Former Alexandria Mayor Justin Wilson is settling into his new role as executive director of NOVA Parks and says he has inherited an organization in good shape.
A “very diverse set of revenue” — with operations ranging from golf courses to waterparks — allows the regional body to “weather various storms,” said Wilson during a presentation to the Fairfax City Council earlier this month. He was named the organization’s next executive director in August and began serving in October.
“We’re not heavily reliant on any one revenue stream at any given moment,” Wilson, who left a post as a senior manager at Amtrak to accept the appointment, said. He succeeded Paul Gilbert, who had led the regional park authority for 20 years.
Wilson has been making the rounds of the six jurisdictions that comprise NOVA Parks’s coverage area. In early December, he was in Arlington for an annual showcase of services by Virginia Cooperative Extension.
After all his years in politics, “I’m entirely unused to being on this side of the dais,” Wilson joked before starting his presentation to Fairfax City Council members.
In spring 2018, Wilson defeated incumbent Allison Silberberg in the Democratic mayoral primary. Elected mayor unopposed in November 2018, he was re-elected in 2021, but opted not to seek a third term in 2024. He was succeeded as mayor in January by Alyia Gaskins.
In an interview with ALXnow before turning over the gavel, the departing mayor said he was content with the decision not to seek a new term.
“The anxiety of being, if not actually, at least figuratively, responsible for kind of anything that happens in the city and feeling that responsibility, I will not miss that and look forward to not having that kind of panic,” he said then.
As for seeking any future political post? In the December 2024 interview, Wilson said he had no plans in mind, but didn’t explicitly rule it out.
For now, leading NOVA Parks occupies all his time.
Founded in 1959 as the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority, NOVA Parks works to augment — not compete with — the holdings and operations of parks departments and Alexandria, Falls Church, Arlington, Loudoun County and the county and city of Fairfax.
The organization provides “services and unique recreation amenities,” Wilson said. Its holdings include 27 park facilities totaling more than 12,000 acres.
The stop in the City of Fairfax was not just a courtesy call. Wilson came with an update on plans to repurpose the Gateway Regional Park into a wetlands education center.
The one-acre park adjacent to the City of Fairfax Connector Trail has been leased by the city to NOVA Parks since 1994. It is located at the southwest corner of Pickett and Old Pickett roads.
In consultation with city officials, the regional park authority has opted to restore most of the existing park property to an elevated natural state, adding a walkway with interpretive signage.
“We will be going to market in January to select a contractor to do the work,” Wilson told Fairfax City officials. “We hope to be under construction this summer and complete the work we’re doing later this year.”
“All of that in one year?” Fairfax Mayor Catherine Read said in response. “That seems very quick to me.”
“That’s our goal,” Wilson responded. “We’re really, really excited to be reaching this milestone. It’s been a long time coming.”
