Lack of money keeps Silver Lake from expanding operations

A lack of new money coming in to the Park Authority from the Prince William County is keeping the Park Authority from expanding operations at Silver Lake in Haymarket.

"There's no additional money in the general fund" for it, said Park Authority spokeswoman Dianne Cabot.

Silver Lake is operating at a minimal level currently, with patrons allowed to participate in basic passive recreational activities, according to Cabot. That includes, picnicking, cooking, fishing, hiking and other like ventures at the park that is open from dawn to dusk.

What is missing, however, is an infusion of cash that will allow some of the special interest groups that have spoken out about allowing more activities there to have their way. Previously, area diving enthusiasts asked Park Authority board members to consider opening the 9-acre water quarry to open to them.

The Park Authority does not have an operating budget or full-time staff beside security for Silver Lake, according to Cabot, because "our commitment to the community was to open this park as soon as possible." Future plans for the park would have to be funded through "revenue operations, such as day camps or overnight camping fees," she said. Park Authority staffers currently rotate shifts between Silver Lake and other sites.

In lieu of county money, "We are trying to fund all improvements through volunteer efforts at this time, with the exception of inspection work required for the dam," said Cabot. Restroom, camp building and picnic-area improvements are funded by proffer money, she added, while trails "are being improved through volunteer efforts with local community and interested groups" like Boy Scouts and the Nokesville Horse Society.

The Park Authority's at-large board member Lori Bauckman-Moore listed the priority funding items for Silver Lake as maintenance -- such as grass cutting -- and security.

"(You) can't sit and go fishing if you're in 10 feet of weeds," she said.

Moore explained that given the park's designed as a passive recreational use area, the fact that county money is being steered toward other services first, such as fire and rescue, is not necessarily a bad thing for Silver Lake; it just means Park Authority board members and citizens alike are going to have to show patience waiting for more money to come into the county's coffers.

In the mean time, she encouraged the public sector to step forward with partnership ideas that the Park Authority could consider, as did Cabot.

"If a group from the outside got together and said we would like to do X-Y-Z project with you... that is something (the board) would consider and talk about," said Cabot.

"We're low man on the totem pole," said Bauckman-Moore, referring to the Park Authority receiving funding. "We're way down there... there's other things that have to come first."

She added that as long as the fields and other areas at Silver Lake could be consistently maintained, that would keep the county from spending "silly money" later in having to pay for major overhauls.

"I think we're fine where it is right now. We are very happy to have been given that property," said Bauckman-Moore. "There are other directions we could have gone in."

One such direction would have been to have the Bull Run Mountain Conservancy run the park. The non-profit group competed with the Park Authority for years in trying to earn the right to manage and maintain Silver Lake, arguing along the way that operational costs would be a drain on the county's coffers if the Park Authority won control.

The BRMC eventually withdrew its bid, becoming the second group to do so after the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority outright lost any chance it had running Silver Lake, which finally re-opened last October.

Since then, members of the Prince William Conservation Alliance charged that the Park Authority was not hiring conservation experts to determine whether ecologically sensitive areas were being considered when building structures and trails.

Bauckman-Moore said one item that she said would need more funding is bringing in more programs to Silver Lake, such as allowing summer camps along with Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts to camp there too. As a local Girl Scouts leader, Bauckman-Moore said that "right now, we're going up to Maryland and going down to Stafford (because) there's nothing in Prince William County except for Forest Park."

That said, she still stressed that keeping Silver Lake in its present state does have its benefits.

A park "doesn't always have to have a ball field on it," she said.