The Fairfax County Park Authority will hold a public hearing next month that will be the first step towards a land deal that could result in a large, new indoor recreation center in Reston.

The public hearing is at 7:30 p.m. April 8 at the Fairfax County Government Center, 12055 Government Center Parkway in Fairfax, in Rooms 106 and 107.

The five-acre property is located on Fountain Drive, down the block from the new North County Government Center in the area known as the Reston Town Center North District. The parcel is bordered by Bowman Towne Drive, Town Center Parkway and Baron Cameron Avenue.

Park Authority Board Chair Bill Bouie said last month the park authority has committed to a deal, pending a public hearing and park authority board vote, that plans for a 90,000-square-foot recreation facility to be built there.

“The future rec center will be owned and operated by the park authority and will be available to all members of the Fairfax County community,” Bouie says.

That plan takes off the table the idea of a recreation center and indoor pool at Baron Cameron Park, a joint Reston Community Center/Fairfax County Park Authority deal that had been discussed for more than two years. While the RCC plan never reached the community referendum stage, there was mixed reaction from residents, many of whom felt that Small Tax District 5 (Reston) residents would be financially burdened.

Bouie said RCC will not be involved in the Town Center North plan “unless the RCC Board decides to partner with the park authority on programs that are needed to supplement offerings, especially swimming.”

The county says conveyance of the property, called Reston Towne Green by the park authority, is being considered in response to the Reston Comprehensive Plan Amendment. When the plan amendment was approved in February of 2014, it encouraged a land use pattern “that incorporates significant new residential development and new non-residential uses to complement the existing and planned public uses and the concentration of employment in the Reston Town Center and a significant new open space to serve as a defining element in the organization of a new, more urban pattern of blocks.”

The Park Authority is seeking public comment on the deal, which will include:

• Conveyance of the Reston Towne Green property to the Board of Supervisors in consideration for a potential 2.6-acre urban Central Green.
• Commitment to provide approximately 90,000 square feet of density for the indoor facility within one of the new urban blocks
• Other items for consideration that may be advantageous to the Park Authority mission.

If you wish to speak at the hearing you may sign up in advance by calling the Public Information Office at 703-324-8662 or via email at [email protected]. You may also sign up at the hearing. Organizations may have one official speaker for five minutes; individuals may testify for three minutes.

Written and e-mail comments will be taken until April 7. Written comments may be sent to David R. Bowden, Director of Planning & Development Division, Fairfax County Park Authority, 12055 Government Center Parkway, Suite 406, Fairfax, Virginia 22035. Email comments should be sent to: [email protected].

The park authority board will vote on the matter at their regular board meeting scheduled later in the evening on April 8.

The Fairfax County Park Authority has outlined a land swap that will enable it to eventually move forward on an indoor recreation center for the area known as Town Center North.

Park Authority Chair Bill Bouie said Friday the park authority has committed to a deal, pending a public hearing and park authority board vote, that plans for a 90,000-square-foot recreation facility to be built on the same block as the new North County Government Center on Fountain Drive.

The 47-acre area is bounded by Baron Cameron Avenue, Fountain Drive, and Town Center Parkway and Bowman Towne Drive.

The recreation center would be owned and operated by the park authority, however, officials still do not know who would pay to construct the building.

“This is a very big deal — one we have been working on for a number of years,” said Bouie. “This satisfies a number of parties. We still don’t know the cost — and there is no money for the rec center at this point. But we are hoping [to pay] through a combination of developer proffers and park bonds.”

The deal means the plans to build a new Reston Community Center at Baron Cameron Park, which has been debated for more than two years, is all but dead, even though space for an indoor facility is on the Baron Cameron Park master plan. Bouie said he hopes RCC will be involved in the planning in order for Restonians to get top priority for facility use.

There has been more than two years of community meetings and a feasibility study about a joint project with RCC, whose indoor pool at Hunters Woods is aging, and the park authority at Baron Cameron. However, the plan faced much community pushback on traffic, as well as un unfair tax burden on Small Tax District 5 (Reston) residents.

RCC Executive Director Lelia Gordon called the plan a “win-win-win,” with no additional burden on STD 5 residents “other than the one that already exists.”

“We see this as terrific,” she said, adding that the work already done by RCC — and Reston Association in a previous plan for facilities at Brown’s Chapel Park — should shorten the process.

