Backlick Park totally renovated
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| The new playground at Backlick Park. |
Backlick Park in Annandale has a new playground, fitness equipment, pavilion, tennis courts with lights, asphalt trails,and landscaping.
None of this would have happened if Elan Mews resident Binod Gupta, who lives next to the park, hadn’t complained, repeatedly, to county officials about the rundown and unsafe condition of the park, beginning in 2016, said Ronald Kendall, the Mason District representative on the Park Authority Board, at the Nov. 17 ribbon-cutting ceremony.
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| Backlick Park has new fitness equipment. |
Mason Supervisor Penny Gross thanked Gupta for “getting the
ball rolling and sticking with it.”
ball rolling and sticking with it.”
The park improvements resulted from a “wonderful partnership
between the Park Authority and the neighbors,” Gross said. The newly fixed-up
park is “absolutely stunning,” and the $1 million in repairs and replacement, mostly
from a park bond, is money well spent, she said.
between the Park Authority and the neighbors,” Gross said. The newly fixed-up
park is “absolutely stunning,” and the $1 million in repairs and replacement, mostly
from a park bond, is money well spent, she said.
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| From the left: Park Authority Board member Ronald Kendall, Park Authority Executive Director Kirk Kincannon, and Mason Supervisor Penny Gross. |
The 9.9-acre park, at 4615 Backlick Road wasconstructed in the 1980s. One-third of the county’s 427 parks are aging, and some are 40 years old, said Kirk Kincannon, executive director of the Fairfax County Park Authority.
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| Arya and Neil Gupta try out the new playground. |
The Park Authority has a maintenance backlog of about $70 million, which is being addressed through park bonds, the county budget, the Park Foundation, and volunteers, Kincannon said. “The public’s top priority for the parks is taking care of what we have.”
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| A new picnic pavilion at Backlick Park. |
The next park bond will be on the 2020 ballot, and it is expected to include significant funding for restoring Lake Accotink.
3 responses to “Backlick Park totally renovated”
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The Park is beautiful! Thank you Mr Gupta and all others involved for making this happen. My Grandchildren enjoy this park daily and so do I!
It looks great!
Now, on to Lake Accotink!
million bucks for a swing set, dam shame.