Arlington County plans to make significant changes to elementary school boundaries in Fall 2018. The changes will take effect Fall 2019, and may move current Douglas Park Henry families out of the new Fleet school. Arlington County will make decisions soon, so the time to make your voice heard is now!
Three Things You Can Do:
1. Weigh in on Walk Zones (Questionnaire). Deadline: March 19, 2018. Before it makes redistricting decisions, the County will determine which planning units are within the “Walk Zone” of each elementary school. For instance, if your planning unit is in Fleet’s Walk Zone, that helps your chances of being in the Fleet school boundaries. Note that planning units in the Walk Zone are not bus-eligible.
Look up your planning unit and fill out this Questionnaire (which has a map displaying the proposed Walk Zones. Please consider requesting that all current Henry planning units (listed below) be added to the Fleet Walk Zone. The planning units that must be written in may be at greatest risk for redistricting, so if you want those to be part of the Fleet community, PLEASE WRITE THEM IN. Current Henry planning units that are not in the proposed Fleet Walk Zone:
40610
46111
46110
46130 (must be manually entered)
46011 (must be manually entered)
46132 (must be manually entered)
46131 (must be manually entered)
46120 (must be manually entered)
If you already walk from a location that APS has noted as outside the proposed walk zone, please share that information. For example, even though all current Henry locations south of Columbia Pike are “outside the walk zone” many current Henry families in these planning units currently walk to school. You can also add your thoughts on how your current walk could be made more walkable with infrastructure improvements (crosswalk, traffic light, crossing guard, etc.)
If you are currently districted to Randolph or Hoffman Boston, fill out their questionnaires. If you currently walk to Randolph and have ideas for improving walkability, note them in the questionnaire. Your planning unit may also be considered walkable to Drew, Abingdon, Barcroft, or Claremont. You can find and fill out those questionnaires here. If you have strong feelings about where you would like to be districted, note those in the questionnaires, and see additional ideas below.
2. Email the County Board (countyboard@arlingtonva.us) and the School Board (school.board@apsva.us). Any email, no matter how brief, that conveys what is important to you on this important issue is HUGELY important and will be considered!
Some things you might tell the Board (borrowed from other neighbors who have weighed in!):
your child/children and family are invested in the Henry/Fleet community through friends, teachers, school activities, community activities
you believe that it is senseless to send your middle school student to Thomas Jefferson (where they are districted), but not send your elementary school student next door to Fleet;
you felt like you were promised that you would move to Fleet with all of Henry given previous representations by APS during and after the South Arlington Working Group; or
you moved to your home to go to Henry/Fleet.
3. Tell the County What to Consider in Redistricting (Questionnaire). Deadline: March 9. Before it makes redistricting decisions, the County is also accepting public input on what it should take into account when making those decisions. As is, the County places by far the greatest weight on proximity. Please consider filling out the survey to add considerations such as: keeping school communities and neighborhoods together, and keeping middle school and elementary school siblings on the same campus.
Read about Arlington County’s Elementary School Planning Initiative here.
Easter Egg Roll, Saturday 30th March 2024Wed 13 Mar 2024 - 20:12 EDT
Civic Association Meeting Monday 26th February 2024Tue 20 Feb 2024 - 08:19 EST
41st Annual Fourth of July Parade and PotluckMon 26 Jun 2023 - 03:29 EDT
Meeting on the Four Mile Run Valley Plan; Mon 19 Mar 2018 at 7.15pm
Civic Association Meetings, Four Mile Run Valley (4MRV)Over the past two years, a county-board-appointed Working Group of residents has been reviewing and updating the vision and planning for the 4 Mile Run Valley and its associated parks (Allie Freed Park, Shirlington Park, Shirlington Dog Park and Jennie Dean Park). Please join us for a special civic association meeting Monday evening 19 March 2018 at 7.15pm in the downstairs meeting room at Firehouse 9; 19th St S at Walter Reed Drive. Working Group members and county staff will present the draft plans and take questions and comments. The final policies when adopted by the county board will frame the evolution of the Valley for the next quarter-century.
The draft policy framework document is here:
https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2018/02/DRAFT_4MRV_Framework2218.pdf
The parks guidelines document is here:
https://arlingtonva.s3.dualstack.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/31/2018/02/4MRV_parks_guidelinesDRAFT020918x.pdf
Please join us!
Elementary School Boundary Changes May Impact Douglas Park Families
UncategorizedArlington County plans to make significant changes to elementary school boundaries in Fall 2018. The changes will take effect Fall 2019, and may move current Douglas Park Henry families out of the new Fleet school. Arlington County will make decisions soon, so the time to make your voice heard is now!
