Fairfax City Council Briefed On $8.1M Thaiss Park Renovation Proposal

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — A plan by the Fairfax City Parks and Recreation Department to redevelop Thaiss Park is working its way through the city's approval process.

At Tuesday night's work session, Parks and Recreation Director Stacey Sommerfield told the mayor and city council that the park's design had outlived its usefulness and "needed a little love right now."

The 12-acre park located a 3401 Pickett Road consists of five baseball diamonds, a playground, and a two-story building that was constructed in 1997, which used primarily by Fairfax Little League. In addition, a large parking lot serves city employees and visitors to the nearby Gerry Connolly Cross-County Trail.

"The fields don't meet today's standards," Sommerfield said. "It's four very tiny fields and one manageable field. We have 'a lot of' instead of having really good facilities. It's quantity over quality."

During Little League season, the park sees a lot of use, but the parking lot is not large enough to accommodate that use, according to Sommerfield. The park also lacks multigenerational amenities that would make it a viable location the rest of the year. Stormwater management is poor and the two-story building is not ADA compliant.

Parks and Recreation's proposed renovation would reduce the number of ballfields from five to three. In order to meet modern standards, two of the new fields would be larger and include ADA access, as well as dedicated seating.

The portion of the current parking lot that's in a resource protection area would be removed and replaced with 100 tree plantings and a bio-retention area. The renovation would also add 50 percent more parking and a drop-off/pickup zone. Stormwater management would be brought up to current standards.

A one-story building would replace the existing building, making it ADA compliant. The building would include restrooms, a meeting space, and a concessions stand with a pedestrian plaza. Improved LED lighting would also reduce light spillage into the surrounding area.

The renovated park would also see the addition of a 7,500 square-food multigenerational playground, a half court basketball area, and a 1/5-mile walking track, according to the parks and recreation presentation.

In order to move forward, the project will need two special exceptions, one for the park's setback and the other for the height of its new lighting. The Board of Architectural Review approved the design of the new building at its March 1 meeting.

Provided the plan receives all of the necessary approvals, construction is estimated to begin summer 2024. Sommerfield told the city council that the plan was to close the park completely during construction, so the work could be finished in a timely manner. Her department is working with Fairfax Little League and Fairfax County to identify alternate sites.

"They understand that it will be a little bit of juggling for that time," she said. "They're very much on board in doing that in exchange for having this brand new facility."

When asked about the estimated cost of the project, David Summers, the director of public works, told council members the $8,160,000 budgeted for the project would be sufficient. However, he added that as the plan moved into the design phase, the cost estimate would be refined and could change a bit.

Within the next two weeks, parks and recreation will be posting the Thaiss Park renovation plan on the Engage Fairfax website, so that residents could learn more and provide feedback. Sommerfield told Patch on Wednesday that an in-person informational event is planned but hasn't been scheduled yet.