Last week, the Fairfax County Park Authority staff held a public meeting at which they laid out the draft Baron Cameron Master Plan, a plan that will guide development of the park for the next decade. It was followed by people, some representing local special interest groups, standing and saying what they wanted (or didn’t want) in the plan. The presentation opened a 30-day public comment period on the draft plan.

But there was no discussion about the plan, no collaborative thinking or problem solving on how Restonians as a community would propose to improve the plan.

Monday evening, all Restonians will have that opportunity at an interactive forum sponsored by RCA’s Reston 2020 Committee. The forum will be held at Buzz Aldrin Elementary School from 7 to 9 p.m.

Reston 2020 will begin by summarizing key aspects of the draft Baron Cameron Park plan. His presentation will focus on the most controversial aspects of the plan:  the off-leash dog park, the option to build a recreation center there, the reduction in rectangular playing fields, and the implications for traffic congestion on Wiehle. 

The forum will then break up into small groups to brainstorm community thinking about the plan, focusing on its strengths, weaknesses, what’s missing, and what the risks are in the plan.  After each group briefly presents its ideas to the re-convened group, everyone will have a chance to help prioritize them. Then, in an open conversation, we will try to arrive at a consensus as to the most important points to make about the plan.

Reston 2020 will follow up by compiling the results and sharing them with the Park Authority as a consolidated community perspective, including listing all the ideas that came out of the small groups, before the end of the 30-day comment period.

The forum aims to provide an abundant opportunity to discuss all the key issues, not just advocate a single-issue position, and reach some community solutions to controversial aspects of the park plan.

This is the community’s last opportunity to provide a Reston perspective on the draft plan. Everyone is encouraged to come to the forum and participate in making Reston’s only district park the best it can be.

Terry Maynard
Co-Chair, Reston 2020

As the Fairfax County Park Authority continued its Baron Cameron Park Master Plan process with a public hearing on Thursday, the main takeaway was that public opinion has not changed very much from a year ago.

In early 2013, Reston Community Center began examining building an indoor recreation center and pool in the park and the FCPA started to plan for the 68-acre parcel’s future in general.

The park is home to 10 athletic fields, a playground, 32 community garden plots and Reston’s only off-leash dog area. Proposed changes include upgrading the athletic fields to full-size with synthetic turf and lights; increasing parking; adding a second park entrance; building a restroom and picnic pavilion; adding community garden plots and a fitness trail.

An alternative plan includes replacing athletic fields with the indoor recreation center and additional parking and relocating the existing dog park to a central location within the park.

In 2013, there were a series of sometimes-emotional meetings about RCC’s plans to build the pool, which consultants say would cost about $30 million. Swimmers made the case that the community definitely needs this amenity as RCC’s current pool is more than 35 years old and very outdated. But many community members said they were against the cost of a county facility being the responsibility of Reston residents in Small Tax District 5.

Thursday’s meeting was not much different. The swimmers still want to swim. Opponents are still opposed.

“This is great work built on faulty assumptions – one of them is that  Small Tax District 5 is the bank account of Fairfax County,” said Rick Beyer, representing a group of residents called Save Baron Cameron Park, said of the park authority’s proposed plans. “I challenge the [Fairfax County] Supervisors to support Reston like it supports the rest of the county.”

The re-imagining of Baron Cameron comes, in part, as the Reston is preparing for an influx of population after Metro’s Silver Line opens here later this year. The Reston Master Plan Amendment estimates the area will see and additional 22,000 residential units, and those tens of thousands of residents will need places to play.

Several speakers suggested the indoor pool be built in the North Town Center area, closer to housing and the future Reston Parkway Metro. That site is the only alternative still under consideration, RCC says.

Other top topics at the meeting:

The Dog Park — many dog owners said they do not want the off-leash area moved. With increased population, there is sure to be an influx in dogs, so some advocates say the dog park should be expanded.

“The current site has benches, trees and a water source,” said dog owner Martha Mason. “That would have to be relocated. The current site would be difficult to convert to playground. It is safer and cheaper to keep it at its current location.”

Tammi Petrine, co-chair of Reston 2020, suggested the dog park be moved to the more expansive Lake Fairfax Park.

Not speaking up on Thursday was the group of Longwood Grove residents who have filed an injunction against Reston Dogs Inc., the sponsor of the dog area, and the FCPA, to shut down the dog run due to excessive noise.

