The Cherry Hill Park playground is closed for now but is scheduled to reopen early 2018 after the City of Falls Church Department of Public Works and the Recreation and Parks Department wrap up their replacement of the playground for a new ADA-compliant playground. The new playground will include equipment like an Omnitri Net and swingsets and will sit on a larger footprint.
The National Park Service is looking to increase fees at Great Falls Park and is seeking input from the public. The proposed fee increase of $5 for vehicles and $2 for persons—motorcycle and annual parking pass fees will remain the same—will go into effect Jan. 1, 2018. The proposal also brings back single payment for each side of the park: payment on the Virginia side will get you into the Maryland side with a valid pass or receipt and vice versa.
Plans for the Long Bridge Park Aquatic & Fitness Center are being unveiled, and the public can take a look from Oct. 19-27 at the Courthouse Plaza lobby. A presentation will be given on Oct. 19 from 7-10 p.m. at 2011 Crystal Drive, 11th Floor, where the public can see the four designs and ask questions.
Fairfax County athletic and educational park venues were granted monies through six Mastenbrook Grants. Baseball fields—McNaughton Park, Fort Hunt Park, Eakin Mantua Park, Linway Terrace and Spring Hill Park—will gain from this through improvements such as scoreboards and batting cages. Pinecrest Golf Course benefits through an indoor golf simulator, and Friends of Historic Huntley will use grant money for educational equipment at the Historic Huntley Visitor Center.
The historic Stone Bridge at Manassas Battlefield, close to where the first shots of the first battle of the Civil War were fired, is getting repairs. Construction is needed to stabilize the foundation, repair the masonry and repave the surface. The repairs will cost $817,000 and will take until January 2018 to be completed. The bridge will be open during the work with the exception of a couple of weeks in late November or early December.
It may be too early to think about snow, but Arlington’s Department of Parks and Recreation has an application deadline of Oct. 13 for those looking to borrow snowblowers through the county’s snowblower loaner program. Snowblowers are available to civic associations and community groups.
