Plan to turn park space into parking lot angers residents
Local residents and environmental advocates are concerned about a plan to create a parking lot inside Justice Park as part of the upcoming expansion of Justice High School in Seven Corners. The park is on Peace Valley Lane across the street from the school.
Under a plan under discussion by Fairfax County Public Schools and the Park Authority, the new parking lot, with about 60 to 70 spaces, would be located on the basketball court. A new basketball court would be developed in the interior of the park.
[Feb.9 update – According to an FCPS official, the addition will wipe out 81 parking spaces, and they will have to be relocated but there is no available land at or near the school site other than the park.]
Ravenwood Park resident Carol Turner, who coordinates projects to remove invasive plants from Justice Park, learned about the plans for the parking lot after noticing survey markers in the park and brought it to the attention of Friends of Holmes Run (FoHR), an advocacy group concerned with protecting the watershed.
Several local residents who participated in a Feb. 2 FoHR meeting felt the parking lot plan was being developed under the radar without opportunities for public comment. Turner said she was given the runaround when she tried to get more information, with FCPS telling her to contact the Park Authority and vice versa.
Another concern is that a major revision to a park requires an amendment to the park’s master plan, which is a lengthy process that requires public input. Also, it was noted that removing parkland from Justice Park could set a precedent for similar actions across the county.
As several FoHR members noted, this part of Mason District has a growing, dense population and few parks. Even removing a small section of green space would be detrimental to the community.
They are also concerned that a parking lot – along with a planned sidewalk along Peace Valley Lane – would have a negative impact on the Tripps Run tributary that runs through Justice Park and could exacerbate stormwater flooding in nearby neighborhoods.
In an email to Turner, Sunny Sarna, manager of easements and site acquisition in the FCPS Office of Design and Construction, states, “The plans for additional school parking are still in a conceptual phase and may be shared once we have a final draft plan.”
The Justice High School expansion project, aimed at relieving overcrowding, includes a 43,400-square-foot addition with classrooms and labs on the school’s existing parking lot. Construction is expected to start in fall 2021, and the new space would be completed in time for the start of the 2023 school year.
When asked for comment, Park Authority spokesperson Judith Pedersen declined to provide concrete information about what she referred to as a request from FCPS.
An email from Pedersen states: “Since this potentially includes disposition of parkland and negotiation of agreements, these discussions are appropriately held in closed session as permitted by statute. The Park Authority Board is considering options to minimize any impacts a potential accommodation would have on the park and the community.”
“We are also researching what the appropriate public process would be were we to move forward with any associated plans,” Pedersen states. “As always there is a balance needed between the needs for improved infrastructure, in this case by schools, and the Park Authority’s desire to protect parkland wherever possible. We are hopeful that schools will continue their preliminary outreach to the community to fully explain their proposal and its potential community benefits.”
Ron Kendall, the Mason District representative on the Park Authority Board, called the proposal “kind of like a joint win win for us.” Justice Park doesn’t have a parking lot and needs one, he said, noting it’s difficult for people who don’t live close by to get there.
Related story: Plans revealed for Justice High School addition
FCPS “is coming up with a plan to do that,” Kendall said. “At the end of the process, we’ll have to agree that it’s beneficial for both of us.”
He said FCPS will have to go through a zoning and permitting process and will conduct outreach with the community. “They are keeping us apprised as things go along; nothing is final yet.”
“Now that people in the neighborhood are expressing concern, they have to be more transparent,” Kendall said. “There are lots of ways these transfers can go. It could be a simple transfer or lease. . . It’s a work in progress.”
8 responses to “Plan to turn park space into parking lot angers residents”
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To edit my earlier remarks, I deleted and am resubmitting.
“I never knew, seeing this park every day, that it is 18 acres” said a former principal of Justice HS to me years ago.” Indeed, Justice Park seems like a lost park.
The upper garden area was used as a construction staging area by the high school for its last major renovation, and the area was never restored. It’s overgrown, unknown.
A badly needed connector trail between that area and the recreation area has been promised for years, but no ground has been broken yet.
An astute observer recently told me she thought the park to be poorly designed: nothing inviting the passer-by in to experience the magic of the view of the steeply wooded terrain, the stream valley, from the edges of the level plateau.
Trails are overgrown.
An extensive vine and bramble removal, and natural landscape restoration is needed.
Meanwhile the Park Authority’s own Great Parks Great Communities plan (Chapter 3, Bailey’s Planning District, published May 2011) addresses the importance of Justice Park, in context of the dense urban area that is walking distance to it. “Outdoor community spaces for people and dogs are needed to provide casual leisure opportunities and to build community” in the Bailey’s planning district, of which Justice Park is prominently a part; It describes the need for “large, and unscheduled flexible spaces” — such as the designated Open Play Area at Justice Park, which will be taken over or significantly reduced by the proposed school parking lot inside the park. Where are other open play areas nearby, for kite flying, frisbee throwing, practice kicking, tag, etc?
