Better integrating parks with surrounding land uses (neighborhoods and employment centers) and increasing park-to-park connections within the system will allow for greater access and enjoyment. Strategy suggestions include adding trails, trail connections, bridges and other forms of improved access to and between parks.

Map 3 illustrates existing and planned connections and points of interest within the Lincolnia Planning District. The map depicts high-level, conceptual connections and incorporates elements from the adopted Countywide Trails Plan and Park Authority Trail Strategy Plan. Connections link natural and cultural resources and recreational destinations, supporting recreational activity and frequently offer alternative transportation options.

Issue: The Park Authority should work to improve non-motorized access to parks from commercial and residential areas and to increase connectivity between park sites.

Three stream valley trail corridors within the Lincolnia district are identified on the County Comprehensive Trail Plan for off-road trail locations. These are along the Indian Run, Turkeycock Run, and Backlick Run. Only portions of the Turkeycock Run Stream Valley trail have been constructed by the Park Authority.

The interstate transportation system which runs within this area precludes the development of some pedestrian connections. I-395 separates the Lincolnia and Bren Mar Park Community Planning Sectors. I-495 separates the Lincolnia Planning District from the Springfield Planning District. The parks south of I-395 should seek to be better integrated with the City of Alexandria trail system. The City of Alexandria has a trail system that provides possible linkage points for Fairfax County trails to connect with City of Alexandria trails.

Strategies:
L-C-1  Use criteria provided in the Park Authority's Trail Strategy Plan to evaluate potential new trails, connections and improvements;
L-C-2  Construct a trail connection to link Mason District Park and Green Spring Gardens;
L-C-3.  Coordinate with City of Alexandria to integrate Park Authority and City of Alexandria trail systems. Specifically the Backlick Run Stream Valley Trail and the South County East-West Trail This would facilitate connections within the areas south of I-395 towards the trail system within the City of Alexandria; and
L-C-4.  The Park Authority should work with other county and transportation staff to develop the Turkeycock Run stream valley trail system north of I-395. This trail system would integrate the parks and residential communities in the Lincolnia Planning District and Pinecrest Community Planning Sector and orient the trail systems towards the Annandale Planning District.

Issue: Multiple, separate park sites located across Fairfax County should be linked through thematic interpretive connections.

Thematic connections, emphasized through elements such as signage, maps, or website information, can foster greater public awareness of important features. Increased knowledge of site features could encourage greater support for stewardship and management activities.

Strategies:
L-C-5.  Consider establishing a gardening interpretive theme including Green Spring Gardens and other horticultural parks; and
L-C-6.  Include Joseph F. Barnes Battery Park as part of a Civil War thematic trail.

Map 3: Non-motorized Connections and Points of Interest in the Lincolnia District

Issue: Park facilities should be served by the public transportation system to provide access to recreational facilities.

All of the parks in Lincolnia are within a quarter-mile of existing Metrobus and Fairfax Connector routes. While it may appear that all of the parks in the district are currently well served by public transportation, they are not, due to stop locations and transit schedules.

Transit stops may be located farther away from parks than a quarter-mile, or across busy streets where safe crossing may be an issue. While there is some limited weekend transit service, the majority of the transit in the area is to support morning and evening commuting with flows to and from the Metro stations being a primary goal. Transit supporting commuting times and patterns do not necessarily serve park users who wish to use transit to get to parks.

Strategies:
L-C-7.  Work with the Department of Transportation to improve bus transit service to parks in the Lincolnia Planning District, especially Green Spring Gardens and Pincecrest Golf Course, by coordinating bus stop locations and transit schedules with park users' needs; and
L-C-8.  Promote the establishment of crosswalks at bus stop locations to facilitate safe pedestrian crossings and better access to parks.

Issue: The Park Authority should work to improve access to waterways and promote the use of "water trails" throughout the County.

Since there are no navigable waterways in the district, no district- or park-specific strategies exist for this issue in the Lincolnia Planning District.

