The Commonwealth of Virginia purchased nearly 1,200 acres of land at Biscuit Run in late 2009 in order to create a new state park, but funding to build the various components did not materialize.
In 2018, Albemarle County entered into a 99-year lease with the Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation to open the space as a county-run park. After years of planning and saving up money, the first phase of the park opened last December with 8.5 miles of walking trails.
“With more than 50,000 visitors since it opened in December, Biscuit Run Park has quickly become a treasured part of our parks system,” says Abbey Stumpf, Albemarle’s director of communications and public engagement.
Senator Creigh Deeds put in a budget request in this year’s General Assembly for $1.37 million that would have been the first direct investment from the state government. According to the request, this would have been for a “walking trail that connects Biscuit Run Park to the future Monacan Indian Nation Tribute Park in the Southwood Mobile Home Park.”
The request made it through both chambers of the legislature but in March,Governor Glenn Youngkin recommended cutting the amount of funding in half. Legislators did not accept the cut, so Youngkin exercised a line-item veto on May 2 to eliminate the funding entirely.
“In 2018 it was determined by Governor McAuliffe to be in the best interest of all Virginia taxpayers that Albemarle County assume responsibility for this park,” Youngkin wrote in an explanation of the veto. “The County is responsible for any operational improvements to the parcel.”
Stumpf says the money would have been used to speed up the connector trail which would have been compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. She said investments will continue.
Albemarle’s capital improvement program set aside just over $6.1 million for Biscuit Run in the current fiscal year, with another $3.5 million for the next. The lease signed in January 2018 includes a section titled “funding cooperation,” which states Virginia will assist in efforts to raise funds, but there is no obligation to provide them directly.
Youngkin said he wanted to cut spending in order to put more money toward a rainy day fund to offset cuts in federal spending.
Albemarle is still moving ahead with other investments into the park. A sign at the information kiosk explains that two athletic fields are being developed and a downhill bike area is being crafted in partnership with the Charlottesville Area Mountain Bike Club.
A spokesperson for Habitat for Humanity said even if this specific funding does not come through, connector trails from the park to Southwood must be built as part of the terms of the rezoning that allows the dense development to occur.
Biscuit Run is not the only local project that lost state funding thanks to Youngkin’s line item vetoes on the budget. The General Assembly had originally endorsed $1.5 million for a low-barrier emergency shelter for Charlottesville’s unhoused, and Youngkin originally sought to compromise by cutting the funds in half.
“Because the General Assembly provided me with no other option, I am compelled to exercise my constitutional authority to veto this item,” Youngkin said.
