Recap of 12th December Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately ten people attended the Civic Association meeting on Thursday evening 12 December at Randolph School.

The agenda included:

We heard a presentation from John Vihstadt, chair of the Arlington Urban Agriculture Task Force (UPDATE: and now a candidate for the County Board seat replacing Chris Zimmerman).

Mr Vihstadt brought us up to date on the findings of the task force and their recommendations to update County agricultural regulations to the County Board, including those regarding the controversial issue of regarding ‘backyard’ hen-keeping.  Due to strongly divergent opinions on the issue among Task Force members, it seems unlikely that there will be a change to the current County policy regarding ‘backyard’ hen-keeping anytime in the near future.  A copy of Mr Vihstadt’s presentation may be found here [PDF].

Deborah Albert of Arlington Planning regarding the proposal to allow ‘jumbotron’ outdoor video screens in certain commercial zones.

As a part of the recent update to zoning ordinances,  a small number of large video screens (like used by WJLA Channel 7 in Rosslyn) will be allowed in a few commercial areas in the county.  Full details of the proposal may be found here [PDF].

Update:  This proposal was approved by the County Board on 17 December.

 

The next Civic Association meeting will be in late February 2014.

 

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Civic Association Meeting Thursday 12th December

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Thursday 12 December 2013 at 7.30p in the cafeteria of Randolph Elementary School, 1306 S Quincy St.  Please enter the building through door 10.

On the agenda:

  1. An update on various construction projects around the neighborhood and in the Columbia Pike corridor.
  2. A brief presentation by John Vihstadt, chair of the Arlington Urban Agriculture Task Force regarding ‘backyard’ hen-keeping.  As you may know, the County Board has charged the Arlington Urban Agriculture Task Force with reviewing regulations regarding hen-keeping on private property in the county, as part of updating agricultural regulations in general in Arlington.  Mr Vihstadt will update us on the current status of the review and the forthcoming recommendations to the County Board.
  3. A brief presentation by Deborah Albert of Arlington Planning regarding the proposal to allow ‘jumbotron’ outdoor video screens in certain commercial zones.
  4. Other business.

All are welcome to attend.

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Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 19th November

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UPDATE: This meeting has been postponed. We will attempt to reschedule the presentation at a later date.

The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 19 November 2013 at 7.45p in the cafeteria of Randolph Elementary School, 1306 S Quincy St.  Please enter the building through door 10.

On the agenda:

  1. An update on various construction projects around the neighborhood and in the Columbia Pike corridor.
  2. We have a presentation by John Vihstadt, chair of the Arlington Urban Agriculture Task Force regarding ‘backyard’ hen-keeping.  As you may know, the County Board has charged the Arlington Urban Agriculture Task Force with reviewing regulations regarding hen-keeping on private property in the county, as part of updating agricultural regulations in general in Arlington.  Mr Vihstadt will update us on the current status of the review and the forthcoming recommendations to the County Board.
  3. Other business.

All are welcome to attend. The Douglas Park Neighbor News will be delivered to your doorstep the weekend of 16/17 November. The digital PDF copy is here.

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Recap of 17 September Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately twenty people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 17 September at Firehouse 9.

The agenda included:

We reviewed a proposal by Capital One Bank to donate land to the County to enable the completion of the missing segment of 11th St South between South Monroe St and South Glebe Rd, through the Pike 3400 (Rosenthal) site.

While most attendees were in favor of the extension, as it has long been part of the Columbia Pike redevelopment plan, we did have concerns with the intersection designs at
South Glebe Road and South Monroe Street as proposed by County staff.  Both these intersections are shown as ‘driveway’ style entrances rather than standard intersections.  The Civic Association feels that these new street segments should be designed to resemble all other intersections in the neighborhood.  We will be appealing to the County Board to address our concerns as talks with County Staff gave reached an impasse.  More details on this project may be found  here.

Update (22 September):  Several officers of the Civic Association spoke about our concerns at lat night’s Board meeting.  On a motion from Board Member and Douglas Park resident Chis Zimmerman, the item was deferred to the October Board meeting with instruction to Staff to work with the DPCA in resolving our concerns.  In addition, there have been last minute snags in the legal language between Capitol One Bank and the County regarding the necessary easements.

