(From left) Ayr Hill Garden Club President Pam Weiss, children’s garden co-founder Anna Marie Mulvihill and club Treasurer Nancy Madden stand in the children’s Discovery Garden they help maintain. Photo by Bonnie Hobbs.
The Town of Vienna hopes to grant conservation and parking easements to the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority to expand the Vienna Train Station parking lot. And while most Church Street business owners think it’s a swell idea, several nearby homeowners do not.
They made their feelings known at the Vienna Town Council’s public hearing on this matter, last Monday, June 2. First, though, town attorney Steve Briglia explained the proposal.
Near the intersection of Dominion Road N.E. and Ayr Hill Avenue N.E., the train-station lot contains 23 parking spaces. But its use is currently restricted to trail users and visitors to the train station.
“Especially on weekends, when there’s a lot of park use, the business parking spaces are taken up by recreational users,” said Briglia. “So the town has had a long-term goal to increase parking for the businesses.”
THE PARK AUTHORITY has said it could build 16 more spaces on the east side of the train-station lot and make that entire lot available for public parking, as well as for trail users. In return, the Town would grant it a conservation easement on Town-owned property near Ninovan Road, adjacent to the W&OD Trail.
“Right now, it’s unimproved wooded land,” said Briglia. “So we want to dedicate that to the Park Authority [via an easement] as conservation land. And hopefully, this’ll help take some [trail] users off of Church Street.”
But homeowner John DeLong, who lives on a cul-de-sac off the W&OD Trail, near Ninovan, said, “This seems to have been done without consulting any of the neighbors – and I’m concerned about the precedent it may set. I’m impacted by anything happening to the Ninovan easement; is this 16-space swap for the conservation easement supported by the data?”
“It’s not a land swap,” replied Briglia. “That land can’t be developed and used for active recreation, and we haven’t received any offers to buy [it]. This is just about protecting the status quo.”
Jeff Norton said his home backs onto the trail. “A couple years ago, my neighbors and I came here and wanted to buy that property, and we were told, ‘We’ll let you know when the next development is.’ But we just received letters [from the Town about this public hearing] Friday evening [May 30]. So give us a chance to look into what’s going on and investigate alternatives for this property behind our homes.” But Briglia said the town never received a formal request to purchase that land.
Not too long ago, said homeowner Catherine McNeese, some people wanted to build a road and a cell tower there. So she and her neighbors wanted to buy all or part of that site to prevent that from happening so close to their homes.
“If I owned the property, it would stay as it is and as a natural barrier between our houses,” she said. “We’re shocked by this [proposal].” But Vice-Mayor Carey Sienicki said a new cell-phone tower was never planned, just co-locating a cell-phone site on an existing electrical tower.
Homeowner Eric White noted a written petition to the mayor, asking that nothing be done on that land. And, he said, “We’d like assurance that this property won’t be developed.”
Briglia said the uses on it are restricted according to the conservation easement – “which comes from a state agency to protect land.” He also apologized that the town didn’t notify the homeowners about the public hearing sooner.
But he said this proposal “doesn’t trigger the normal postings because it’s not a zoning. So that’s the reason for the late notice – there’s nothing nefarious. The purpose of the easement is to preserve the land in its natural state with only low-impact or educational activities on it.”
Billy Emerson, whose home also backs up to the trail, asked if it’s still possible for affected residents to purchase the property. But Briglia said, “The land is a buffer for the trail [and the homeowners] and is not for sale.”
Councilwoman Laurie Cole said the current proposal keeps that buffer and the conservation easement restricts utilities’ usage. “I understand the residents’ concerns,” she said. “But [even if you bought it], you may not own that property in perpetuity. We’re trying to protect that area [forever]. And the merchants and businesses along Church, Mill and Dominion have complained there’s not enough parking, and we want to have a vibrant business community.”
Emerson asked the Council to take more time before approving the easements, and the members agreed to accept written comments until June 9 and defer action on the easements until June 16.
ALSO SPEAKING was Anna Marie Mulvihill of the Ayr Hill Garden Club, because expanding the train-station parking lot would cause the children’s Discovery Garden there to be moved. “We have plantings that have been there for 10 years,” she said. “It’s a perfect spot, not near cars, and is a successful, popular garden.”
She said it’s a memorial garden for former state delegate Dorothy McDiarmid, who represented this area many years. “The garden club just celebrated its 85th anniversary and we’d love to keep the garden exactly as it is,” said Mulvihill. “But we’re flexible and have already spoken to [Vienna Parks and Recreation Director] Cathy Salgado about moving it near the caboose. If we have to move, we’d like your help. Thank you for letting us stay there for 10 years.”
Salgado told the Council the garden can be shifted to the caboose site in the Centennial Park area. “It would be a raised bed, but the Town would have to partner with [the club] to do this and put a walkway around the perimeter,” she said. “We’d provide the materials for the raised beds and work with the garden club to move what needs to be moved.”