Local parks are places where people can interact and build community. Well-designed and located parks, park facilities and programs support greater social interaction. Community-building park facilities and activities include reservable picnic areas, amphitheaters, dog parks, garden plots, farmers markets, performances and special events. Collocation of facilities with other community uses can also assist in strengthening communities. Strategy suggestions include ways to increase the community-building role of local parks in residential neighborhoods and providing parks and recreation facilities near other civic uses.

Issue: Local and urban parks should include a combination of facilities, amenities and gathering spaces to attract and promote social interaction among community members.

A few parks in the Lincolnia Planning District provide community building facilities that help to promote social interaction. Green Spring Gardens Horticultural Center hosts educational programs and serves to bring together garden enthusiasts from across the region. A picnic shelter and picnic area is available at Lincolnia Park. Picnic tables and a small picnic shelter are also available at Bren Mar Park. There are no off-leash dog areas in the parks in the Lincolnia district. Outdoor community spaces for people and dogs are needed to provide casual leisure opportunities and to build community.

Strategies:
L-CB-1.  Explore possibilities for providing a neighborhood-scale off-leash dog area, possibly at Bren Mar Park;
L-CB-2.  Consider developing reservable picnic shelters and other community gathering spaces; and
L-CB-3.  Continue, enhance and expand community functions at Green Spring Gardens.

Issue: Parks should be collocated with other civic uses (libraries, community centers, senior centers, etc.) to promote social interaction among community members.

There are no public facilities adjacent to or within immediate proximity to the parks in the district. No district or park-specific strategies exist for this issue in the Lincolnia Planning District.

The Park Authority provides quality facilities that are well used, but may not be equitably distributed across all parts of the County or accessible to all groups. Countywide and specialty facilities, in particular, may not serve a true county-wide service area. Residents desire recreational facilities and opportunities at parks near where they live and for all age groups and socio-economic populations. Strategy suggestions include creating more facilities, better distributing facilities across the County, and reducing barriers to use.

Service level standards for over twenty park facility types were established through the 2004 Needs Assessment process and incorporated into the Countywide Policy Plan in 2005. Facility standards are countywide goals for providing park and recreation facilities that reasonably satisfy community needs. Standards are expressed in units per population, and are based on extensive analysis of citizen demand and preferences compared with the existing public facility inventories. Based on the Countywide adopted facility service level standards and projected population growth, Table 2 shows the projected surplus or deficit of several key local serving facilities in the Lincolnia Planning District for the year 2020. While overall facility needs are quantified in Table 2, the location of needed facilities is determined through the site specific master planning process that considers site conditions, context, resources, and community input. For more detailed information on existing facilities in each park and service levels, please see the Existing Conditions Report.

Table 2: Lincolnia Planning District 2020 Facility Needs Analysis

+ 60 ft and 65 ft diamond fields are assigned to the sport where primarily allocated.

Issue: The Park Authority should provide and equitably distribute facilities to meet established facility service level standards.

Lincolnia is projected to have a surplus only in adult baseball fields, and is projected to have deficiencies in all other facility types.

The district lies within the service areas of Mason District Park and Lee District Park. These are large District parks which provide a large number of fields and recreational amenities and appropriately serve a variety of recreation needs of the area. The Lincolnia district is also served by Wakefield Park, a countywide facility.

Strategies:
L-SD-1.  Consider constructing tennis and multi-use courts planned at Bren Mar Park; and
L-SD-2.  Seek opportunities to provide recreation facilities through non-profit organizations and private partnerships and improve the poor service delivery in Lincolnia district.

Issue: The Park Authority should provide new kinds of parks and facilities and new ways to meet the needs of the County's changing population.

No district or park-specific strategies exist for this issue in the Lincolnia Planning District.

Issue: The Park Authority should re-examine park master plans to determine if parks are planned to best serve the needs of Fairfax County residents.

Most of the parks in Lincolnia have existing master plans. While most of these master plans are over 20 years old, the majority have been planned with facilities that would continue to support adjacent residential uses and offer the opportunity to expand local park usage where not built out.

