MVCCA Supports Inova, Dairy Queen Site

The MVCCA met on Wednesday for their July meeting and heard from Mount Vernon’s Police Captain and Supervisor Gerry Hyland about recent news in their respective offices. The council went on to ratify the Board of Supervisor’s approval of the extension and resolved not to oppose the development of the old site.

Captain Randy Joyce started off the meeting by discussing the state of the Mount Vernon Police Department and answering questions. Joyce stated that his force’s main goal in Mount Vernon is to help make positive improvements in any way possible.

“A lot of what we have now has been in place by the veterans before us,” Joyce said. “When we leave we want to leave that same positive impact on the community. To make it a better, safer place.”

Joyce took a moment to speak to the parents and grandparents in the room about keeping teens safe and occupied during the long summer hours. He reminded guardians to limit the amount of unsupervised free time and encourages teens to get involved in the community this summer.

“You’re involvement in their life is the biggest deterrent to doing something bad. During the school year, they are in school eight hours a day. In summer time, they don’t have that structure,” Joyce said.  We always see a bump of crime in the summer. Kids are out of school and this could be the larcenies, petty thefts, burglaries and the like.”

Finally, Joyce told attendees that pedestrian safety has never been more important and encouraged them to slow down. He reminded  there are a lot of parts of Route One that don’t have sidewalk and that it’s up to us to look after our own.

Supervisor Gerry Hyland took the floor to share the Board of Supervisor’s recent decision to approve the INOVA Hospital expansion. Afterwards, the MVVCA Council voted 17 to 1 to ratify the Board’s decision for their records.

“With just part one, I do not expect to see an increase in traffic,” Hyland. “I don’t believe any road improvements would be facilitated by that. In parts two and three? Yes, we will see road improvements.”

Gum Springs civic association president Queenie Cox interjected  to share her community’s appreciation for Hyland’s work on a development compromise.

“We thank the Board for working with us on this very sensitive and emotional issue. We were very upset with the MVCCA council, particularly Planning and Zoning, and Transportation for not supporting Gum Springs,” Cox said. “We thank you and the planning commission for working with us to find a solution that satisfied us all.”

Hyland went on to touch on the recent voting precinct changes and assured citizens that they will continue to vote in their old location for the upcoming primaries. Voters can find their new polling locations online or can wait for  information to be mailed out.

“Some precincts have been split due to changes in the Senate. Some precincts have other changes,” Hyland said. “A letter will go out to all of the affected voters in time for the election in November.”

The final piece on the agenda was a resolution to not oppose the development of the old Dairy Queen site. Since the developer continuously updated the plans to their specifications, the council passed the resolution 17 to 0.