Residents Discuss Kingstowne Park Plan

County employees presented the draft plan for Kingstowne Park Wednesday to mostly-positive public reactions.

divides the park, on Old Telegraph Road near Hayfield Secondary, into two zones. One-third of the park will be used for trails, picnic benches, and nature areas. The remaining areas of the park will be used for stormwater management uses, including a wetlands area.

"We saw an opportunity here," said Paul Shirey, a Department of Public Works and Environmental Services employee. DPWES plans to use the park to add new stormwater management capacity to the area.

Shirey estimated that the dam, which he expects to have a riser design, would be ready for construction by this fall. Because the county wants to avoid building in winter, however, the project would likely not begin construction until 2013.

A man in the audience at Franconia Government Center urged Shirey to put the dam in place because each storm carries more soil away from the park.

The plan also adds a new trail to the park, creating a loop across its two ponds. The park's old trail dead-ended, forcing visitors to turn around.

The one-third of the park that is aimed at visitors will be managed by the Park Authority. The stormwater management portion will be run by DPWES.

Kyle Lampela, whose house backs up to the park, praised the plan. Lampela thanked Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay (D) and Chairman Sharon Bulova (D) for their committment to the project, before saying that the park could not simply allowed to go "back to nature" because of its previous use in gravel mining.

"You can't just let it go back to nature, unless you want to want to tolerate the silt, the quicksand," Lampela said. Lampela previously wrote asking the county to restore the park.

The plan will also add the park's deer population to the county's deer management plan, although a Park Authority employee said there were no immediate plans to cull the deer.