Author: Jo DeVoe

‘Intense’ winter weather leaves county crews flooded with water main breaks

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

This winter’s storms and freezing temperatures have caused a spike in water main breaks.

Crews with the Department of Environmental Services’ Water, Sewer and Streets Bureau repaired 47 water mains in January, as of 6 p.m. Monday, with two repairs in progress and six planned, said DES spokesman Peter Golkin.

By comparison, January 2021 saw 30 main breaks, up from 19 in January 2020 and eight in January 2019, he noted.

Since Golkin provided those stats last night, two additional water main breaks have been publicly reported, in East Falls Church and Green Valley.

Golkin, who runs the DES Twitter feed, attributed the “above-average number of water main breaks” to “an unusually intense winter” in a recent tweet.

“Recent winters have been fairly mild,” Golkin tells ARLnow. “But we are seeing an upward trend for breaks over the past four years.”

Winter weather exacerbates the other reasons these mains break: age and materials used. Rehabilitating and replacing old water mains has been and continues to be a decades-long county effort.

Arlington has about 500 miles of pipes that bring water to homes and businesses. Of those, about 60% are cast iron pipes more than 50 years old — and thus prone to leaking.

“So age is a factor in the sense of which type of iron we’re dealing with,” he said. “Arlington’s cast iron pipes were not lined with a protective coating to prevent corrosion. While for the most part they’re in good condition, over time the inner and outer diameter thins. Then, factor in winter and the differences in temperature between pipe, water and surrounding soil and you get stresses on the pipes.”

When mains break, crews stop the flow of water, which can cause temporary service disruptions to some properties. Repairs can take six to eight hours from when leaks are reported but could take longer if they’re on a major water line and involve significant damage.

And right now, responding to leaks is a grueling job, Golkin says.

“Crew safety and health is always the preeminent concern in responding, especially with bitter temperatures, darkness and Covid protocols,” he said. “But our professionals know what’s required and can usually complete a job in 6-8 hours despite all sorts of conditions. And they have to be prepared around the clock, seven days a week.”

Per location data from the county’s online map of leaks and repairs, crews had to respond to the same address twice in a half-dozen recent cases. Golkin says that’s typical.

“Repairing a water main naturally generates stress on the line, which can lead to nearby follow-up breaks,” Golkin said. “So if a certain neighborhood has had a repair, then there’s an increased chance that another problem might soon develop on the same block.”

When multiple leaks happen concurrently, the bureau prioritizes repairs based on the number of residents impacted, he said.

“DES prioritizes by the impact of each break, so if there is a repair needed in a residential neighborhood, that would get first attention compared to a break next to office buildings closed for the night or a weekend,” Golkin said. “Sometimes a break doesn’t mean a loss of water service, possibly due to redundancy in the water main network. That can give the bureau flexibility in scheduling a repair.”

(more…)

SCYTHE helps companies understand hacks and fight back — and it’s hiring

By Jo DeVoe
SCYTHE logo (courtesy photo)

Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups, founders, and other local technology news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn. 

Some hackers exploit weaknesses in a company’s security to make money. But other hackers do so to help companies find their weak points.

It’s called “ethical hacking.” Local cybersecurity company SCYTHE has created a platform that emulates cyber attacks, using the work done by ethical hackers, to help companies find their own gaps in security.

“We collect all the information about new attack types, usually written up by the ethical hackers, who are called security researchers… [and] we break down the attacks into the individual steps so that our customers can rearrange the order,” says CEO and founder Bryson Bort. “This lets them make their own attacks so that they can test how effective their security is. The more different ways they can run attack steps, the more they understand how well everything works on their end.”

There’s growing demand for this tool, says Bort, who is hiring folks to meet that demand and add capabilities to that tool — to make it even easier for customers to test out their security — using $10 million it raised in Series A funding last November. This rapid growth, Bort says, has taught him the importance of ensuring team members feel valued and included and have room to grow professionally.

“I think that a lot of founders don’t alway realize when they start a company that while the technology can be unique, it’s really the people who make a company successful,” he said.