Strategies:
L-SD-3.  Update the Master Plan for Green Spring Gardens to include additional lands that have been acquired, recent facility and site improvements, and to consider expanding the horticultural center; and
L-SD-4.  Evaluate Master Plan for Bren Mar Park to determine if planned facilities should be relocated and new facilities added.

The Park Authority has a diversity of facilities and resources in various lifecycle stages. Funding and schedules for replacement or reinvestment are inconsistent and adding new facilities has sometimes taken precedence over renewal of existing facilities. Strategy suggestions include repairing, replacing, upgrading, and improving utilization of existing facilities and equipment.

Issue: Repair, replacement, and upgrading of existing park facilities should be addressed through a system-wide lifecycle replacement program that takes into account changing facility needs.

Many of the facilities located at Green Spring Gardens and Pinecrest Golf Course have exceeded their life-cycle. Visitation and facility use exceeds the capacity for which these parks were initially designed.

Strategies:
L-FR-1.  Reconstruct the upper and lower dams at Pinecrest Golf Course and replace the existing in-ground irrigation system to reduce water loss and downtime due to deteriorated pipes; and
L-FR-2.  Replace cart paths at Pinecrest Golf Course.

Issue: Parking standards and levels of service should reflect user patterns to minimize impacts on surrounding neighborhoods.

Due to the dense residential nature of the district, there can be parking conflicts between local residents and park users arriving by automobile. Additional parking at Green Spring Gardens is needed to facilitate expansion of programs and offerings.

Strategies:
L-FR-3.  Consider expanding parking at Green Spring Gardens Park.

Additional parkland is needed to protect and buffer natural areas and historic sites and to provide room to develop new recreational facilities. Strategy suggestions include ways to continue to add appropriate land to the Park Authority's land holdings to expand the park system.

Service level standards for both local and district/countywide parkland were established through the 2004 Needs Assessment and incorporated into the Countywide Policy Plan in 2005. Parkland standards represent countywide goals for providing land for the two types of parks (Local and District/Countywide) that support service delivery and facility development and are expressed in units per population. Local parks include both suburban and urban park types. Resource-based parks occur where resources are located and therefore do not require quantitative service level standards. Please refer to the Park Classification discussion earlier in this chapter for additional information on park classification descriptions.

Based on adopted service level standards and projected population growth, Table 3 shows the projected surplus or deficit of parkland in the Lincolnia Planning District for the year 2020.

Table 3: Lincolnia Planning District 2020 Park Land Needs Analysis

+ The District and Countywide Parks that serve this Planning District may be located outside the Planning District and this outlying acreage is not reflected in this table.
* There is no service level standard for Resource-Based parkland. The amount of resource based parkland owned and/or protected is based on the existence and sensitivity of the resources.

Issue: Parkland for recreation should be provided according to adopted service level standards and distributed equitably throughout the County.

Due to the existing dense development within Lincolnia, there are few opportunities to acquire land suitable for park facilities. Most of the natural and cultural areas have been developed or are impinged by existing development. Therefore the most likely source of new parkland to address the service level deficiencies will come from infill development and redevelopment within commercial areas or from outside the Lincolnia district.

Strategies:
L-LA-1.  Seek to create additional local serving parks with infill development and redevelopment.

Issue: Urban parks should be provided in higher density/mixed use areas of the County (i.e. Tysons Corner, Transit Station Areas, Commercial Revitalization Districts).

No district or park-specific strategies exist for this issue in the Lincolnia Planning District.

Issue: Property acquisition is important for protecting historic resources in Fairfax County and ensuring their preservation for future generations.

No district or park-specific strategies exist for this issue in the Lincolnia Planning District.

Issue: Property acquisition is an important strategy for protecting natural resources in Fairfax County and ensuring open and natural areas for future generations.

