Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, July 11, 1993 TAG: 9307110069
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B5 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: OAKTON LENGTH: Medium
Young is owner and sole full-time employee of Timberlake Park, a private recreation area with swimming and fishing ponds and hiking trails.
Forty years ago, before well-heeled Fairfax County built recreation centers and big, new school pools, and before subdivisions started building their own pools, Timberlake Park was the only public swimming spot in Fairfax.
Young charged 50 cents a head, and the weekend crowds packed his sandy beaches and tumbled from his neatly constructed diving platform.
But while Fairfax County's population has exploded, nhe park's attendance has dropped from a high of about 5,000 per weekend to about 1,500 now. Taxes on the land are rising steadily and Young, although spry, says he's nearly ready to retire.
"I'm 82, and it's a lot of work. I wouldn't mind unloading it," he said.
He just doesn't want to see the park he's owned since 1937 carved into more suburban cul-de-sacs. For years, he's turned down developers who have wooed him with increasing amounts of cash.
"This is something I built. I'd rather not sell it to them."
Despite the slow home-building market in Northern Virginia, Young is sitting on a gold mine. His 100 acres of pretty, forested land is almost completely surrounded by tracts of large, expensive houses. The tracts have names like Vale Valley Estates, although the big houses are squeezed onto uniform plots of well-watered grass.
The private park features fishing holes and several miles of trails for hiking or pony rides. Young maintains it all, riding a tractor or surveying the fences in the company of a thin German shepherd.
The place is neatly kept, but on a recent broiling afternoon, just a few families sat on the banks, while two teen-agers roughhoused in the shallow water.
"I know they're getting ready to do something with this old place," said Mary Marten, who said her father used to bring her to the park when she was a child. On this day, Marten's 10-year-old daughter was swimming happily while her 6-year-old son rooted around in the sand.
"I certainly hope they don't have to sell it off. I would hate to see it changed," she said.
Most of Young's business now comes from companies and large groups who rent the park for picnics. He charges $10.75 a head for a day at the park and a big dinner of ribs, chicken, hot dogs and beans.
"There's income here. It has to run to pay the taxes," he said.
Young said he originally built the park for his three children, hoping to create for them the same kind of rural experience he had growing up on a Florida strawberry farm.
The gruff and outspoken Young, who takes a dim view of modern-day youth, keeps a strict eye on the teen-agers who visit the park now.
That means no loud music or overly revealing bathing suits.
"Common decency a must," the Timberlake flier notes.
Young would like to sell the park to Fairfax County, which also would like to buy it. The land would remain a park. But although Fairfax is the nation's richest county and already boasts impressive parks, there is no money in the budget to buy Timberlake, said Merni Fitzgerald, spokeswoman for the local park authority.
Young has had testy relations with county officials over the years and he says he's fed up with the current stalemate.
He won't wait forever. If the county doesn't come up with the money soon, Young said he probably will sell the park to one of the builders courting him.
Then, "I'll have one hell of a lot of fun. I haven't got much time left, so I better make the best of it."
by CNB