Reston’s Memorial Garden of Reflection — Reston lacks both a cemetery and a quiet spot for reflection and remembrance, said members of Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR).

They would like to see a memorial garden included in the plans for Baron Cameron Park. The idea has also been included in the recently approved Reston comprehensive plan amendment.

“Reston has no area for a special place for people to be remembered, where we can go and honor and celebrate Restonians who have passed,” said IPAR president Joe Ritchey.

FCPA will be accepting public comments on Baron Cameron Park for 30 days. There will be revisions to the master plan in the spring, and the park authority board hopes to take action on the plan by summer. Send comments to [email protected].

RCC will continue its own process about the indoor recreation center. That plan would eventually go to a referendum vote in Small Tax District 5, but executive director Leila Gordon says she does not think that will happen in 2014.

The Reston Citizens Association will hold its own Town Hall on Baron Cameron on April 7 at 7 p.m. at Buzz Aldrin Elementary School.

See all documents relating to the Baron Cameron Master Plan on Fairfax County’s website.

Baron Cameron Park, the 68-acre parcel owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority, could have a very different look in the future.

The park is home to 10 athletic fields, a playground, community garden plots and Reston’s only off-leash dog area.

The park is undergoing a master plan revision process, which could bring many more amenities  —  and, some say traffic and noise.

Among the proposed changes:

• Upgrade the athletic fields to full-size with synthetic turf and lights
• Increase the amount of parking spaces
• Add a second park entrance off Wiehle Avenue
• Add a picnic pavilion, restroom/support facility, multi-use court and outdoor fitness stations
• Expand the community garden area
• Create a trail network throughout the park and a pedestrian connection to the adjacent Reston Association Brown’s Chapel Park
• Establish Resource Protection Zones (RPZs) to manage and protect natural resources

Other possibilities include replacing athletic fields with an indoor recreation center and additional parking and relocating the existing dog park to a central location within the park.

Residents are invited to hear more about the proposed changes and offer feedback at a meeting Thursday at 7 p.m. at Buzz Aldrin Elementary School.

The park master plan was last amended in 2001, and Park Authority Chair Bill Bouie says the park is long overdue for an upgrade. Baron Cameron is a district park , he said when the planning process kicked off nearly a year ago. That means it should have top-flight facilities to attract people from all over the western part of Fairfax County, not just Reston.

“A district park serves those in communities of Reston, Herndon, Vienna, Great Falls and surrounding areas,” he said. “All of those folks use the park, and we will be soliciting their input. We must consider future investments to transform it so it better serves Reston and surrounding communities.”

Several proposed additions have been met with mixed opinions since the planning process began in 2013.

The recreation center, which would feature a 50-meter indoor pool, would be built in partnership with Reston Community Center. It has the support of many swimmers. But a large number of people are opposed to building the estimated $30 million facility because residents of Small Tax District 5 would be left paying for a center used by non-residents. Others are opposed to the center because of predicted noise and traffic.

The dog park is a popular spot for dog owners in Reston. But a group of neighbors recently filed an injunction against Reston Dogs, the group that runs the park, and the FCPA. The five families say they are subject to excessive noise from the dog park and want the dog area closed.

There has been no resolution to the injunction, filed earlier this month. The defendants have 21 days to answer the complaint, Bouie said. 

See all documents relating to the Baron Cameron Master Plan on Fairfax County’s website.

Wednesday’s Reston Now article about a group of North Reston residents asking the Fairfax County Park Authority to shut down the Baron Cameron Park off-leash dog area generated a record number of page views and comments, as well as lively social media reaction.

Last week, a group of residents of Longwood Grove, the subdivision situated across Wiehle Avenue from the dog park, filed an injunction in Fairfax County Circuit Court asking that the park be immediately closed. The residents, who represent five of the 100 households in the neighborhood, say the dog barking is a nuisance that is affecting their quality of life.

It claims the plaintiffs are likely to suffer “irreparable harm  from the dogs barking and fighting in the dog park in the summer of 2014 as this case proceeds” and have no legal remedy other to quiet the noise other than to ask for an injunction to shut down the park.

Most people who commented and engaged on Reston Now’s Facebook page say the injunction is not warranted.

“Wiehle in and of itself is loud and busy, as is Baron Cameron, so why not just shut them both down as well as the entire Baron Cameron Park since I can hear kids and parents yelling and whistles blowing? Who are these people anyway? They should really consider packing up and moving out of a metropolitan area so someplace like the Montana wilderness,” said Facebook commenter Robbie Nolan.

