Civic Association Meeting Tuesday 17th June

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The next meeting of the Douglas Park Civic Association will be held Tuesday 17 June 2014 at 7.30p in the downstairs meeting room of Firehouse 9, 19th Street South at South Walter Reed Drive.

On the agenda:

  1. An update on the 2014 Virginia General Assembly session. Forty-Ninth District Delegate Alfonso Lopez will be on hand to review the activities of 2014 session of the Virginia General Assembly.
  2. Bike Boulevards Update.  As has been discussed in several Civic Association meeting over the past few years, Arlington County is installing improvements along 9th, 11th, 12th and 13th Streets South to create ‘Bike Boulevards’ paralleling Columbia Pike.  Plans include changes to pedestrian crossings at South Glebe Road, South Walter Reed Drive, and South George Mason Drive.  The proposed improvements include
    • HAWK signal at South George Mason Drive and 13th Street South
    • HAWK signal at  South Walter Reed Drive and 9th Street South
    • Rapid flashing beacon and crosswalk at South Glebe Road and 9th Street South
    • Other intersection curb and crosswalk improvements.

    Christine Simpson of Arlington DOT will be on hand to review the latest plans.    Additional information is online at http://www.arlingtonva.us, search ‘Bike Boulevards.’
    The Executive Committee of the Civic Association voted on 22 May to oppose the portion of the Bike Boulevard between South Glebe Road and South Walter Reed Drive until the County develops a plan to address ongoing pedestrian, cyclist and motorist safety issues in the corridor.

  3. Proposed Traffic Changes near Randolph Elementary School.  Arlington County and Arlington Public Schools (APS) have been working to address perceived traffic circulation and safety issues around Randolph Elementary School.  Proposals include:
    • Two to three additional student loading and unloading spaces along South Quincy Street.
    • Updated school warning signage and ‘End School Zone’ signs along South Quincy Street.
    • School crosswalk signage at 13th Street South and 14th Street South.
    • ‘No U-Turn’ signage at South Quincy Street and 14th Street South.
    • Turn restrictions during arrival (8–8.30a) and dismissal (3–3.30p) at the intersection of South Quincy Street and 14th Street South.

    Stephanie Taylor of Arlington Transportation Engineering will be on hand to review the proposal and answer questions.

  4. Fourth of July Parade and Picnic.  Most of the details are nailed down, but we’ll spend a few minutes to review the plans to be sure that everything is ready to go.
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All are welcome to attend.

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Recap of 17 September Civic Association Meeting

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Approximately twenty people attended the Civic Association meeting on Tuesday evening 17 September at Firehouse 9.

The agenda included:

We reviewed a proposal by Capital One Bank to donate land to the County to enable the completion of the missing segment of 11th St South between South Monroe St and South Glebe Rd, through the Pike 3400 (Rosenthal) site.

While most attendees were in favor of the extension, as it has long been part of the Columbia Pike redevelopment plan, we did have concerns with the intersection designs at
South Glebe Road and South Monroe Street as proposed by County staff.  Both these intersections are shown as ‘driveway’ style entrances rather than standard intersections.  The Civic Association feels that these new street segments should be designed to resemble all other intersections in the neighborhood.  We will be appealing to the County Board to address our concerns as talks with County Staff gave reached an impasse.  More details on this project may be found  here.

Update (22 September):  Several officers of the Civic Association spoke about our concerns at lat night’s Board meeting.  On a motion from Board Member and Douglas Park resident Chis Zimmerman, the item was deferred to the October Board meeting with instruction to Staff to work with the DPCA in resolving our concerns.  In addition, there have been last minute snags in the legal language between Capitol One Bank and the County regarding the necessary easements.

Update 2 (22 October):  In negotiations with Staff, DPCA was able to have the intersection of 11th St South and S Monroe St altered to a standard intersection.  We were less successful with the intersection at S Glebe Rd as that intersection is under the jurisdiction of VDOT and any significant design changes would trigger a very lengthy review process.  With Staff assistance, we have identified several small design changes to give the intersection a more conventional appearance without triggering VDOT review.  In addition, the County and Capitol One Bank have resolved their issues with the legal language of the easements.  The project was approved by consent at the County Board meeting on 9 October.

We heard presentations from 49th District Virginia House of Delegates candidates Alfonso Lopez and challenger Terrence ‘Terry’ Modglin.

Both candidates were given fifteen minutes to speak, followed by 15 minutes of questions from the audience.

The next Civic Association meeting is scheduled for Tuesday evening, 19 November 2013 at 7.30p.

 

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