“[The new plan] can advance so much more rapidly because of RA and RCC,” said Gordon. “The last county facility of this type was built more than 20 years ago. I would say this accelerates the process by many years.”

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Several residents of the Longwood Grove neighborhood have a new suggestion to quell the noise at the Baron Cameron Park Dog Park — they are seeking a county grant that will pay to move the off-leash area to another Fairfax County Park Authority location.

It has been nearly a year since the group of five Longwood Grove families whose homes are located across four-lane Wiehle Avenue from the dog park filed a lawsuit against the Park Authority.

In it, the plaintiffs called the park, the only off-leash dog run in Reston “a private nuisance” as the “the dog park noise, mainly from unruly dogs barking and fighting, has grown to intolerable levels over the last two years.”

The lawsuit asked for an immediate shutdown of the park. That did not happen.

So in January, the Longwood residents submitted to the Park Authority a Mastenbrook Grant application that seeks to relocate the dog park from its current location to Lake Fairfax Park.

Mastenbrook Grants are a Park Authority program, founded in 1999, that match funding (up to 50 percent of the total project cost or $20,000 maximum) for park projects. The aim is to fill a gap between limited bond funding and the community’s desire for new neighborhood facilities. 

The grants have been used in the past for dog parks, playgrounds, greenhouses, shade gardens and other small improvements desired by civic groups, says the FCPA website. 

It would be unprecedented to use grant funds to move a project to another park, said Park Authority Chairman Bill Bouie.

“As you know, a few Longwood Grove residents have been engaged in an ongoing dialogue with Fairfax County Park Authority about the dog park and have spent countless hours trying to resolve the issue to no avail,” one of the Longwood Grove residents said in an email obtained by Reston Now.

“On Jan. 21, Longwood Grove neighbors submitted to the Park Authority a Mastenbrook Grant application that, if approved, would relocate the dog park from its current location to Lake Fairfax. Read More

Fairfax County has a new athletic complex that features a dedicated synthetic turf cricket field.

County officials officially opened Sully Highlands Park at 13808 Wall Rd. on Saturday. The park is located off of Centreville Road in unincorporated Herndon.

This park was established through a partnership between the Fairfax County government, athletic organizations and local developer proffers.

Developers Timber Ridge at Discovery Square, Inc. provided $6 million, which covered most of the cost of the 17-acre park, county officials said.

The facilities at Sully Highlands were developed in part to replace multiple diamond and rectangular fields that Chantilly Youth Association (CYA) had developed and maintained for several years on private property close to the park.

New features at Sully Highlands: two side-by-side lighted synthetic rectangular fields with a cricket pitch between them; two lighted and irrigated 60-foot baseball diamonds; one lighted and irrigated 90-foot ball diamond; a trail system, and a 270-space parking lot.

Sully District Fairfax County Park Authority Board rep Harold Strickland said Sully Supervisor Michael Frey played a key role in obtaining the necessary proffers.

“To begin with, Supervisor Michael Frey insisted that proffers be used to ensure replacement of the fields that development took away,” Strickland said in a release. “The folks at Timber Ridge, especially manager Stan Settle and partner Rick Dibella, really worked closely with us.”

Strickland also said that CYA contributed significant money to the project.

More facilities will be built at Sully Highlands. CYA contributed $120,000 and is partnering with the park authority to build two batting cages for the 60-foot diamonds, a fenced pitcher’s warm up area for the 90-foot diamond, a playground, and picnic tables with concrete pads.

The Park Authority Board also approved a $20,000 Mastenbrook matching grant and approximately $35,000 in park proffers for the batting cages and other new amenities.The total project budget for these additions is $174,490.65, the county says.

Sully Highlands is the second Fairfax County park to feature a synthetic cricket field to accommodate the growing sport. The other one is at Oak Marr Rec Center. There is a natural grass cricket field at Lake Fairfax Park in Reston.

Photo: Sully Highlands Park/Credit: Fairfax County Park Authority

Baron Cameron Park may one day be home to a large indoor recreation center or other new amenity.

Or it may stay very much like it is, with garden plots, athletic fields and Reston’s only off-leash dog area.

