Fairfax Co. Officials To Create Task Force To Study Turning Lake Accotink Into Wetland

SPRINGFIELD, VA — Fairfax County officials are debating whether to dredge Lake Accotink to reestablish lake depth after the county Department of Public Works and Environmental Services recommended allowing the lake to naturally develop into a wetland.

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors Chair Jeffrey McKay said Tuesday he is not ready yet to follow the staff recommendation not to maintain Lake Accotink as a lake.

At a meeting of the Board of Supervisors’ Environmental Committee, McKay said the staff of DPWES needs to show exactly what wetland management would entail if the county stopped dredging the lake and allowed it to turn into a wetland.

New findings released by county staff in February concluded that dredging the 55-acre lake in Springfield is no longer the best option due to “significant community and environmental impacts and excessive costs.”

The cost of dredging alone is estimated at around $95.3 million, with additional dredging events for maintenance costing up to $300 million total by the 20-year mark, according to DPWES staff.

At the meeting, Braddock District Supervisor James Walkinshaw, who represents the district where Lake Accotink is located, urged his colleagues to wait before giving up on the lake, despite the “eye-popping” cost estimates provided by county staff.

READ ALSO: New Plans For Lake Accotink As County Finds Dredging Not Feasible

“I’m not ready to give up on the possibility of dredging or accept the staff recommendation,” Walkinshaw said. “If the board is not willing to commit the resources to do the full dredge, we owe people a lot more answers as to what would happen and what it would look like.”

Fairfax County has not conducted a comprehensive study or analysis of the managed wetlands option that staff has proposed, Walkinshaw noted. “I don’t think it would be responsible for us to make a decision without doing that,” he said.

At a future Board of Supervisors meeting, Walkinshaw said that he, along with McKay and Franconia District Supervisor Rodney Lusk, will propose to establish a task force — the Task Force on the Future of Lake Accotink — that will more fully study and analyze the managed wetland option and consider a hybrid approach for Lake Accotink that includes an open water option.

At Tuesday's meeting, the board unanimously agreed to withhold making any decisions until the task force completes its work.

Lake Accotink Park includes 482 acres of natural resources, trails, picnic areas, and waterfront activities. Lake Accotink is a man-made reservoir built by the U.S. Army in 1943.

Because Lake Accotink is a man-made lake in the middle of a densely-developed 40-square-mile watershed, it has required regular dredging in order to remove sediment. The most recent dredge took place in 2008.

"The fact that Fairfax County made a commitment to dredge the lake in 2019, and now there is a staff recommendation recommending the opposite has created anger and distrust," Walkinshaw said in his weekly constituent newsletter on Thursday.

Walkinshaw noted that the more than 1,000 responses to a community survey revealed that views are mixed on whether the benefits of dredging outweigh the costs. "Clearly there are still many people who feel passionately about the lake and are not yet convinced that every possible option has been explored," he said.

Residents were given until April 1 to participate in the online Lake Accotink Community Survey. Among the responses, 26 percent supported dredging Lake Accotink, while 27 percent were opposed to continuing to dredge the lake.

RELATED: Input On Future Of Lake Accotink Park Requested By Fairfax County