Park bond funds could be used for Poe Terrace Park

Poe Terrace Park in Annandale could be in line for a much-needed renovation if voters pass the $180 million park bond on the Nov. 3 ballot.

In addition to $89 million to replace the aging Audrey Moore Rec Center in Annandale, the bond includes $19 million to renovate existing parks.

The Fairfax County Park Authority has identified Poe Terrace Park as one of the top priorities for those funds, says Rick Healy, the Mason District representative on the Park Authority Board.

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The 14-acre park is located at the corner of Little River Turnpike and Hillbrook Drive across from George Mason Regional Library.

Poe Terrace Park is completely overgrown and impenetrable, without even a way to get inside. It has a stream, Indian Run, and stone remnants of a railroad bridge abutment that was meant for the Manassas Gap Railroad Line, which was never completed.

If funds are approved to renovate Poe Terrace Park, Healy says, about $4 million to $5 million could be allocated to clear the underbrush and create walking trails and an open area.

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The Poe Terrace Master Plan, completed in 1983, recommended a playground, picnic area, and trails. The document includes a letter from a 12-year-old member of the Annandale A-Bombs skateboard team who asks the Park Authority to create a skateboard park in the park.

The master plan was never implemented, and Poe Terrace Park has been overrun by invasives in the intervening decades.