Strategies:
L-LA-2.  Seek to acquire and/or protect through purchase, donation, development dedications, or conservation easements remaining natural areas in the district, especially large tracts connecting to other natural areas and those containing unique or significant natural resources;
L-LA-3.  Continue to acquire and/or protect through purchase, donation, development dedications, or conservation easements property within the Backlick, Turkeycock Run, and Indian run stream valleys, in accordance with the stream valley policy; and
L-LA-4.  Seek opportunities to protect additional land adjacent to Green Spring Gardens in order to protect the park and its waterways from threats from encroachment and invasive plants.

Residents may not be aware of or understand the importance of the vast number of natural and cultural resources the Park Authority holds in public trust. Strategy suggestions include developing a comprehensive interpretive plan, adding to the existing interpretive facilities, signs, and programs. Roadway and trail waysides permit park visitors opportunities to stop and view interpretive signage.

Issue: The full range of natural and cultural resources within Fairfax County should be interpreted through facilities as needed.

When compared to other planning districts, parkland within the Lincolnia District has limited natural resources. These resources are primarily related to the water resources and the protection associated with the large continuous forested area of the Turkeycock Run and Indian Run Stream Valley parks. These parks comprise the majority of the natural resources in the district.

Green Spring Gardens contains over 32 acres of natural and cultural gardens, a National Register listed historic house, two historic cemeteries, two ponds and several thousand feet of stream valley. This park demonstrates the Park Authority's best efforts for park development of both resource and leisure needs in an urban area.

The Lincolnia Planning District has many important cultural resources. In addition to the historic resources at Green Spring, the most important of these are Civil War features, a number of 18th through 20th century domestic sites, and many Native American sites. These Native American sites exist in abundance in the undeveloped portions of the park lands. Historic sites in county parks in the district reflect different phases of the architectural and agrarian history of Fairfax County during the 18th, 19th, and 20th centuries and provide opportunities to interpret the evolution of Fairfax County from colony through the Revolution, Civil War and into the period of the New Nation.

Strategies:
L-RI-1.  Construct appropriate cultural resource signage and facilities at Joseph F. Barnes Battery Park, Indian Run Stream Valley Park, and Turkeycock Run Stream Valley Park; and
L-RI-2.  Consider providing outdoor classroom space at Green Spring Gardens to enhance opportunities for interpretation and education.

Many factors threaten the health, protection and viability of natural and cultural resources on county parkland. Strategy suggestions include focusing on managing threats and actively managing existing natural and cultural resources consistent with guidance provided in the countywide Cultural Resource Management Plan and Natural Resource Management Plan.

Cultural Resources

Issue: Historic structures should be stabilized, repaired, renovated and/or restored to ensure their preservation and availability for public viewing and interpretation.

Some of the important historic resources in the district are the Moss House at Green Spring Gardens and the Joseph F. Barnes Battery.

Strategies:
L-CR-1.  Evaluate Joseph F. Barnes Battery Park to determine if a Resource Management Plan should be developed in order to prevent degradation of its cultural resources.

Issue: New, expanded and upgraded facilities are needed to house artifact collections to ensure their preservation for future generations.

No district- or park-specific strategies exist for this issue in the Lincolnia Planning District. This is an issue of countywide concern that should be addressed with centralized facilities.

Issue: Cultural Resources should be identified and evaluated prior to any proposed construction activity.

Strategies:
L-CR-2.  For any site subject to proposed construction activity, a preliminary assessment of the property will be carried out using GIS and pedestrian reconnaissance. Should potential resources be present, a cultural resource survey will be conducted and mitigation measures will be developed, as necessary.

Issue: Impacts to National Register eligible cultural resources should be avoided where at all feasible. If impacts cannot be avoided mitigation level documentation or data recovery should occur.

Strategies:
L-CR-3.  Document and record buildings and structures using Historic American Buildings/Historic American Engineering methods (research, measured drawings and archival photographs) and conduct data recovery excavations for archaeological sites, as appropriate.