Update 2 (22 October):  In negotiations with Staff, DPCA was able to have the intersection of 11th St South and S Monroe St altered to a standard intersection.  We were less successful with the intersection at S Glebe Rd as that intersection is under the jurisdiction of VDOT and any significant design changes would trigger a very lengthy review process.  With Staff assistance, we have identified several small design changes to give the intersection a more conventional appearance without triggering VDOT review.  In addition, the County and Capitol One Bank have resolved their issues with the legal language of the easements.  The project was approved by consent at the County Board meeting on 9 October.

We heard presentations from 49th District Virginia House of Delegates candidates Alfonso Lopez and challenger Terrence ‘Terry’ Modglin.

Both candidates were given fifteen minutes to speak, followed by 15 minutes of questions from the audience.

The next Civic Association meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, 19 November 2013 at 7.30p.

 

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Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 17th September

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 17 September 2013 at 7.30p in the downstairs meeting room at Firehouse Nr 9, South Walter Reed Dr at 19th St South.

On the agenda:

  1. A brief overview of Capital One’s Use Permit Application to allow the completion of 11th St South between S Glebe Rd and S Monroe St. While the Association approves of the street construction, as it has long been a part of the approved Columbia Pike FBC plans, and appreciates Capital One’s cooperation in this regard, we are concerned that County staff has proposed that the 11th Street South connections with Monroe and Glebe be ‘driveway’ style connections rather than standard intersections. Further details may be found in this post.
  2. We will hand over some time to the two candidates for this November’s 49th Virginia House district elections: incumbent Democrat Alfonso Lopez and challenger Terrence ‘Terry’ Modglin of the Independent Green party. We will not be conducting a debate; rather we will allow each candidate fifteen minutes for remarks then allow for ten minutes of questions from the audience.
  3. Other business.

All are welcome to attend. The Douglas Park Neighbor News will be delivered to your doorstep the weekend of 14/15 September. The digital PDF copy is here.

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Recap of 18 June Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately twenty people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 18 June at Firehouse 9.

The agenda included:

Christin Jolicouer, Watershed Planner; Greg Emanuel, Director of Arlington DES and other DES staff presented an update on the 16th St South ‘Green Streets’ project. We also heard from residents on 16th St South affected by the project.

Afterwards, Civic Association attendees discussed the presentations and expressed numerous concerns with the project.  A consensus emerged to have the Civic Association formally communicate those concerns to the County Board and DES staff.  That letter is available here.

Update:  Arlington County has agreed to delink the ‘Green Streets’ project from the previously approved traffic-calming project on 16th St South and revisit the ‘Green Streets’ project itself.  See the full response in this post.

John Snyder, Immediate Past-President of DPCA, updated us on plans for the 31st Douglas Fourth of July Park Parade and Picnic.

Adam Henderson was elected President of the Civic Association.

The next Civic Association meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, 17 September 2013 at 7.30p.

 

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Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 18th June

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 18 June 2013 at 7.30p in the downstairs meeting room at Firehouse Nr 9, South Walter Reed Dr at 19th St South.

On the agenda:
1. A presentation by County staff on the 16th St South ‘Green Street’ bioretention project (links to more details below).
2. Recap of plans for our 31st Annual Fourth of July Parade and Picnic.
3. Other business.

All are welcome to attend. The Douglas Park Neighbor News will be delivered to your doorstep the weekend of 15/16 June. The digital PDF copy is here.

Links to more details on the 16th St South ‘Green Street’project on the Arlington County website:

Main project website
Project plan [PDF]
Drainage area for the project [PDF]

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Recap of 30 April Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately fifteen people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 30 April at Firehouse 9.

The agenda included:
Shannon Early, Landscape Architect for Arlington County’s Department of Parks and Recreation reviewed the current status of the Doctors Run Park Trail lighting project.
This project was approved by the County Board in February 2011 using funds from the Neighborhood Conservation Program. The project will install 6-8 LED lighting fixtures along the trail from the rear of Randolph Elementary School to South George Mason Drive, to enhance the safety of children walking between the school and Barcroft Apartments. In addition the project will:

  • Realign parts of the trail, especially to reduce the grade descending to and from South George Mason Drive.
  • Widen the existing trail, replacing the current asphalt surface with the County’s softer bike path paving.
  • Remove existing asphalt swales and install bioswales.
  • Install concrete steps on the approach to Randolph Elementary School.
  • Remove one tree.
  • Install a wood pedestrian bridge along the branch of the trail connecting to South Randolph Street.

