Bike track owner to vacate property

A Centreville man who leased 23 acres in Gainesville for a dirt bike track has agreed with the landowner to terminate his lease.

The development means a hearing in Prince William County Circuit Court set for today to determine whether to permanently bar Sam Unuscavage from use of the land, has been postponed.

Unuscavage has agreed through his attorney, Dennis Carluzzo, to remove jumps he built and vacate the property, Assistant County Attorney Curt Spear said Monday. Carluzzo did not return a phone call seeking comment.

But the property has yet to be cleared of evidence of an all-terrain vehicle track, as county attorneys have requested. Unuscavage has been battling with county zoning officials since October over the bike track off U.S. 29.

The acreage is zoned agricultural, but a county circuit court judge ruled in November that Unuscavage had all the appearance of using it for a private recreational facility.

Commercial or business uses are not allowed in agricultural areas under the county code. Neighbors reported seeing the property stripped of trees, with mounds of dirt trucked in, which later became jumps. The acreage is located close to Manassas National Battlefield Park.

Judge Richard B. Potter put a temporary injunction in place Nov. 8, barring anyone but Unuscavage from riding on the track, and requiring him to secure it from use by others.

Although Unuscavage maintained the track was for his private use with friends, he is president of Redline MX and ATV Club, had advertised a new Prince William track off U.S. 29 on the Internet and accepted money from a county resident, who was told he could ride by invitation.

In November, the county again went to court against Unuscavage, after a neighbor said she saw him riding there with others. A hearing on that contempt charge is scheduled for Feb. 24.

The temporary injunction will remain in place until a permanent one is sought, Spear said. Randy Frostick, attorney for TOV LLC, the landowner, said he would give Unuscavage “a few days” to clean up the property, Spear said.

If Unuscavage doesn’t clean up the property, officials at TOV LLC have said they will, Spear said. Frostick represents Ebrahim Abe-Babazadeh, a principal in TOV LLC.

Frostick also did not return a phone call seeking comment. “What we’d like to see happen is to see track removed before we enter the permanent injunction,” Spear said. “Then we’ll be down to uses instead of who’s cleaning up.”

That injunction would also bar TOV LLC from any further uses as a bike track.

If the county pursues the contempt charges and prevails in court, Unuscavage could be fined $1,000 a day.