Letter to the Editor, Mechanicsville Local

To the Editor, Mechanicsville Local:

The recent approval of the Giles Farm subdivision across the street from Atlee High School is yet another missed opportunity to establish a modest amount of publicly owned green space in our increasingly populated area of the county. When our county representatives are asked to consider large rezoning applications, I believe they should always look for chances to enhance quality of life in the surrounding area, strengthen community ties and protect property values in existing neighborhoods. Establishing public parks can help achieve these goals. Including them in development proposals can be done legally and morally by working with developers to reduce cash proffers or transfer the land to public ownership for fair prices. This approach respects the property rights of developers in balance with the property rights of current residents, many of whom have paid taxes and built the character of the community for decades. These people deserve better in their back yards than just a new enclave in which 445 homes physically turn their backs on the rest of the community while the new residents compete for seats in our schools and space on our roads.

The unique nature of public parks – as opposed to open spaces owned by homeowners associations – leads to numerous benefits that accrue community-wide. Studies show that they usually bring overall community tax rates down. This is because properties within a few blocks of the parks tend to have higher assessed values, more than offsetting the loss of taxes on the park lands and the maintenance costs of the parks. This is especially true if the parks are undeveloped or only minimally developed as “passive parks.” Volunteerism could also be used in service of new public parks – as it is already in service of existing public parks – to further decrease our tax rates.

Public parks promote exercise as a first line of defense against the obesity epidemic and the costly rise in chronic disease in our country. They serve as gathering spaces that help promote the social backbone of a healthy community. They can meet multiple purposes as buffers and connectors between old and new neighborhoods, walkable and bikeable links across the area, habitat preserves, sustainable natural filters to keep our water drinkable and our air breathable, and psychological refuges from the growing population densities in our area. They do not present complications for law enforcement, as do park spaces owned by private homeowner associations. They add to the intangible character of a community. They respond to citizen wishes. A survey conducted to inform a master plan update recently completed by the county’s Parks and Recreation department showed that citizens want open green space and more public parks, especially smaller decentralized parks that are easier to get to and use.. The plan noted that the county is significantly deficient in public parks. For more, see http://hanoversfuture.org/.

Those who believe that public parks represent a financial burden for taxpayers are misinformed. The few potential negative aspects of small public parks are far outweighed by the many positives, in my opinion. A new attitude in our county leadership regarding public parks would be welcome – hopefully very soon, before we have run out of opportunities in the Chickahominy District of the county.

Jim Ellis
9167 Odey Dr.
Mechanicsville VA 23116
804-263-8936