An open community meeting will be held tonight to discuss the possible formation of a farmers market in Westover.
Organizers say the farmers market would be held outside the Westover Library on either Saturday or Sunday mornings. They would like to launch the market in the spring.
Anyone interested in shopping at or helping to operate the market is asked to attend tonight’s meeting, which will be held at 7:00 p.m. at Westover Library (1644 McKinley Road).
Black Friday Is a Bust at Ballston Common Mall — While other suburban shopping malls were inundated with shoppers on Friday, traditionally one of the biggest days of the year for retailers in terms of foot traffic, Ballston Common Mall was about as crowded as it normally is on a Friday afternoon (not very). “The best thing here is Rock Bottom,” one shopper explained to Ballston Patch.
Farmers Market For Westover? — A community meeting will be held at the Westover library next month to discuss the possible formation of a farmers market this spring. More from the Sun Gazette.
Arlington Has Region’s Lowest Unemployment — Once again Arlington is leading the D.C. area jobs-wise. Arlington’s unemployment rate currently stands at a remarkably low 3.9 percent. Alexandria and Loudoun County share the title for second-lowest unemployment in the region, with 4.5 percent. More from WTOP.
Another Froyo Place Coming to Arlington — The R-B corridor will have an abundance of frozen yogurt options next year. A D.C.-based, self-serve yogurt shop called FroZenYo is planning to open stores in Rosslyn and Ballston in 2011. It’s also planning on opening a store in Crystal City. More from TBD.
Flickr pool photo by Team Rank
Arlington’s police, firefighters and sheriff are encouraging residents to “be brave and shave” to raise money for childhood cancer research.
On Sunday, from 2:00 to 5:00 p.m., dozens of people will get their locks sheared off at Westover Library (1644 North McKinley Road) for a good cause. The proceeds will benefit the Center for Cancer and Blood Disorders at Children’s National Medical Center.
The event is being held at the same time another sponsored by Montgomery County’s police and firefighters.
Arlington police held a bake sale two weeks go to raise money the event.
(Updated at 4:20 p.m.) In August, the county zoning enforcement office told the owners of the Westover Market that concerts and crowds were not allowed at the store’s popular outdoor beer garden. Since then the store has hired a land use attorney, drummed up impressive public support and taken steps to meet the county’s requirements.
Soon, the store will submit plans to the county for building new handicap-accessible bathrooms. Completing code-compliant bathrooms would be the first step toward getting approval to operate the beer garden as an entertainment venue.
Hicks says that the store’s relationship with county regulators has changed significantly since collecting nearly 2,000 signatures from supportive residents and getting nominated for two ABBIE awards.
“The county is now working with us to jump all these hurdles,” Hicks said. “And it’s all because of the support.”
Once the bathroom plans are approved and the facilities are built — at the cost of $25,000 to $35,000 — the market should have all the elements in place to be recognized by the county as a restaurant, Hicks said. Once it receives the restaurant designation, it will be eligible to apply for a live entertainment permit.
In addition to allowing musicians to perform in the beer garden, regulatory approval could increase the allowed beer garden occupancy from the current 9 to nearly 100, Hicks said.
Hicks expects to have the bathrooms built by January, and hopes to get the live entertainment permit soon thereafter.
In an earlier version of this story, Hicks said that plans for the new restrooms had been submitted to the county. However, county official Hunter Moore later told us that the market’s plan for new restrooms have, in fact, not been submitted yet.
Moore also says that more steps may be necessary in order for the market to be considered a restaurant, and thus eligible to apply for a live entertainment permit.
“The County staff remain committed to working with the Westover Market to achieve as much of the owner’s goals as possible,” Moore added. “We realize the community wants it and we want to be supportive of local business, but at the same time they have to play by the same set of rules that everybody else plays by.”
Westover Market Appeals Zoning Decision — In spite of efforts by the county’s zoning enforcement office to limit its occupancy and its entertainment options, Westover Market’s Beer Garden is still a place where neighbors can gather to watch football and baseball games on a crisp fall day. The market has bought itself some time by appealing the zoning decision. In the meantime, the market’s mom and pop owners are trying to round up the $25,000-50,000 that will be needed to install new, code-compliant bathrooms. More from TBD.
Conservative Writer Says Murray Has a Chance — Conservative writer Jim Geraghty is impressed that incumbent congressman Jim Moran is “only” up 13 percent against challenger Patrick Murray. Blogging for the National Review Online, Geraghty said that in light of the numbers from the internal Murray poll, he’s picking the retired Army colonel as his “special crazy insane upset pick” in the upcoming mid-term elections. More from NRO.
Last Ballston Farmers Market of the Year — Today from 3:00 to 7:00 p.m. the last Ballston Farmers Market of the year will be held in Welburn Square. (That is, if it’s not canceled due to rainy weather. “Rain or shine,” organizers now say.) More on the market from the Arlington Kids blog.
District Taco Has a Secret Admirer — The Arlington-based food cart District Taco was the subject of an ad in Craigslist’s missed connections section. DT’s secret admirer, it seems, is a movie star who’s in town working on a big Hollywood film. More from DCist.
Flickr pool photo by Chaita_1
For most of the summer, the Westover Market’s beer garden served as a neighborhood meeting place where friends and neighbors could gather to drink a few beers, eat some food, and listen to a local musician play a few tunes. But now the music has stopped, and the big outdoor patio is limited (in terms of legal occupancy) to a measly nine customers.
The changes were mandated by the county’s zoning enforcement office, which acted upon noise complaints from two neighbors.
In terms of the music, Westover Market had neglected to apply for a live music permit before it started hosting performances. Such a permit requires county board approval. Market manager Devin Hicks says they have since applied for the permit, forking over most of the $1,200+ application fee in the process. The earliest the board could act on the application is November, at which point outdoor concerts are out of the question for all but the hardiest music fans.
In terms of the beer garden’s occupancy, it all comes down to the bathrooms. The market was built more than 50 years ago, and wasn’t configured with sit-down food service in mind. To get to the bathrooms, one must walk inside the store and through the back storage area. Rather unchivalrously, the ladies room is at the bottom of a dark, steep staircase. The gents room is further back on the ground floor, in the storage area. County regulations generally don’t allow such a setup, but the market had been granted waivers for an outdoor cafe for nine people. The 24-36 beer garden customers the market wants to host doesn’t fly with code enforcers, especially in light of the decidedly handicap-unfriendly ladies room.
Hicks says he’s been working with neighbors to find the right decibel level for the music. He says one older man who lives three blocks away has been the lone voice of protest against the concerts, which run from 6:00 to 10:00 p.m. In at least one instance, Hicks says, officers showed up at the beer garden after the man called police.
Hicks said he would like to have bathrooms that were compliant with regulations, but is hoping to be granted another waiver based on the age of the building. He has collected hundreds and petition signatures and hired Arlington zoning attorney Barnes Lawson (of recent dog mural fame) in his effort to get the county to relent.
The old Westover library on 1800 North Lexington Street was torn down yesterday. The 67-year-old building was closed in October after the library moved to a new building at 1644 North McKinley Street.
The land occupied by the old library will now be turned into a green space.
More from the Library News blog.
Photo courtesy Arlington Public Library.
