September 2021 Newsletter

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SEPTEMBER NEWSLETTER

 

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Monthly Meeting Reminder
Wednesday, September 8, 7-9pm

** VIRTUAL EVENT **

523 24th St S Garrison Residence (20-30m)

Resident Les Garrison will share plans for redeveloping a grandfathered two-family home that is required to go through the County’s review process.

Outlier Co-Living Building Plans (30-60m)

The developer will share their vision for a co-living mid-rise building on Eads St between 23rd & 24th., along with the zoning changes they are seeking and desire for more height.

Proposed Bylaws Amendments (15-30m)

Several changes will be proposed to clarify membership eligibility, streamline voting at virtual meetings, better ensuring topics are publicly advertised before being voted on, and potentially increasing quorum requirements [bit.ly/ahca-bylaw-change]. All finalized changes would be advertised before voted on next month.

The meeting will be virtual only. Please REGISTER NOW to receive a confirmation email with details about joining the meeting and the option to add a reminder to your calendar.

If you are unable to attend, but have questions you’d like raised for any agenda items, please email them to info@aurorahighlands.org and we’ll do our best to address them during the meeting.

Developer has big vision for two lots on Eads St

A company named Outlier has acquired the two lots at 2306 and 2316 S Eads (next to Burke & Herbert and across from Kabob Palace) that currently host two 1 1/2 story home structures that operate as businesses. The company seeks to redevelop the property as a single mid-rise multifamily residential building designed for “co-living” – professionally managed, fully furnished, all-inclusive housing. They feel the co-living housing concept fills a need in the area for varied housing options.

In the quest to build, however, they face a number of challenges: the lots are currently zoned for commercial, they have two different zoning codes, and one lot is part of the Crystal City Sector Plan, while the other is not. But in addition to that, they are also seeking to build bigger than the 35′ height the current zoning allows. So they’ve recently submitted a request to the county to study whether they should be allowed to build up to 45 or 60 feet, as shown above, and may seek additional height through the ongoing Crystal City Building Heights Study. [Correction: the Study is to align the zoning; there are no formal requests for height changes yet.]

They will be coming to our September AHCA meeting to talk about their housing concept and hopefully provide details and answer questions you may have about how that would fit – both conceptually and physically. Please come to share your thoughts, which will guide AHCA’s responses as we participate in upcoming county processes regarding this site.

523 24th St S – Garrison Residence Zoning Review

Coincidentally, on the same block, Les Garrison, a long-time Aurora Highlands civic volunteer, has been working for years to redevelop an existing legally non-conforming two-family home built in 1935. The County has now decided that this project needs review by the Site Plan Review Committee (SPRC) that is typically used for developments like the one above and Amazon HQ2. In preparation, Les will present the plans at our upcoming Sept 8 AHCA meeting. Please attend to learn more and share your feedback to guide AHCA’s response at the SPRC and subsequent county meetings. The County SPRC meeting for the project will be held on September 13. The public can attend that virtual meeting to show support. https://bit.ly/523-24th

Officer Nominations are Coming in October

Several officers will no longer serve next year, so if you’ve ever had an interest in pitching in and helping guide the neighborhood, now’s the time! Contact an officer to talk more about what positions might work best for you and let’s build a great team!

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Let’s Work for More Park Land, Less Contention

Drama ensued at the AHCA meeting in July with confusion and contention stemming from a misunderstanding, later acknowledged by the recording secretary, about whether a letter drafted by a neighbor regarding the softball fields was included on the agenda. This was exacerbated by a campaign to supporters that falsely asserted AHCA intended to vote to completely remove the softball fields at the meeting. AHCA had no such intention whatsoever and in fact the topic was not part of the agenda in any way. Because the topic was never advertised to the community, or even known to the rest of the AHCA officers, and the proposed letter contradicted some past AHCA open space efforts, a motion was made to defer the vote until the next meeting so it could be properly advertised, but failed. The neighbor’s letter about softball fields was approved, sent to the County Board and posted on the AHCA website.

You can view the July vote and letter [bit.ly/ahca-shareduse] supporting the status quo of community access to open space on the two Virginia Highlands Park softball fields when the fields are not being used for scheduled games. You can also review a related letter [bit.ly/ahca-reschedule] resulting from April’s advertised topic for more creative uses and increased access while still accommodating softball games in the neighborhood. Both continue to push the County to begin a long-desired community-wide master planning process. There is clearly a desire by all to have adequate public space for the needs of our neighborhood now and in the future, and all of us must continue to advocate for more open space and facilities in our area to meet the changing needs as Pentagon City develops.

Unfortunately interspersed in the discourse, public and private claims of impropriety and bad faith have been made regarding recent Association activities. AHCA officers therefore requested a review of our recent activities by two long-time and well-respected outside Arlington civic leaders. Their response [bit.ly/ahca-review], confirmed fault with the communication of the Secretary on the agenda item but found that the President and other officers have acted properly. It does, however, find fault with individuals attempting to disrupt the July meeting, present a vote without informing the community, and sweep aside a five-year record of work by many neighbors. It also suggested areas where bylaws could be improved to lessen issues, which we are actively pursuing. Volunteers have worked tirelessly to bring about improvements benefiting thousands of people on many issues and across many years; they deserve constructive support.