Said Deloris Bailey:  “This park is used by so many dog owners and is a benefit to the ENTIRE community … how can 5 families shut it down? Also, if you wanted peace, why buy a house off of Wiehle? It will still be extremely noisy. When I was a kid, we moved to a neighborhood off of a major intersection. At first the noise kept me up, but eventually I got used to it. When I went away to college, the quiet campus kept me up, for awhile.

Also, the article said that the new Master Plan recommends moving the dog park into an interior section of the park … this should work. … And they should make it bigger.”

Here is a sampling of what others had to say:

On Facebook – 

* Ok, how do we protest. Sign me up! This is ridiculous. Sure, there are doggy-noises, but the dog park is not close enough to houses to warrant noise complaints. I’m seriously appalled by this. Some people just have to find something to complain about!!! Read More

A group of residents of Reston’s Longwood Grove neighborhood has filed an injunction to shut down Baron Cameron Park’s Dog Park.

The dog park, which is open during daylight hours, is the only off-leash dog run in Reston. The neighbors filed the preliminary injunction last week in Fairfax County Circuit Court, saying the park “constitutes a private nuisance.”

“The dog park noise, mainly from unruly dogs barking and fighting, has grown to intolerable levels over the last two years and is likely to become even more severe in the spring and summer months,” says the court document.

The neighbors — named in the injunction as Moira Callaghan, Carrie Sawicki, Robert Sawicki, David Okerson, Barbara Okerson, Judith Strother and Kris Capps — say the noise begins at 5:30 a.m. and continues through the day and evening.

“On its worst days, the noise is incessant,” the document states. “The nuisance noise at the dog park disrupts the Longwood Grove Plaintiffs’ reasonable use and enjoyment of their properties.”

There are 100 homes in the Longwood Grove subdivision, but the complaint was brought by seven individuals representing five households.  A member of the plaintiff group declined to be interviewed for this article, as did Zachary Williams, the plaintiffs’ attorney.

In the complaint, it states that the Longwood Grove homes are 300-400 feet from the dog park. However, Wiehle Avenue, a busy, four-lane main road, along with a buffer of trees and a noise-reducing fence, separate the homes from the park.

Baron Cameron Park is owned by the Fairfax County Park Authority, which is named in the injunction.

Fairfax County Park Authority Board Chair Bill Bouie says the county has listened to the affected residents and installed the noise-reducing fencing. He also said the county has done its own tests and found no measurable noise coming from the park.

“The traffic noise on Wiehle is louder than the dog noise,” said Bouie.

The recent Reston Master Plan revision says that an average of 41,000 cars travel through the intersection of Wiehle Avenue and Baron Cameron daily.

Also named in the injunction is Reston Dogs, a volunteer organization that organizes and operates the dog park.

“We obviously don’t agree with the facts as stated from the five families bringing the case, however, we take all of our neighbors perceptions about noise seriously,” said Tom Krasselt, a representative of Reston Dogs. He says that dog park users are respectful of one another and are quick to remove their pets if the barking gets out of control.

Krasselt says the dog park has been in Baron Cameron Park since 1991, a few years before the Longwood Grove homes were built.

The injunction cites several previous Virginia rulings dealing with the definition of a nuisance. It claims the plaintiffs are likely to suffer “irreparable harm  from the dogs barking and fighting in the dog park in the summer of 2014 as this case proceeds” and have no legal remedy other to quiet the noise other than to ask for an injunction to shut down the park.

The injunction says that several of the plaintiffs suffer from lack of sleep and extreme stress.

Baron Cameron is about to embark on changes in a new master plan process. There are two visions for the improved park, both of which include a dog park. However, one of the plans includes moving the dog area farther into the 68-acre park’s interior in order to make way for a large indoor pool and recreation center and additional parking.

There will be a public meeting on the Baron Cameron Park Master Plan process on March 27 at 7 p.m. at Buzz Aldrin Elementary School.

The Baron Cameron Park Dog Park will stay a part of a re-imagined park design — but may be moved to the park’s interior.

Baron Cameron Park, a 68-acre parcel operated by the Fairfax County Park Authority, is in the midst of a master plan revision. The process began close to a year ago, with a community meeting at Buzz Aldrin Elementary aimed at getting input on what the park needs as it moves forward as a “District Park” serving not just Reston, but close-by communities such as Vienna and Great Falls, Park Authority Board Chair Bill Bouie said.