Two weeks ago, the Fairfax County Park Authority approved a Baron Cameron master plan revision that includes the option for a large indoor recreation space.

Bill Bouie, Chairman of the Fairfax County Park Authority Board, says the approved master plan merely reserves the option to build there.

That doesn’t mean anything necessarily will be built at the 60-acre park.

“A rec center might not happen at all,” he said. “But before this, these was no approved plan in place. What this does is say ‘in Nirvana, when and if we get the money, this what it should look like.’ ”

The park authority board discussed the future plans for Baron Cameron Park for more than a year before voting on the plan. The goal was to update the master plan, which had not been done since 1990. The park has at various times been property of the Fairfax County Public Schools (which at one time was going to build a high school there), the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, and finally, the Park Authority.

But with Reston population expected to grow with the opening of the Silver Line Metro this summer, the timing was appropriate to look at how Baron Cameron can serve more people in the region. Baron Cameron is designated as a district park, meaning it should have a variety of uses in order to serve a wide variety of needs, said Bouie.

Over the last 18 months, the Reston Community Center has held a series of community meetings and conducted a feasibility study on teaming with the parks authority to build the a 50-meter indoor pool and rec center at Baron Cameron. RCC would build the center on land donated by the park authority.

In 2013, RCC hired consultants Brailsford & Dunlavy for a feasibility study that estimated the rec center with pool would cost about $35 million. Read More

Coming soon to Reston’s Lake Fairfax Park: A new and improved Water Mine Family Swimmin’ Hole.

The Fairfax County Park Authority will hold a public groundbreaking ceremony Saturday at 1 p.m. to kick off the $5 million renovation.

The project will substantially increase the size of the Lake Fairfax facility. The expansion will include:

• 3,000-square-foot tot spray pad with spray features
• 5,300-square-foot-active spraypad with spray features
• Slide tower with three flume water slides
• Interactive play structure.

Also in the works: A 1,000-square-foot restroom and mechanical building; improvements to the pool deck; relocation of shade structures;  new shade structures and related utility and site work.

The park authority says more than one million people have visited the Water Mine since it opened in 1997.  The festivities will include refreshments as well as special activities for Water Mine attendees.

Those attending Saturday’s festivities may enter through the side entrance, park authority officials said. There will also be special activities Saturday.

The project is scheduled to be completed in late summer of 2015.   

Photo of The Water Mine/Credit: Fairfax County

The Fairfax County Park Authority Board has approved a master plan for Reston’s Baron Cameron Park that includes the option of adding an indoor recreation facility to the 68-acre parcel.

The board voted 9-1 in favor of the plan at its meeting last week, said Park Authority Board Chair Bill Bouie.

The park has been in the master plan process for more than a year in order to better use the space, said Bouie. Baron Cameron is a district park, drawing visitors not only from Reston but from surrounding communities.

Last spring, the park authority released a master plan draft that includes several changes to fields, gardens and lighting. The approved alternative plan includes all those changes, but also adds the option for a indoor recreation center, which would likely feature a 50-meter indoor pool.

The recreation center has been a sometimes contentious community discussion since February of 2013, when the Reston Community Center began discussing the idea of building a new facility at Baron Cameron Park in cooperation with the park authority. The park authority would give the land to RCC at no cost.

In 2013, RCC hired consultants Brailsford & Dunlavy for a feasibility study that estimated the rec center would cost about $35 million.

The swimming community is in favor of a new pool as RCC’s 25-meter indoor pool at Hunters Woods is outdated and crowded, they said. However, many community members question traffic, loss of green space, financial impact and whether there is a need for an additional indoor pool in Reston.

The next step in RCC’s process would be a community referendum, and RCC executive director Leila Gordon says that won’t happen this year.

Meanwhile, the new-and-improved Baron Cameron Park won’t happen for a long time, either. Bouie said earlier this year there are no bonds or developer proffers attached to any park improvements. That means whatever is  in the master plan is basically just a wish list for the time being.

“Any bonds we would obtain would be for 2023 at the earliest,” Bouie said.

Also in the master plan: The off-leash dog area will stay in its current location along Wiehle Avenue. There had been a proposal in one of the plan drafts to move it further inside the park, away from nearby homes. There had also been feedback from citizens at a community meeting in March to move the dog park to Lake Fairfax Park.

