Burke Centre resident John Bell recently sold his house, in part because of boat and RV parking along the street. That roadside dilemma might be exacerbated due to a recent move by the Burke Centre Conservancy to close its RV/boat lot in response to Chesapeake Bay preservation ordinance rules.
Bell blames the county as well as Burke Centre.
"Fairfax County has been incredibly negligent in planning for large vehicles," Bell said. "Burke is becoming a large parking lot. If they're [Burke Centre] going to close this, they have to develop an off-sight facility."
The lot is located on a side road, near the Roberts Road bridge on Burke Centre Conservancy property which is also home to the Conservancy’s maintenance shop. On one side of the building is a parking area for maintenance trucks. But that parking also borders land where Sideburn Branch creek runs, making it a wetlands area. Now the lot will be landscaped to adhere to the ordinance, so the maintenance trucks, and the equipment they carry, will park in the lot on the other side of the building — the lot where the boats and RVs have parked, until now.
Burke Centre does not have another parking lot, so the 22 vehicle owners will have to rent parking places elsewhere. Notice of the closing was adequate, said Tom Wade, Burke Centre Conservancy executive director. Vehicle owners paid September rent on the lot and have until Oct. 31 to move.
"Their rental was up in the beginning of September, they got well over 60 days notice," said Wade. "We need to park work vehicles, store mulch, sand and salt."
Bell's community is along Burke Commons Road where RV and boat parking has been a problem for years. One owner even took it upon himself to find a parking facility that could cater to the Burke Centre residents. But Wade said the man acted on his own. "That's up to him," Wade said.
A few old vehicles in the Burke Center lot are not street legal. One camper has faded paint, flat tires and license plate stickers from August 1993. Another has stickers from August 2000 and appears to be used for storage. All are current on the rent, though.
"That thing's been here for years," Wade said. "We're trying to do what's right and what needs to be done to adhere to wetlands mediation."
Supervisor Sharon Bulova (D-Braddock) was not familiar with the RV/boat situation but questioned whether the "grandfather clause" applied.
"We never go to a homeowner and get them to move a deck," she said.
ALTHOUGH a few streets in Burke have parking on the shoulders, the Conservancy is actively seeking a Special Parking District status. It is a project that has gone on for months at the Conservancy and requires 75 percent of the residents to sign off on a petition. For Wade, that part is presenting a problem. The signatures need to be on a special county form which would require someone to go door-to-door.
"We've got to have people going door-to-door," he said. "Getting that 75 percent is going to be difficult."
Bulova was familiar with the special parking district that Burke Centre was seeking and noted the importance of a petition in situations like this.
"All we need to know is that the neighborhood is supportive, that's why there is a petition," Bulova said.
In a similar case in Prince William County, the homeowners association was allowed to maintain its own parking petition without following county procedure. That way, it could be done through the mail. During the hearing, on Monday, Sept. 15 at the Fairfax County Government Center, Wade intends on getting his three minutes on the podium to address the parking district petition.
Although eliminating the parking will mean an extra expense for some homeowners, Wade hasn't encountered resistance. "There hasn't been that much negative reaction to it," he said.