A Reston soccer club will add fencing at Lake Fairfax Park with some financial help from Fairfax County.
During its meeting on Sept. 25, the Fairfax County Park Authority board approved $20,000 in matching funds to install fences around the rectangular fields 1 and 4 at the park (1400 Lake Fairfax Drive).
The grant was requested by Great Falls Reston Soccer Club, which will install the fencing with an approved county contractor and provide the majority of funding — $46,024 — needed to complete the $66,000 project.
According to a summary from FCPA staff, the fencing is needed to contain balls within the field of play. Field 1 will have both ends and one side enclosed, while field 4 will just have fencing along its ends.
“Currently, soccer balls often roll downhill upon leaving the field,” staff wrote. “The lack of fencing has created safety issues ranging from balls interfering with vehicular traffic on the adjacent park road, close calls when players attempt to retrieve balls entering the roadway, and balls disappearing into vegetative areas where they are difficult to retrieve and are thus abandoned.”
The county funding comes from the Mastenbrook Volunteer Matching Fund Grant Program, which allows public-private partnerships to improve the county’s parks and park facilities.
The program aims to fill gaps between limited bond funding and community requests. Since it was founded in 1999, the program has awarded roughly $2.2 million in grants, which are capped at $20,000.
FCPA staff noted that the Great Falls Reston Soccer Club previously secured Mastenbrook grants to fund improvements at Great Falls Nike Park, one of three parks where the youth soccer organization has adopted fields. The other two are Baron Cameron Park and Grand Hamptons Park in the Herndon area.
“Over the years they have contributed funds towards maintenance and improvements at many park and school athletic fields,” the park authority staff said in its summary for the board. “…Their partnership has been further exemplified through their work on enforcement of field standards and installation of recycling stations at parks.”
The project at Lake Fairfax Park is expected to wrap up this fall.
