Park Authority calls parking lot in Justice Park ‘unacceptable’
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| Local residents oppose removing green space from Justice Park for a parking lot for Justice High School. |
The Fairfax County Park Authority has issued a statement indicating it is willing to work with Fairfax County Public Schools to consider an alternative to building a parking lot at Justice Park.
The statement, submitted to the Annandale Blog July 20 by FCPA Public Information Officer Judy Pedersen, says the FCPS parking lot proposal “is simply not acceptable.”
Related story: Public officials failed to inform public on Justice Park land negotiations
Here is the full statement:
“Since the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) was first contacted by Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) relative to their proposal to utilize a portion of the FCPA Justice Park for a parking lot to support the expansion at Justice High School, FCPA has worked in good faith to consider the FCPS request in relation to its impacts to the park and desires of the community.
“The voice of the community as a collective sense of grievance and mistrust regarding the proposal and the process is clear. Several community members do not want this proposal to move forward. They value the open space and recreational opportunities provided by Justice Park as one of the few remaining green spaces in the community. Understanding the concerns of the community, the present FCPS proposal is simply not acceptable.
“At the public meeting held by FCPS on May 6, 2021, FCPS and FCPA project staff acknowledged the need to consider other options based on the concerns aired by dozens of residents. The Park Authority is listening to those voices as well and believes a less impactful alternative must be considered.
“To that end, we believe the schools are working to find a solution that meets the school’s and community’s needs. We do not know the details of the alternatives; however, we stand ready to work collaboratively with the school system to consider possibilities. Our mission is to protect parkland, especially important in more urban areas where open space is scarce, to develop a transparent public process, and to meet the needs of the community.
“The Park Authority will continue to be a good neighbor and partner with schools as we support the One Fairfax ethos. From an equity perspective, the Park Authority remains hopeful that this school addition can proceed, as the need to expand and modernize the school is not in doubt. We look forward to working with the community when we receive a new proposal from FCPS for the project.”
Related story: Board of Supervisors reauthorizes Park Authority for 30 years, despite complaints from Justice Park advocates
OMG, I can't believe it! Thank you to the Park Authority for standing with the community and for fulfilling your mission of protecting parkland. The community of Justice Park Advocates also stands ready to help solve the student parking requirement so that the school expansion can go forward. It's wonderful to feel like we are working together! Carol
This is great news and shows that a few caring people can make a world of difference.
Bravo, Park Authority for defending Justice Park against a foolish idea to build over the Park when the need for the 23 parking spaces is questionable and there is plenty of available street parking around Justice High.
Congratulations and thanks to the Annadale Blog and Ellie Ashford for publicizing the fight and helping save the Park.
This statement is truly a breath of fresh air by public officials and we should all be thankful that our efforts succeeded, with those officials hearing "our collective sense of grievance and mistrust." There are several alternatives that should be able to fulfill the needs of Justice High School and those who worked to protect the park will certainly support them. Larry Golfer
I'm glad to see the public has been heard on this. I certainly hope that the process moving forward can be done in a more transparent fashion.
I'm going to be the outlier here and say I'm worried about this outcome. I hope it doesn't derail the much-needed Justice addition. It was a very small part of the park that was going to be converted to parking and the rest of the park was going to be improved. I thought it was a good plan. Perfect? No, but good. I hope the people who have been so adamantly opposed to the plan have a good and realistic plan for what they want. I've been having trouble finding any info on that. I also hope that the Park Authority can work on improvements to the park now that it looks like FCPS may no longer be paying for them. The park is beautiful but very run down.
Why can't we have park improvements because our parks are run down and need improvement? Why does a developer, school board, or any other outside entity need to pay for them to be worth it? Every time we get an improvement on any public facility, there are strings and caveats.
Apparently you need more information. It was not too small a part of the Park. The parking spaces that FCPS was going to build over the Park, and moving the basketball court, were totally unnecessary. The School will have more than enough parking for its projected growth without destroying a part of the Park, and further, there is plenty of available parking on the streets around the School.
It is 1.1 acres out of 17 acres (6.5%) according to FCPS. I consider that small. Most of the land to be converted is the small narrow patch of unusable turf lawn between the tennis courts and the street. The existing basketball court would be converted to parking and a new basketball court will be built directly behind that taking up a very small part of the field on the side next to the forest. Which still allows more than enough room for field games. In addition FCPS planned "enhancements to the park such as clearing over 8 acres of invasive species to increase usable green space to 14.7 acres from the current 7.7 acres available for community use. Lastly, the FCPS proposal included the construction of a walking trail and an outdoor classroom."
The proposal was a good compromise for what we are getting: a much-needed addition for thousands of underserved students and our amazing Justice teachers plus upgrades to the park which it desperately needs.
Since this plan has now been derailed by the SJP group, I look forward to hearing their solutions at the upcoming FCPS meeting on Oct 12.
Good outcome, in spite of the fact that Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, Penny Gross, never showed up in support of the community. Maybe serving Mason District since November 1995 has created some complacency. Time for change?
Simply don't allow high school children to drive to school! Start mandating carpooling for staff! Overcrowded and overburdened facility anyway, with a liberal trash name!!!
At issue for me has been the lack of a clear process. The schools and park authority first started working off the assumption that the park will hand over the parkland for a parking lot two years ago. A consent statement was signed in Nov 2020. The public did not find out until long after that. If only the county had let the community weigh in as soon as it knew that it wanted to use parkland, the outcome would have been very different. For example, they could have built a renovation over the old gym wing — building up rather than out, and not take up an entire parking lot. They could have understood from the get-go that what seemed to them like minor changes to the park would actually have an effect on how the park is valued and undermine how it is actually used. Even if the FCPA continued to support the parking lot in the park, the county planning department had already rejected the plan as proposed. The proposal needs fixing, regardless of whether you support the parking lot in the park or not
Many thanks to the neighbors who recognized the obfuscation of Fairfax
County Schools, the Park Authority, and Supervisor Gross on the placement
of a large surface parking lot on Justice Parkland. Please consider
using existing paved areas (the street, re-striping the existing parking
lot, better bus service points, reduced or modified parking) and stop
pitting the neighbors as being against Justice HS. More time was clearly
spent on the name change of the school than has been spent on planning and
building a sorely needed public education structure for the future.
As an every day user of the park this is encouraging. However with the lack of transparency to date I fear this may not be the end of the assault on our park. We must stay vigilant. Given that Penny Gross appointed a member of the Park Authority here's hoping she is quietly finding a solution that preserves the park and gives the school more parking.