The Fairfax County Park Authority took 33 acres of additional land under its belt in recent months in an effort to build its stock of open acres as development closes in on what remains in the county.
“It’s kind of now or never,” Park Authority spokeswoman Judy Pedersen said. “We compete with everybody else for land in Fairfax County, so prices are high [and] resources are certainly limited — and the amount of space that’s available is somewhat limited.”
About 23,000 acres of land is owned by the Park Authority, nearly one in every 10 acres in the swiftly urbanizing D.C. suburb, according to the agency. In Fairfax County, there is a comparable amount of vacant land that has yet to be reached by either the Park Authority or developers as of the most recent tallies in 2004.
Most of the remaining vacant land will be gone in 10 to 15 years, according to land-use predictions, the end of a progressive decline that has eaten up about 50,000 acres of undeveloped space since 1980. New single-family homes accounted for the majority of that growth, county officials have said.
Most of the park space acquired since May has come in small chunks across the county through gifts, purchases or development proffers. The largest piece recently acquired was a 22.33-acre parcel of flood plain within the Cub Run Stream Valley, on Nov. 29. The land was proffered.
This year, Fairfax County voters approved the county borrowing $10 million to acquire new parkland.
