Author: Ethan Rothstein

Four Mile Run Community Garden to Expand

By Ethan Rothstein
1/4

The community garden on S. Four Mile Run Drive will grow by almost 10,000 square feet, giving space for 40 new gardeners to grow herbs, fruits, vegetables and flowers.

The Arlington County Board unanimously approved the garden’s expansion, entering into agreements with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority — which owns the land — and Dominion Power, which runs power lines above where the garden expansion will be.

“What a great example of thinking outside the box to find solutions,” County Board Chair Mary Hynes said in a press release. “This is a win-win for everyone. Not only will the County be able to provide more garden plots, the space is currently overrun with invasive plants, which will be removed when the garden is built by Parks and Recreation staff.”

The expansion will tack on 9,900 square feet to the garden, which is directly adjacent to the W&OD Trail, and across the street from the Department of Motor Vehicles.

The garden will be on the NVRPA’s land, and as part of the agreement, if the park authority deems it needs the space, or the garden is encroaching too much on trail users, it can terminate the agreement with 60 days’ notice. The county is responsible for maintaining the garden, and the gardens are each run by a community association and an appointed “chief gardener.”

The expansion will add space to help whittle down the ever-expanding waiting list of gardeners hoping to use county space to grow their plants, a recommendation of the Urban Agriculture Task Force. According to the county, there are about 350 people on waiting lists for plots and half-plots of space at one of Arlington’s seven community gardens.

One plot costs $60 a year with water and $50 without water. The expansion will bring the total number of plots in county gardens to 265. Full 20-foot-by-20-foot plots are given on a first-come, first-served basis, and those interested in joining the waiting list can apply online.

Ballston High-Rise Without Heat Since Monday

By Ethan Rothstein

The Avalon Ballston Square apartment building(Updated at 2:45 p.m. Sunday) A 22-story apartment building in Ballston has been without heat all week, including today, the coldest Feb. 20 on record in D.C.

Residents in the East tower of Avalon Ballston Square, at 850 N. Randolph Street, have been forced to bundle up indoors while the building’s management has said crews are working on the issue, but no solution is in sight.

One resident, who declined to be identified, told ARLnow.com the temperature in her apartment has “hovered between 50 and 60 degrees since Tuesday morning.”

“Management has made no efforts to put us in a hotel or another apartment building with working heat,” she wrote in an email at about noon today. “Their only solution has been to pass out space heaters, which are dangerous to leave on all day or night. The D.C. area is going through record breaking cold temperatures and I cannot get a response from the management on site or corporate management.”

At least one other resident has reached out on social media about the heat, with no response from Avalon’s parent company, Ballston-based Avalon Bay.

Avalon Bay is in the midst of a trying time as a company after a large luxury apartment complex in New Jersey went up in flames last month, causing massive damage and displacing hundreds of residents. The fire caused Avalon Bay to add more fire sprinklers and protections to its planned developments in New Jersey, and has sparked a discussion about more stringent fire code requirements at the state and local level.

When ARLnow.com spoke to a building employee, he simply said the heat was still off and they can’t say when it will be restored. The building’s management declined to comment, and a message left for Avalon Bay’s corporate public relations official has not been returned.

Below is the full text of the last email address Avalon Ballston Square has sent to its residents, according to our source, sent at 6:00 p.m. Thursday.

Hello,

We wanted to keep you as updated as possible regarding the heat in the East Tower. Our maintenance team is continuing to work with several contractors on returning heat to the building as soon as we can. We are constantly monitoring all temperature levels. We will keep you updated as soon as there are any changes.

Please let us know if there is anything we can do to make you more comfortable. Thanks again for your patience.

Update Sunday, Feb. 22 at 2:15 p.m. — Power was fully restored to the East Tower at about 10:00 p.m. on Friday night, Avalon Bay spokesman Richard Wolff told ARLnow.com. One hundred units had been with “diminished” heat since Monday, out of 714 in the community, Wolff said. Avalon Bay offered on Friday to place residents in hotels. 

After the jump, the full explanation Avalon Bay sent to residents Saturday morning for the origin of the heat malfunction.

Dear Residents,

The heating has been fully restored to the East Tower. Full heat was restored at approximately 10PM Friday evening and we have monitored the system throughout the night. The temperatures have stabilized where they should be for the entire building.

If your home is still cold, blowing cool or if the heat is off altogether, you should be able to simply reset your unit and get heat. The best way to fully reset your heating unit is to turn off the thermostat first, then go to your fuse box, turn off the breaker for your HVAC (they are labelled but typically it’s the double breaker switch at the bottom right), wait about 30 seconds and then turn the breaker and the thermostat back on. Our maintenance team is here and can provide assistance if needed. Please do not hesitate to stop by the office or call for assistance. If you had a space heater in your apartment, please return it to the office or call us to come pick it up.