A group of homeowners in the Longwood Grove neighborhood, which sits across Wiehle Avenue from the dog park, filed an injunction against the park in March. In it, they complained about excessive noise and asked that the dog park be shut down.

The homeowners’ attorney was at the park authority meeting last week and asked again that the dog park be shut down.

Key elements of the master plan include:

To the Editor:

As a Restonian of nearly 30 years with extensive community involvement in the many organizations, events, and associations that make Reston’s quality of life special, I must challenge the myths and misrepresentations presented by Terry Maynard in his recent editorial.

Let me state unequivocally that Reston is a great community with an outstanding park system. Since parks were a key feature of Reston’s original master plan, the concept of Great Parks, Great Communities was well-established many years ago.

Over the last 50 years, the planned community of Reston has held true to its values of live, work and play.  Bob Simon planned the play portion as a central feature of Reston by creating a local park system operated by the Reston Association, the largest community association in the country. Supplementing this park system is a system of tax districts, county, regional, and private park and recreation offerings that add to the livability and appeal of Reston. These include Reston Community Center, the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA), Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, the YMCA and others.

All of these entities contribute to a comprehensive park system in Reston. Growth-focused demands and shifting leisure patterns will require changes to the park system that are already being coordinated among the multiple providers.

During the recent Reston Transit Station Land Use Study (Reston TSA Phase I) and Plan Amendment process, these organizations worked hand-in-hand to examine the entire park system and identify recreational needs related to the anticipated growth. During this effort, it was recognized that the existing park system addresses the community’s broadening recreational needs well and has potential for added capacity through better use of space, technology and scheduling, and through dedication of new urban parks and active recreation spaces in the transit areas.  These new urban spaces are essential to meeting the growing demands

Here is my perspective on the comparisons upon which Mr. Maynard relies:

• In 2012, FCPA was a finalist with the New York Parks Department for the National Park and Recreation Association Gold Medal Award.  FCPA won that prestigious national award (for the third time).

• Comparisons of park systems are tricky because they are all different and formed to meet specific community needs.  Data is not collected in consistent ways and parks are counted in various ways.  A more relevant comparison could be between New York City Manhattan Borough and Fairfax County.

Using data from Fairfax County and NYC Department of Parks and Recreation (Note: Manhattan only), this is how they compare:

2010 Census population 
NYC: 1,585,873; Fairfax County: 1,081,726

Total land area in acres 
NYC: 14,610 (23 sq. mi.); Fairfax County: 250,240 (391 sq. mi.)

Acres of owned parkland 
NYC: 2,779; Fairfax County: 23,594

Population Density/mile
NYC: 68,951; Fairfax County: 2,766

Percentage of total land area as parkland 
NYC: 19 percent; Fairfax County: 9.5 percent

Acres of parkland per 1,000 residents 
NYC: 1.8; Fairfax County: 21.9

Number of fields (rectangle and diamond)
NYC: 155; Fairfax County: 261

Number of fields per 10,000 residents 
NYC: 1.0; Fairfax County 2.4

I am also including new and accurate metrics that contrast with those Mr. Maynard cites. These paint a different story and add clarity to this important community discussion:

The Fairfax County urban parks service level standard is based on residents and employees. The actual standard, misstated in the editorial piece, is one-point-five acres per 1,000 residents plus one acre per 10,000 employees. This standard is adopted in the County Comprehensive Plan for the county’s urban areas including transit station areas.

Mr Maynard continues to refer to the suburban standard, which is not how we now look at these areas and amenities and that is why it is expressly contained in the Comprehensive Plan for Reston and Tysons Corner developments.

Using this standard, the planned net growth for the Reston Transit Station Areas (TSA) through 2040 generates a need for approximately 55 new acres of urban parks. In Tysons, the planned growth through 2050 generates the need for an additional 154 acres of urban parks.  The pace and volume of future development will be the primary determinant of how many and when future urban parks are developed.

The newly-approved Reston Transit Station Areas Plan recommends a total of 12 athletic fields to serve the future growth in the TSA through 2040, with three fields to be located in the TSAs (one field per TSA) and the remainder to be provided through a combination of expanded capacity of existing fields that serve Reston and the provision of new fields that serve Reston.

As growth occurs, the generated need for parks and active recreation will need to be addressed through the development process and public and private contributions.

