Sports fans prep plans for new area parks

To some, a park means a peaceful place to explore nature. To others, it means a place for recreation.

A couple of local sports groups are hoping that Albemarle’s two newest parks have room for both. The Blue Ridge Disc Golf Club and Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club are putting together plans for their sports at the county’s new nature parks.

Disc golf player and course coordinator David Mack lives a mile from the future Preddy Creek Park on Burnley Station Road. He said his group is interested in building an 18-hole disc golf course on about 35 acres of the Albemarle park.

“We have been working with folks in the city to get something at McIntire Park, but with all of the expansion up north, we’ve been looking elsewhere,” Mack said. “Generally, you need a fair amount of land for a course.”

Will Sanford, president of the bicycle club, said his group has a conceptual plan to make the trails at both Preddy Creek and the Patricia Ann Byrom Forest Preserve Park accessible for walking, hiking and biking. The club has been looking for more space after it lost access to 30 miles of trail on private property in late 2006.

“We saw Albemarle County had 500-plus acres, and so we thought let’s see what we can do with it,” Sanford said. “We have been involved ever since.”

The 571-acre Preddy Creek Park and the 600-acre Forest Preserve Park will have plenty of space to spare. Pat Mullaney, the director of the county’s parks and recreation department, said the county only plans to create an entrance and a parking area at the new parks and fix up their trails.

“These really are going to be trail parks,” Mullaney said. “Later on down the road, you may see some things like picnic shelters, but in the initial phases, this is it.”

The parks are supposed to meet increased demand among Albemarle residents. Mullaney said a 2004 assessment showed that 63 percent of county residents wanted more natural areas and trails. In July, the county’s Board of Supervisors voted to make the two properties into parks, which are expected to open to the public in late 2009.

Albemarle bought the Preddy Creek property in 1969 as a potential water supply, Mullaney said. After a county study showed it would yield a paltry 3 million gallons a day, the plans were scrapped and the land remained empty. The property is mostly wooded, and parts of it are actually in Greene and Orange counties.

Robert Byrom donated the other property to the county in 2004 in honor of his wife. The property, which is located along Route 810 between Brown’s Cove and Boonsville, is heavily wooded and mountainous. Mullaney said a small portion abuts the Shenandoah National Park.

Trails at both parks will permit hiking, biking and equestrian activities. Sanford said his club is looking forward to blazing new paths to replace some of the unsustainable trails that already exist.

“We’re willing to build every linear foot of trail,” Sanford said. “The cost to the county is going to be $0.”

As for the disc golf club, Mack said the 57-member group would need to purchase baskets for the holes and possibly make some small terrain changes to add difficulty to the game. He expects it would cost about $10,000 to build the course, much of which could be paid for with hole sponsorships and club funds.

Mullaney said the county has had an ongoing relationship with both the disc golf and mountain biking clubs through the bike club’s trail work and the disc golf club’s space at Albemarle’s Walnut Creek Park.

Two activities that won’t be allowed at the new parks are ATV riding and hunting. Mullaney said Preddy Creek Park has some ATV trails and the mountainside Byrom park has forest roads that may have been used for hunting access.