Three Things You Can Do:
1. Weigh in on Walk Zones (Questionnaire). Deadline: March 19, 2018. Before it makes redistricting decisions, the County will determine which planning units are within the “Walk Zone” of each elementary school. For instance, if your planning unit is in Fleet’s Walk Zone, that helps your chances of being in the Fleet school boundaries. Note that planning units in the Walk Zone are not bus-eligible.
Look up your planning unit and fill out this Questionnaire (which has a map displaying the proposed Walk Zones. Please consider requesting that all current Henry planning units (listed below) be added to the Fleet Walk Zone. The planning units that must be written in may be at greatest risk for redistricting, so if you want those to be part of the Fleet community, PLEASE WRITE THEM IN. Current Henry planning units that are not in the proposed Fleet Walk Zone:
40610
46111
46110
46130 (must be manually entered)
46011 (must be manually entered)
46132 (must be manually entered)
46131 (must be manually entered)
46120 (must be manually entered)
If you already walk from a location that APS has noted as outside the proposed walk zone, please share that information. For example, even though all current Henry locations south of Columbia Pike are “outside the walk zone” many current Henry families in these planning units currently walk to school. You can also add your thoughts on how your current walk could be made more walkable with infrastructure improvements (crosswalk, traffic light, crossing guard, etc.)
If you are currently districted to Randolph or Hoffman Boston, fill out their questionnaires. If you currently walk to Randolph and have ideas for improving walkability, note them in the questionnaire. Your planning unit may also be considered walkable to Drew, Abingdon, Barcroft, or Claremont. You can find and fill out those questionnaires here. If you have strong feelings about where you would like to be districted, note those in the questionnaires, and see additional ideas below.
2. Email the County Board (countyboard@arlingtonva.us) and the School Board (school.board@apsva.us). Any email, no matter how brief, that conveys what is important to you on this important issue is HUGELY important and will be considered!
Some things you might tell the Board (borrowed from other neighbors who have weighed in!):
your child/children and family are invested in the Henry/Fleet community through friends, teachers, school activities, community activities
you believe that it is senseless to send your middle school student to Thomas Jefferson (where they are districted), but not send your elementary school student next door to Fleet;
you felt like you were promised that you would move to Fleet with all of Henry given previous representations by APS during and after the South Arlington Working Group; or
you moved to your home to go to Henry/Fleet.
3. Tell the County What to Consider in Redistricting (Questionnaire). Deadline: March 9. Before it makes redistricting decisions, the County is also accepting public input on what it should take into account when making those decisions. As is, the County places by far the greatest weight on proximity. Please consider filling out the survey to add considerations such as: keeping school communities and neighborhoods together, and keeping middle school and elementary school siblings on the same campus.
Read about Arlington County’s Elementary School Planning Initiative here.
APS Elementary School Walk Zone Review
SchoolsArlington County Schools (APS) is requesting volunteers from the community to assist in evaluating elementary school walking zones ahead of the 2018-2019 school year. Parents with children in or expected to attend APS elementary schools are encouraged to apply. Schools included in the Douglas Park neighborhood coverage include:
A schedule of working group assigments and meeting dates is available here [PDF].
Criteria for Task Group Membership:
Task Group Work and Timeline
Feb. 15-March 1 – “Getting Started on Walk Zone Review” community meetings*
School task groups will be invited to attend one of four 1½-hour meetings with APS staff to review the walk zone for each school, provide input, and learn about the process and tools to gather community input on potential expansions of school walk zones.
March 12-22: “What We Heard on Walk Zone Review” community meetings will invite each school task group to attend one of four 1½-hour meetings with APS staff to review the input from their respective school communities on potential expansions of school walk zones.
To volunteer, drop an email to DPCA president Adam Henderson and indicate which group(s) you are interested in serving on.
2018 Paving Plan
Paving, RoadworkArlington County has released its 2018 street paving plan. Streets in Douglas Park include segments of:
S Lowell St
S Nelson St
S Norwood St
S Oakland St
S Stafford St
S Thomas St
S Wakefield St
12th St S
13th St S
16th St S
16th Rd S
Arlington County will begin this year’s paving season around mid-March and end in mid-October 2018, weather permitting.
A notice will be distributed to each residential or business address to notify them their streets has been selected for paving. Attached is the door hanger which will be distributed along with “No Parking Signs” 24 to 48 hours prior to the start of operation. There will be inconveniences such as traffic detours, no parking on the streets, noise, dust, etc.