We want to thank you for your patience and understanding while we were working to resolve this issue. Please either visit our office or call 703-243-7368 if you have any additional questions or concerns or if we can help in any way. We hope you have an enjoyable and relaxing weekend. To start it off, please join us in the lobby this morning for a light breakfast.

In addition, this is an internal memo, sent Friday night, Avalon Bay shared with ARLnow.com explaining the problem:

We have been receiving an increased amount of heating calls since Monday afternoon. Approximately 100 apartments are getting reduced heat from the boiler system. The apartments are all in the East Tower, but are not in one tier or floor; the distribution is random throughout the tower. The North Tower is operating normally. The root of the issue is that we are not able to maintain the correct water temperature in the loop. Since Monday afternoon the maintenance team has had three different contractors on-site; none have been able to identify the cause of the loop’s low and irregular temperature. Each day since Tuesday, the loop temperature has increased to normal or close to normal levels, giving the impression of a solution, but each night the temperature drops again. We now have the original mechanic that installed the system at the property and working to find the issue/fix.

At this moment, we have made an adjustment to the balancing valve between the two towers and the loop temperature is rapidly rising to normal; higher and faster than any of the temperatures we experienced this week. We are optimistic that the issue has been resolved but are going to check in periodically and return tomorrow morning to confirm.

In the interim for residents, we notified the East Tower residents to contact us if they are affected and need assistance with temporary solutions. The team and I have been in the lobby all evening greeting these residents and offering them space heaters or stays in the Residence Inn. Most residents are choosing to stay in their homes as the apartment temperatures are 55 – 60 degrees.

Road Work Around Crystal City Metro Could Start in April

By Ethan Rothstein
1/4

Update on 2/21/15 — This project has been approved. See the county press release here.

Millions of dollars in construction work to improve the flow of traffic near the Crystal City Metro Station could begin in a matter of months.

The Arlington County Board will vote at its meeting tomorrow to award a $2.7 million contract for construction on S. Bell Street and 18th Street. The work would include building four bus bays on 18th Street S. under Jefferson-Davis Highway and converting S. Bell Street to a two-way road between 15th and 18th Streets.

The project was originally split in two — the bus bays and surrounding street improvements and converting Bell Street to a two-way road — but the county decided to consolidate to reduce construction impacts and improve coordination, according to the staff report.

The bays allow buses and shuttles to park at an angle along the street, as opposed to stacking parallel to the curb and clogging traffic.

“Construction of the transit and street improvements are important for improving safety and traffic flow in the area, as well as supporting the Crystal City Sector Plan and the [Crystal City-Potomac Yard] Transitway,” the staff report states.

If approved, construction is slated to begin in April and take about 12 months. The contract includes a 15 percent contingency — 5 percent higher than standard because of unknown complications that could come from digging up the street.

According to county Department of Environmental Services spokesman Eric Balliet, the new bus bays are needed for hotel and employer shuttles that drop off around the Metro station. The Transitway, when fully realized, will turn northbound Crystal Drive into a dedicated bus lane during rush hour. Those shuttles currently stop and drop off passengers on Crystal Drive, and they will be temporarily moved during construction.

One lane of travel each way along 18th Street S. will remain open during construction. The contractor that won the contract, Ardent Company, submitted a $2.3 million bid, more than $800,000 less expensive than the second-place bidder in a nine-bid race. The county determined Ardent to be a responsible bidder.

In addition to the bus bays and S. Bell Street work, the construction will add to the area:

  • A median under Jefferson-Davis Highway, to prevent what the county calls “prevalent” jaywalking near where the bus bays will be placed;
  • Bus shelters and benches at each of the four sawtooth bays;
  • Sidewalk improvements on both sides of 18th Street S.;
  • Replacing the asphalt roadway with concrete to withstand increase stress from bus traffic; and
  • Reconfiguring the S. Bell Street and 18th Street intersection to improve safety and circulation

Open Houses in Arlington This Weekend

By Ethan Rothstein

(Updated at 3:10 p.m.) Record-breaking cold may be putting the chill into sellers this week, but there are still homes like a two-bed, two-and-a-half bath condo for $429,000 and a 5-bedroom single-family in Bluemont for $1.45 million to check out this weekend.