Aquatics Center Now Open; Celebration Set for Sept 25

The Long Bridge Aquatics & Fitness center officially opened Aug 23, with shorter hours until after the Grand Opening celebrations Sept 24th and 25th. Currently, the general building and 50M pool are open M-F 7AM-8PM, S-S 8AM-5PM; 50M pool closes half an hour earlier. The leisure pool hours are: 9AM-12:30 PM M-F and 1PM-4:30PM S-S. The new building has lots of other facilities. Now is an excellent time to check it out and talk to Facility Manager Jolene Noel’s team about the best membership package for you! For more info & fee schedules, see http://visitlongbridge.us/

OK to Feed the Birds Again

In early June, the Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources (DWR) recommended removing all bird feeders in northern Virginia because of an unusual outbreak of ocular and neurologic disease in local birds, especially juveniles. The exact cause of the disease outbreak was never determined, but seems to have disappeared. The DWR recently released a new recommendation that it’s again safe to feed the birds. This great news was reported in both ARLNow [bit.ly/arl-birds2] and the Washington Post [bit.ly/arl-birds], which cited Aurora Highlands resident and avid birder Paul Pisano.

5G Planned Throughout National Landing

JBGS and AT&T announced plans to provide a 5G network throughout National Landing as part of their strategy to create a truly Smart City. The first infrastructure deployment is planned for 2022, with additional deployment as the community develops. JBGS plans to place the hardware on the tops of their buildings, out of sight. At least we won’t have another attraction like the 5G tower at Ives & 19th! For more information, check the ARLNow story at https://bit.ly/arlnow-cc-5g

Arlington Transit Returns to Full Bus Service

Arlington Transit returns to full bus service on Tuesday, September 7. ART 53, 61, 62 and 74 will resume after being out of service since March 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ART 72 route will continue on a modified weekday schedule. Riders are required to wear face masks when riding all ART buses. See ArlingtonTransit.com/Sept7

Next County Fair Could be at Long Bridge. Thoughts?

The Arlington County Fair Board, which manages the County Fair, asked the County if they could move the Fair to Long Bridge Park. The county is soliciting feedback from the public until Labor Day at bit.ly/arl-fair-move. For questions, mail Laura Barragan (lbarragan@arlingtonva.us), or the Fair Board directly at info@arlingtoncountyfair.us. Read more: bit.ly/arl-fair-move

The Fair is also seeking Board and Committee Members

Email Barbi Broadus (board@arlingtoncountyfair.us) for info.

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Fire Station Safe Haven Lobbies

Safe Haven lobbies are intended to shelter at risk individuals no questions asked! In July, Alistair Watson slept at Fire Station 5 near the Aurora Highlands Library in order to test the newly implemented safe haven lobby policy. He reports there are nice restrooms and a button to call Arlington County Police if you need. Be aware that the lobby is in fact in the heart of an active fire station so firefighters will walk by and there will sometimes be alarms to gather Arlington’s bravest into their vehicles. At this particular site they had comfy couches for people to sleep on and an outlet for your phone. If you are in an abusive household, escaping a stalker, or got lost late at night consider staying at a safe haven lobby. The link below has all of the fire stations with these lobbies, and since Arlington has a high density of fire stations in order to maintain a 4 minute response time across the County, there should be a safe haven lobby near you no matter where you are. bit.ly/arl-safehaven

Support Oakridge Elementary When You Shop

Supporting your local elementary school is easy with Amazon Smile. Make a one time selection of Oakridge Elementary PTA as your charity. If you use Amazon, shop at smile.amazon.com and AmazonSmile will donate 0.5% of the price of eligible purchases to the school.

Donation to VHC

Members approved a $200 donation at our July meeting to show appreciation to the health care workers at Virginia Hospital Center during these trying times. This has gone to a meal delivery for the staff working Friday, Sept 3. The president of the VHC Foundation extended their thanks and may come to future meetings to provide more information on their grassroots initiatives like For Our Neighbors Fund and Healthy Meals for our Healthcare Heroes vhcfoundation.com/meals/

Civic Federation’s Community Engagement Survey

Provide your feedback to the Civic Federation task force re-examining our County governing bodies (County and APS), including how the governing bodies receive input from the community and use the input to make decisions. bit.ly/civfed-tiger. The Survey will close on Wed, Sept 15.

Should Print Newsletters Continue?

The printed newsletter has been a staple of the Association since it started over 50 years ago and has historically been the best way to ensure we reach the widest audience of residents. But putting together a print version requires a lot of additional work, expense, and volunteer effort to deliver. And we have more and more new high rise residents that we can’t easily reach. Should we continue to have it? Send your thoughts to info@aurorahighlands.org.

Crystal City Building Heights Study – Watch out!

The Crystal City Building Heights Study (CCBHS) last met on July 28; for presentations & recordings, see this LRPC page: bit.ly/arl-lrpc. Some sections of our community are included in the study (Crystal House and Restaurant Row) and changing height allowances will impact us. Stay tuned!