Bort — who served as a U.S. Army Officer during Operation Iraqi Freedom and one of 2020’s 50 top cyber leaders according to Business Insider — founded the company in 2017 to develop an idea born from his work at GRIMM, a cybersecurity consultancy he also founded.

And he wanted to make sure the companies were linked — with a sense of humor.

“SCYTHE was a product that came out of work we were doing at GRIMM,” he said. “GRIMM is a services company where it’s about people. SCYTHE is a product, a tool that GRIMM would use. When I created SCYTHE, I wanted to show that the two were connected but also show their differences.”

SCYTHE logo (courtesy photo)

The two companies are also linked through a mythical motif, so to speak. Unicorns.

“We did an annual T-shirt contest for the industry event DEF CON, the largest hacker conference in the world,” Bort said. “I came up with the idea of the grim reaper riding a unicorn because I liked the juxtaposition. The design blew up because other people also saw the humor.”

https://twitter.com/scythe_io/status/1463537412651589633

When he started his second company, he decided to incorporate unicorns into the logo and branded merch, which benefits “chubby unicorns,” or endangered rhinos. And Bort says the majestic, single-horned fantasy creature sums up what SCYTHE does and its goal.

“It just really feels like it’s the best way to describe the company,” he said. “We’re doing things no one else is doing and plan some day to be a literal unicorn startup.”

Unicorn startups are privately held startup companies valued at more than $1 billion, and are so named to underscore their rarity. (Arlington has one unicorn: woman-led financial technology company Interos.)

SCYTHE is hiring lots of positions to continue working toward that goal.

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In Clarendon, Silver Diner project crystallizes as sector plan revisions enter home stretch

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Plans and a possible construction timeline for the proposed Silver Diner redevelopment in Clarendon are crystallizing.

Late last month, property owner TCS Realty Associates and developer Donohoe Cos. filed their application materials for the “Bingham Center” project on a triangular parcel of land bounded by Wilson Blvd, 10th Street N. and N. Irving Street, across from Northside Social.

One half of the project would replace the Silver Diner and a retail building (3240 Wilson Blvd) with a 224-room hotel, featuring a rooftop bar, gym and terrace. The other half would see a 286-unit residential building with 16,000 square feet of retail replacing The Lot, two brick structures called “The Doctors Building,” an auto repair facility and surface parking.

The sites for the hotel and apartment buildings by TCS Realty Associates and The Donohoe Cos. (via Arlington County)

The review process for the project could take upward of seven months, TCS Realty Associates President Tom Shooltz tells ARLnow. Construction, which Donohoe will oversee as general contractor, could start in the first or second quarter of 2023 and wrap up about two years later.

“We’re getting to the goal line now,” he said.

The filings come as revisions to the Clarendon Sector Plan are set to be finalized in the next four months. In response to a bevy of expected near-term projects in Clarendon, Arlington County embarked on a review of the 2006 plan last year.

This includes the Silver Diner/The Lot site on Clarendon Circle, as well as the Joyce Motors and Wells Fargo/Verizon sites and redevelopment projects by St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church, the YMCA and George Mason University.

“Currently, staff is preparing the draft Clarendon Sector Plan Update document,” Arlington County Planner Brett Wallace told ARLnow in a statement. “Staff posted materials online in early December that include draft recommendations, updated sector plan text and maps, and potential land use scenarios for the 10th Street County-owned properties.”

Staff will next meet with the Zoning Committee in two weeks to review proposed zoning amendments before Planning Commission and County Board public hearing dates are set.

Progress on the Silver Diner redevelopment project hinged on sector plan revisions.

“The Clarendon Sector Plan is very important to the whole development of Clarendon,” Shooltz said. “There are a few other projects in the pipeline for that immediate part of Clarendon, so it only made sense that the county and stakeholders stepped back to make sure the Sector Plan reflects what we want to see for Clarendon.”

Despite COVID-19 delays and a timeline dictated by the sector plan, Shooltz says getting to this point has been smooth.

