WASHINGTON (Map, News) - Prince William County supervisors have unanimously approved a measure to aim for more parks and open space in the next 20 years.

The Board of Supervisors Tuesday night voted to push for 70 acres of parks and open space per 1,000 residents by 2030 after months of debate over whether 25 acres was too many.

By dramatically changing what constitutes open space from county-owned land to including state and federal parks, battlefields, golf courses and school campuses, supervisors were able to shoot for a target nearly triple the size of the proposed plan.

The previous plan struck supervisors as an inaccurate reflection of how much open land the large suburban county’s residents already have.

Board of Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart called the goal, now adopted in the county’s master plan, “the most ambitious in Northern Virginia.”

While the original plan had an estimated price tag of $1.26 billion, it is unclear how much the revised plan would cost as it seeks to add thousands of protected acres over the next 22 years.

Many residents expressed concern they did not want that to diminish efforts to expand the county’s parkland by including valuable existing resources, including Manassas National Battlefield Park.

The plan’s critics and supporters were still trying to get a handle on the dramatic change Wednesday.

“We addressed a lofty goals proposal without dealing with the details of how we’re going to pay for it,” said Mark Granville-Smith, a homebuilder and president of the Prince William County chapter of the Northern Virginia Building Industry Association.

The county planning department has estimated that every new acre would cost about $80,000, but supervisors said they would push for donations and cheaper land without much development potential.

Former county attorney Sharon Pandak saluted the board for committing to additional open space, saying it was a critical priority that had gone overlooked for too long.

“Once open space is gone, it is gone.”

dgenz@dcexaminer.com

Comments from Examiner Readers

11:15 AM MST on Tue., May. 13, 2008 re: "Pet owners getting dogged looking for a place to park"

Miraloma neighbor said:
Dog owners at Miraloma Playground do not follow the leash rules up there. The dogs crap and pee all over the field, on the tennis courts. They dig with their paws. The grass field will be wrecked before the summer is over. Dog owners rationalize having their dogs with stupid arguments. Let the kids have a nice field to play on, keep your Mutt on leash and walk it around the block!

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12:32 PM MST on Mon., May. 12, 2008 re: "Pet owners getting dogged looking for a place to park"

Examiner Reader said:
Yeah, hardly any dog owners ever pick up after their dogs ... it is disgusting. How is it any differnt from humans using the streets for toilets? It smells just as bad. Why don't those people have their dogs crap and urinate in front of their OWN HOUSES instead of in front of MY HOUSE? My favorite comment this week "get over it -- when it rains, it will wash it away" ...uh, it is the month of MAY, idiot.

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11:56 AM MST on Tue., Apr. 29, 2008 re: "City rejects PGA Tour�s bid for fungicide use at Harding"

Examiner Reader said:
Rather than pressuring SF to use dangerous chemicals the PGA ought to be threatening to stop having tournaments at golf courses that don't use recycled water. Harding Park uses Hetch Hetchy water. What a terrible waste.

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9:20 AM MST on Sat., Apr. 26, 2008 re: "Neighborhood parks are making the grade"

Examiner Reader said:
I wish Supervisor Maxwell and others so inclined, would stop with the comments re: the more affluent neighborhoods receiving the bulk of park funding. As an employee of the Recreation and Park Dept. I can tell you that, through the years, a lot of tax dollars have been allocated to the southeast quadrant of the city, more often at the expense of other areas of the city to address such concerns as playground/field maintenance and recreation programming. This is an area of the city that appears to expect certain entitlements, yet cannot uphold their end of the bargain to respect and work with our department to help maintain our resources. It's tiring to constantly hear that this area is so underfunded and how it's the Recreation and Parks Dept's fault for not doing this, or not doing that. When their play structures, buildings and equipment are vandalized and program attendance is low, we still make the necessary repairs and do the community outreach. And this is still our fault? C'

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10:39 AM MST on Sun., Mar. 16, 2008 re: "New proposal for downtown space wins over hearts"

Justine said:
it looks weird that the building is on a high side n the surrounding is low.. why not make it same plane field so it won't look like theres a huge building out of no where???!?!? or face the other building towards ryans park n not block behind JCC...

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3:04 AM MST on Sun., Dec. 2, 2007 re: "Once empty lot, now part of community"

Examiner Reader said:
You should see the beautiful 20,000 Christmas lights on the garden of eden on 2600 block of Eager street. This is the twelve years of lifting the spirit of the children and residents. Another example of what to do with a vacant lot - save lives. The lights are on from 5p.m. to 1.33a.m.

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6:46 PM MST on Fri., Jun. 1, 2007 re: "Future park among largest in county"

Examiner Reader said:
The traffic on woodbine road is bad enough as it is so lets build something to bring in more. The people that were born and raised in woodbine have moved away because of the over crowding and the outsiders coming in. We don't need another yuppie park where people can drive in with their lexus', what about a park were you can drive your tractor in,you know something for the farm people.Lets listen to the people OF WOODBINE not the people thats lived here for a few years.

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7:35 PM MST on Thu., May. 24, 2007 re: "Future of Rash Field�s volleyball park is uncertain"

Ryan said:
Its interesting that with such a large demand for the Volleyball courts, all of the proposals for the new park have less area for volleyball. There is nothing like city officals that don't listen to the people. You got to love it!

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