The residents of Centreville's Manorgate community have had it. They're tired of seeing unsightly, oversized vehicles parked in their neighborhood, and they want them gone.
"It's just a dumping ground," said seven-year resident Donna Carlson. "There are jet skis, boats, boat trailers, taxicabs and the biggest, ugliest campers you've ever seen. One has the windows busted out of it, and it's just a wreck — it should be at the junk yard."
Actually, the residents turned their anger into action, a couple years ago, gathering signatures on a petition and presenting it to Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully). And last October, he and others on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance creating a restricted parking district on several of that community's streets.
It meant that the RVs, boats and trailers parked all along Green Trails Boulevard and other streets in Manorgate would no longer be allowed to do so and would have to go elsewhere. Trouble is, it's now nine months later, all these vehicles are still there — and no one has put up signs telling their owners that parking there is officially prohibited.
THE COUNTY HAS all sorts of reasons why the signs haven't gone up, yet. But at this point, the residents have heard all the excuses they care to and just want the county to keep its promise.
"Everybody worked very hard to get the signatures, so I was glad they were going to get rid of these RVs, trailers and old rickety, junky boats," said Carlson's husband Scott. "Now I'm disappointed in Fairfax County not following through on the wishes of the citizens and the ordinance that was passed."
However, since several streets are involved and 180-200 no-parking signs will be posted in the community, it's not a quick fix. The county Department of Transportation has to mark the exact location of each sign and submit paperwork to VDOT.
Since signs will go in VDOT's right-of-way on the grassy strip between curb and sidewalk, they require VDOT permits. Snow and rain also caused delays, and a short-staffed county DOT added to the problems. But as far as the beleaguered homeowners are concerned, they did what was asked, followed legal procedure and got — nothing.
For some reason, the community's first petition stalled, but the problem persisted. Said Donna Carlson: "At homeowners association meetings, people complained, over and over, that [the area] looked bad." So the petition was revived, late last summer.
Out of the 632 homes there, 511 homeowners signed the petition. "The requirement was 75 percent [of the homeowners], and we got 81 percent," said Frank Cogdell, Green Trails/Manorgate Homeowners Association president.
THEIR HOMEOWNERS ASSOCIATION covenants prohibit parking boats, RVs, trailers, etc., on the community's private streets or common areas. As a result, residents asked that they be banned from: Green Trails Boulevard; Wood Rock Way; Emerald Green, Virginia Pine, Creek Bed, Harness Hill and Pony Hill courts; Creek Run, Palisades, Rock Canyon and Bay Valley Drives; and Sorrell Chase.
Noting that 228 of the community's 404 townhouses are on Autumn Circle and Skylemar Trail, Cogdell said homes on these streets each have two assigned parking spaces — but only four visitor spaces for everyone to share. Since they're private streets, those owning boats, trailers and RVs have to park them on public streets, such as those listed above.
"We need the parking for cars because of houses with more than two people that drive," explained Cogdell. "And some homes house more than one family."
Besides, he said, "It's unreasonable for people to expect me to pay part of the storage cost of their vehicles. And I shouldn't have to look at somebody's boat or trailer all day long. Sometimes they sit there all winter, without being moved."
John Thompson, a resident since 1987, called these vehicles an eyesore and said they're making Green Trails Boulevard look junky. He said things got worse, the past year, when people began parking big boats there.
"At first, it was only [some] small, one- or two-person boats," he said. "Then came the larger, multi-passenger boats — good-sized, pleasure boats holding six people. It makes the whole area look trashy — and that's tacked onto the RVs which are more or less parked permanently here and aren't in the most pristine condition."
Noting that Green Trails is the main avenue into the community, Thompson said all the vehicles lining it might discourage people considering moving to Manorgate. And he resents them being parked there. Said Thompson: "My thinking is, if you've got enough money to buy a boat or RV, you should have enough money to park it somewhere."
DONNA CARLSON AGREES. "It's amazing," she said. "These houses are selling for over $500,000 — and then we've got this." While some of the vehicles are from other neighborhoods, she believes most of them are from Manorgate/Green Trails.
"One good friend of ours refused to sign the petition because he said, 'What if I buy a boat someday and want to park it here? I wouldn't be able to,'" said Carlson. "Another one has a camper and doesn't want to move it elsewhere."
She said it's also a safety issue because it's difficult for drivers to see around these large vehicles. "At rush hour, Green Trails is a cut-through route from New Braddock to Route 28 and Compton Road," she explained. "You can't pull out of your own side streets and see clearly because you've got a camper or a truck or trailer blocking your vision."
Carlson said lots of money was spent for sidewalks and landscaping to beautify the neighborhood, "but your eyes go toward the 'metal flowers' — the big, ol' RVs — instead, and it's a shame. It wasn't this way when I moved in, and it should not be this way."
For awhile, said Scott Carlson, someone was even living in one of the RVs. It stuck out about a foot into the road and siphoned electricity from someone's house. "It was plugged in by an electrical cord running over the sidewalk and a fence and into somebody's backyard," he said. "I called the police."
After all, he said, it's a neighborhood — "not [a place] where people can park and camp in their RVs." Added Thompson: "That's slumming, at its best." Scott Carlson said having all these large vehicles is "inviting problems" and could "bring in crime." He's also worried that a small child darting into the street from behind a 30-foot-long RV or a 24-foot-long cabin cruiser might not be seen by a passing car and could get hit.
Resident Bryan Hunt knows boat owners who want to park for free, but he doesn't want to see their craft. "I feel for both sides," he said. "I know government can move slowly, but October will be a year since the ordinance was passed."
Resident Mitch Shapiro believes the vehicles "significantly detract from the neighborhood's appearance" and "wouldn't be surprised" if they adversely affected property values. Resident Celeste Linthicum signed the petition, two years ago, but assumed nothing came of it because no signs went up. "I never dreamed it would take so long," she said.
WHEN THE ORDINANCE PASSED, said Thompson, "Everybody was delighted that things would change. We expected that, in a couple months, we wouldn't be seeing [the vehicles], anymore." But when Thompson called to see where the signs were, he said, "We'd get another date or another reason why the work hadn't been done, yet."
Bill Parman of the county DOT said a GIS (Geographical Information System) marks exact sign locations so signs don't interfere with house fronts, driveways or utilities. Transportation planner Paul Mounier said the GIS feeds field data directly into a computer so the county knows what types of signs it has and where.
But the county had to borrow one of these $5,000 devices — and then it broke, so that delayed things. Other communities ahead of Manorgate also needed signs; and it took time to create VDOT permits for the $10,000 worth of signs slated for Manorgate.
Then Supervisor Frey discovered DOT didn't even order the signs until May, and they then took six weeks to make. "I yelled at them," he said. "That kind of delay is inexcusable."
Signs must be 200 feet apart to be easily seen. But once they're posted, said police spokeswoman Julie Hersey, repeat parking offenders may be "ticketed and towed." Permits have now been issued and, weather permitting, signs should go up, the third week of July. Said Shapiro: "I'll believe it when I see it."