Politics & Government

Burke Lake Park Spillway Renovations Underway

Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and Fairfax County Park Authority partnering on the project.

The Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries (VDGIF) and the Fairfax County Park Authority (FCPA) announced engineering analyses and design modifications will soon begin on the dam area at .  

The lake is owned by VDGIF. The Fairfax County Park Authority maintains and operates Burke Lake Park and golf course on properties adjoining the lake.

The project will ensure the dam meets spillway capacity and other dam safety standards.  VDGIF said the public may notice drilling machines working in the dam area to assess the subsurface soil conditions, and stakes related to surveying. Activity is anticipated to begin in the next few weeks.

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"We need to expand the emergency spillway capacity to accommodate potential record flooding events in the future," said Larry Hart of VDGIF’s Infrastructure Division. "While we have not experienced a flood event that would cause water to overtop the dam in the lake’s 46-year history, that does not mean we may not have larger flooding events in the future."

"The Park Authority has a vested interest in maintaining Burke Lake Park as a recreational resource," said Judy Pedersen, Public Information Officer with the Fairfax County Park Authority. 

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VDGIF said it has no reason to think the dam is unsafe in its current condition, because the dam is well maintained and has functioned as designed.  "Conditions have changed around the lake that could lead to more runoff and residences have been constructed downstream that could be impacted," said a VDGIF press release.

If the evaluation reveals a need to utilize any of the Fairfax County Park Authority’s land to complete the spillway renovations, those uses would have to be in concert with the mission of the Authority.

The evaluations and designs should be completed by July 2012. Construction activities would take place later, depending on the amount of funds that may be needed. "It could take a few years to save enough money for this large project," said Hart.

VDGIF currently budgets about $1 million of its special funds each year to dam safety activities. The special funds used for work on dams come from the sale of fishing and hunting licenses, a small portion of the state sales tax on hunting, fishing, and wildlife related purchases, and matching grants from the US Fish and Wildlife Service.

Hart told the Washington Times, “It is too early in the process to know about the impacts of construction on fishing access. The work currently under contract should have minimal impacts on use of the lake.”


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