As motorists speed along Loisdale Road, south of Springfield Mall, a clearing in the middle of an evergreen forest goes unoticed by many except nearby residents.
Ulla Lee lives in Loisdale Estates right next to the land.
"I have no clue," said Lee, "I fear every development in this area.".
With the exception of a cable strung across the entrance to prevent dumping, the plot of land shows no sign of human activity. The clearing mysteriously appeared about five years ago but the vacant lot was cleared for a purpose that didn't materialize. According to Supervisor Dana Kauffman (D-Lee), the land was considered as a possible home for future ball fields, but activity was stopped when the owners started using the parcel to dump construction debris from nearby road projects.
"That is a huge piece of dirt that was used as a landfill at one time, and dumping spoil from the Woodrow Wilson bridge," Kauffman said.
A 55-acre parcel of land stretching from the Loisdale Park to the storage business along Loisdale Road is owned by the Hunter family, which owns the Hunter Motel and Restaurant on the Fairfax County Parkway and Loisdale Road. The land was used as a landfill years ago, but since then, trees and undergrowth have taken over.
Bill Dowdy is a local attorney and co-trustee of the land with Shirley Hunter. Dowdy admitted that Kauffman had plans for ball fields, but Hunter and Dowdy are looking at it as a possible place for a new Hunter Motel.
"We've had a lot of people want to do something there, everybody has a grand plan. There's not a day goes by that somebody doesn't call. We do plan on building a new hotel there," Dowdy said.
Fred Tyler has been the Hunter Motel's manager since 1976, and the motel has been at its current location since 1954.
"It can be built on. There's no hurry," Tyler said of the vacant lot.
A 2.7 acre parcel of land that isn't part of the Hunter land is on the other side of the clearing. Starr Realty advertised it zoned C-2, which is commercial zoning, and sold it to a developer in 2001.
"I think he [buyer] had a plan for a building," said Lorretta Sebastian at Starr Realty.
That transaction was completed in 2004 and when Sebastian tried to call the buyer earlier this year, the phone had been disconnected.