NOVA Parks Takes on $3.5 million in Debt

September 17, 2020

• NOVA Parks Takes on $3.5 million in Debt to Finish Upton Hill Park Project

• $1 Million is Reimbursement to be Used Anywhere

• FoUH Calls for Additional Investment in Upton Hill – Invasives Removal and More Maintenance

Dear Friends,

Some breaking news regarding Upton Hill Park. The NOVA Parks board unanimously approved raising $3.5 million to finish the work at the park through a bond issuance at their meeting tonight. The money will go towards building a climbing structure and playground – and would provide $1 million towards general funding.

A little more than $1.5 million has been spent so far on the $4 million project to pave over more of Upton Hill Park by expanding the upper park parking lot and then try to mitigate the damage of additional stormwater runoff by putting in the underground cistern. At the board meeting, NOVA Parks estimated the cistern cost to be a couple of hundred thousand dollars.

Although only some $2.5 million is needed to finish the project, apparently through some permitted financial sleight-of-hand, NOVA Parks can issue a $3.5 million bond and partially reimburse itself for the work already done.

According to the board discussion, $1 million of the bond funds can then be spent where NOVA Parks likes. Friends of Upton Hill continues to call on NOVA Parks to re-invest any funds generated by the so-called “improvements” at Upton Hill in Upton Hill.

The park is in desperate need of a sustained and professional invasive removal effort. There are only a few employees and volunteers to maintain the park. A much better job of policing the park and picking up the trash and removing invasives needs to be done to offer a quality, naturalistic experience to those who visit its pleasant trails. $1 million plus the additional revenue from the climbing structure could go a long way towards fixing Upton Hill’s maintenance problems.

The Board congratulated itself on its environmental credentials and community engagement, describing how NOVA Parks is planting more replacement trees than required. But the Chair’s tone deafness to the project’s environmental costs only served to illustrate their lack of environmental consciousness. Alas, the Chair is one of Arlington County’s two representatives on NOVA Parks’ board.

As originally proposed, the project would have cut over 100 trees and placed a new parking lot and road right next to the RPA in the lower park. The board chair acknowledged that some citizens were opposed and so they moved the parking spots to Wilson Boulevard. Indeed, only Arlingtonians’ strenuous efforts saved the trees, including a number of significant mature ones, from the axe in the lower park to build this unneeded parking lot and road. But apparently the Chair would have been perfectly happy to cut them all down and pave over more of the park -- and right next to the RPA as well!

The Board spoke about the need to document what has been done at Upton Hill Park. Friends of Upton Hill agree, and we have been diligently documenting the tree cutting and continued stormwater runoff at Upton Hill that is further eroding the hillside and likely steadily ruining the sensitive woodland wetlands at the bottom of the hill in the northeast corner of the park – despite the couple of hundred thousand dollars spent on the new cistern. Moreover, we have been documenting for years the pervasive invasives and trash strewn around the park.

The board proudly discussed how a NOVA Parks strategic planning committee was the genesis of the idea that led to the Upton Hill project. Clearly there is need for more transparency and oversight of NOVA Parks if its strategic planning process leads to more paving and increased parking -- and less of a park!

FoUH

www.FriendsofUptonHill.org – with updates!

https://twitter.com/FriendsUH

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