Realistically, the greatest opportunity for expanding capacity and adding fields is at Reston’s two district parks  — Baron Cameron and Lake Fairfax. The FCPA has begun to plan for growing needs through the revision of the Baron Cameron Park’s master plan. The draft master plan allows for significant capacity expansion over the existing fields through use of full size fields that accommodate more flexible use, lights, and synthetic turf. Lake Fairfax Park will be similarly examined for potential added capacity through a master plan revision process that is planned for next year.

Other opportunities to meet the full range of community recreation needs will be explored in concert with the various park providers that serve Reston.

Yes, Reston, we have Great Parks and a Great Community. I am very proud of the progress and planning represented by the park system we have today, and look to the future with anticipation and optimism. This not a cliché, you just have to look beyond the numbers.

Over $30 million has been invested by the Park Authority in Reston (Small District 5) parks in the past six years, and we are excited about what the future is going to bring. We will certainly take advantage of any opportunities that are presented to us through future land acquisition opportunities, development proffers, public/private partnerships, and bond programs to meet our diverse park needs.

Sincerely,

William G. Bouie
Chairman
Fairfax County Park Authority Board

The Fairfax County Park Authority Board has established Tobacco-Free Play Zones in the county parks. Coming this summer: signage that will notify the public of this new designation and thank residents for their voluntary cooperation.

The signs will request that park visitors refrain from tobacco use at skate parks, playgrounds and athletic fields. Partial funding for the signs is anticipated from the Live Healthy Fairfax initiative funded by a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Community Transformation Grant, says the FCPA.

From the park authority:

In June 2011, the Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax conducted a Community Health Status Assessment.  That report found that 20 percent of Fairfax County residents listed tobacco use as the most important health-related issue for this community.

With that in mind, reducing tobacco use and exposure to second-hand smoke became a priority item for the county and this Park Authority program was initiated. This initiative is being implemented in coordination with the Partnership for a Healthier Fairfax and the Fairfax County Health Department.

Smoking increases risk for disease, disability and death for smokers and those who are exposed to second-hand smoke throughout their life.  Besides the apparent health benefits any reduction in second-hand smoke or primary tobacco-use provides, there are also benefits to the environment.  The reduction of cigarette butt litter will improve the health of local streams, lakes and rivers into which they migrate.  Cigarette butts contain carcinogenic materials that also pose a danger to wildlife which may ingest them.

FCPA parks in Reston include Baron Cameron Park and Lake Fairfax Park.

In 2013, the Reston Association Board of Directors voted to extend no-smoking zone near Reston facilities and to install signage encouraging people to consider quitting. There is no smoking within 50 feet of RA facilities such as bike paths, pools, tennis courts and and tot lots. The previous zone was 25 feet.

RA has said there is no way to police the ban, but hopes residents will comply out of respect for non-smoking neighbors.

Photo: Baron Cameron Park/File photo

“Great Parks, Great Communities” is the clichéd theme of the Fairfax County Park Authority.  And the theme may be true, but the Park Authority is promising — a promise it may well not fulfill — Tysons and Reston urban areas among the most poorly parked-served areas among the top cities in the country.

It raises the question, will poor parks mean poor communities?

As Reston Now suggests in its April 29 article, county park availability standards for the newly urbanizing areas of the Dulles Corridor are less than half of the county-wide “suburban” standard — and the Park Authority plans to put fewer parks in Reston’s station areas than in Tysons because we have parks and facilities elsewhere.

Here’s where we are in the arithmetic of public parks.  The county standards described in Tysons’ and Reston’s plans shoot for providing about 1.7 acres of park per 1,000 residents.  That’s about 154 acres of parks in Tysons and 95 acres in Reston — if fulfilled.

Now let’s see how that stacks up. A national non-profit, the Trust for Public Lands, tracks park availability annually for the 100 largest cities in the country. When Fairfax County’s urban park standard is included in the ranking of acreage per 1,000 residents, both Tysons and Reston rank in the bottom 5 percent of all the cities.

If Tysons and Reston achieve the county urban goal, they would bracket New York City’s Manhattan Borough near the bottom of the list. Yet Manhattan has two and one-half times the density planned for Tysons and more than three times the density planned for Reston.

