Falls Church City Manager Wyatt Shields and F.C. School Superintendent Dr. Toni Jones fielded a lot of thoughtful questions from citizens attending the first of two town hall sessions held at City Hall Saturday about the “Campus Redevelopment Project.” Process on the City project is now underway to determine the future of the 34.6 acres ceded to the City by Fairfax County as part of the water system sale last year. A second meeting with an identical intent will be held next Saturday, Dec. 12, also at 10 a.m. to maximize the potential for citizens to be brought up to speed on the project development process.

While no new information was presented that hasn’t already been in the public domain, among the issues clarified were the reasons for less than complete transparency at this stage, due to the two competitive bids for the project, and the fact that the economic development component, on 10.38 acres of the land, is designed to allay the cost of $100 million or more for a new high school and expanded middle school, and not to contribute to the City’s tax base in a more direct way. It was also noted that the disposition and intentions of land owners, including the University of Virginia, Virginia Tech and WMATA, directly adjacent to the site have not yet been fully determined to see if collaboration with them could be approached.