Prince William supervisors give Silver Lake to Park Authority

Not everybody got exactly what they wanted after a public hearing about Silver Lake, but everybody should be happy with the end result, said Prince William Board of County Supervisors Chairman Corey Stewart.

“Everybody should feel good,” said Stewart, R-at large. “We are at last going to open the darn thing up.”

The supervisors voted 7-0 Tuesday to give the 230-acre property on Antioch Road, near Haymarket, to the Prince William County Park Authority.

Supervisor Maureen Caddigan, R-Dumfries, was absent from the meeting.

The Park Authority plans to open the park, including the trails and lake, to the public within three to four months, Park Authority Executive Director Jay Ellington said.

Just about everybody who spoke during a public hearing before the vote agreed that Silver Lake should be reserved for passive recreation and horseback riding.

But there was some disagreement about what exactly passive recreation includes and what restrictions should be placed on the land.

Supervisor Michael May, R-Occoquan, proposed an alternative motion that would have placed deed restrictions on the land.

The deed restrictions would have listed specific uses for the park, including jogging, hiking, bicycling, horseback riding, picnicking and fishing, and would have allowed the Board of County Supervisors to take back the land if the Park Authority didn’t follow the restrictions.

May’s motion to give the land to the Park Authority with those restrictions failed with a 2-5 vote. May and Marty Nohe, R-Coles, voted in favor of the motion.

Supervisor John Stirrup, R-Gainesville, said the deed restrictions would place an “unprecedented level of micromanagement on the Park Authority.”

“Why do we have a Park Authority if the board is going to be micromanaging?” he said.

Supervisor Frank Principi, D-Woodbridge, said he agreed that Silver Lake should be kept for passive recreation, but he didn’t think deed restrictions were the way to do it.

“I’m not certain we want to use a sledge hammer when a hammer would be sufficient,” Principi said.

Ellington said the Park Authority will partner with scouts, equestrian groups and other local volunteer groups to develop a trail system in the park.

In the future, when more funding is available, the Park Authority could further develop the park, possibly adding a camp store, marina and outdoor classroom, according to their proposal.

“We look forward to opening our newest and largest park in the fall of this year,” Ellington said in a statement. “We will begin the master planning process for this park, within the next 120 days and ask the citizens of Prince William County to join us in this process.”

Silver Lake will be the Park Authority’s 67th park.

The county has owned the 230-acre Silver Lake property since December 2006, when Toll Brothers, a developer that built the nearby Dominion Valley subdivision, proffered it to the county, but it has not yet been opened to the public.

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014.