County Board

Lubber Run Amphitheatre Supporters Question County Study

By ARLnow.com

Does the shuttered Lubber Run Amphitheater need some no-frills fixes or a complete overhaul before it can reopen? It depends who you ask.

Earlier this month Arlington County released a decidedly pessimistic study of the 43-year-old amphitheater and its surrounding grounds. The study, conducted by Neale Architects, concluded that bringing the amphitheater up to current code standards would require $2.5 million for an extensive renovation or a $3.5 million for a completely new facility, not including significant costs associated with Americans with Disabilities Act, Resource Protection Area and floodplain compliance.

The study “found a number of existing conditions that represent a hazard to public safety, including open trenches; steep grades; deteriorated benches; tilting walls; crumbling paving,” according to the county’s Lubber Run Amphitheater web site.

“The wooden stage has also deteriorated and the County will take action to remove it,” the assessment continued. “Mold is also present in some locations. Both the deteriorating stage and mold reflect underlying drainage problems.”

A newly-formed group called the Lubber Run Amphitheater Foundation, however, disputes many of the findings. In a letter to the county board (after the jump) and in a corresponding itemized assessment, the foundation says that the study contains errors, omissions and exaggerations. For instance, an “open trench” cited in the report is actually “a one-and-one-half inch depression in the asphalt,” according to the letter.

Instead of waiting for funding to be made available for a complete overhaul, the foundation is asking for “a low-impact, no-frills restoration of the venue that maintains its existing modest footprint.”

“The report seems to be saying that to save the amphitheater we have to totally replace it at the cost of millions of dollars,” said Lubber Run Amphitheater Foundation co-president Esther Bowring. “We’re asking the Board to take a closer look, talk with us and come up with a reasonable budget that will restore the existing amphitheater that has served Arlington’s public and cultural community well for more than 40 years.”

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Tax Rate Hearing Sparsely Attended — Compared to the three-hour, 75-speaker bonanza that was the March 22 budget hearing, last night’s County Board tax rate hearing was an intimate, low-key affair. The board heard a half hour of testimony from two polar opposite sides: those who want the tax rate lowered and those who want to see the tax rate raised. [Sun Gazette]

DCA Controller Suspended — An air traffic controller suspected of snoozing on the job while two planes landed has been suspended by the Federal Aviation Administration. While some are calling the incident a major safety failure, one retired pilot says the air safety system worked as intended when a regional air traffic controller stepped in to guide the planes. [Christian Science Monitor]

Wakefield High School Construction Approved — The school board approved the final design of a new, $115 million Wakefield High School last night. Construction on the new school is expected to begin in July. The school is designed to house up to 1,622 students, with provisions for increasing capacity beyond 2,000 students, if necessary. The current Wakefield High School, which was built in the 1950s, has a capacity of 1,797 and a projected 2012 enrollment of 1,356. [Sun Gazette]

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Dremo’s Coming to the Pike? — The owner of the late, lamented Dr. Dremo’s Tap Room is in talks with the landlord of the former Ski Chalet store at 2704 Columbia Pike. The building would give Dremo’s a spacious new home in a funky old building, complete with parking, room for outdoor seating, and access to plentiful bus routes. We’re pretty sure an ARLnow.com commenter was the one who first floated the idea. [Pike Wire]

Dozens Testify At Budget Hearing — More than 75 people spoke at last night’s annual County Board budget hearing. Representatives and supporters of various local human services agencies asked the Board to increase funding for their causes. Also present at the hearing were supporters of increased funding for arts organizations, bicycling infrastructure and Arlington Public Libraries. [Sun Gazette]

One Hurt in Motorcycle Accident — A motorcyclist suffered serious but non-life-threatening injuries last night after a collision with a pickup truck at the intersection of Columbia Pike and S. George Mason Drive. The accident happened around 10:15 p.m. The motorcyclist was taken to George Washington University hospital for treatment.

Flickr pool photo by Allee574

Morning Poll: Libraries vs. Taxes

By ARLnow.com

Tonight at 7:00 p.m. the Arlington County Board will hold a hearing on its FY 2012 budget.

Although Arlington will benefit from rising property values this year in the form of higher tax collections, the Board still must make tough choices when it comes to deciding what to fund and how to fund it.

County Manager Barbara Donnellan has recommended keeping real estate taxes steady at 95.8 cents per $100 in assessed value, following a year in which the rate jumped 8.3 cents. The Board gave itself the flexibility of raising that rate slightly by advertising a 96.8 cent rate.

