effort getting this report to the stage. It's greatly appreciated. I think we're all excited and enthusiastic about the opportunities that are in front of us and it's just wonderful to live in a community where somebody is willing to and invest enough to give a community like this a $5 million start as we move forward. So I would suggest we're just not going to have time to open it up to comments and questions. But again, thank you very much and I'm sure this will be sort of the anchor point as we frame the issues as we move forward. Thank you again, Mr. Mayor. Thank you very much. What we're going to do now is a journey and we're going to start our city council meeting and just less than five minutes right next door in the city council chambers. Thank you all for coming.