Silver Lake

Silver Lake Regional Park -The Park Authority’s Newest Passive Recreation Facility

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On June 30th, the Prince William County Board of Supervisors approved the transfer of a 230 acre land parcel to the Park Authority. This parcel is known as Silver Lake. The property was previously operated as a privately owned camping and fishing facility. The campground was sold to Toll Brothers several years ago to accommodate residential development. It had been closed to the public prior to being sold. During the development process, Toll Brothers and the County negotiated a sizable parcel of land that included the lake property to be transferred to the County as a proffer. Consequently, the property was divided to accommodate a future school site and a 45+ acre parcel was leased to Rainbow Therapeutic Center. Lastly, 230 acres were set aside for the purpose of developing a recreation facility.

Now that this last parcel has been transferred to the Park Authority, it will be developed as a publicly owned park. After restoring basic resource-based facilities suitable for hiking, trails and fishing, the park has been re-opened. Restoration of basic amenities has begun. The first phase opened October 1, 2009. This first phase includes basic multi-purpose trails use, bank fishing, rest room facilities and Park Ranger patrols.

No permanent facilities will be developed at Silver Lake until a Park Master Planning Process is completed. Two meeting dates for the public Master Planning Process were held October 6th, and October 24th at 7:30 p.m., Mountain View Elementary School Gym. Approximately forty citizens participated in each planning session. If you would like to participate regarding the development of Silver Lake Park, we have a running Blog that you may add comments to. View All Silver Lake Meeting Notes

Current Silver Lake property enhancements

The Park Authority has begun basic maintenance at Silver Lake so that the park can be re-opened for passive use (multi-purpose trails, hiking, bank fishing) in October. Progress pictures are posted here periodically for information purposes only.

Master Plan Meetings and Plans

To view park Master Plan meeting results and plans for Silver Lake, please visit our Master Plan/Community Meetings page in the Park Planning section by clicking back once from this page.

UPDATE APRIL 28, 2010

The Park Board has adopted a Master Plan for Silver Lake - Concept Plan C. This plan ensures that Silver Lake will remain a passive recreation park. For more details on the Master Plan, visit our Master Plan page as identified in the paragraph above. The Park Board extends a thank you to all those citizens who participated in public meetings or provided emails or letters with development suggestions for this park. The Board would also like to thank the various state and local agencies that provided information or conducted environmental studies at this site in preparation for a master plan presentation.

Click on the thumbnail pictures below for a larger view, click on picture again to reduce back to thumbnail.