Evening star., 1947-04-05
Sanitary District
|PIeaRejecfedby
Fairfax Court
Further Suggestions
For McLeon Area
Requested BY Judge


I rairfax County residents today
are studying suggestion q CIR
cult Court Judge Paul Brown Tor
improved sanitation facilities Ia Nc
Lean, after 4 petition for creation
Iof new sanitary district N the
county was turned down.
Judge Brown yesterday failed TO
approve proposed sanitary district
No. 5 that would have embraced
'Oakton, Vienna, Dunn Loring, Mad
rillon, Tysons Corner, Lewinsville,
Mclean. Langley and Cf1esterbrooK.
IN turning down a citizens Pc
tition requesting the sanitary dis
Itrict under state enabling legisla-
lation, Judge Brown said "undoubt-
Fedly there Is q need for sanltatlon
improvements in Mclean" He
added that some new proposal to
handle this community's sanitation
problems probably should be con-
sidered.n
He refused to approve the re-
IqueSted sanitary district after lis
tening to opponents who stressed
that the financial burden would be
too heavy for thinly dispersed resi-
dents of Fairfax County. Judge
Brown told the filed courtroom he
did not feel sufficient evidence had
been presented to show q sanitary
district was needed throughout the
entire area proposed. He added
that no proponents seemed to have
any information as to what the
cost Of the project would be.
Opposed by Estate Owuers.,
Most opponents Of the project
were owners Of large farms and
estates. They commended IL would
be an unnecessary burden for them
because their properties are sup
piled with private septic tanks and
private well systems.
in my opinion this is . project
that covers too great a territory to
be economically sound" Manning
Gasch of Fairfax testified. III the
sanitary district Is created, think
we will lose one of the most en-
joyable features Of our county
that 1t is being built up on an acre
age basis"
Richard Smith, Fairfax publisher,
expressed the fear that establish
ment Of the district would empower
the Board Of Supervisors to levy
taxes in order to carry 1t out.
Seepage Described.
Thomas j. Stockton, Fairfax
County planning engineer. said the
overall zoning plan of the county
did not call for many small de-
velopments that would necessitate
a sanitary district.
Proponents of the measure, how
ever, were led by Mclean residents
who told of sewage seeping into the
streets from inadequate septic tanks.
o. v. Carper of Mclean said the
seepage was deplorable in many Of
McLean's streets because the soil
is not able to absorb the sewage
as was expected. AS to the need
for water, he added, one Mclean
fire truck could pump the whole
town dry in matter Of hours in
event OF bad fire.
w. Alvord Sherman, jr., said al
though he owned q large tract of
land he was In favor of the sani-
tary district because it was the only
way people who do not live in incor-
porated towns can have some of
the advantages that incorporated
towns offer.
Warns Of Annexation.
''If nothing else, we need this
sanitary district as defense against
annexation by the neighboring COM
munities of Arlington and Alexan-
dria," he warned. He predicted
many eventually would favor the
annexation so that they could have
the facilities the communities Of
fered.
At the opening of the hearing at
the Fairfax Courthouse, Judge
Brown granted petition of the
Vienna Town Council to be ex-
cluded from the proposed sanitary
district in the event its formation
was approved. The petition was
presented by Mayor E. e. Cockrill.
Exclusion was asked because sepa-
rate plans for sanitary facilities in
Vienna already are being studied.
The hearing was delayed at one
point when opponents of the project
questioned the validity OF names on
the petition. The county registrar
certified the required so signers were