“We’ve got a very sophisticated citizen group who has been through this process many times,” he said. “It’s been a pleasure to work with them and Clarendon is going to be a beneficiary of the review process.” (more…)

Grace Community Church to fill huge space in Ballston Quarter mall

By Jo DeVoe
Ballston Quarter in the snow (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) Grace Community Church has its sights set on a new home: Ballston Quarter.

The church would occupy about 23,280 square feet of space on the second floor of the mall. It will be across the atrium from WHINO, the art gallery, wine bar and restaurant, and next to the Macy’s.

Next month, the Arlington County Board is set to hear the church’s request to operate in the mall. If approved, Grace Community Church Pastor John Slye says construction on the indoor mall space will begin shortly after and the congregation could move in between July 1 and September of this year.

Ballston Quarter would be a big change from Grace Community Church’s current meeting place — the Thomas Jefferson Middle School auditorium at 125 S. Old Glebe Road. For most of its 20-year history, the church has held worship services at Key Elementary School and later TJ, which Slye attended as a kid. (For office space, Grace Community Church did for a time use a church at 11th Street N. and N. Vermont Street — being redeveloped as apartments.)

“We’ve really enjoyed our time and our partnership [at TJ]. They have been absolutely fantastic,” Slye said. “We’ll be sad to go.”

But a permanent, dedicated home has always been the goal, one the church has started pursuing seriously in the last four years, Slye says. It chose the Ballston Quarter location in 2020, signed a lease and assembled a construction team shortly after that.

The future location of Grace Community Church in Ballston Quarter (via Ballston Quarter, with circle added by ARLnow)

While the space will seat 200 fewer people than TJ’s auditorium, the trade-off is that the church will have a space customized to its needs for the first time.

“Our name is Grace Community Church, so we’re really into community, and we do a lot of stuff around food and fun,” Slye said. “We’ll do some concerts — not just Christian — but partnerships with the community, conferences, all kinds of fun things that, we believe, will be a help in some way, shape or fashion in the community.”

An architectural drawing of the new Grace Community Church, planned for Ballston Quarter Mall (via Arlington County)

The church will have two Sunday services, one at 9:30 and another at 11 a.m., with each bringing in about 480 worshippers, as well as a Thursday service at 7 p.m., according to an application filed with Arlington County. The conferences and concerts will take place on Friday evenings and during the day and evening on Saturday.

Nick Cumings, a land use lawyer representing the church, writes in the church’s application to the county that the regional shopping center “can easily accommodate the expected number of worshippers” as well as their cars in the Ballston Quarter garage.

Religious uses are allowed under the zoning code for the mall, but the church is required to get a site plan amendment approved by the County Board to operate, per the application.

Ballston Quarter’s amenities, its centrality and proximity to the Ballston Metro station will increase the church’s profile, Slye says. That will allow the church to amplify its partnerships with local organizations, such as Arlington Food Assistance Center.

It will also introduce more people to what he says is the “vaccine” to modern malaises such as anxiety, loneliness and purposelessness: the Biblical mandate to love the stranger through community organizing and volunteering.

“We’ve got anxiety running wild, frustration, meaningless, purposelessness,” he said. “We have a vaccine for that: loving-kindness… We need these principles introduced to make a difference to our lives and to the world — and they just work.”

NAACP urges Arlington Dems to end its School Board caucus process

By Jo DeVoe

The Arlington Branch of the NAACP levied sharp criticisms against the local Democratic party’s School Board endorsement caucus, which is up for debate next week.

On Wednesday at 7 p.m., the Arlington County Democratic Committee is set to consider the objections to its caucus and vote on whether and how to change this process. The vote will be just one month after new leadership took over ACDC.

In Virginia, all School Board races are nonpartisan, meaning parties like Arlington Dems can only endorse candidates, not nominate them as in a primary. But as part of the endorsement caucus, typically held in May, candidates agree not to run in the general election, making the end result similar to a primary.

Or, as the NAACP puts it, the caucus is a “shadow election overriding the democratic and regulated process.”

