May 2012 - Parks & Recreation - 24

Who, What, Where & hoW around the Parks

aDvoCaCY

Janet Clarke
A local elected oﬃcial pushes competing park supporters to ﬁnd common ground
''Visitors are impressed by all the open space we have here, " says Janet Clarke, vice chair of the Loudoun County (Virginia) Board of Supervisors. " But they don't always realize that most of what they are seeing
is privately owned. "
Clarke watched
the formerly rural,
Washington, D.C.
ex u rba n cou nt y
nearly double in
popu lation, from
169,000 in 2000 to
312,000 i n 2010.
The mother of three and longtime community activist decided to run for office
in 2011 partly because of her concerns
about land-use and planning challenges
in her county. She now sits on the Transportation and Land Use Committee-and
she describes a situation where the relative scarcity of public lands is pitting environmentally minded passive-use park
proponents against those clamoring for
more playing fields and active-use parkland. This is an understandable, Clarke
says, since the explosive growth in the
county has simultaneously encroached
on natural habitats while creating a staggering 200-plus deficit of playing fields.
" I don't think it's quite accurate to say
we're trying for 'win-win solutions' here, "
she says. " We'll have to have compromises on both sides....But, ideally, the passive-use and active-use camps can work
together, since both sides recognize the
need for more public land. " Clarke sees
her role as one of proposing creative solutions (such as strategic investment in
turf fields in some locations and an openspace land program incentivizing private landowners to allow public uses of
their land), and challenging land acquisition plans that fail to offer possibilities for
combined use. She describes, for example, a 154-acre centrally located parcel of

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Parks & Recreation   M A Y

Passive-use propoland recently acquired by
Passive-use
nents have much to
the county and earmarked
proponents have
teach all park supfor passive-use recreation.
much to teach all
porters about advoca " I was told the topogcy and environmental
raphy just wasn't right for
park supporters
responsibility, she reathletic fields, " she says.
about advocacy
flects. And, likewise,
" So I sought out the opinand environmental fa m i l ies who wa nt
ion of an outside expert,
playing fields for their
who believed at least one
responsibility
kids should take time
field could be part of the
from busy schedules
plan for that topography
and that amount of acreage....and we are to communicate publicly how ball fields
exploring that. " The main point, she says, and organized sports benefit youth and
is not that either type of use is more impor- enrich communities. And ultimately,
tant than another, but that " doing what's Clarke adds, " if you want to bring more
best for the whole [population] should de- people to natural areas, what better way
than to allocate space for fields? "
termine how we plan our parks. "
The key to this sort of cooperation is
-Interview by Maureen Hannan,
open public dialogue, Clarke believes.
Senior Editor, Parks & Recreation

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