Saturday, February 28, 2009

Update on Four Mile Run Park Expansion


Folks have been asking what is up with the vacant lots along Mt Vernon Avenue north of Four Mile Road.

An "Open Space" fund was created several years ago when the City allocated 1% of City tax revenues for for acquisition and expansion of Alexandria's public park holdings. These four parcels were acquired by the City of Alexandria just over two years ago with Open Space funds after an intensive prioritization process. The City continued to lease the properties for an additional year up until they were vacated back at the beginning of 2008. Since then, Alexandria has moved ahead with demolition of the three smaller builders but left the old Duron building for some, yet-undetermined future park use (bathrooms?).

The expected park planning meetings have been delayed past the Fall 2008 start, because Alexandria's Parks and Rec department is still awaiting final state certification of the environmental remediation that was performed after the former dry cleaning establishment vacated their parcel. This certification is expected to be forthcoming soon, at which point, Parks and Rec staff anticipate moving forward with implementing park plans after a public vetting process.

(Conceptual drawings from the Four Mile Run Master Plan and Arlandria Plan).

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