An avid bird watcher, Sarah Mayhew of Fairfax has seen woodpeckers pick for food and bald eagles fly over Woodglen Lake in winter.
"By the time you add up the birds, I've come up with over 200 species with casual observation," Mayhew said.
Mayhew hopes she can continue to meander to the lake, long after the Fairfax County Park Authority establishes a master plan for the site. She was one of over 100 citizens who attended a Park Authority planning workshop Tuesday night at Bonnie Brae Elementary to give her opinion on what she would like to see happen to Woodglen Lake Park in Fairfax, which is located near the elementary school.
"There's just not enough land to develop," said Mayhew, who wanted the land to remain as it is.
Park Authority staffers heard that while a majority of citizens who attended the hearing preferred that the land remain undeveloped, a smaller yet just as vocal minority favored putting trails in the park.
After receiving public input, the Park Authority will draft a master plan for Woodglen Lake Park, conduct another public hearing on the plan, and tweak it before it goes forward to the Park Authority Board for approval. The plan will address whether to recommend trails at the park and how to protect wildlife. It will also determine the best ways to disseminate tips on how citizens can care for the park and the lake, and whether the park should be designated as a natural resource protection area. Because perennial streams run through the park, the land is protected under the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Act.
"We don't have a preconceived idea on what to do," insisted Winnie Shapiro, who sits on the Park Authority Board for the Braddock District.
Braddock supervisor Sharon Bulova (D) likewise said the Park Authority hadn't formed ideas for Woodglen Lake Park.
"There is no hidden agenda," Bulova said. "There is no ulterior motive."
AT 54.4 ACRES, Woodglen Lake Park in Fairfax, near Bonnie Brae Elementary, passed ownership from the County Board of Supervisors to the Park Authority in 1999. The county had owned the land since the 1970s.
Within the community park is a 12.8-acre lake, which serves as a storm-water management pond. The county's Department of Public Works maintains the lake, while the Park Authority maintains the land.
Although footpaths run along the lake and throughout the park, no formal system of trails exists. While a recent Park Authority survey showed adding and maintaining trails as a priority within the county, Jenny Pate of the Park Authority listed several challenges to creating a more formal trail system within Woodglen Lake Park. Although an access drive exists off Zion Drive for county workers, no vehicular access is available for park patrons. The slopes surrounding the lake are steep, the water level fluctuates and the wet soil is prone to erosion.
Furthermore, the whole area is designated as a Resource Protection Area (RPA) for the Chesapeake Bay, which means that special guidelines are in effect before constructing anything on the property.
Hearing the challenges pleased many attendees of the meeting, who wished to see the park remain as is.
"We don't want to see any development at all because there are very few natural habitats left in Fairfax County," said David Griffin, who has lived on the lakefront for 14 years. He added that while his neighbors didn't want any changes, he knew there were some walkers who wanted some changes to the park.
His wife, Lisa, agreed, "There's a lot of natural wildlife we're afraid will be done away [with]."
Those supporting some alterations to the park asked for some gravel trails. Others asked for benches and a picnic table, or for boardwalks or bridges near the edges of the lake, so that walkers wouldn't have to go across people's properties.
The next step for the Park Authority is to draft a master plan and conduct a public hearing. Pate said the master plan process could conclude sometime later this fall.