A PDF map of affected streets is available below:
2018 Arlington County Paving Plan.
Axumite Village Update
Axumite Village, Civic Association Meetings, ConstructionThis project at 1100 S Highland St was originally approved in 2009. It consists of 12 townhomes containing 32 market-rate apartments and 4 affordable units. A representative from the project has been requested to be on hand at the 20 November civic association meeting.
Site Plan.
Landscape Rendering 1.
Landscape Rendering 2.
Results of Ft Barnard On-Site Meeting
Civic Association Meetings, Ft Barnard Laydown YardWe had a productive meeting on 21 September at the Ft Barnard laydown site which resulted in a few tweaks to the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with DES and some improvements to the landscape screening plan.
The final Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is available here:
Ft Barnard Site MOU.
The revised landscape plan is available here:
Ft Barnard Site Landscape Plan.
The landscape plan is scheduled for a November 2017 implementation.
Ft Barnard On-Site Meeting, Thu 21 Sept 2017
Civic Association Meetings, Ft Barnard Laydown YardAs you may have noticed, over the past two months DES staff has transitioned the use of the Ft Barnard site at near the intersection of South Pollard Street and 19th Street South. This has resulted in a sharp reduction in the use of the site as the site now houses a half-dozen large refuse containers which are utilized in the event of major storm damage or very large public events.
On Thursday 21 September 2017 at 6p, we will have an on-site meeting to review the latest MOU and the latest revisions to the landscape plan. Staff has incorporated feedback from our prior meeting and has produced a much denser and more robust plan that is heavily weighted to native plant material.
You can review the latest Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) here….
…and the latest landscape plan here.
Please join us Thursday evening.
35th Annual Douglas Park 4th of July Parade and Picnic
Community Events, Parades, PicnicsAll Douglas Park residents are invited to the 35th Annual Douglas Park 4th of July Parade and Picnic. The neighborhood will gather in Monroe Park (14th St S at S Monroe St) at 10am on Tuesday the 4th for judging of the best parade floats, costumes, decorated bikes, and the coveted prize of Mr and Ms Douglas Park. The parade itself starts at 10:30am from Monroe Park, proceeding along S Nelson Street to 18th St S, to S Quincy Street and into Douglas Park for the picnic. There will be live music, a moonbounce and sno-cones.
This is a pot-luck picnic, so bring your finest recipes to share:
Folks with last names beginning with A-M are asked to bring a side dish.
Folks with last names beginning with N-Z are asked to bring a dessert.
Free water and hot dogs provided by the Douglas Park Civic Association.
At noon, there will be a reading of the Declaration of Independence.
See you there!
Feedback Sought on Ft Barnard Laydown Yard Plan
Civic Association Meetings, Ft Barnard Laydown YardOver the past year, the Douglas Park community has worked with Arlington County staff to modify the County use of the fenced-off portion of the Ft Barnard site, near the intersection of South Pollard Street and 19th Street South. When implemented, the modifications will result in a sharp reduction in the use of the site as the site will become a storage area for a half-dozen large refuse containers which will be removed and utilized off-site in the event of major storm damage or very large public events. The DRAFT Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) is available here.
As part of this effort, Douglas Park has requested more vegetative screening to further buffer the community from onsite activities. A PDF document showing the initial landscape plan sketch and screening areas is available here. Staff met with residents on Monday 15 May 2017, to gather feedback on the screening plan. At that meeting, the attendees:
As part of the County’s commitment to sustainability, the County will try to incorporate topsoil fabricated at Arlington County’s Earth Products and Recycling Yard facility as it becomes available. Staff will also work to dispatch a tree crew to prune the existing oaks, and schedule bulk material pick-up from the streetside.
If you have additional comments regarding the landscaping plans or the proposed MOU,
please use the email link here to send your comments to our County liaison and the DPCA Exec Team. Please provide your comments by Monday 12 June 2017. County staff will then update the landscape plan to reflect the above community comments along with any additional comments received.
Recap of 27th February Civic Association Meeting
Civic Association Elections, Civic Association Meetings, Civic Association RecapsAt Monday’s general meeting of the civic association, all current officers were re-elected without dissent for another one-year term. No other candidates came forward at the meeting. The current officer list is available here.
Re our discussion of the newsletter; the decision was made to reduce printing to 3x per year in association with major events: February/Member Drive, June/4th of July Parade and Picnic; November/Holiday Fund Drive.
Several members present volunteered to help contribute articles and solicit advertising.