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1970 MCC referendum: what the original records establish

Research checked October 26, 2026 · MCC Levy Watch, an independent website

Verified evidence and its limits

Sources are the County's scanned Minutes of the Board of Supervisors, Fairfax County, Virginia. Printed page numbers differ from PDF viewer page numbers. The cited scans were checked visually, not just through search snippets or OCR.

1. District creation, not an election: Minute Book 61, August 5, 1970, printed pp. 370–372; PDF pp. 490–492. The adopted resolution creates a small sanitary district “to be known as Small District One (1) within Dranesville District.” Its boundaries follow on pp. 371–372. The six-vote passage recorded on p. 372 is a Board vote, not a referendum tally.
2. Petition for a bond election, not the court's order or final ballot: Minute Book 61, August 5, 1970, printed p. 388; PDF p. 512. The Board asks the Circuit Court to order a poll, preferably September 22, 1970, on bonds not exceeding $800,000. The recorded ayes (Bradley, Wright, Harris, Alexander and Pennino), no nays, and absences are supervisors' votes on the petition. They are not votes cast by district residents.
3. Contemporaneous reference suggesting approval before November: Minute Book 62, October 21, 1970, printed p. 188; PDF p. 297. A letter is described as concerning “the concept of the McLean Community Center which was approved by the citizens at the polls.” This is not a certified return and gives no exact election date or voter totals.
4. Conflicting later reference: Minute Book 63, December 9, 1970, printed p. 36; PDF p. 96. Minutes refer to “the bond issue which they approved on November 3, 1970, for a Community Center.” This conflicts with the October 21 reference to prior approval. We do not choose a date or silently correct either record.

Exact petition text — not a transcription of the ballot

Minute Book 61, August 5, 1970, printed p. 388, paragraph 1 excerpt (PDF p. 512). Line breaks and word spacing normalized; final district-name phrase omitted with an ellipsis:

1. That the Board of Supervisors of Fairfax County hereby petitions the Circuit Court of said County to enter an order requiring the judges of election, at such time not less than thirty (30) days from the date of such order, preferably on the 22nd day of September, 1970, to open a poll and take the sense of the qualified voters of Small District One within Dranesville District, which was created this date, on the question whether this Board shall issue, in an aggregate amount not to exceed Eight Hundred Thousand Dollars ($800,000.00), bonds of said Small District for the purpose of acquiring, constructing, maintaining or operating or contracting for such acquisition, construction, maintenance or operation of a community center, including a community building and other recreational facilities, …

Paragraph 2 directs the County Attorney to file certified extracts of the minutes with the Circuit Court as the Board's petition. This is a specific lead for locating the court file, not proof that a particular order was entered.

Established date and amount

August 5, 1970: Board action petitioning for an election on bonds not exceeding $800,000.

Not yet established from an original election instrument

Actual voting date; court-ordered or final ballot wording; amount actually approved; yes/no, precinct, or certified aggregate voter totals.

Terminology

The 1970 resolution uses “Small District One (1) within Dranesville District.” The 1984 operating agreement, Definitions II.A, uses “Small District #1.” MCC's present-day About page, “Who We Are” and “Our Purpose & Values”, uses “Small District 1A-Dranesville.” Do not treat these labels alone as proof of unchanged boundaries or rename the original instrument.

Where the online search reached

• County Board archive, 1970–1974 folder: located the actual 1970 volumes rather than relying on broad CivicWeb hits. Searched extracted text and relevant indexes in Books 61 (June 24–September 16, 1970), 62 (September 23–December 2, 1970), and 63 (December 9, 1970–February 24, 1971) for McLean, community center, district, referendum, amount and election terms; visually verified the evidence cited above. No MCC ballot, entered court order or certified return was identified. OCR and indexing can miss records; this is not an exhaustive page-by-page visual review.
• Broad search hits 8807 and 9043 led to 1989 and 1980–1981 material respectively, not the 1970 referendum. Their generic series descriptions are not evidence of the year of the contained meetings.
• County election-results archive: the page's year listings run back to 1990; no 1970 MCC return was found.
• Virginia's historical elections database, 1970 results: the 19 returned contests/questions include federal races and four statewide constitutional questions, not the local MCC bond vote. The linked GENERAL_ELECTION_11031970.pdf document entry does not identify an MCC contest. Statewide constitutional-question tallies must not be substituted for MCC returns.
• Circuit Court Historic Records Center researcher guide, 2025: the listed Circuit Court Order Books end in 1955 (PDF p. 3), and the Elections/Voting collection covers 1854–1936 (PDF p. 4). These are not online 1970 order/return collections. Clerk's Order Books reaching 1981 concern appointments; they are not interchangeable with Circuit Court election orders.
• Library's McLean History Portal: lists the “HLF - McLean - McLean Community Center” file and McLean Providence Journal microfilm covering 1970. These are additional research leads, not certified election results.

Custodians and request routing

• Clerk of the Fairfax Circuit Court — primary custodian for election returns and court orders. The Court's Voting Records page expressly identifies the Clerk as custodian of election returns under Virginia Code § 24.2-669. Start with Civil Records/File Room, ccrfilereview@fairfaxcounty.gov; 703-691-7320 (press 3, 1, 4), 4110 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, VA 22030. Ask staff to route the election-return portion internally if held separately; physical location of the 1970 file has not been confirmed. Historic Records Center (CCRHistoricRecords@fairfaxcounty.gov, 703-246-4168) can assist with archival referrals, but its advertised collection dates do not establish custody of this 1970 file.
• Clerk to the Board of Supervisors — Board resolutions and supporting Board files. Official contact: ClerktotheBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov; 703-324-3151; 12000 Government Center Parkway, Suite 552, Fairfax, VA 22035. Ask this originating office to coordinate any stored records with County Archives (703-658-3875), whose instructions direct public requesters to the originating agency first.

Draft requests — approval required; not sent

These are copy-and-review drafts, not submission forms or email-send links. No mailbox connection is needed to read them. No fees or searches have been authorized. Add your name and preferred reply address only if you decide to send.

Publication rule: add an exact election date, approved amount, ballot quotation or voter totals only after checking the original ballot/order/return and citing its document identifier and page. Preserve any conflict until resolved by evidence.