See our real estate section for a full listing of open houses. Here are a few highlights:

2321-25th-street-s2321 25th Street S.
1 BD / 1 BA condominium
Agent: Thomas Buerger, Re/Max Allegiance
Listed: $265,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 22, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

1621-s-barton-street1621 S. Barton Street
2 BD / 2 1/2 BA condominium
Agent: Robert Jennings, Urban Comfort
Listed: $429,900
Open: Sunday, Feb. 22, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

6703-washington-blvd6703 Washington Blvd
3 BD / 1 full, 2 half BA townhouse
Agent: Alexandra Burrell-Hodges, Cottage Street Realty
Listed: $589,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 22, 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

215-n-wakefield-street215 N. Wakefield Street
3 BD / 2 1/2 BA single family detached
Agent: A. Casey O’Neal, Re/Max Allegiance
Listed: $685,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 22, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

2400-n-nelson-street2400 N. Nelson Street
4 BD / 3 BA single family detached
Agent: Susan Joy, Long & Foster Real Estate
Listed: $995,000
Open: Sunday, Feb. 22, 1:00 to 4:00 p.m.

851-n-jefferson-street851 N. Jefferson Street
5 BD / 4 full, 2 half BA single family detached
Agent: Kathleen Fong, Keller Williams Realty
Listed: $1,449,000
Open: Saturday, Feb. 21, 2:00-4:00 p.m.; Sunday, Feb. 22, 2:00-4:00 p.m.

WMATA: County Project Caused Leaks in Pentagon City Metro

By Ethan Rothstein

Sheet metal covering leaks in the Pentagon City Metro (photo via @jurbanchuk)The roof is leaking at the Pentagon City Metro station, and Metro says Arlington County’s road work on S. Hayes Street is to blame.

The Metro tunnel began to leak in the fall because a stormwater-retention system built by the county was overflowing, Metro spokeswoman Caroline Laurin told WUSA9. The county built that system in the median of S. Hayes Street as part of street upgrades for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists.

WMATA has placed pieces of sheet metal where the leaks are occurring, deflecting the water down the wall and away from passengers.

“When that retention pond overflows, water enters our station,” Laurin told the TV station, which first reported the leaks after seeing a tweet from a curious Metro rider. “This temporary solution will be in place until Arlington County can address the issue with the storm water retention structure.”

Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services, which oversaw the road construction, said WMATA approved the work it did around the Metro station, and denies that it is to blame for the leaky tunnel.

“It’s not unusual to have leaks in tunnel systems, especially systems like the Pentagon City Metrorail tunnel that are 40 years old,” Katherine Youngbluth, the project manager for the S. Hayes Street improvements, told ARLnow.com in an email. “The rain garden facility that was constructed as part of the County’s Pentagon City Multimodal project (and all other aspects of the project that were adjacent to WMATA facilities) was fully vetted through WMATA’s review and approval process and received a permit for all construction work.”

Youngbluth said the county has known about the leak since the fall, but has only had preliminary talks with WMATA about whose responsibility it is to fix the leak. The county is “continuing to explore technical studies and solutions that are available for an investigation of this type” and doesn’t yet have a timeframe or cost analysis for the repair, she added.

The multimodal improvements wrapped up last year, and included new sidewalks, crosswalks, street lighting, landscaping, new street crossing areas and bicycle amenities to go with the rain garden. The total project cost was $9 million.

Photo via @jurbanchuk

Murphy Proposes Budget With $13.6 Million Funding Gap

By Ethan Rothstein

APS Superintendent Patrick Murphy gives his budget presentationIncreasing class size, cutting jobs and deferring a teacher pay raise are all on the table for next school year in Arlington Public Schools Superintendent Patrick Murphy’s proposed FY 2016 budget.

Murphy’s proposal, which he will present to the Arlington School Board tonight (Thursday), calls for a total of $561.1 million of spending, a $21.7 million or 4 percent increase over FY 2015.

With a projected enrollment bump of 1,413 students next fall, Murphy’s budget calls for a $14.6 million spending increase just to handle the increased capacity, plus another $3.2 million to open Discovery Elementary School in north Arlington. Murphy also included $8.1 million in teacher step pay increases, a directive from the School Board.

“There’s nothing new in this budget,” Murphy told ARLnow.com this morning. “The emphasis is around instruction, efficiencies, compensation package among our employees and addressing enrollment to date.”

Murphy’s budget includes eliminating early release on Wednesday for the four schools that still have it: Arlington Traditional School, Arlington Science Focus, Long Branch and Taylor Elementary schools. The change costs $2.1 million, Murphy said, and necessitates adding 20.5 full-time equivalent positions. The elimination of early release also clears the way for APS to implement a broader foreign language in elementary schools (FLES) program.

APS projects its per-pupil cost in Murphy’s budget at $18,689, the lowest level since FY 2013.

