Vienna's Parks And Recreation Long-Term Vision Closer To Final Review

VIENNA, VA — As Vienna's parks and recreation prepares final recommendations for its long-term vision, the next community meeting will be held in late March.

The Town of Vienna's Department of Parks and Recreation is in the tail end of the process of its Plan to Play master plan process to guide future maintenance, operation, and new opportunities for parks, trails, and recreational facilities and programming. According to the town, the master plan is a "multi-year vision" for the future but does not provide project funding or site design proposals for every park. The process started with a study of existing parks and recreation conditions in December 2023. Final review is tentative in spring 2025.

The next meeting will allow residents to help refine the recreational planning goals. The meeting will take place from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Vienna Community Center, 120 Cherry St., SE.

For residents who cannot make the meeting, the town will take feedback between March 17 and April 7. Residents can check back on the master plan web page for a way to submit feedback.

The existing Town of Vienna parks and recreation portfolio has 157 and counting acres of park and green space. Recreational features include 12 parks, five playgrounds, the Town Green, the Vienna Community Center with a Teen Center, the dog park, and various sports courts and fields. The report noted that the town lacks an aquatic/fitness center, sensory-friendly parks, older adult centers, pickleball or tennis-only courts, and rectangular-only fields.

The town did a mailed survey distributed to random households with 318 responses, and another 564 responses came in from a general online survey. The surveys found high satisfaction with the outdoor concert venue (Town Green), community center, outdoor gathering spaces, historic spaces (Bowman House, Freeman Store, Little Library), learning gardens and indoor basketball courts. However, residents identified areas needing improvements like outdoor and indoor pickleball, the dog park, outdoor and indoor volleyball and playgrounds.

Recreational features that the survey found to be higher community needs are trails and multi-use paths, walking paths and sidewalks, nature parks and preserves, a community or recreation center, smaller neighborhood parks and recreational swimming pools.

One project that would meet a few of these needs is the proposed indoor pool and fitness center. Town Council has been considering a 1 percent temporary meals tax addition to fund and construct the facility more quickly. However, a decision was delayed until August as Town Council examines the facility's long-term and operational costs as well as community feedback on a higher meals tax.