snow

The Snow Begins

By ARLnow.com

Enjoy it while it lasts. The snow is expected to end around 7:00 tonight.

Two inches of accumulation is expected.

Update at 11:45 a.m. — Be careful out there. We’ve counted at least 10 accidents on Arlington roads and highways since the snow started falling, including one involving a Metrobus (no injuries reported).

Update at 11:50 a.m. — North Veitch Street has been shut down at Lee Highway due to slippery conditions on the hill, which led to a minor accident.

Update at 12:15 p.m. — Seventh Road South has been shut down at South Dinwiddie Street.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Winter Weather Advisory in Effect — Expect 1-2 inches of snow today, says the National Weather Service. The flakes should start falling between 9:00 and 11:00 a.m. The advisory is in effect until 9:00 p.m. More from Weather.com.

John Boehner Likes Guapo’s — House Minority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) apparently enjoys drowning his sorrows at the Guapo’s in Shirlington. Boehner, who famously called the Bush administration’s immigration reform bill a “piece of s—,” reportedly dined at the Mexican restaurant on Tuesday. It was his second visit in a month, according to Shirlington Village Blogspot,

Arlington Sign Ordinance Update to Start in January — County officials will begin the process of updating the county’s 60-year-old sign ordinance in January. The ordinance has attracted considerable controversy this year, including a high-profile lawsuit from one business owner. More from TBD and the Sun Gazette.

Free WiFi coming to DCA, IAD — Reagan National and Dulles airports will both be offering free wireless internet service as soon as this spring. More from the Washington Examiner.

Flickr pool photo by Chris Rief

County Rolls Out Snow Removal Guidance, Reporting Form

By ARLnow.com

(Updated at 4:00 p.m.) As the Washington area prepares for the first actual, bona fide snowfall of the season tomorrow, Arlington County has revealed some additional guidance for how it intends to enforce its new snow removal ordinance.

The ordinance calls for snow and ice to be removed from sidewalks within 24 to 36 hours of precipitation ending.

The chief means for enforcement of the ordinance will, essentially, be neighbors tattling on each other, via a new web-based reporting form.

Citizens will fill in the address of the problem area, refining it as necessary by clicking on a map. Then they will select from four preset “concerns” — either a concerns about the street or a sidewalk. Finally, users will type in their name and — optionally — contact information (for follow-ups, not for public dissemination) and press a submit button.

The complaint will go to county staff, who will review it and dispatch code enforcement agents as necessary.

According to Deputy County Manager Marsha Allgeier, enforcement agents will, at first, “try to give notification and warning” in lieu of the $50-$100 fine called for in the ordinance.

“They will try to find the entity that would be responsible for that sidewalk and try to make contact with that person to say ‘do you know we have a new ordinance?'” she said. Allgeier added that the county will specifically target “high-traffic and high-density areas” for enforcement.

The goal, officials say, is voluntary compliance.

“We will remain flexible, and use a good dose of common sense along the way,” said County Manager Barbara Donnellan. “We are hoping for a very light snow year, but nonetheless, our implementation plan is ready.”

Elderly and disabled individuals physically incapable of removing snow from their sidewalks will be exempt from the ordinance. For now, county staff will determine exempt status by contacting the homeowner directly; no exemption list will be maintained.

(more…)

Weekend Snow Possibility

By ARLnow.com

Not to jinx it, but there’s a decent chance we could be seeing a significant accumulating snowfall at some point in the five days.

According to our friends over at the Capital Weather Gang, Thursday could bring an inch or two, while Sunday could bring “a crippling East Coast snowstorm.” The chance of each happening is still well below 50 percent, but it’s never too early to freak out and start coming up with creative names like we did last year, right?

While you’re at it, be sure to check out the county’s recently-updated snow and ice web portal.

Snowblower Decision Could Be Reached This Week

By ARLnow.com

The county’s snowblower loan program is at a crossroads. Should it expand to meet greatly increased demand, or simply stick with its existing fleet of ten snowblowers?

Yesterday a plurality of readers said the program should simply be dismantled. But that seems unlikely, given the county board’s expressed support for the program on Saturday.

Susan Kalish, spokesperson for the Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources, says the county has gotten a “deluge” of snowblower requests this year and will likely be deciding this week whether to purchase additional machines.

With more requests than snowblowers, Kalish explained how the county decides whose requests will be granted.

“Priority for the snow blowers is based on area to be blown (big area, high-traffic area, or both) and the group (got enough volunteers to make sure it’s done, have a track record of getting the job done),” she said.

For more information about the snowblower program, residents can contact Tom Mitchler at tmitchler[at]arlingtonva.us or call 703-228-6522.

Morning Poll: Expand the Snowblower Loan Program?

By ARLnow.com

Now that Arlington County has on its books an official snow removal ordinance, which makes failure to clear the sidewalk in front of your property a civil offense punishable by fines, demand for the county’s snowblower loan program is apparently skyrocketing.

County Manager Barbara Donnellan told the board on Saturday that the county has received requests for 50-60 snowblowers so far this winter. Arlington only has about ten snowblowers available to loan to local civic associations.

Faced with that news, the board seemed willing to expand the snowblower loan program, the goal of which is to allow citizens to clear publicly-owned sidewalks in their neighborhoods. The program also allows civic associations to clear sidewalks for elderly or disabled neighbors who aren’t capable of doing so themselves.

“The goal has to be to get the sidewalk shoveled,” said board member Barbara Favola. “This, in my mind, is a tool to get us there.”

“The snowblower program… allows those area that are the county’s responsibility to get done earlier than if we waited for county employees to get done with their snow clearing responsibilities on the roads,” noted board member Mary Hynes. The board asked Donnellan to report back on the program, but did not take any concrete action.

