Shoreline Situation Report Counties of Fairfax and Arlington, City of Alexandria

W&M ScholarWorks Reports 1979 Shoreline Situation Report Counties of Fairfax and Arlington, City of Alexandria Dennis W. Owen Virginia Institute of Marine Science Lynne C. Morgan Virginia Institute of Marine Science Nancy M. Sturm Virginia Institute of Marine Science Robert J. Byrne Virginia Institute of Marine Science Carl H. Hobbs III Virginia Institute of Marine Science Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/reports Part of the Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, and the Water Resource Management Commons Recommended Citation Owen, D. W., Morgan, L. C., Sturm, N. M., Byrne, R. J., & Hobbs, C. H. (1979) Shoreline Situation Report Counties of Fairfax and Arlington, City of Alexandria. Special Report tn Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering No. 166. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. https://doi.org/10.21220/ V5K134 This Report is brought to you for free and open access by W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Reports by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Shoreline Situation Report COUNTIES OF FAIRFAX AND ARLINGTON, CITY OF ALEXANDRIA Prepared and Published With Funds Provided to the Commonwealth by the Office of Coastal Zone Management, National Oceanic and Atmospheric·Administration, Grant Nos. 04-7-158-44041 and 04-8-M01-309 Special Report In Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering Number 166 of the VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 1979 Shoreline Situation Report COUNTIES OF FAIRFAX AND ARLINGTON, CITY OF AL.EXANDRIA Prepared by: Dennis W. Owen Lynne Morgan Nancy M. Sturm Project Supervisors: Robert J. Byrne Carl H. Hobbs, llt Prepared and Published With Funds Provided to the Commonwealth by the Office of Coastal Zone Management, National Oceanic and Atmosph~ric Administration, Grant Nos. 04-7-158-44041 and 04-8-M01-309 Special Report tn Applied Marine Science and Ocean Engineering Number 166 of the VIRGINIA INSTITUTE OF MARINE SCIENCE William J. Hargis Jr., Director· Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 1979 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE ... PAGE CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1 FIGURE 1: Shoreland Components 5 FIGURE 2: Marsh Types 5 1.1 Purposes and Goals 2 FIGURE 3: Massey Creek 13 1.2 Acknowledgements 2 FIGURE 4: East of High Point 13 FIGURE 5: Great Marsh 13 FIGURE 6: Hallowing Point Estates 13 FIGURE 7: Boat ramp, Gunston Cove 13 CHAPTER 2: APPROACH USED AND ELEMENTS CONSIDERED 3 FIGURE 8: Whitestone Point 14 FIGURE 9: Stratford on the Potomac 14 2.1 Approach to the Problem 4 FIGURE 10: Jones Point 14 2.2 Characteristics of the Shorelands Included 4 FIGURE 11: Torpedo Factory 14 FIGURE 12: Washington National Airport 14 CHAPTER 3: PRESENT SHORELINE SITUATION OF FAIRFAX, ARLINGTON, AND ALEXANDRIA 9 TABLE 1: Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria Shor elands Physiography 19 3.1 The Shorelands of Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria 10 TABLE 2: Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria Subsegment 3.2 Water Quality of the Upper Potomac River 11 Summaries 22 3.3 Present Shore Erosion Situation 12 3.4 Alternate Shore Use 12 MAPS lA-D: Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria Sunnnary Maps 15 MAPS 2A-C: Occoquan River 35 CHAPTER 4: SUMMARIES AND MAPS OF FAIRFAX, ARLINGTON, AND ALEXANDRIA 21 MAPS 3A-C: Mason Neck 38 MAPS 4A-C: Gunston Cove 41 4.1 Segment and Subsegment Summaries 22 MAPS 5A-C: Dague Creek 44 4.2 Segment and Subsegment Descriptions MAPS 6A-C: Mount Vernon 47 Segment l 25 MAPS 7A-C: Alexandria 50 Segment 2 26 MAPS 8A-C: Arlington 53 Segment 3 27 MAPS 9A-C: Upper Potomac River 56 Segment 4 29 Segment 5 31 Segment 6 32 Segment 7 33 4.3 Segment and Subsegment Maps 35 CHAPTER 1 Introduction 1 .. CHAPTER .l The role of planners .aod....managers is to optimize 1.2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the utilization of the shorelands and to minimize INTRODUCTION the conflicts arising from competing demands. Fur This report has been prepared and published thermore, once a particular use has been decided with funds provided to the -Commonwealth by the upon for a given segment of shoreland, both the Office of Coastal Zone Management, National Oc planners and the users want that selected use to eanic and Atmospheric Administration, grant num 1.1 PURPOSES AND GOALS operate in the most effective manner. A park plan ber 04-8-MOl-309. The Shoreline Situation Re ner, for example, wants the allotted space to ful port series was originally developed in the Wet It is the objective of this report to supply an fill the design most efficiently. We hope that the lands/Edges Program of the Chesapeake Research assessment, and at least a partial integration, of results of our work are useful to the planner in Consortium, Inc., as supported by the Research those important shoreland