It argues that, months before the general election, the process influences who runs, how much they spend and how they campaign, who wins and whose votes matter.

“[H]olding a partisan caucus outside the general election schedule leads to voter confusion and thus undermines voter engagement, equitable voter representation, and candidate recruitment,” the group said in a letter to Arlington Dems President Steve Baker.

Part of the problem, the NAACP says, is that voters don’t understand the role of the caucus and will likely just pick the Democrat favored by the caucus when voting down-ballot at the polls.

“The partisan sample ballot and the ‘D’ designation of the endorsed candidate has the effect — in a county so heavily comprised of registered Democrats as Arlington — of rendering the official election in November predetermined by the prior shadow election of the partisan caucus,” the letter said. “Absent reform, the default winner of the proper democratic process always has been and presumably always will be the winner of the endorsement caucus.”

Defenders of the caucus say that’s the point.

“Many County residents lack the time to attend candidate debates or study candidates’ written policy positions and understandably look for a shortcut to winnow the field — the R or the D next to candidate names,” writes resident John Seymour, a precinct captain with Arlington Dems, in Blue Virginia.

Another issue is representation in terms of candidates and turnout, the NAACP says. Voting in the caucus heavily skews toward White Democrats living in North Arlington, meaning candidates with firm northern networks are more likely to run and receive support, according to the letter.

More from the NAACP:

[T]he 22207 zip code was consistently one of the highest represented areas in the caucus process, with almost one-third of the caucus votes (32%) in 2021; however, this zip code comprises only 14% of the total Arlington population and is 79% White. In contrast, the 22204 zip code is the most highly populated in Arlington (23%) and the most diverse (18% Black, 27% Hispanic, and 38% White), but disproportionately made up only 15% of the caucus vote in 2021.

… “If left to the insular implementation, the voting will continue to skew to benefit a specific geographic region in Arlington. It has for all of the years for which we have data and presumably the entirety of the endorsement caucus.”

Still, in recent years, voter participation in the caucus has trended upward, according to ACDC. Last May, 6,207 ballots were cast, exceeding the last county caucus record of 5,972 votes, set in 2017.

(more…)

More than 100 residents apply for a seat on Arlington’s new police oversight board

By Jo DeVoe
Police response on Columbia Pike (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

The County Board and the community have a small mountain of applications to Arlington’s new police oversight board to sift through.

Between October and December of last year, more than 100 people applied to sit on the county’s Community Oversight Board,  according to Board Vice-Chair Christian Dorsey.

The County Board created the group last summer to receive complaints of police misconduct. Following the recommendations of the Police Practices Group — convened after 2020’s summer of nationwide racial justice protests — the Board endowed the COB with the power to subpoena for evidence or witnesses if the police department withholds them.

Now, the County Board and a panel of community members have the monumental task of winnowing down the 100 applicants to nine candidates — seven voting and two non-voting members — by mid-March.

“On behalf of all of us, I think we can say thank you, thank you for the tremendous outpouring of interest and support for this initiative in Arlington,” said Dorsey, who is a liaison to the COB along with Board member Matt de Ferranti.

A multi-step interview process is now underway, says Dorsey.

Candidates have been invited to participate in video interviews so they can be screened before they go before a panel, which will largely be composed of people who were engaged in the creation of the COB last year.

This panel will choose who will interview with the County Board.

Dorsey says the goal is to fully impanel the COB by the County Board’s March meeting.

“We are very, very thrilled that this is going to move forward,” he said. “We really thank so many Arlingtonians who are interested in transparency and accountability in law enforcement and working to build trust with our police department and community.”

Dorsey noted that he was pleased the applicant pool reflects Arlington’s diversity.

“This was very much a standard by which we want to establish our Community Oversight Board, and at least from the screening of the applicants thus far, we will absolutely be able to meet that important mandate,” he said.

The COB would be lead by an independent auditor-monitor who can conduct investigations concurrent with internal police department investigations. This position, however, is subject to approval by state legislature, possibly during the 2022 legislative session.