Justice Park badly needs a new fresh approach. A coalition comprising the Park Authority, Justice High School, other governmental entities such as Neighborhood & Community Services, Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (watershed), non- or quasi-governmental organizations of the Baileys/Seven Corners area, and of course neighbors and citizens invited to participate in an equal role to plan and implement a revitalized urban park – could and should have a chance to succeed. The school could have an exciting role: nature education, garden clubs, using the outdoor play area as a kind of unstructured gathering place for class or extracurriculars, just a few examples.
Right now, volunteer Carol Turner out leading others to cut brambles and vines from the suffocating trees is way ahead of the Park Authority in terms of investing thought and personal effort for the future of the park.
The Planning folks busy carving up the park for a school parking lot might consider inviting community members and representatives to walk through the park, walk its surrounding neighborhoods over to route 7, and consider the present and future role of Justice Park, with love for the park, and caring about its nearby residents, its woods with stream running through.
The master plan/map of Justice Park can be found here:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/sites/parks/files/assets/documents/plandev/master-plans/jebstuartmp09.pdf
and Google Maps is fine for looking for the park’s and other green space in the Seven Corners area.
I'm afraid Mason District needs a Parks Authority Board representative who cares about protecting our parks. Ron Kendall says it's a win/win situation to lose parkland. Justice Park has never had a parking problem. There is plenty of room for people who use the park and the school to find a parking space. I have lived near the park and the school for almost 30 years and there has never been a problem. Ron Kendall should do some research before he makes inaccurate pronouncements.
Thank you Ellie for bringing attention to this problem. Carol Turner
If they wand a damn parking lot let them park in Bailey Crossroads: Crossroads center is 3/4 empty because businesses are fleeing the dump; then there is the useless Interim Baileys Park that Gross dropped a $100K on that no one uses and it looks like something out of a former eastern block country. So stop cutting down trees for your insane thirst for convenience. Get on a bike or walk and get some exercise.
For what are school buses?
Being in God’s creation is a mental and physical health necessity. If we are so concerned with the environment, then that alone is a reason not to turn this park into a parking lot. However the first two points – school buses and our physical and mental health are strong deterrents to an asphalt parking lot.
Agree, spending $100,000 on that creation of an interim Baileys Park was like burning money at the West Ox Road Transfer Station ( the dump).
Two things are endless –
The universe and the human stupidity.
On the verge of remote-everything, from tele-work to freaking zoom school, and what are they suggesting??
To build more parking lots.
You people just does not learn.
FFX should be fixing up the parks we have instead of getting into the parking business. Holmes Run Trail III needs bridges over the 5 stream crossing. The stepping pads are getting all banged up and chunks of concrete have fallen off making these pads very dicey to use. I have fallen into the stream from losing by balance on those precarious stepping pads. Please give us small bridges or new and safer pads to use. Its a heavily used trail and enjoyed by fisherman but is limiting us elders that also like to walk it. . And the water is now quite pristine. Its a gem in Mason.
The following letter was sent to Ron Kendall of the Park Authority Board:
I am writing to thank you (belatedly I know) for your support of the renovation of Backlick Park in Annandale and the upkeep and cleaning up of Wilburdale Park, also in Annandale, and a hidden gem of a park. I live near both parks and can’t tell you how the upgrades and maintenance of these two parks have benefited the community. During good weather, both parks are used extensively by a variety of neighborhood folks – families, athletes, children, dog walkers, seniors and others just needing a bit of green space. They are not big parks but have so enhanced the livability of our neighborhoods, especially in these difficult times of the pandemic. Thank you for helping to assure the restoration and maintenance of these cherished neighborhood parks.
Although I do not live in the Justice Park neighborhood, I am interested in better understanding what is being proposed for the park. I read the story in the Annandale blog and am puzzled that the FCPA and FCPS are in discussion about taking park land and building a parking lot for Justice high school. You are quoted in the article as saying that you see this as a win-win and yet the article didn’t expound very much on why you feel that way. It would help me to have a balanced perspective if I understood your rationale better.
On its surface, it doesn’t seem like a win-win from the park perspective or the neighborhood perspective. It seems like a win from the FCPS and Justice Highschool perspective and those who prefer to drive, alone in their cars, rather than take the bus, ride a bike or carpool. It seems that in Mason District, we build bike lanes all over the local roads and pedestrian walkways to decrease our carbon footprint but then build more parking lots to encourage solo drivers.
While I live in Annandale, and not in Seven Corners, I have seen the difference it makes when our small local neighborhood parks are valued, taken care of, and well maintained. It builds community and enhances appreciation of green space as a valued community resource. People outside of Seven Corners are not likely to drive to Justice Park, just as people outside of my neighborhood are unlikely to visit Backlick, Bradlick or Wilburdale Parks. They are small neighborhood parks in an overly developed area, much like Justice Park. They are vital to a livable community and to be valued.
Thank you for your service on the FCPA Board. Public service is a high calling and requires the balancing of many competing interests. Whether I agree or disagree with where you come out on this particular issue, I do appreciate your representation of Mason District and your willingness to serve our community.