Meanwhile, various groups have been asking the board to increase funding their local priorities, from affordable housing to parks to helping the homeless. One group that has been particularly vocal is supporters of Arlington’s public libraries, who want to see a restoration of the library hours and materials funding after they were cut last year.

If you had to choose between a small property tax increase and a restoration of library funds, or no tax increase and no restoration of funds, which would you choose?


County Board Rejects Lights for Bishop O’Connell High School

By ARLnow.com

The County Board has rejected a controversial proposal to add lights to the football and basefall fields at Bishop O’Connell High School.

The board’s 3-1 vote to reject the proposal came after nearly 75 speakers — including neighbors, student athletes, nuns and local gadflies — spoke both strongly in favor and strongly against the O’Connell lighting plan.

(Board member Barbara Favola recused herself due to her work for Marymount University. The lighting proposal called for Marymount’s athletic teams to be granted partial use of the fields.)

The nearly three hours of public comment produced a bit of consensus — that Bishop O’Connell was generally a good neighbor and that its plan to renovate the athletic fields themselves was more or less acceptable to the East Falls Church and Williamsburg communities. Otherwise, the two sides were at loggerheads with little hope of an acceptable compromise.

Sister Bernadette McManigal, superintendent of schools for the Diocese of Arlington, asked that Bishop O’Connell be granted the same privileges as Arlington’s public high schools, which have field lights in “neighborhoods comparable to O’Connell.”

“I ask for the same consideration,” she said. Many of the O’Connell student athletes who spoke last night made the same plea — that they wanted the same level of facilities as their public school peers.

In fact, the school argued that its proposed facilities were more modest than the athletic facilities at other Arlington high schools, and insisted that it was being careful to minimize neighborhood impact.

But one resident said that O’Connell’s proposal would have negative effects not experienced in other neighborhoods, according to a lighting consultant hired by neighbors.

“The school’s current design will result in light spillage far in excess of national standards,” said John Seymour, who identified himself as a 20-year resident of the neighborhood. “The spill will significantly impair the lives of neighbors subject to it. It will also impair the values of their homes.”

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Zimmerman Plans Small Business “Listening Session”

By ARLnow.com

Update at 3:30 p.m. — Zimmerman unveiled a new “Business Center” web portal at this afternoon’s board meeting. The portal is “designed to make the County web site work better for Arlington business owners,” according to county spokeswoman Mary Curtius.

On New Year’s Day, County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman kicked off the year by declaring that the board wanted to be seen a “facilitator, a partner to small business” in 2011.

The subtext of his comment was that the county was looking to reverse course from 2010, when a series of mini-controversies over enforcement of county ordinances had some entrepreneurs questioning Arlington’s commitment to small business.

Among the dust-ups: American Flatbread’s request for patio seating was denied in July. Then Screwtop Wine Bar and Bakeshop had their sandwich board-style signs confiscated and thrown in a dumpster by a county employee. Then some soon-to-open businesses began complaining about delays caused by zoning issues. And finally, the icing on the cake was a lawsuit filed by a doggy daycare owner over a mural that the county argued was disallowed under the sign ordinance. (A judge later sided with the county.)

With that unpleasantness behind him, Zimmerman is now organizing a small business “listening session” on March 31. In a letter to business owners, Zimmerman writes that “to make improvements that really work for business, we need direct input from our business owners and those who support them.”

The forum also comes at a time when the county is in the process of rewriting its zoning ordinance, including the sign ordinance, to correct inconsistencies and ambiguities. Zimmerman has also hinted that the board may relax certain regulations.

“Many feel [the zoning ordinance] is overly restrictive and unnecessarily hard to understand and comply with,” Zimmerman said at the Jan. 1 board meeting. “There has to be a better way. In 2011, we’re going to find one.”

See Zimmerman’s letter to business owners, after the jump.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Sign Goes Up at Penrose Square Giant — The Giant supermarket that will be opening at the corner of Columbia Pike and South Adams Street this summer is teasing residents with a new sign. The sign went up recently on the side of the new Penrose Square apartment complex, in which the 60,000 square foot store will be located.

Fitness Center Coming to the Pike This Summer — Just up the street from the aforementioned Giant, a new 12,000 square foot Xsport Fitness Center is planning on opening on the ground floor of the Siena Park apartment building this summer. Xsports plans to stay open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. [Pike Wire]

East Falls Church Hearing Scheduled — The County Board has voted to advertise an April 16 public hearing on its controversial East Falls Church development plan. If the vocal opposition to the plan at Saturday’s board meeting was any indication, April’s hearing ought to be interesting. [Sun Gazette]

Courtesy photo

County Board Revises Affordable Housing Goals

By ARLnow.com

On Saturday, the County Board unanimously approved a series of affordable housing goals for 2015, with an eye toward preventing and ending homelessness.

