Your Piece of the Planet

The Park Authority Board considered three proposals for recreation uses at the Wiita Tract at their December 9 Park Authority Board meeting. Executive Director Jay Ellington presented  three maps showing the recreation choices recommended by staff.

All the options showed a soccer stadium and soccer fields. The only difference between the three plans was the number of soccer fields, which ranged from three to seven (plus the soccer stadium).

Natural features were notably absent from the maps. Did the Park Authority complete an environmental assessment? In the lessons learned category, planning the location of ball fields before looking to see what’s there has caused problems at Silver Lake, where the 11th hour discovery of globally rare natural areas is making their preservation very difficult. Read the rest of this entry »

On December 9, 2009, the Prince William County Park Authority Board is scheduled to vote on the Master Plan for a proposed 69 acre soccer complex  in the Rural Crescent.  Known as the Wiita Tract, this former farmland is located on Glenkirk Road, directly across from Lake Manassas and adjacent to Rollins Ford Road (where improvements are postponed indefinitly).

The Wiita Tract – A little history

The Wiita Tract was proffered to Prince William County citizens in January 2006 for Parks & Recreation as part of the Wellington Glen rezoning .  According to the proffers, the property is to be used for “parks and recreation purposes” (no mention of soccer fields).

However, at their September 2009 public meetings for the Wiita Tract Master Plan, the Park Authority presented the community with only one recreation choice for this Rural Crescent site – seven lighted soccer fields, public water and public sewer. Read the rest of this entry »

Last night, the Manassas City Council reviewed the status of Lake Manassas in a work session.  The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (DGIF) has proposed to acquire public access and build a boat ramp at the lake, using Federal Sport Fish Restoration grant money.

Lake Manassas has been closed to public use for 10 years after the city ended a franchise agreement with a private marina.  For about 30 years before the closure, the lake was one of the most popular fishing spots in Northern Virginia.   (There have gotta to be some big fish in there now… and city police do issue trespass warnings and some citations each year to the anglers who ignore the No Trespassing signs.)

At the end, acting on a motion by Marc Aveni, City Council voted unanimously to direct the Utilities Commission to continue negotiations with DGIF to open Lake Manassas to public use.  No deadlines were set, and city officials still have concerns regarding water quality, access control, and costs – but as Mayor Parrish note, “It’s a turning point.”

Read the rest of this entry »

Lake Manassas is a public lake with above-average fishing opportunities – but for years, county and city officials have kept the lake closed to the public.

Prince William County, in its typical petulant dealings with the City of Manassas, blocked efforts by the city to maintain a marina on the lake.  The city has also operated in a high-handed manner.  It resolved a dispute with the marina operator – by blocking all public access to the lake.  Since the city locked the gates, it has demolished the marina and cited bass fishermen as trespassers.

Lake Manassas is a public water supply, but total closure is overkill.  Why?  The answer is nearby, just downstream.

Read the rest of this entry »

The Manassas City Council will discuss opportunities to allow public access to Lake Manassas during a special work session on Monday, December 7, 5:30 p.m., at City Hall the Public Works building, 8500 Public Works Drive, Manassas 20110, directions.

Government staff and the Virginia Dept. of Game & Inland Fisheries have been working on a proposal to open Lake Manassas for public fishing, boating (no gas engines) and the quiet enjoyment of the scenic landscape.

Under the current proposal, Game & Inland Fisheries would assume responsibilities for managing surveys, stocking the lake and law enforcement. They would also construct a low-impact gravel parking lot, boat ramp and finger pier for launching and retrieving boats.

The City of Manassas has two options. Under the first scenario, public access to Lake Manassas would be unrestricted, open without registration or fees (except your fishing license).  This open-access approach is successful at other Virginia reservoirs, including the Occoquan Reservoir in Prince William, Beaverdam Creek Reservoir in Loudoun, the Abel and Smith Reservoirs in Stafford, Mountain Run and Lake Pelham Reservoirs in Culpeper. Read the rest of this entry »

The Board of County Supervisors (BOCS) will get an update on Tuesday on the Manassas Battlefields Viewshed Study.   The National Park Service is using a $60,000 grant from the American Battlefield Protection Program that the BOCS endorsed in 2006.