County Manager Barbara Donnellan’s proposed budget, also announced today, includes an additional $13.2 million over the county’s contribution last year, still leaving a gap of $13.6 million. Murphy provides a plan to cut the $13.6 million deficit — assuming the county doesn’t allocate more funding in its deliberations — in three tiers.

  1. Tier One: Saving $4.7 million
    • Central Office reductions, including cutting six language positions and converting some world language classes to online, laying off four maintenance workers, and restructuring the library services department
    • Add more one-time funding from FY 2014 closeout funds into general budget
    • Fund replacement buses and technology with one-time funds
  2. Tier Two: Saving $5.2 million
    • Increase class size by one, saving $4.1 million and cutting 55 positions
    • Defer the elimination of early release in two schools
  3. Tier Three: Saving $3.7 million
    • Implement the step pay increase one-third of the way through the fiscal year, saving $2.7 million
    • Defer the elimination of early release in the other two schools

“I don’t support this,” Murphy said of the tier two cuts, particularly increasing class size, “but this is one of the strategies we’ve had to take.”

The cuts are divided into tiers in case the County Board elects to provide only partial funding toward closing the budget deficit.

The budget also includes $1.7 million for purchasing and outfitting 14 new relocatable classrooms, a number that APS staff anticipates changing before the final budget is approved. Revised enrollment projections for the 2015-2016 school year are expected to be released next month, prompting readjustments across the board in the proposed budget.

Relocatable classrooms, or trailers, as they’re also known, are just one piece of the puzzle for APS in solving its capacity crisis. Murphy said there are no additional measures in his proposal to help relieve south Arlington elementary school overcrowding; that’s a Capital Improvement Plan discussion, he said, which won’t be updated until 2016.

Instead, Murphy said there’s constant discussion about finding space efficiencies with what’s already in place, including changing the way space is used or moving county-wide programs to different buildings. Montessori classes and pre-K programs have already been shifted for capacity reasons, Murphy said.

“There’s been a strong message from my office about how we use our existing capacity, redefining space in buildings,” Murphy said. “We’ve made accommodations for [overcrowded] schools either with relocatables or redesigned space within those buildings.”

(more…)

Beer and Wine Delivery Service Launching in Arlington

By Ethan Rothstein

Beers in a refrigerator (Updated at 4:00 p.m.) An online service that would allow people to order beer and wine to their doorstep could launch next month in Arlington.

Ultra is already available in eight cities nationwide, including D.C., where it contracts with retailers to deliver beer, wine and liquor. While Virginia’s liquor laws restrict Ultra from selling spirits, Ultra CEO Aniket Shah says his company has reached an agreement with the state Alcoholic Beverage Control Board to deliver beer and wine.

“We are looking at Arlington as our first city to expand in Virginia, based on demographics, income levels and awareness for new technologies,” Shah told ARLnow.com. “We are expecting the deliveries to start first-second week of March.”

Ultra users would go to the company’s website, enter their zip code, and a list of products they can order (beer, wine, soda and mixers), delivery minimum, hours and estimated delivery time. Customers can order on-demand, which takes no more than an hour, or for more than 30 days in advance, including requests like the wine be chilled. Customers’ IDs are checked when the driver makes the delivery.

“We received huge response from people in D.C. when we launched there and we wanted to expand to Virginia as soon as possible,” Shah said. “[Virginia ABC] were very open to understanding our process and providing guidelines within which we had to operate our service in Virginia. We finally received the approval and we are actively in contact with several retailers to accept deliveries in Arlington.”

Ultra, a New York City-based company, can only sell beer and wine from stores that have delivery permits in place to do so. Shah couldn’t disclose which retailers Ultra is negotiating with because of confidentiality agreements, he said.

Shah said Ultra is the first service of its kind in Virginia, but individual retailers are already able to delivery beer and wine as long as they have an ABC license. Some restaurants, like Lost Dog Cafe, deliver beer along with food.

Shah also said he plans on initiating negotiations with the ABC Board to deliver liquor straight from ABC stores, but it’s unclear how much traction those discussions will have.

File photo

Pho Restaurant to Take Over Toscana Grill

By Ethan Rothstein

Toscana Grill(Updated Feb. 23 at 9:45 a.m.) A new Vietnamese restaurant plans to take over the space currently occupied by Toscana Grill in Courthouse.

The owners of Pho Deluxe, which has locations in Fairfax and Tysons Corner, told ARLnow.com that Toscana Grill is closing April 1, after which they will move in.

They hope to be open a month afterward at 2300 Clarendon Blvd, facing Courthouse Plaza.