parameters and character designing the beach by pointing out the technical Applied to National Needs (RANN) program of the istics which will aid the planners and the managers feasibility of altering or enhancing the present National Science Foundation. The completion of of the shorelands in making the best decisions for configuration of the shore zone. Alternately,' if this report would have been impossible without the utilization of this limited and very valuable the use were a residential development, we would the expert services of Beth Marshall, who typed resource. The report gives particular attention to hope our work would be useful in specifying the several drafts of the manuscript, Bill Jenkins the problem of shore erosion and to recommendations shore erosion problem and by indicating defenses and Ken Thornberry, who prepared the photographs, concerning the alleviation of the impact of this likely to succeed in containing the erosion. In and Sam White, who piloted the aircraft on the problem. In addition, we have tried to include in summary our objective is to provide a useful tool many photo acquisition and reconnaissance flights. our assessment a discussion of those factors which for enlightened utilization of a limited resource, Also we thank the numerous other persons who, might significantly limit development of the shore the shorelands of the Commonwealth. through their direct aid, criticisms, and sug line and, in some instances, a discussion of some gestions, have assisted our work. of the potential or alternate uses of the shoreline, Shorelands planning occurs, either formally or particularly with respect to recreational use, since informally, at all levels from the private owner such information could aid potential users in the of shoreland property to county governments, to perception of a segment of the shoreline. planning districts and to the state and federal agency level. We feel our results will be useful The basic advocacy of the authors in the prep at all these levels. Since the most basic level aration of the report is that the use of shorelands of comprehensive planning and zoning is at the should be planned rather than haphazardly developed county or city level, we have executed our report in response to the short term pressures and inter on that level although we realize some of the in ests. Careful planning could reduce the conflicts formation may be most useful at a higher govern which may be expected to arise between competing mental level. The Commonwealth of Virginia has interests. Shoreland utilization in many areas of traditionally chosen to place as much as possible, the country, and indeed in some places in Virginia, the regulatory decision processes at the county has proceeded in a manner such that the very ele level. The Virginia Wetlands Act of 1972 (Chapter ments which attracted people to the shore have been 2.1, Title 62.1, Code of Virginia), for example, destroyed by the lack of planning and forethought. provides for the establishment of County Boards to act on applications for alterations of wetlands. The major man-induced uses of the shorelands Thus, our focus at the county level is intended to are: interface with and to support the existing or pend ing county regulatory mechanisms concerning activi Residential, connnercial, or industrial ties in the shorelands zone. development Recreation Transportation Waste disposal Extraction of living and non-living resources. Aside from the above uses, the shorelands serve various ecological functions. 2 . CHAPTER 2 Approach Used and Elements Considered 3 ~ / ' CHAPTER 2 of the report since some users' needs will ade Definitions: quately be met with the sunnnary overview of the Shore Zone APPROACH USED AND ELEMENTS CONSIDERED county while others will require the detailed dis cussion of particular subsegments. This is the zone of beaches and marshes. It is a buffer zone between the water body and the fast 2.1 APPROACH TO THE PROBLEM land, The seaward limit of the shore zone is the 2.2 CHARACTERISTICS OF THE SHORELANDS INCLUDED break in slope between the relatively steeper In the preparation of this report the authors IN THE STUDY shoreface and the less steep nearshore zone. The utilized existing information wherever possible. approximate landward limit is a contour line rep For example, for such elements as water quality The characteristics which are included in this resenting one and a half times the mean tide characteristics, zoning regulations, or flood haz report are listed below followed by a discussion range above mean low water (refer to Figure 1). ard, we reviewed relevant reports by local, state, of our treatment of each. In operation with topographic maps the inner or federal agencies. Much of the desired informa a) Shorelands physiographic classification fringe of the marsh symbols is taken as the land tion, particularly with respect to erosional char b) Shorelands use classification ward limit.

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