The public will get a chance to comment on the study next January, including the designation of 25 significant views – 10 Public Vantage Points (PVPs) and 15 less-significant Historically Based Viewsheds (HBVs).

Why should Prince William care?   Manassas National Battlefield Park is our golden goose, laying golden eggs.  Even if you don’t appreciate history… tourism at the first major Civil War battlefield creates jobs and generates tax revenue for the county.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Capper Crampton Act of 1930 was passed in response to Corps of Engineers plans to build two dams on the Potomac River, at Chain Bridge and above Great Falls.  Instead of flooding the river valley, the Federal government established the National Capital Planning Commission and purchased land to protect the Potomac River.  Protection of Great Falls and the scenic vistas along the George Washington Parkway and Rock Creek Parkway are legacies of that bill.

Now local legislators, led by Jim Moran and including Frank Wolf, Gerry Connolly, and Rob Wittman, have proposed to build on that success.  The National Capital Region Land Conservation Act (HR 2986/S1525) would authorize Congressional appropriations (up to $50 million per year) for grants to State, regional and local governments. Grants would have to be matched, and the Federal funding would help obtain land for conservation, environmental and recreational purposes.

Various conservation groups have already expressed support for the bill.  Now it’s time for local legislators to speak up.  Getting a Federal match could help Prince William County double the value of the $3 million in park bonds that we passed in 2006 for land acquisition.

…we should be interested in how the National Park Service plans the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail, stretching from Hampton Roads to Great Falls (up the Potomac River) and to the northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay.

The alternatives for the trail’s first long-range management plan are now available for public review and comment.

Now would be a good time to suggest that, under any one of the four alternatives, the US Fish and Wildlife Service should open up Featherstone National Wildlife Refuge to public use.

The Federal agency says “Currently, the refuge is closed to the public because of poor access to the site due to the rail line, its proximity to the river, and lack of facilities.”

The rail line issue is bogus.  The Rippon VRE station has provided safe and convenient crossing of the railroad tracks for years.

Proximity to the river is a reason to OPEN the refuge.  Gee, visitors might even get a meaningful watershed educational experience.

As for lack of facilities… put in two porta-potties and declare success.  Visitor centers are nice, flush toilets are nice, indoor seats next to glass windows so visitors can stay warm while watching tweety birds at the feeders outside are nice – but access to the site is essential.

The Berlin Wall fell 20 years ago, but the “Public Land – Keep Out” sign at Featherstone NWR remains.    (If Mikhail Gorbachev led the US Fish and Wildlife Service, maybe we could hope for the American public to get access to the refuge…)

Parkland for Plants, People and Wildlife

When: Thursday, Nov. 5 at 7:30 pm
Where: Bull Run Unitarian Church, Bull Run Unitarian Universalist Church, 9350 Main Street, Manassas

Speaker: Charles Smith, Fairfax County Park Authority Natural Resource Specialist & PW Wildflower Society

The Virginia Dept. of Conservation and Recreation has recognized the significance of the globally rare Upland Depression Swamp and Basic Oak-Hickory Forest at Silver Lake.

Given that this site is public land, protecting these resources would seem to be an easy task. But that’s not the case at Silver Lake, where globally rare natural areas were identified only after the fact  -  after the County accepted the property and, more importantly, after the County drew the borders of the middle school site in an area that includes both resources.

If these important resources had been identified in a timely manner, it would have been easy to locate the school site in an area that left globally rare natural areas on the parkland portion of Silver Lake, where they could have been protected.

The good news is that School Board members, working with the Park Authority, are making their best effort to protect these important natural areas. Although the outcome is still not certain, there are good opportunities for success. Read the rest of this entry »

The last public master planning meeting was held on October 27, 2009.  Many citizens came out to both the October 6 and October 27 meetings to share their views about recreation activities at Silver Lake, others posted comments online.

Now the Park Authority has a major challenge.  They need to consider what residents want and carefully plan future recreation uses accordingly while ensuring that the natural beauty and conservation qualities at this special site are protected.

Residents have expressed interest in a wide range of both passive and active recreation uses for Silver Lake Park. Trails for hiking and horseback riding are popular suggestions, including support for connecting these to other nearby parkland. Other people have called for more intensive uses, such as a 60-acre shooting range, indoor equestrian arena, dressage area, outside jumping area and equestrian camping. Read the rest of this entry »