The board formally set the goal of creating a comprehensive, year-round homeless shelter — a long-standing local priority that’s currently in the early stages of implementation. At the moment, Arlington County is only served by an emergency winter shelter. By building a new year-round shelter, the board hopes to cut the number of unsheltered homeless in the county by half.

The board also set the goal of finding permanent housing for 95 percent of all homeless families and elderly homeless individuals. Five years ago the board set essentially the same goal for 2010, but was only able to find housing for 44 percent of homeless families. Factors cited for the failure of meeting the 2010 goal included “poor credit history; limited number of slots in transitional programs; mental health and/or substance abuse issues; underemployment/ unemployment and lack of job skills or readiness.”

In terms of the county’s broader housing goals, the board voted to continue striving toward the creation of 400 new committed affordable housing units each year, with 25 percent of those units reserved for households in “serious housing need” (defined as those who earn below 40 percent of the local median income or who pay more than 40 percent of their income as rent).

“Arlington has been, and will continue to be, a regional leader in preserving and expanding the pool of committed affordable units as market rate units become increasingly unaffordable for working people,” County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said in a statement Saturday afternoon. “Today’s action by the Board further strengthens the County’s long-term efforts to ensure that Arlington remains a diverse community with homes affordable to persons with low-to-moderate incomes.”

Currently, 14 percent of rental units in the county — 6,000 units total — are committed affordable housing, and 67 percent of those units are in North Arlington (above Route 50). Most of the county’s dwindling stock of market rate affordable housing units, on the other hand, are in South Arlington.

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Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Bishop O’Connell Lights Decision May Be Delayed — County Manager Barbara Donnellan recommended the County Board put off any discussion of Bishop O’Connell High School’s request to add lights to its athletic fields until June, to give staff more time to analyze the controversial issue. [Sun Gazette]

Look Who’s Coming to Dinner in Shirlington — Sen. Jim Webb was spotted having dinner at T.H.A.I. Shirlington Friday night, according to a blog. [Shirlington Village Blogspot]

Energy Plan Approved By Task Force — A plan to dramatically cut greenhouse gas emissions in Arlington won the final approval of the task force that drafted it Friday morning. Arlington’s Community Energy Plan will likely be approved by the County Board in May. [Sun Gazette]

Towing Fee Increase in the Works

By ARLnow.com

On Saturday, the county board is scheduled to consider whether to advertise a hearing regarding changes to Arlington’s towing ordinance.

The proposed changes would increase the amount towing companies can charge and would require more detailed signs at businesses where towing is enforced.

County staffers are recommending the board increase the base towing fee from $115 to $125, the maximum rate allowed by Virginia law. The rate would apply to vehicles under 7,500 lbs., according to Brian Stout, who handles towing issues for the county. Stout says the increase is consistent with the rates charged by neighboring communities.

Another proposed change would apply to large trucks over 10,000 lbs. The fee for those vehicles would be raised from $250 to $500. The rate for vehicles between 7,500 and 10,000 lbs. would hold steady at $250.

Local towing companies have been lobbying for fee increases for months.

Lastly, the proposed ordinance change would require towing companies to mark towing advisory signs at businesses with the name and address of the business. The change is designed to make it easier for drivers to know where not to park in lots that serve more than one businesses.

If the board advertises the hearing this weekend, Stout said the changes would likely be considered for final approval at the April 16 board meeting.

New Fitness Club Coming to Crystal City

By ARLnow.com

An 18,000 square foot fitness club may be coming to the southern end of Crystal City.

Fitness First, which operates a club in the Verizon building in Courthouse, is asking the county board to approve the conversion of unoccupied office and retail space for health club use at 2450 Crystal Drive.

The building, which houses DeVry University and recently became the home of a new Pizza Autentica restaurant, sits between 23rd Street and the ramp from Reagan National Airport. If its site plan amendment is approved, Fitness First would occupy the last available ground floor retail space in the building.

County staff is recommending the board approve the conversion as well as a greatly reduced parking ratio that would only require about 40 reserved garage parking spots. The spots would be monitored to see if additional parking becomes necessary.

The Fitness First location in Courthouse charges a $19.95 monthly fee. The company has 17 locations in the D.C. area.

No word on when the Crystal City location might open should the board approve its site plan request this weekend.

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