Trail Wanted in Expanding Park

NORTH STAFFORD, Va. — A total of 136 new parking spaces will be added at Smith Lake Park, which is the home to five heavily used soccer fields. With the new parking spaces, all five soccer fields will be able to be used simultaneously for the first time.

Work on the $547,000 project, which also includes a new maintenance facility that will include a “modest” equipment shop with two vehicle bays that can be used to load trucks with salt and sand for snow removal operations, should be complete next spring. Officials said working on the project during the winter months will have the least impact on park visitors.

Officials are also looking at adding a new trail connecting the newly built Woodstream residential neighborhood to Smith Lake Park. According to county documents, representatives from the new subdivision, Stafford County Griffis-Widewater Supervisor Jack Cavalier, and former Stafford County Parks Director Christopher Hoppe walked a proposed alignment for a trail that follows a sewer line along Aquia Creek, according to county documents.

While the path for the would-be trail is flat and conducive for walking, Woodstream developer Brookfield Homes placed a portion of the trail alignment into a conservation easement. Now, with resource protection area rules in effect for the tract of land, which means surface trails are OK concrete, asphalt, or other building materials could not be used to construct the trail unless county officials allow changes to the conservation easement.

County documents state many residents envision using strollers and bicycles on the trail, which would require an asphalt surface.

Stafford County receives much of its drinking water from Smith Lake and Able Lake in the center portion of the county. Combined, the two lakes produce 13.8 million gallons of water per day.