Park activists considering clearing forest

Some McIntire Park activists are entertaining the idea of clearing one of the park’s heavily wooded areas so it could be opened up for greater public access after the Meadowcreek Parkway is built.

Daniel Bluestone, a professor at the University of Virginia and a member of the Coalition to Preserve McIntire Park, said his proposal for the forest — located along the northwestern corner of the park’s eastern side — would be to turn it into two replacement golf course holes or use that land to duplicate the landscape that will be paved over by the parkway.

Charlottesville’s section of the 2-mile-long road will go through the park’s eastern side and, in the process, will separate two of the park’s golf course’s nine holes, making them unusable.

The pitch was discussed publicly last week during a meeting about the parkway’s terminus — an above-grade interchange that will sit at the U.S. 250 Bypass and McIntire Road.

“The character of that landscape should be compensated,” Bluestone said. The area between the golf course’s third and fourth holes, he said, “is one of the most beautiful parts of the park.”

Yet the idea, which would require the removal of several trees, is raising eyebrows. Just last month, as the City Council was considering the relocation of a sewer line to accommodate the Meadowcreek Parkway’s construction, Bluestone seemingly pushed for the opposite — he implored the city to plant vegetation along part of the new line because of its McIntire Park location.

“I don’t understand the logic of it, frankly,” Mayor Dave Norris said.

“I personally would be strongly opposed to knocking down trees to replace golf holes.”

Independent City Council candidate Bob Fenwick said he would prefer other mitigation ideas before trees were taken down to open up McIntire Park.

“That would not really be on my radar screen at this point,” he said.

Bluestone said doing either one of his alternatives would necessitate removing some trees, but most would be pines and the removal would not be drastic. Others, such as the oaks and tulip poplars in that part of the park, could stay, he said.

“This struck us as a good site to work on,” Bluestone said, adding, “People think this is a reasonable mitigation strategy.”

Jim Moore, who is involved with the Save McIntire Golf Committee, said “not one tree” would have to be taken away to preserve McIntire’s sand-green course.

“We’ve never suggested that,” Moore said of taking trees away for golf course holes.

Moore said an idea the committee had was to use roughly 8 acres of currently unused space in the park for the lost golf holes.

But, of the northwestern area, Moore said, “We wouldn’t be opposed to considering some of that.”

Park activists and officials agreed that all ideas or opinions are secondary, at this point, until the master planning for the park’s eastern section is completed.

“I’m always hesitant to cut down trees, but I do feel that should become part of the park that is used by people,” said John Cruickshank, head of the Piedmont Group of the Sierra Club and an ardent McIntire Park preservationist.

Bluestone said that part of the park could be made available to walkers or drivers from Melbourne Road.

While Cruickshank said the public should make the final decision about what happens to that section of the park — and he does not know how it would be used — he said that access to the northwestern area should be improved.

“That’s true of the entire park,” Cruickshank said.