From the Chair (March 2024)

The Council continues to grow! The Board is pleased to welcome five new members to our membership:  Little Run CA,  Starlit Ponds HOA, Truro Homes Association, Village Park HOA, and WoodLynne Community. We now have 32 members which is a 33% increase over our reboot year total of 24 dues-paying associations. We are still doing outreach to come up to our stretch goal of 40 members and when we get there, we will ‘stretch’ again. With more members, there is more energy, a greater exchange of ideas, and a louder voice when addressing important issues affecting Braddock District and Fairfax County as a whole.

Looking ahead, our next meeting will be on Tuesday, 26 March at 7 p.m. in Braddock Hall. Please note that this is a change from our usual third-Wednesday-of-the-month meeting time. We moved our meeting to avoid a conflict with the Braddock District Tree Forum which will take place in the King’s Park Library meeting room on Wednesday, 20 March, 7-9 p.m. The BDC is an official sponsor of the Tree Forum, so I encourage you to attend this meeting organized by Jeanne Kadet, our Braddock District representative on the County’s Tree Commission. Presentations include: “What’s Bugging My Tree and Who Can Help?” (Patricia Greenberg, Community and Urban Forest Coordinator, Forest Pest Branch, Fairfax County Urban Forest Management Division), “Rescue Your Trees” (Margaret Fisher, Outreach Coordinator for Plant NOVA Natives/Plant NOVA Trees campaign), and  “Simple Things Everyone Should Know About Tree Care” (Jim McGlone, recently retired from the Virginia Department of Forestry).

At our rescheduled meeting on Tuesday, 26 March, we will feature a speaker from the Fairfax County Office of Environmental and Energy Coordination (OEEC) covering programs and incentives available to help homeowners and HOA communities make energy improvements to their properties. The presentation will include an overview of the County’s Energy Conservation Assistance Program and Charge Up Fairfax Program as well as financial assistance available at the local, state and federal level for energy-efficiency upgrades including energy audits, weatherization projects, solar installations, and electric vehicle charging stations. We hope that you will plan on attending this meeting, which will also include a discussion of a proposed amendment to the Bylaws pertaining to dues as well as revising the Bylaws in general. Stay tuned for the full agenda in early March.

We do not yet have a date for the popular annual Legislative Review but it will most likely be in April. A lot depends on whether the General Assembly can finish its business and adjourn without the necessity for a special session as happened last year. This event will give you and your community members a chance to meet with our Richmond delegation to hear about all the new laws passed during the 2024 General Assembly session. Once we have details of the date and confirmed attendees, we will send that information out via our various communications channels. After the March meeting, the next scheduled meeting is on 19 June. This meeting will include election of Council officers 2024-2025. This leaves 15 May as a possible date for a meeting to feature elected County officials. We are still working on this idea at this time.

I hope to see all of you at the 26 March BDC meeting. It will be spring, Daylight Savings Time will be in effect, and we will have refreshments for you!

Bob Cosgriff

Chair, BDC