Del. Patrick Hope (D-47) is chief patron of House Bill 670 that would allow Arlington County to appoint the independent policing auditor.

These are the best-designed edifices in Arlington, according to the county

By Jo DeVoe
1/12

(Updated at 5:10 p.m.) On N. Kirkwood Road, amid a sea of brick homes, a sleek, modern house in black and white with pink trim stands out from the pack.

Designed by local architect Paola Lugli, of PLDESIGNSTUDIO, “Black & White House with a Touch of Pink” is one of the residences recognized in the 2021 DESIGNArlington awards along with other homes, community facilities and affordable housing communities.

Released yesterday (Tuesday), the biennial, county-sponsored awards honored 13 projects that demonstrate an excellence in architectural and landscape design and public art, while meeting Arlington priorities such as sustainability and accessibility.

A group of five architects, planners and art curators examined 24 entries and granted awards to the following projects. One of the top awards went to the county’s own project: the new Long Bridge aquatics center.

The county also awarded the “North Adams House,” which is the same house that was embroiled in a dispute over “scat mats” owner Eric Wang put up to deter dogs from peeing on his prized bushes. The invective from neighbors, leveled via Nextdoor, extended to commentary about his custom-built home, described as an “eyesore,” “heinous” and “ugly as sin.”

The county, meanwhile, praised the architectural variety of his home and its “open, light-filled spaces that interact with the surrounding garden.”

Excellence Awards

Long Bridge Aquatics and Fitness Center, designed by Page Southerland Page, Inc, Rhodeside & Harwell

Ballston Pedestrian Bridge, designed by StudioTECHNE Architects, Pellar & Associates

Merit Awards

The Aubrey, designed by STUDIOS Architecture, Lee & Associates

Dorothy Hamm Middle School, designed by Quinn Evans, Main Street Design

Yo-Yo House, designed by Sagatov Design + Build

Black & White House with a Touch of Pink, designed by Paola Lugli, PLDESIGNSTUDIO

North Adams House, designed by Robert M. Gurney, FAIA

Honorable Mention Awards

Queens Court, by KGD Architecture, LSG Landscape Architecture

Apex Apartments, by MTFA Architecture, Walter L. Phillips, Inc.

An accessory dwelling unit, designed by Measure Architects

“Watermarks,” by Julie Bargmann of D.I.R.T. Studio

Terraces at Ballston Quarter, by Landscape Architecture Bureau (LAB) and CallisonRTKL

Stephanson Residence, by DW Ricks Architects + Associates

Arlington sees bump in vaccinated employees as mandate deadline nears

By Jo DeVoe
The COVID-19 vaccine (via Arlington County/YouTube)

The threat of job loss over vaccination status may have motivated some 104 permanent Arlington County employees to get the shot.

County employees have until next Tuesday (Feb. 1) to get the jab or obtain a medical or religious exemption, otherwise they go on unpaid leave for one month. If they obtain neither before Feb. 28, they lose their jobs.

Since mid-December, when ARLnow last reported on the upcoming deadline for employees, nearly 38% of unvaccinated employees have received the vaccine, according to Arlington Public Health Division spokesman Ryan Hudson.

With less than a week to before the deadline, 174 employees, or 5.5% of the county’s permanent workforce, remain unvaccinated — a number that includes people with religious and medical accommodations.

The uptick over the last 40 days brings the county’s employee vaccination rate to 94.5%, up from 91%, or 2,976 of 3,150 county employees.

Back in August, Arlington County mandated vaccines for all permanent county employees, requiring those who were unvaccinated to submit to weekly testing. A few months later, the county sharpened the teeth behind the mandate by setting the Feb. 28 deadline.

This step prompted a group of first responders and other county employees to launch a petition, asking the county for “more reciprocal ideas” for ensuring employee health and safety, such as continuing testing. Today, the petition has about 350 signatures.

Arlington County Board members re-endorsed the mandate during their regular meeting on Saturday, after a former Arlington firefighter took the podium during the public comment period to say not getting the shot is an “inexcusable dereliction of duty,” unless there’s a legitimate medical exemption.

