Old Switching Station

The acreage of the parcel of land served as no indication on how difficult it would be to sort out.  The parcel, a small .2311 acre lot surrounded on three sides by the Elizabeth Hartwell Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge and the forth side by Gunston Road, is located at 11212 Gunston Road.  On February 19, 2008 a small masonry structure that once served as a switching station for the Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone Company of Virginia, was demolished.

For years many residents of the Mason Neck community expressed concerns about the property and the appearance of the structure.  In 2003, Joe Chudzik and a small cadre of determined residents began working on solving this dilemma. The process of determining the ownership of the property took more than three years! County property tax records listed the property as a tax-exempt communications utility owned by Telephone and Telegraph Co. of Virginia.  The search continued at the Commonwealth Corporation Commission.  Those files, located in Richmond, indicated AT&T as the current owner.

Navigating AT&T's corporate organization to locate a property manager with updated records on 11212 Gunston Road proved to be difficult for Mason Neck residents. Only dead ends were encountered due to several corporate mergers and acquisitions which resulted in unavailable or incomplete property records for AT&T.  The paper chase led through AT&T offices in Georgia, New Jersey, New York and California.

AT&T ultimately discovered that it owned 11212 Gunston Road. Further to their chagrin, the corporation had been paying taxes on a useless property for many years. AT&T at that point, decided to unload this property and offered it for sale at the princely sum of $100 (one hundred dollars).

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted to accept the AT&T offer and acquire the 11212 Gunston Road property for Fairfax County.   Since acquiring the property, the County contracted for the existing dilapidated to be demolished.

Various Fairfax County offices assisted towards resolving this issue, including; Lands Record Office; Public Works & Environmental Services Planning and Design Division; Department of Housing & Community Development; Spot Blight Abatement Office; Office of the County Attorney; and Mount Vernon District Supervisor Gerry Hyland's Office; the Stone Manor Foundation and Stone Manor residents Bruce Robertson and Bill Mountjoy.