The anticipated timeline:

  • Finalize plan and contracting draft (2 months)
  • Review and approval by various County departments (2-3 months)
  • Bid process (two months)
  • Construction (two months)

Completion is currently scheduled for Spring 2014.

No changes are contemplated to the trail between Randolph Elementary School and its eastern terminus at South Quincy Street and 12th Street South.

The Civic Association members present at the meeting were in general support of the project with a few reservations:

  • The ‘lights out’ time on the trail is currently set for 6.00p. A time of 6.30p or 7.00p is requested due to after-school programs, including extended day-care which runs through 6.00p.
  • No time was given as to ‘lights on’ in the morning.
  • Concern was expressed that the project be reviewed by the Arlington Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) as the site was once a Civic War campground.
  • A request was made to remove the curbing at the South Randolph Street junction of the trail to facilitate bike use. Staff advised that the request was outside the current project scope.

A PDF overview of the project may be found here.

 

We discussed possible cleanup projects around the neighborhood. Suggestions included:

  • Weed/replant islands along South Highland Street
  • Continued cleanup around neighborhood entrance signs
  • Investigate repainting the information kiosk in Douglas Park
  • Increase participation in Marty Neilsen’s invasives removals in Douglas and Monroe Parks
  • Gauge the feasibility of a neighborhood cleanup day where residents could dispose of junk not normally picked up by regular refuse collections (Al Fox to investigate)

We discussed redoubling our efforts to update Douglas Park’s Neighborhood Conservation Plan. The current plan was approved in 1998. We have been working on the revision intermittently since the end of 2009. Two volunteers have stepped forward to update three sections of the document; we could still use assistance on other sections. To learn more or to volunteer, please contact any board member. An updated Neighborhood Conservation Plan is essential to participate in funding for various neighborhood projects such as the Doctors Run Trail Lighting project. Our goal is to complete our revisions by the end of the year and receive County Board approval early in 2014.

Douglas Park resident and Phoenix Bikes Executive Director Henry Dunbar presented a preliminary overview of new facilities for Phoenix Bikes. Phoenix Bikes is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) organization that teaches youth teamwork, hard work and entrepreneurship through bike maintenance and education programs. The bike shop is currently located in Barcroft Park. The new facilities are proposed for the northeast corner of South Walter Reed Drive and South Four Mile Run Drive, just across from our neighborhood in Nauck. Further details will be forthcoming as plans are developed.

The next Civic Association meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, 18 June 2013 at 7.30p in the basement meeting room at Firehouse 9.

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Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 30 April

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 30 April 2013 at 7.30p in the downstairs meeting room at Firehouse Nr 9, South Walter Reed Dr at 19th St South.

On the agenda:
1.  An update presentation by County staff on the Doctors Run Trail Lighting project.
2.  Discussion of  a possible neighborhood cleanup day.
3.  Discussion on proceeding with the update to our Neighborhood Conversation plan.
4. Other business.

All are welcome to attend.  The Douglas Park Neighbor News will be delivered to your doorstep the weekend of 27/28 April.  The digital PDF copy is here.

 

 

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26 February 2013 Civic Associaton Meeting Recap

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The Douglas Park Civic Association met on Tuesday 26 February 2013 at 7.30p at Café Sazon. At that meeting:

• We agreed to contribute $100 to the Phoenix Bikes March fundraising event.

• We agreed that the Association supports removing the recycling dumpsters from the area by Columbia Pike and the bike trail, provided we are assured removal would not interrupt recycling service for parts of the surrounding neighborhood. (If all have curbside recycling or pickup at their buildings, this would not be a problem.) We are looking for folks interested in helping to plan a park or other pleasant usage for the area. Please contact John Snyder at jvsnyder54comcast.net if you are interested.

• Regarding the 12th Street South traffic issues. We agreed that the best approach would be for neighbors on South 12th Street to develop a consensus approach on the measures they would like to pursue to slow down and limit traffic and provide for pedestrian and resident safety. The civic association will then support and collaborate with those neighbors to achieve those measures with County government.

• We agreed that it would be wise to pursue 501(c)(4) registration as a not-for-profit entity to ensure that we are properly organized. Since the civic association engages in advocacy, we would not be a charity.

• Elections: Chris Worden was re-elected as vice president, Annette Pigott as secretary and Al Fox as treasurer. Many thanks to each of them for stepping forward. No one was elected president, as no one agreed to be nominated—yet. Immediate past-president John Snyder will work to transition the office. If anyone is interested in running for president, please contact any DPCA officer.

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