County Projects that may impact Stonehurst

05/13/2025 2:02pm

Fairfax County proposes to replace aging sewer infrastructure from Nottoway Park in Vienna to the Accotink Trail below Route 50.

The plan outlines a 2 year project at nearly $40 million. Although nearly all of the work is on the far side of the stream, we are going to lose green buffer that is not on our property.

I extracted key pages from the plan for SHA (link to document). Its a long detailed plan (hundreds of pages) I am no NO EXPERT. So I really cannot answer your questions about the plan. Here is what it looks like:

• Page 2. Sheet 40 and 39 depict work behind SHA. Its a massive project and work behind SHA is near the end of the project.
• page 3. the arrow near the bottom depicts the current sewer line just outside our property line. they are going to leave the old sewer pipe in place. The x's show the path for the new sewer line which will be on the far side of the stream. I believe this is where they propose to use non-native grass (KY blue grass) to seed the access area that is outside the RPA (see RPA below).
• page 4. Far side of stream. The x's show the trees they plan to remove and the entrance from Nutley they are going to create for crew access and maintenance.
• page 5. far side of stream. more detail. The x's show the trees they plan to remove.
• page 6. Map of total project and the Resource Protection Areas (RPA). RPA are regulated by EPA designed to maintain vegetation to help manage stormwater runoff and water pollution. RPA 2 depicts work near SHA.
• page 7. List of native replacement plants for the regulated RPAs.
• pages 8, 9, and 10. far side of stream. maps of from landscape plan depicting area near SHA.

Separate from this county effort, the Board has been working on an invasive management plan to remove the roughly 30 foot deep wall of bamboo and other invasives on our property behind Lindenwood and Bailey. The ten year SHA Master Plan that we began in 2020 addresses invasives in the last four years (beginning 2026 and we obtained a county waiver to begin work). This was approved before we knew about the new pedestrian walkway along Route 50 and the sewer project. Once the invasives are under control, we intend to plant evergreen trees and native plants on our property to help restore the green screen.

Our President and Tree Chair attended a meeting on April 8, 2025 with staff from Supervisor Palchik's office and the Friends of Accotink to express our concerns. Specifically, we asked they 1) use native grass and not kentucky blue grass; 2) replace pin oaks on their planting list with another native oak (swamp white or scarlet) because pin oaks are in decline in our area; and 3) consider working with us to remove some of the invasives on or adjacent to our property as a good faith gesture.

Lisa Lofton

SHA Landscape Chair

05/12/2025 5:33pm

Please click on the link to see the improvement projects that will impact Stonehurst:

 Pan Am Project   

 Route 50 Bike & Pedestrian Improvements (Blake Ln to Prosperity Ave)

Link to status of Route 50 walkway from Lindenwood Lane to Nutley Please note, select the “Providence District” choice to get to the status page.