Update on HOA Common Area Maintenance

Post date: May 28, 2024, 9:48 AM

During the HOA Board’s work to bring on a new landscaping company to maintain our HOA common area, we came to learn that most of the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) land that runs throughout our neighborhood is designated as a Resource Protection Area (RPA), which are regulated corridors of environmentally sensitive land that lie near streams, rivers and other waterways that drain into the Potomac River, and eventually into the Chesapeake Bay.  In their natural state, RPAs protect water quality, filter pollutants from (and reduce the volume of) stormwater runoff, prevent erosion, and perform other important biological and ecological functions.

These RPAs are strictly regulated, and the FCPA has informed us that the RPA on their parkland is not permitted to be mowed, either by the HOA or by anyone else in our community.  According to the Fairfax County RPA website (https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/landdevelopment/faqs-resource-protection-areas), violators will be required to restore the RPA to its natural state, and may be subject to civil penalties of up to $5000 per day of violation.

For reference, attached below is a map of our HOA neighborhood that shows where the RPA (crosshatch pattern) overlaps FCPA parkland (shaded green), as well as some portions of our individual homeowner lots.  Since our HOA existed before the RPA was designated in 2003, existing structures and uses on our homeowner property (including lawns, gardens, and other maintained landscaping) may remain and continue to be maintained.  However, the parkland RPA areas must be left in their natural state.

What the HOA is allowed to maintain are the VDOT Right-of-Way (ROW) areas that run from our roads up to where they abut the RPA.  These ROW areas are defined as the space between the roads and the outside edges of the drainage ditches that run along those roads.

So moving forward, the community can expect that the long runs on the wooded sides of Winslow Drive will not be maintained, nor will the larger areas on Barsky Court on either side of the creek, nor the open area across from 6219 Winslow Court, except for the VDOT ROW space that runs along the roads that abut those RPA areas.  Those parkland RPA areas are all intended to go back to their natural state.