After reviewing public comments on its proposed plans for Fort Hunt Park over the past couple months, the U.S. National Park Service announced Thursday it will not move forward with the plan that would remove historic picnic pavilions.

NPS officials told Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-Va.) and Mount Vernon Supervisor Gerry Hyland the new plan—to be released early next year—will reflect the concerns of the public in regard to the removal of the picnic structures and will support citizens' calls for pedstrian and bike trails.

“I applaud the National Park Service for agreeing to go back to the drawing board with its plans for Fort Hunt Park in response to concerns Supervisor Hyland and I voiced, and the strong sentiments of citizens in southeastern Fairfax County,” Connolly said in a press release.

“Our community is strongly opposed to closure of the picnic pavilions at Fort Hunt and I appreciate that the Park Service took those concerns to heart and abandoned its plans to close them,” Hyland said.