Plans drawn up for Annandale ‘skate spot’

The plan proposed by the county.

Fairfax County officials have drawn up preliminary plans for a “skate spot” at the old basketball court  between the Annandale Fire Station and the Annandale Christian Community for Action building on Columbia Pike. All that’s needed now to make it happen is the money.

Implementing the plan would cost about $110,000, said David Bowden, director of the Fairfax County Park Authority’s Planning and Development Division. The land is owned by the county, not the Park Authority, so the approval and implementation process would be a lot shorter. He said it could be done in five to six months.

The old basketball court.

“We have a plot that works,” said Mason Supervisor Penny Gross. “I think it’s possible. It will take a little while.” Gross said she is working with the county’s bond counsel to see if it would be possible to use some of the money left over from the 1998 Annandale revitalization bond. In addition, she said, “We would love to have donations from the community.”

The design produced by Bowden’s office is based on partially replacing the existing asphalt court/parking area with a concrete pad and installing precast features on it, Bowden said. The plan also includes an accessible walkway to the skate park area. “If we can treat the replacement of the existing asphalt with the concrete pad as a maintenance activity, we may be able to save some of the design and permitting costs in the cost estimate,” he said.

Although there had been discussions about a larger park, the plans call for just a small skate spot on the area now occupied by an old basketball court. The adjacent grassy area behind the fire station is owned by the Annandale Volunteer Fire Department and would not be included in this plan.

The idea for a skate park arose over a year ago, when David Starr, the owner of Beanetics, came up with the idea for using that vacant lot for something useful to benefit the Annandale community. Since then, other local residents and business owners embraced the idea. Last fall, Gross hosted a “skate event” in the fire station parking lot to gauge potential interest in a skate plaza.