The public will have a chance to comment on the draft master plan revision at a public meeting March 27 at Buzz Aldrin (11375 Center Harbor Rd.). The meeting kicks off a 30-day public comment period. If you wish to speak at the meeting, you can register ahead of time by calling 703-324-8662 or emailing  [email protected].

The dog park has been a source of controversy lately as a group of residents of Longwood Grove, located across Wiehle Avenue from the park, has threatened a lawsuit against the park authority and Reston Dogs, the nonprofit that monitors the park. Residents say they are subject to noise from barking dogs at the park and they request that the park either move or close.

“At this time, my clients firmly believe that the only way to fix this problem is to close and/or move the Baron Cameron dog park to a new location,” reads a letter sent by attorney Zachary Williams. “Given the ongoing Baron Cameron Master Plan revision process, now is an opportune time to close the dog park so that this area of Baron Cameron Park can be redeveloped in a manner that is compatible with surrounding neighborhoods.”

One plan for Baron Cameron has the park staying as is, on the park’s edge near Wiehle Avenue.

The second option moves it to the center of the park, putting a community flexible use space where the current dog park is located.

The second option does not come without other developments, however.

The interior dog park spot is included with the option to build a 90,000 square foot indoor recreation center in partnership with Reston Community Center. The center would feature an indoor, 50-meter pool, fitness rooms, and other community use facilities. It also would include space an additional 250 parking spots. Read More

For more than 15 years, the off-leash dog park at Reston’s Baron Cameron Park has been a place for dog owners to let the pets frolic freely and play with other dogs in a safe, enclosed area.

Enough, says a group of nearby residents. They say the dog park is a noisy nuisance and they want it to go away.

The families have hired an attorney to file a lawsuit against Reston Dogs, Inc., the dog park’s supporting group, as well as Fairfax County Park Authority, which owns Baron Cameron Park.  The people upset about the noise live  in the Longwood Grove subdivision, which is separated from the dog run by a buffer area of trees, as well as four lanes of Wiehle Avenue.

“My firm represents several residents in the Longwood Grove neighborhood located across the street from the Baron Cameron OLDA [off-leash dog area],” wrote attorney Zachary Williams of the firm Bean, Kinney & Korman. “The operation of this dog park has caused these residents to suffer constant and excessive nuisance noise for many years.”

More from Williams:

Barking dogs at the dog park continue to seriously impact the quality of life for my clients on a daily basis. Incessant barking regularly awakens my clients in the early morning hours and continues throughout the day and evening. In recognition of this problem, the Park Authority recently installed noise mitigation fencing around a portion of the dog park in an attempt to dampen the noise. Unfortunately, the new fencing has had little effect on the impact of the dog park noise for my clients.

At this time, my clients firmly believe that the only way to fix this problem is to close and/or move the Baron Cameron dog park to a new location. Given the ongoing Baron Cameron Master Plan revision process, now is an opportune time to close the dog park so that this area of Baron Cameron Park can be redeveloped in a manner that is compatible with surrounding neighborhoods.

Williams, who did not return phone calls from Reston Now, said the residents have been expressing concerns to Reston Dogs and the park authority for years and have now run out of patience.

Baron Cameron Park is in the midst of a new master plan process, which could add more features to the park as well as change the configuration. One conceptual plan has the dog park moving to a spot farther into the interior of the park. Some residents of the same Longwood Grove neighborhood have also been outspoken against the idea of building an indoor recreation center with a 50-meter-pool in the park. They cite noise, traffic issues and loss of green space among their concerns.

Park Authority Chair Bill Bouie, a Reston resident, says the county has listened to the affected residents and installed the noise-reducing fencing. He also said the county has done its own tests and found no measurable noise coming from the park.

“The traffic noise on Wiehle is louder than the dog noise,” said Bouie.

The dog park regulars agree. On a recent Tuesday morning, about a half-dozen dogs rolled and played in the snow with only an occasional bark. One owner, a dog park regular, said the scene was “very normal.”

“When a dog barks, most owners are on it,” said Matt Taylor, there with his dog Pebbles. “There is going to be a certain amount of barking at a dog park, though.”

John Vockley, also a daily park visitor with his mixed breed, Taylor, says the dog run is just not that close to the homes.

“Those homes are across a main street,'” he said. “I can’t tell what they are hearing that is so loud and onerous they can’t deal with it. I think there is nothing in the park that rises to the county’s excessive noise ordinance level.”

