City to Host Second Set of Parks & Rec Outreach Meetings This Weekend

Fairfax City's Parks and Recreation Department continues its community outreach this weekend with a second set of public workshops, aimed at finding out what residents want out of their parks, recreation, trails, open space, facilities, cultural activities, events and more.

It's all part of the department's "Our Parks, Our Future" initiative to solicit community feedback as staff creates its Strategic Master Plan.

"The first two workshops, held in May, were met with much success, garnering great ideas and suggestions on how residents would like to improve and or enhance our parks system," the City said in a statement.

Two more workshops will take place this weekend:

Saturday, June 22
10 a.m. to noon
Green Acres Center
4401 Sideburn Road
Fairfax, VA 22030

Sunday, June 23 
1- 3 p.m.
Stacy C. Sherwood Center
3740 Old Lee Highway
Fairfax, VA 22030

The City said, attend Saturday’s workshop to provide more detailed input on developing future indoor recreation facilities in the City, and provide suggestions on decision-making criteria City leadership may use in the future when considering detailed planning options.

Participants will also have an opportunity to provide specific input on future development and use options for the Green Acres site.

On Sunday, participants can provide more detailed input on decision-making criteria the City may use when planning for the renovation, development and maintenance of a wide variety of parks and outdoor spaces - such as, how many parks should we have, what should be in each park, what is the standard distance to parks, and so forth.

A significant portion of this workshop will be dedicated to envisioning the future of Van Dyck Park. Participants will be asked to work in groups to develop custom master plans for the park.

"This is your chance to have hands-on input in planning the future of our City's feature park," the City said in its statement.

Parks and Recreation staff will have children’s activities at each site, "so the whole family is welcome, as we want to hear how we are doing and what interests your children have," the City added.

Participants will also have the chance to be entered into a drawing for a VIP ride in a fire truck during the City's 4th of July Parade by collecting stamps in the “Passport to the Future” booklet. Stamps are collected by filling out comment cards and offering input at the workshops.

Passports will be distributed during each workshop, and if you’ve already started collecting stamps from the first workshops - don’t forgetto bring your passport with you!

Do you plan to participate in any of these workshops? Is there anything in particular you'd like to let the City know, as to your opinion of any of the local parks, activities, events, etc.? Tell us in the comments below.

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