Years of uncertainty over the fate of some resource-rich yet flood-prone property have seemingly come to a conclusion with Fairfax County’s recent acquisition of three parcels of land at 8800 Richmond Highway in the Mount Vernon District. The county will be restoring and protecting the eight acres of land just south of Sacramento Center and Woodlawn as part of an estimated $4 million project.
Owned by a local family for many decades, the property was considered for development on several occasions over the past eight years but met opposition from environmental groups. The land in question is located across next to Dogue Creek — in a flood plain and resource protection area.
Betsy Martin, president of the board of the Friends of Little Hunting Creek, recalled engaging in activism when a homebuilder’s development proposal came before the Mount Vernon Council of Citizens’ Associations back in 2018. Martin did research, wrote letters, interviewed residents and presented testimony opposing a related Comprehensive Plan Amendment that was introduced at a Fairfax County Planning Commission public meeting. The Planning Commission deferred a decision, and the developer’s rezoning application and proposed amendment were not brought before it again.
At the time, the issue was divisive within the community, according to Martin. “I’m just really glad it’s worked out, and the property is to be preserved,” she told Mount Vernon On the MoVe.
Early last year, Fairfax County secured a $2.8 million Community Flood Preparedness Fund grant from Virginia’s Department of Conservation and Recreation, according to JoAnne Fiebe, senior revitalization program manager with Fairfax County. The grant, which enabled the county to voluntarily acquire the flood-prone property for restoration and transition into a permanent conservation easement, was matched by $1.2 million in county funding from the Stormwater Services fund for Emergency and Flood Response Projects.
County officials met with the owner of the parcels to discuss the environmental challenges at the site and offered to purchase the property. Online records show the county made the acquisition for $3.25 million at the end of January 2025. The property was assessed at just over $820,000 this tax year.
Mount Vernon District Supervisor Dan Storck praised the county’s recent acquisition.
“As part of our revitalization efforts and with its location adjacent to Dogue Creek, the county’s purchase presents a unique opportunity to transform this long-standing eyesore,” said Storck in a county news story. “While it sits in a floodplain and resource protection area, it also has significant runoff and impervious surfaces. Preserving these environmentally sensitive lands, removing blight from the corridor and creating the opportunity to open access to the beautiful Dogue Creek and potential future park land is a huge win for our residents.”
The county’s Department of Public Works and Environmental Services, Department of Planning and Development, Department of Transportation and the Fairfax County Park Authority are collaborating on the restoration work, which will include removing buildings and other impervious surfaces, restoring natural stream buffer, removing invasive species and planting native plants. The restoration work will take place over the course of the next year.
Fiebe is optimistic about the prospects for the property.
“Ideally, 8800 Richmond Highway will become an extension of Pole Road Park which could provide opportunities for improved public access,” she said. “However, there are a number of steps that need to occur before any decisions about the land are finalized.”
Pole Road Park, located behind the county’s newly acquired property, is comprised of around 48 acres of wetland and marsh, which are currently largely inaccessible to the general public. The Jackson Abbott Wetland Refuge off Pole Road and Huntley Meadows Park are immediately north of that. According to information from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries shared by Martin, over 700 wildlife species are found — or likely to be found — within three miles of 8800 Richmond Highway.
Published with permission from Mount Vernon on the Move.