“I don’t believe any public safety employee who refuses a vaccine at this time is doing anything other than defying the very essence of their job,” said retired firefighter Mike Staples.

He thanked the 90% of the fire department who’ve received the vaccine for “upholding the longstanding reputation we’ve built of demonstrating a selfless commitment to public safety.”

Staples said the firefighters who are holding out are “in the wrong line of work.”

Despite their controversy, workplace mandates have been shown to increase vaccination rates.

County Board members appeared unfazed by the potential loss of workers come Feb. 28, despite reports of ongoing and predicted workforce shortages among first responders and in other county departments.

“We are at this point talking about a relative few who have either not complied with getting the shots or have not qualified for a legitimate medical or religious exemption,” Board Vice-Chair Christian Dorsey said. “The good news is that is at such a high number there will be no negative or adverse impact on county service delivery with the implementation of this requirement. We do thank everyone doing their part to keep our community safe.”

County Board signals support for Arlington schools in mask clash with state

By Jo DeVoe
Board Chair Katie Cristol during the recessed meeting on Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2022 (via Arlington County)

The Arlington County Board says it’s on the side of Arlington Public Schools in the battle with the state over mask mandates.

Arlington and six other Northern Virginia school systems filed a lawsuit Monday challenging Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s executive order on Jan. 15, his first day in office, prohibiting school systems from requiring students wear masks.

The order states parents should be able to “elect for their children not to be subject to any mask mandate in effect at the child’s school or educational program.”

During the County Board’s recessed meeting yesterday (Tuesday), Board Chair Katie Cristol and Vice-Chair Christian Dorsey affirmed masking as an important COVID-19 mitigation strategy and pledged to support APS.

“I think I speak for all of us in saying that we are supportive of Arlington Public Schools, the School Board and superintendent and all of their efforts to keep students and teachers safe and therefore learning in person,” Cristol said.

Dorsey said the Board believes the school system’s actions are lawful and “absolutely the right thing to do.”

“We will figure out how we can support them any way possible,” he said.

He criticized the executive order — which also requires School Boards to marshal up additional resources to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 — as being vague and counter-productive while lacking funding.

“There’s a great question as to whether communities broadly, not just school systems, are going to be held to certain standards of making certain spending to offer COVID-19 mitigation that are currently being met with masks,” he said.

But the County Board stopped short of showing its support with a vote, a step the Fairfax County’s Board of Supervisors took yesterday (Tuesday). The Fairfax County School Board is another plaintiff in the lawsuit, alongside the school boards of Alexandria City, Falls Church City, Hampton City, Prince William County and the City of Richmond.

The lawsuit claims Youngkin can’t make an order that supersedes the right of school boards to enact policy at the local level. It also claims the order contradicts a recently adopted law directing school boards to follow the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s health and safety requirements.

Arlington Circuit Court, where the suit was filed, scheduled a hearing in the suit for Wednesday, Feb. 2. While Arlington awaits a ruling from the judge on the complaint, it had already determined it would continue its school mask requirement despite the order, which was set to take effect Monday.

The governor’s press secretary said in a statement they are disappointed in the school boards.

“The governor and attorney general are in coordination and are committed to aggressively defending parents’ fundamental right to make decisions with regard to their child’s upbringing, education, and care, as the legal process plays out,” she said in a statement to FFXnow.

Following the executive order, the Virginia Department of Health issued updated guidance Friday on preventing COVID-19 in schools, which reiterates points made in the executive order emphasizing parents’ rights, keeping schools open and providing a safe environment.

(more…)

As apartments near County HQ go up, what’s next for Courthouse?

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

An ongoing redevelopment project on the “Landmark Block” in Courthouse is poised to realize a significant portion of a 2015 vision to transform the neighborhood.

But beyond the “Landmark” project (2050 Wilson Blvd) by Greystar, there are no near-term private or public projects set to pick up wherever Greystar leaves off.

