Dana Wiseman uses Lake Accotink Park almost every day. Wiseman lives in the Cardinal Forest condominium complex in Springfield, which is located near one of the park’s entrances.

"I use the park to relax and enjoy nature, to get away from things that are bothering me," he said while walking near the lake April 8.

If the Fairfax County Park Authority moves forward with new user fees, fewer people may get to enjoy Fairfax County’s lakefront parks like Accotink for free.

In the face of a $4.1 million budget cut, the park authority board voted last month to charge Fairfax County residents for entering four of the locality’s most popular parks in vehicles during peak seasonal hours.

It is the first time county residents would have to pay to just enter county-run park grounds. Currently, the park authority only charges out-of-county residents in cars for coming into Burke Lake Park in Fairfax Station.

The four affected facilities – Lake Accotink, Burke Lake, Lake Fairfax Park in Reston and Riverbend Park in Great Falls – attract about 3 million visitors in total each year.
Officials said the bulk of the park system’s users, approximately 17 million people annually, would not be impacted by the new fees.

"It is important to realize that we are only talking about four out of 420 parks. " said Judy Pedersen, public information officer for the Fairfax County Park Authority.

THE NEW LAKEFRONT park fee structure would go into effect July 1 and apply to people who visit the parks on weekends and holidays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. July through October.

During these times, residents would pay a fee of $4 per vehicle to drive a car onto the four park grounds. Non-residents would pay $8 per vehicle to enter Lake Accotink, Burke Lake and Riverbend’s facilities and $4 per vehicle to use Lake Fairfax.

Lake Fairfax’s "non-county" fee is lower because the park authority markets its "water mine" to out-of-county residents and did not want to discourage those people from visiting the popular water park, said Pedersen.

She added that the new charges are also unlikely to affect daily users of the waterfront parks since many of those people visit the facilities outside of peak hours anyway.

For example, those people who walk or jog in the parks on a regular basis typically come before 9 a.m. or after 5 p.m., said Pedersen.

Some residents will also avoid the fees because they do not have to drive to the parks to use them. For example, Wiseman will always be able to use Lake Accotink for free, even during peak hours, because he walks, and doesn’t drive, to the site.

But Wiseman was unhappy about the county potentially charging for park use. With the economy in a downtown, people need a refuge, he said.

"People are not going to have a place to get the relaxation and release of tension that they need. That’s important, especially in this economy," said Wiseman.

THE PARK AUTHORITY will consider rolling back plans for the new fees if the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors restores some of the park system’s funding in the 2010 budget.

In his initial budget proposal, county executive Anthony Griffin cut park funding to help close a $650 million shortfall overall. But the supervisors have the authority to make major changes to Griffin’s proposal when they vote on the final budget April 27.

If supervisors decided to give the park authority back $650,848 for programs at Lake Accotink, Burke Lake and Lake Fairfax as well as $150,000 in funding for Riverbend Park, the park board will have no need to implement the fees, said Pederson.

This funding covers approximately 33 positions, she added.

Several supervisors indicated that they are interested in trying to find a way to keep the parks free for county residents.

FAIRFAX COUNTY chairman Sharon Bulova (D), who is also head of the budget committee, said she is looking for a way to restore waterfront park funding so residents do not have to be charged.

"I have a real problem with the park authority charging county residents to use those parks … People pay to acquire the parkland and to develop the parkland already," said Bulova.

The chairman said it could also be prohibitively expensive to charge non-county residents coming into the three parks – Accotink, Fairfax and Riverbend – that are currently free for everyone. The cost of putting up and staffing entrance could be more expensive than the revenue collected from the out-of-county residents come to use the facilities, she said.

"It may not be that easy to sort out people from outside the county," said Bulova.

Springfield supervisor Patrick Herrity (R) is also opposed to levying park entry fees for residents. He said the entry fees at the four waterfront parks could cause unanticipated problems for the county.

People may be more inclined to park their cars in neighborhoods near the parks to avoid paying the vehicle fee. The new fees could also aggravate the back up that already forms at some park entrances on the weekends because now every driver entering those facilities would have to stop and pay, he said.

Adult "walk-ons" who play pickup sports on fields at some of these larger parks – especially Lake Fairfax – could also start crowding onto space at smaller neighborhood parks to avoid paying the new fees, according to Herrity. He added that here are already problems with field access and "walk on" games in many parks in the county.