Moreover, despite having some of the most expensive real estate in the country, Manhattan has been able to set aside 18.3 percent of its land for parks.  That’s more than 10 times the share planned for Tysons (1.4 percent) and more than three times the goal for Reston (5.6 percent).

And the county has no intent to meet its own standard for Reston because, as the Reston Comprehensive Plan says, “Need generated in the TSAs should primarily be met through the integration of urban parks, recreation, and cultural facilities within the mixed use developments of the TSAs. To supplement these parks and facilities, elements of the larger Reston area’s robust park and recreation system (outside of the TSAs) may be able to be improved to help meet the needs of future residents and employees.”

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Planners of Tysons Corner’s transformation from car-clogged roads to a walkable edge city also want to see 154 acres of additional parkland so the expected nearly 100,000 future residents will have places to play.

With an eye on building Tysons into a city, Fairfax County would like to add one-and-a-half acres of parkland per 1,000 residents and one acre for every 10,000 employees (of which there are expected to be more than 200,000 by 2050). Tysons currently has 89 acres of parkland.

In a recently released report on the Tysons Park System Concept Plan, the county said it would need 29 playgrounds, 22 sports courts, 2 dog parks and 1 skate park to meet the needs of the expected population over the next 40 years.

What does this have to do with Reston? Reston, like Tysons, is predicted to experience a boom in growth due to the opening of Metro’s Silver Line, which may go into service in the next few months. It remains to be seen if the large list of recreation recommendations ever come to be in Tysons.

The Reston Comprehensive Plan Amendment that was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors earlier this year called for the construction of only three playing fields near Reston’s Metro stations, where most of the development will occur and new residents will move.

Those areas have almost no existing park space. The Wiehle-Reston East Station is located in what used to be zoned a strictly industrial/commercial area. With no previous residents, there are no existing residential amenities such as parks and playing fields in the immediate area.

The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force had recommended that 12 additional playing fields be constructed in Reston to accommodate 40,000 new residents.

Earlier this year, Reston 2020 co-chair Terry Maynard called the plan for recreation in Reston “unacceptable.”

“The suburban standard is five acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents; the urban one is 1.5 acres of parkland for every 1,000 residents topped with a one-acre dollop of space for every 10,000 employees,” he wrote in an analysis of the field allotments. “In Reston, the county suburban standard would lead to about 270 acres of parkland in the station areas.The urban standard leads to 95 acres in Reston’s station areas.

“The result is that less than six percent of the total Reston station area space will be devoted to parks. By comparison, New York City’s Manhattan Borough, the most densely populated, most densely employed, and most valuable piece of urban real estate in the United States, has more than 19 percent of its land devoted to parks and recreation.”

In Reston, there are no current plan for additional parks, though Baron Cameron Park is in the midst of a Master Plan revision.

Fairfax County Park Authority Board Chair Bill Bouie, a Reston resident, says Reston already has the recreational structure in place, therefore there is not as great a need for major park and playing field expansion.

Reston was planned with open space as a priority, and significant amenities are already here,says Bouie. That includes 55 miles of trails, 16 Reston Association pools, pocket parks, playing fields and three major parks (Lake Fairfax Park, Baron Cameron Park and Brown’s Chapel Park).

Bouie said that fields at Reston schools, including the new turf fields at South Lakes High School, are also considered amenities already in place.

“There is so much here already,” says Bouie. “We don’t have nearly the assets in Tysons.”

In the future, up for grabs in Reston may be the area called Town Center North, which encompasses the site of the recently-closed Cameron Glen Rehabilitation Center. There has been talk of using the 47-acre site, currently owned by the county and by Inova Health Systems, as mixed-use development, the site of the new Reston Regional Library and open space.

Town Center North has also been mentioned as a possible location for a proposed Reston Community Center facility that would include a 50-meter indoor pool.

That $35 million facility has been studied and discussed for more than a year for Baron Cameron Park, which is Fairfax County Park Authority property.

One Baron Cameron Master Plan proposal calls for revitalizing the 10 playing fields there with artificial turf and lights to get more use. The other involves the indoor recreation center — which would mean the park loses several fields to make room for the indoor facility.

The 30-day public comment period for the Baron Cameron Park Master Plan ended Sunday. Bouie said the board will likely vote on it in June.

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.