Pentagon City Planning Study – Draft Released!

The County released the long-awaited first draft of the Pentagon City Plan in August. Public comments on the draft were due on August 23rd, though comments and questions are welcome any time during the project process. There are still significant areas of dissatisfaction with the plan; see bit.ly/pcps-ahca-comments for some of these concerns. The staff and consulting team will process comments and prepare a new draft that will be discussed with various groups before going to the County Board for approval. The September 8 joint meeting of the Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PAC) will be one of the first public engagements. All are welcome to attend this virtual meeting. Check the PAC page for login instructions & posted meeting agenda, bit.ly/arl-pac

Battle of the Buttons – Pedestrian Lights to be Reset (?)

Several months ago in response to Covid-19, the County set many of the pedestrian walk lights to automatic recall so we would not need to push the button to get a light in the County’s high-density urban corridors, including much of our own neighborhood. On August 18 the County sent out a news release indicating that many of these pedestrian lights would be returned to their “beg button” status after Labor Day. The news release also says “At major Metro corridors, including Rosslyn-Ballston and Crystal City where pedestrian activity level is high, the signals will remain auto-triggered in every cycle,” but it is not clear from the tiny map what areas are being reset. The bike-ped community was not involved in the County’s decision. (bit.ly/arl-beg)

VDOT Route 1 Multimodal Feasibility Study Update

The final public meeting for the VDOT Route 1 study was held June 16. You can read the National Landing BID letter [bit.ly/nlbid-r1-pdf] and the Livability 22202 Route 1 Working Group [bit.ly/L22202-rt1] includes our response and all of the letters, presentations, and outreach activities to date. Note that the Working Group also sent letters to the County Board and local Virginia officials. We are now awaiting the final report from VDOT, due early this fall. Meanwhile, the Working Group walked the Route 1 site with Board Member Karantonis on July 2nd and participated in virtual conference calls with Senator Ebbin on August 16 and Delegate Lopez and key VDOT staff on August 27. We learned that the draft Phase I final report will be released imminently and the public will have 30 days to submit comments. Stay tuned for more details.

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Mark Your Calendar

For details, see related articles and https://aurorahighlands.org/events/

Open Door Mondays

Every Monday, 7-8:30pm

Talk directly to a County Board member on any topic. http://bit.ly/opendoor-monday

Movies in the Park

Fridays 6:30pm

Movies in the Park are back beginning Sept 10 thanks to the National Landing BID! Grab your popcorn and get ready for the back to school outdoor movie series:

9/10: Clueless

9/17: Monsters University

9/24 Akeelah and the Bee

10/1: Remember the Titans

Pre-registration is required:

nationallanding.org/do/movies-in-the-park

Meat & Egg Delivery, Sept 15

J&L Green Farm’s monthly drop site delivery will be at 7:10 pm on Sep 15th at 738 26th St S. This is a monthly neighborhood delivery of local pastured-raised meat and eggs. Place orders online at JLgreenfarm.com by Sep 12th.

Rock-n-Recycle: Open House

Saturday, Sept 18, 9am – 2pm

Go behind the scenes with the County’s Solid Waste Bureau to explore the world of recycling, trash-to-energy and other key environmental services. Fun for adults and kids. Recycling opportunities too! Learn more https://bit.ly/rock-n-recycle.

Melwood Community Event

Friday, Sept 18 6:30pm-10pm.

Fun, family friendly evening filled with food trucks, popcorn, ice cream, live music, and feature movie.
https://melwood.org/event/community-night

Waterpark minor change discussion

Wednesday, Sept 22, 7pm

Neighbors are invited to the next CCCA meeting to hear about a another minor change to the Water Park plans. crystalcitycivic.org/events/

Ft Scott Park Habitat Restoration

Saturday, Sept 25, 9-11am.

Join volunteers to remove non-native invasive plants to save trees and restore natural habitat for native plants & wildlife. Every 4th Saturday; Sign up at https://bit.ly/ft-scott-restore or email terri.mcpalmer@gmail.com

Community Eco-Shred Event

Saturday, Sept 25, 11:30am-1:00pm

Bring your unwanted papers you need shredded. Free, courtesy of Geva and Jane Real Estate Group. Calvary Methodist 2315 S Grant.

Neighborhood College, Thursdays

Learn how to become a neighborhood advocate and create positive change through Arlington County’s free Neighborhood College program. Applications for the fall 2021 session are due by Fri, Sep 17. Class sessions will be virtual and held from 6:30 – 9:30 p.m. on Thursdays, from Oct. 7 through Dec. 9.
https://projects.arlingtonva.us/neighborhood-conservation/college/neighborhood-college-online-application/

Civic Engagement Opportunities

Civic Federation Community Engagement Survey – Ends Sept 15 bit.ly/civfed-tiger

523 S 24th St Site Plan Review – Sept 13, 7pm. Zoom: bit.ly/arl-sprc

Century Center Site Plan Review – Sept 16, 7pm, Zoom: bit.ly/arl-sprc

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Category: Uncategorized