Owners Hue and Dan Nguyen said the restaurant will specialize in the beef noodle soup, as well as rice dishes and noodle dishes. It will also have a full bar.

Toscana Grill had briefly closed in fall 2013, but reopened under new management.

Next door, meanwhile, Velocity Five’s conversion to Courthaus Social is about to get started. Co-owner Fito Garcia said this morning that the sports bar will be closing “in the coming week” to begin its remodeling to an “American beer garden.” Garcia said he expects the remodeling and staff training to be complete in time to open in April.

A previous version of this story stated Toscana Grill would close March 1. That has been corrected.

Car Crashes Into Tree on George Mason Drive

By Ethan Rothstein
1/6

A driver suffering from an apparent medical emergency drove his car off the road and into a tree this afternoon in Douglas Park.

The driver was attended to by medical personnel and ultimately taken to the hospital. According to police sources, the driver lost control of his car driving northbound on S. George Mason Drive, mere feet from the intersection with Four Mile Run Drive, just before 3:00 p.m.

The road was closed briefly as fire and police personnel responded to the crash, but it has since reopened.

Airbags deployed and the windshield shattered. The car, a Dodge Avenger, is likely totaled, suffering severe front end damage. There’s no word on the severity of the driver’s injuries.

County Board Could Approve Pedestrian, Park Upgrades

By Ethan Rothstein

Oak Grove Park (photo via Arlington County)As part of the next installment of Neighborhood Conservation projects, five neighborhoods, including three along I-66, could be a getting a combined $2.6 million in infrastructure improvements.

The Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee and county staff has recommended the five projects, and the Arlington County Board is scheduled to vote on whether to allocate money from the $12 million Neighborhood Conservation bond the voters approved last year.

Cherrydale’s Oak Grove Park, along N. Quincy Street, has been recommended for $795,000 worth of improvements, including a redone “tot lot,” construction of a playground for 5-12 year olds and replacing the existing gazebo with a larger picnic shelter.

Waycroft-Woodlawn is in line for $790,000 in pedestrian upgrades. The neighborhood has requested the money to fund curb ramp improvements for accessibility curb extensions at four intersections:

  • N. Evergreen Street and Washington Blvd
  • N. George Mason Drive and 11th Street N.
  • N. Evergreen Street and 11th Street N.
  • N. Buchanan St and 11th Street N.

The other projects would each receive less than $500,000 in funding:

  • $471,731 in pedestrian improvements along S. Courthouse Road from Columbia Pike to 12th Street S. in Columbia Heights
  • $348,987 for street lights in Madison Manor, along 12th Street N. from 11th Road to N. Roosevelt Street
  • $198,033 for street lights in Douglas Park, along 12th Street S. from S. Monroe Street to Quincy Street

Five of the projects approved by the County Board in February are in the middle of their design phase and are on track for construction next year:

  • Street improvements to the 5700 block of 2nd Street S. and the 100 block of S. Kensington Street in Glencarlyn.
  • A trail connector from the 4800 block of 7th Street S. to the W&OD trail in Barcroft. 
  • Pedestrian safety improvements to 19th Road N. between Woodstock Street and Upton Street in Waverly Hills
  • Street improvements to S. Lang Street between Arlington Ridge Road and 28th Street in Arlington Ridge
  • Streetlights and trail improvements on N. Ohio Street between 22nd Street and Washington Blvd in Highland Park Overlee Knolls.

The sixth project approved in February, improvements to Woodstock Park in Waycroft-Woodlawn, still does not have a scheduled completion date.

Photo via Arlington County

Hunan Number One Closed for Remodeling

By Ethan Rothstein

Hunan One temporarily closed in Clarendon Hunan One temporarily closed in Clarendon

The Chinese restaurant that has become known around Clarendon for serving giant mugs of beer for cheap is closed for now.

Hunan Number One (3003 Wilson Blvd) has a sign on the door that says it will reopen on Friday, Feb. 20. The business has been closed since last week, it appears.

An employee who answered the phone Wednesday morning said the restaurant was closed “for a bit of remodeling” and confirmed that it’s expected to reopen Friday. When ARLnow.com stopped by this morning, workers were inside getting the business ready for the reopening.

The closure comes at an inconvenient time for those who might have wanted to toast the Chinese New Year, which is Thursday.

It’s unclear at this point what changes are being made to the interior.

Update at 12:05 p.m. — An earlier version of this story reported that Hunan One’s website automatically redirects to an online store that sells only Air Jordan sneakers. It appears that the problem has been fixed and the restaurant’s website is working properly again. Some users, however, may still be experiencing the redirection under certain circumstances due to browser caching.

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