A referendum on whether to build a new Reston Community Center facility is unlikely to happen in 2014, RCC Executive Director Leila Gordon says.

The board has been discussing the idea of adding a new recreation center with a 50-meter indoor pool with residents and consultants with Brailsford & Dunlavey since February of 2013. RCC’s current indoor pool, at Hunters Woods, is 35 years old and need of modernization, RCC’s board of governors says. The board has proposed building an additional pool and rec center at Baron Cameron Park or at the area known as Town Center North.

RCC had hoped to be able to present the idea to Small Tax District 5 voters this year. However, Gordon says there still needs to be three-to-six months of more discussion before the plan can move forward, which means if RCC decides to move forward it would not be put to a referendum vote by November. It also would not be cost-effective to hold a special ballot, she said.

“I think it will take the next several months to get an understanding of the best opportunity,” said Gordon. “Once we know roughly where it would be and who we would be partnering with, then we can talk about priorities.”

The Brailsford & Dunlavy analysis last June estimated a new pool facility would cost about $35-40 million if built at Baron Cameron Park on land provided at no cost from the Fairfax County Park Authority.  That plan was met with mixed reaction from the community. Many residents near Baron Cameron Park are against the facility nearby and many residents throughout Small Tax District 5, which supports RCC, are against building a facility for the public with Reston taxpayer money.

Gordon said one of the ideas coming out of a two-day RCC Board of Governors retreat last week was the need to examine pricing and cost recovery scenarios. RCC’s usage fees have remained lower than most area facilities, and phasing in increases over the next several years would allow for less of a tax burden on residents if the project proceeds.

RCC raised its aquatics center fees Sept. 1 — only the second time in 34 years that drop-in fees have risen.

RCC has been running for the last several years at a 13-15 percent cost recovery level, Gordon said. An ideal level would be 25 percent, she added. With more money available at the start of building the new project, the quicker RCC could recoup its expense. B & D estimates after five years there cost recovery level would still only be 50 percent (Reston resident rate structure) to 71 percent (Fairfax County resident rate structure).

Cost recovery can make or break a plan. In Arlington County, a proposal to build a $79 million multi-pool aquatics facility ($42 million of it from an approved 2012 county bond) is re-evaluating costs after an original operating deficit estimate of  $1 million to $1.3 million was recently upped to $3.8 million after construction bids came in much higher than anticipated.

“The situation at Long Bridge Park in Arlington illustrates perfectly that the longer you are undertaking a project, there is a larger potential for the scope of planning to outstrip your resources,” said Gordon. “The cost of construction goes up.”

Another unknown variable: FCPA’s Master Plan for Baron Cameron Park, which should be released later this month. The Park Authority said last spring it is ready for improvements and additions of many recreational amenities at the 68-acre park at Wiehle Avenue and Baron Cameron Avenue.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a new noise ordinance on Tuesday, but several Reston residents spoke up saying the noise wouldn’t aid them as they dealt with barking from a nearby dog park.

The supervisors passed the ordinance, which would allow police to ticket a resident with misdemeanor charges if neighbors complain about noise.

Fairfax County Police said they received an average of 152 noise complaints a month in 2012.

The county had been operating without a noise ordinance for four years after a 2009 Virginia Supreme Court ruling that ruled a Virginia Beach law banning any “unreasonably loud, disturbing and unnecessary” noise was unconstitutional. Fairfax had a similar ordinance, and while it was not thrown out, it was not enforced.

But with potentially raucous parties coming up in the holiday season, the new ordinance was voted into place.

“As the holiday party season nears, it is recommended that language in the County Code be in place to address loud party complaints from residents, among other sources of  excessive sound, that may adversely impact the quality of life of its residents,” the proposal stated.

The main proposed rule  – “No person in any residential dwelling or residential area, including the common areas of multifamily dwellings or mixed use structures, shall permit, operate, or cause any source of sound or sound generation to create a sound that is audible in any other person’s residential dwelling with the doors and windows to the other person’s residential dwelling closed. In addition, the source of sound or sound generation must be discernible regardless of whether such doors and windows are closed.”

A first offense would now be a Class 3 misdemeanor that could come with a fine of not more than $500.

Residents who live near Baron Cameron Park — the site of Reston’s off-leash dog park — says the rule does not go far enough because while they can hear dogs barking, the noise is technically not in their neighborhood.

The supervisors said that the rule will be revised further, with dog barking and industrial noise to be addressed.