Approximately 100 citizens attended the Park Authority’s public hearing Tuesday night, April 30, to discuss the proposed master plan for the Westgrove Park, off of Fort Hunt Road and adjacent to Belle View Elementary School.

Although some residents and organizations expressed reservations and concerns, the majority of attendees and speakers supported the creation of the off leash dog area at Westgrove Park. Opposition was minor, with the bulk of the criticism aimed at fine tuning the proposal. The next step for the Park Authority staff is to review the residents’ comments and modify their proposal before submitting to the Park Authority Board for its review and final vote.

Westgrove Park has been used for many years as the site for a sewage treatment plant and a pump station as well as a natural resource area consisting of 23 acres of undeveloped land, including 15 acres of forest plus meadows and marshland. Immediately to the east of the park is Dyke Marsh Wildlife preserve and immediately west and across Fort Hunt road is an upland forest area. Environmental advocates representing Dyke Marsh continued to speak out in favor of retaining the park in its natural state, and others expressed concern that the off leash dog area was larger than other dog parks in Fairfax County and would like the dog park section to be reduced. One speaker proposed enhanced wildlife conservation, planting selected vegetation to attract wildlife, and using the park to promote improved integrated watershed management with Dyke Marsh and other environmentally sensitive sites.

The Park Authority staff presentation stressed that the proposal includes preserving and protecting forest lands, meadows, stream protection, educational outreach for students, creation of trails, and overall natural resource protection. This is in addition to the maintenance of the off leash dog park area which is a small part of the total land use in the park.

Mary Jo Detweiler, Friends of Westgrove Park, supported the plan with these reservations: dog park area larger than others in the county, and would prefer it to be smaller and less a dominant factor of the park; enhance the northern portion of the park to promote wildlife habitat including vegetation to attract and sustain wildlife, including butterflies. She was also concerned about the adverse noise impact dog barking would cause for residents in the immediate vicinity.

Glenda Booth, Friends of Dyke Marsh, asked that the decision to make the OLDA permanent be taken in the larger context: namely the fragile nature of air and water quality, and that only 6 percent of the Fairfax County land is undeveloped. Westgrove is part of that undeveloped inventory and she would like it to remain that way. Further, the Belle View watershed is in poor condition and the Westgrove OLDA plan will contribute to the stress on the watershed and adjacent natural resource areas, including Dyke Marsh which lies immediately east of Westgrove. She also criticized the draft master plan as lacking commitment to creating a conservation area, objected to the expansion of the parking area, and the use of impervious driveway materials which contributes to runoff, and the lack of commitment to monitoring standards, among other criticisms.

Steven Nixon, president of Pumphouse Association for Canine Kindness (PACK), spoke out in support of the draft plan and thanked Supervisor Gerry Hyland, Park Authority Board Member Linwood Gorham, and park staff for their support and efforts. PACK was the original grassroots organizer of a petition drive that secured 500 signatures to promote an interim use OLDA designation at Westgrove Park, and the eventual plan for a permanent OLDA designation. PACK is now the designated volunteer manager of the OLDA.

Ron Cunningham, resident, expressed concern about two security issues. He proposed maintaining the perimeter security fence and also called attention to the Fairfax County police officer who last July at a public hearing urged that the entrance/exit be a right turn exit only since the visibility for a left turn out of the park was a safety hazard.

Several residents expressed concern about the noise problem that barking dogs presented to River Tower residents and urged that noise abatement methods be considered in the final master plan.

Near the end of the meeting, Hyland expressed his general support for the proposal but said that some fine tuning based on community suggestions was still in order. He said that he believed the proposal was not going to make everyone happy but it was as close as one can get to a reasonable accommodation and compromise for the dual uses of the park: maintaining a natural resource area to be enjoyed by outdoor enthusiasts and students of Belle View Elementary School, while also accommodating an off leash dog area.