While the board was unanimous in its praise of the program, at least one local civic association leader cautioned that the program could “grow out of control.”

“The county lacks storage space, and buying snowblowers or snow shovels for us is not your role,” said Chick Walter, president of the Arlington Ridge Civic Association. He said the program has been “glaringly unsuccessful” in terms of only benefiting a few county neighborhoods.

Walter urged the county to end the program and donate the existing snowblowers to local civic associations.

If you were sitting on the board, what would you do?

Snow on the Ground, Ice a Worry — But So Far So Good

By ARLnow.com

Arlington residents are waking up to the winter’s first dusting of snow in the county. They’re also waking up to potentially slick streets.

Temperatures have been hovering around freezing, raising the possibility that roads wet from yesterday’s rains could freeze. Last night VDOT began treating bridges, ramps and other freeze-prone stretches of road with salt, as a precaution.

So far, however, it would seem that ice is not a factor in the morning commute. No significant accidents have been reported as of 7:30 this morning and there are currently no major delays on local highways.

Cold Reception for Snow Removal Ordinance

By ARLnow.com

County officials were there to listen. And thanks to the myriad of concerns expressed by residents, there was plenty of listening to do.

At an informal public forum on Arlington’s proposed snow removal ordinance, a group of about 30 residents took turns dissecting every possible facet of the two-page statute.

The proposed ordinance legally mandates that home and business owners clear snow from their sidewalks and prohibits the dumping snow on streets and other public property. A violation would theoretically be greeted with a $100 fine and, if necessary, a bill for the cost of hiring a private contractor to clear the stretch of sidewalk in question.

But what may seem straightforward actually generated a slew of questions:

  • Why shouldn’t the county face the same stringent snow removal standards for public property?
  • Wouldn’t this place an unfair burden on certain residents in areas where only one side of the street has a sidewalk?
  • Would you be violating the ordinance by clearing snow off a car that’s parked in the street?
  • What if residents are traveling?  Since they’ll know your house is unoccupied, is it safe to hire someone to clear the sidewalk while you’re gone?
  • Where do you put the snow if you don’t have a front yard?
  • What sort of recourse do you have if a county plow deposits snow onto your freshly-shoveled sidewalk?

Those last two questions were the most controversial — and the most commonly asked.

“Giving the county the authority and ability to fine me for not shoveling my sidewalk is a really bad idea,” one man said. “We worked really hard to shovel our sidewalk all the way around, and then the county came along and plowed it over. They were the worst offenders during this winter.”

The county should figure out where residents can lawfully place the snow before enacting the ordinance, another resident said. “For me, the fundamental issue is: tell me where the snow goes.”

(more…)

Arlington Considers Snow Removal Lessons From Neighbors

By ARLnow.com

In 2004, the city of Hagerstown charged an 86-year-old woman $223 for not clearing her sidewalk after a snowstorm. That same year, the city of Frederick, Md. sent snow removal bills to the state-run Maryland School for the Deaf and to an elderly couple confined to walkers.

The Hagerstown incident caused a “public outcry” that forced the city to ease up on enforcement, the Associated Press reported at the time. A photo of the elderly couple in Frederick, which ran in a local newspaper, is a classic study in bad PR.

Arlington is now considering a snow removal ordinance similar to the statutes in place in Hagerstown and Frederick. The proposed ordinance has garnered headlines like “Arlington Proposes Criminal Charges for Unneighborly Snow Shovelers” and “Arlington Says Clear Your Sidewalks or Pay Up.” Clearly, history risks repeating itself.

County officials, however, say they’ve been trying to learn from our neighbors.

“Staff reviewed numerous jurisdictions that have ordinances or conditions that govern sidewalk snow removal,” says Arlington County transportation planning chief Thomas Bruccoleri.

Among the jurisdictions studied:

  • The City of Alexandria requires property owners to clear sidewalks within 24 hours. Alexandria’s ordinance assesses a $50 civil penalty, but only after written notice has been issued.
  • Loudoun County requires property owners to clear sidewalks within 6 hours. People with physical or mental disabilities, and people over the age of 65, are exempted. The county provides written notice and has not had to issue fines due to high compliance. Like Arlington’s proposed ordinance, Loudoun can assess a fine of up to $250, which is a class 4 misdemeanor.
  • Fairfax County does not have a sidewalk snow removal ordinance.

Arlington is set to hold a public hearing on a permanent snow removal ordinance on Saturday, June 12.

The proposed ordinance would require residential and commercial property owners to clear snow from sidewalks 24-36 hours after snow stops falling. It would make it a misdemeanor to shovel snow onto public property, including streets and bus stops.

(more…)

Snowmageddon’s Last Hurrah

By ARLnow.com

Nearly two months later, and there’s at least one last remnant of Snowmageddon left in Arlington (which should make the county board feel better about passing that temporary snow removal ordinance three weeks ago).

Flickr pooler Expresso2222 snapped this photo yesterday next to the Ballston Common Mall Parking lot.

The shady spot has allowed the giant pile of snow to stick around through rain storms and sunny 70+ degree days. Whether it will survive today’s high of 80 degrees is yet to be seen.

Melting Snow Reveals Dirt, Electronics

By ARLnow.com

Succumbing to 60 degree temperatures, melting snow piles are revealing their secrets, giving way to dirt and some interesting debris.

In the parking lot of the defunct Crystal City Motel, what was once a mountain of snow that almost reached the building’s second floor is rapidly becoming a wide expanse of wet filth.

Elsewhere in Crystal City, a battered digital camera sat in the middle of a traffic lane where a pile of snow one stood. How it got there is anyone’s guess, but it’s clear it was run over, perhaps multiple times. Assumedly, it had been there, covered with snow, for at least a month.

View More Stories