Over the next 20 years, Arlington County has plans to transform some of the mid-rise buildings, county facilities and the surface parking lot at the epicenter of the neighborhood into a vibrant area. Dubbed Courthouse Square, the area is bounded by Clarendon Blvd to the north, N. Courthouse Road to the east, 14th Street N. to the south and commercial buildings to the west.

The future Courthouse Square would feature a civic square for rallies and programs, new cultural and civic buildings, shared streets and a pedestrian promenade. Courthouse Square will be, visionaries said in a 2015 planning document, “where the revolution begins.”

Greystar is leading the charge with “The Commodore” apartments, which replace some brick buildings that housed Cosi, Boston Market, Jerry’s Subs and Summers Restaurant. But the revolution will only be fully realized after a few more county projects and private developments materialize.

“It’s a balance. The full vision will come together through public- and private-sector investment and actions,” says Anthony Fusarelli, Jr., the director of the county’s Department of Community, Housing and Development.

Part of the burden of redevelopment is on the county, which envisioned in 2015 building a new headquarters — after the county’s lease was set to end in 2028 — as well as up to two civic and cultural facilities. The then-looming end to the lease on the headquarters was the impetus for the 2015 Courthouse Square addendum, he said.

In 2018, Arlington County negotiated a lease extension until 2033, however, allowing the county to focus on renovations to its existing building and giving it an extra five years to start on new construction. The pandemic — and the changes it brought to the workplace — could mean a more modest approach instead of building a 400,000-square-foot building once envisioned in 2015.

“There’s been a massive forced experience about how people do work, whether they’re in a small business or a government agency,” Fusarelli said. “I think going forward in the immediate future, trying to pursue discrete development plans would be very challenging.”

A map of the blocks comprising Courthouse Square and their proposed uses, per the 2015 addendum (via Arlington County)

As for the cultural facilities, Arlington Cultural Affairs is still determining whether they’re needed after conducting an assessment in 2006.

“Informed also by the findings of our comprehensive 2017 Enriching Lives Arlington Arts and Culture Strategy, Arlington Cultural Affairs will continue to work with other County agencies to determine next steps,” the division said.

Meanwhile, of the privately owned sections, the Landmark Block is the only corner where a developer has expressed interest in redevelopment. (Across the street from Courthouse Square, Greystar is shepherding a 220-unit building on the vacant Wendy’s lot through county processes.)

“We worked hard to realize as many of the public benefits as we could through community benefits partly because we understood it may be some time, and there may be some uncertainty, [before] the next private development could come forward,” Fusarelli said.

(more…)

County seeks input on improvements to 28th Street S. near Gunston Park

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

This week, locals can share their thoughts on a county project to make a segment of 28th Street S. near Gunston Park more walkable.

The proposed “Neighborhood Complete Streets” project aims to improve the existing sidewalk, curb ramps and transit stops between S. Meade Street and 26th Street S., near Gunston Middle School and the nearby community center, park and playing field space.

“The improvements seek to provide more comfortable, accessible pedestrian crossings and transit stops that will narrow the roadway and shorten the crossing distances,” according to the county.

Specifically, the county plans to install curb extensions and ramps that comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act to increase access to and shorten pedestrian crossing distances. It will add pavement markings and signage to make pedestrian crossings more visible to motorists.

Folks can provide feedback on the project, still in a preliminary design phase, through this Sunday. The survey asks respondents if the proposed changes would make them feel safer walking, taking public transit, biking, scooting or driving along 28th Street S.

“This feedback will help inform a final design, prioritizing feasibility, safety and available funding,” the county survey says.

The county Neighborhood Complete Streets program, funded through the County’s Capital Improvement Plan, aims to make physical improvements that address safety and access problems on non-arterial streets. At this stage, estimated project costs aren’t known. After the public engagement period for this project ends, it will go to the Neighborhood Complete Streets Commission for approval.

Then, it will advance to the Arlington County Board for approval, kicking off a more detailed design phase.

Meanwhile, renovations to the Gunston Bubble, which houses a year-round synthetic turf field, are scheduled to be completed soon, according to the county. The county embarked on energy efficiency and reliability upgrades to the “bubble” last summer.

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