The natural areas of the district are extremely fragmented, with significant portions of edge and few large tracts remaining. Most of the natural areas are concentrated in the low-lying lands since many of the uplands have been converted to built features. Transportation and utility corridors and other easements crisscross natural areas, often resulting in less than ideal management practices. Neighborhoods are built too close to existing corridors for movement of animal and plant species. This also has the effect of increasing citizen/wildlife conflict and limiting natural migration in these corridors. Habitat for many animal species has been significantly impacted through disruption or conversion by humans, over-browsing by deer and loss of habitat diversity in areas affected by invasive plant species.

Issue: Natural habitats and the wildlife they support are disappearing and are fragmented.

Strategies:
L-NR-1.  Protect and improve existing corridors, linkages and watersheds;
L-NR-2.  Provide new linkages between remaining public and private natural areas;
L-NR-3.  Manage utility corridors and other easements consistent with natural resource goals, not just utility service goals; and
L-NR-4.  Designate permanent resource protection zones on parkland that define appropriate uses and development.

Issue: Water resources and stream valleys are degraded due to development and associated stormwater runoff.

Strategies:
L-NR-5.  Work with the Department of Public Works and Environmental Services (DPWES), City of Alexandria and private land owners to capture and treat stormwater. This could take the form of incorporating Low Impact Development (LID) methods on residential and commercial lots and renovation of larger properties to provide new or enhanced stormwater facilities such as has been done at Green Spring Gardens;
L-NR-6.  Encourage private property owners to adopt wildlife and water friendly landscaping practices to improve water quality and habitat with continuing education opportunities at Green Spring Park; and
L-NR-7.  Develop a long term solution for the dam area within Pinecrest Golf Course.

Issue: The Park Authority does not have an adequate inventory of natural resources on parkland.

Strategies:
L-NR-8.  Direct development of park infrastructure to areas that, when inventoried, reflect few or poor quality natural resources, unless otherwise incompatible;
L-NR-9.  Ensure that natural resources are assessed prior to any park development. Use design principles that minimize natural resource impacts and include monitoring and restoration of impacted natural areas as part of development plans; and
L-NR-10.  Conduct natural resource inventories and develop and implement natural resource management plans for natural areas, including the wetlands within Backlick Run, Turkeycock Run and Indian Run stream corridors and the wetlands associated with the Magnolia Bog located within Green Spring Gardens.

Issue: Non-native invasive plants are threatening natural resources by reducing the diversity of native species and impacting wildlife habitat.

The extremely fragmented nature of the natural areas in the district coupled with small park size and high levels of human disturbance have generally resulted in degraded natural areas with high occurrences of invasive plant species within parks. Due to the mature nature of the urban and residential development in the Lincolnia area, invasive plant species are well established and often cover large percentages of vegetated areas.

Strategies:
L-NR-11.  Educate citizens on the problems associated with invasive plant species. Work with them to eliminate or limit invasives on private property near parks and to prevent new introductions of invasive species; and
L-NR-12.  Expand non-native invasive plant management and habitat restoration on parkland by implementing the Non-Native Invasive Plant Prioritization Plan and Assessment.

Issue: The County has a goal to expand tree canopy. The Park Authority should contribute to this goal wherever possible by ensuring existing forested areas are sustainable and expanding canopy where possible.

Strategies:
L-NR-13.  Ensure sustainability of tree canopy on parkland by developing and implementing management plans and controlling threats such as non-native invasive plants and deer herbivory;
L-NR-14.  Encourage tree planting and natural landscaping techniques on private land;
L-NR-15.  Incorporate natural landscaping techniques on parkland, avoid tree loss from development and where possible increase tree canopy including at Green Spring Gardens, Turkeycock Stream Valley, and Backlick Park; and
L-NR-16.  Designate permanent resource protection zones on parkland that define appropriate uses and development.

Issue: The Park Authority should utilize innovative practices in construction of recreational facilities and buildings to minimize impacts to the environment and demonstrate stewardship.

Strategies:
L-NR-17.  Continue to support the Green Building techniques utilized in the development of the horticultural center at Green Spring Gardens.