APS Planning Is Inadequate for Arlington's Projected Population Growth

Hey Yupette,

I watched the School Board meeting last Thursday and saw APS's Planning Guru John Chadwick's, AFSAP (Arlington Facitities and Student Accommodation Plan 2016-25) presentation. It's on the apsva.us Web site under the August 13th meeting agenda.

What a bunch of ad hoc planning and wishful thinking. Everyone in County Government knows the County is dedicated to massive population growth and urbanization over the next 25 years. We are talking about at least 20,000 more pre-K through 12 students among a projected population increase of 66,000.

The Taj Mahal high schools that were just completed (Wakefield and Yorktown) will soon have additions. More trailer classrooms were installed over the Summer. Any additions to existing schools (e.g., Abingdon) will be at capacity when the additions are completed. APS will have to build a new school on the TJ Middle School campus and build large additions to the elementary schools near TJ.

So much for vibrant New Urbanism which has made Arlington into an expensive mess, with much worse in store for us in the future. I don't even want to think about how much our taxes will increase over the next 10 years.

Thanks for your blog.

Julie
22205

Free Range Special Interests Persuading Jay Fisette Not to Retire from the County Board

Hey, Yupette,

As most Democrats who are active in the Arlington Democratic Party know by now, Jay Fisette decided to retire from the County Board next year after thinking it over for almost a year. But a dozen free range special interest groups that Jay not only helped but empowered over the last two decades don't want him to step down from the County Board. They range from LGBT advocacy groups, to bicyclists, to dog owners, to performing arts groups, to soccer parents. Over the years Jay's become the go-to guy for expensive gimmes for his special interests. Like a $1.5 million doggie spa, a $20 million bailout for the Signature Theater, and a $50 million aquatics center that's still under discussion. If it's hard to persuade the County Government to fund your vanity project with Jay on the County Board how's it going to happen with Jay off the County Board? Meanwhile, Democratic insiders report that Jay is unhappy about how much APS is taking from revenue that could be spent on sports, entertainment, and recreation. Stay tuned to see what occurs after this year's elections.

Barbara, 22201

Reeves Farmhouse Likely to Become an Upscale Home with Home Office

Hello,

Details of the Reevesland deal began to emerge at last Wednesday's Reeves Farmhouse Open House meeting, held in the County Board Room.

A large pipestem lot will be created and the present driveway will be widened to Manchester Street at the County's expense. The County will permit the future owner to add an addition to the farmhouse. The structure will be zoned R-6. The zoning will allow for a realtor's, consultant's, or other professional home office with 2 1/2 outdoor parking spaces.

The present garage will be torn down and other improvements made to to the site at County's expense before the sale, using the $410,000 left over from the funds that were supposed to be used for fixing up the farmhouse.

Other of the left-over $410,000 funds will be used to make the milk cooling shed into a historic exhibit and for future "community amenities" like playground equipment.

The Reevesland site improvement proposals will go to the Historic and Landmarks Review Board's Design Review Committee for evaluation on August 5th and to the full HALRB for a public hearing on August 19th.

Planning Commission and County Board will vote on the pre-sale site improvements in September.

Cindy

Arlington Planners to Penny Gross - 'Don't Clarendon Our Exclusive Neighborhoods'

Hey, Yupette,

Your blog's commenters are 110% correct about Arlington County's 'Planning' being a huge charade run by New Urbanist Cult members who live in Fairfax County. But don't believe me, just drive 5 miles up Columbia Pike from the Arlington border and you will see the pleasant suburban lifestyle of the Super Nimbys who are inflicting Supersized Smart Growth on Arlington.

Mason District Supervisor Penny Gross was given a loud and clear message in the form of facing a challenger in a Democratic Primary this year, the first in many years - 'Don't you dare Clarendon our exclusive neighborhoods'.

So it's going to be years before Mason District catches up to the Pike in Arlington County. Arlington's Senior Planners and the Developers, Architects, Consultants, Lawyers, etc. who work with them want nothing to do with Smart Growth, apart from work and attending Cult functions.

2100-2
22204

County Board to Double Down on 'Smart Growth'

Hi, Yupette,

I checked out the recent work sessions for the Second Generation "Smart Growth" redevelopment of Rosslyn and Courthouse. Rosslyn Sector Plan is going to the County Board for approval on July 22nd. Rosslyn and Courthouse will be luxury enclaves and affordable housing that's affordable for the people who will clean office buildings and wait tables in upscale restaurants will be miles away from Rosslyn, if any is available at all in Arlington.

New Urbanists have set a population goal of 283,000 Arlington residents by 2040, up from 217,000 today, which means Arlington's population would increase by about 2,600 per year, Building heights for most new office buildings will be at least 300 feet (or more if the FAA will go along with the developers' demands) and the buildings, with the usual ground floor mixed-use restaurants and retail will surround larger plazas which will be as densely populated as the small first generation mixed use so-called "open space" plazas because the surrounding buildings will be much taller. As for sports and outdoor recreation, Rosslyn and Courthouse are about built-out. Existing neighborhood parks will increasingly be repurposed into dedicated upscale playgrounds. The next generation of "complete streets" will use residential and commercial streets as "open space" for various events, and for activity and recreation space.

As for the "car free diet," redeveloped Courthouse and Rosslyn will see more parking for more motor vehicles and  bicycles. Bicycles will actively compete with motor vehicles for street space and with pedestrians for sidewalk space.

Bottom line - Arlington in 2040 is going to be an expensive urban mess.

2100

World Police and Fire Games - Anti-Terrorist Training Exercise

Hey, Yupette,


My husband is employed as a civilian with the Fairfax County Police Department, but we live in Arlington. I work for a NGO that operates worldwide and frequently see and hear reports of police violence against civilians, often by dictatorships.  I love your blog. My husband is quite unhappy with the Department's emphasis on anti-terrorism. That's not why he started a career in law enforcement. So we are counting down the years until he is able to retire.

You should be aware that, yes, thousands of police officers from nations with horrible human rights records are participating and competing in the World Police and Fire Games. They include police from Russia, China, Brazil, Mexico, Singapore, Azerbijan, Turkey, Israel, and Kazakhstan.

And, yes, there is a big "anti-terrorist" shooting competition which is off-limits. Also lots of secret meetings where information about "anti-terrorism" is shared and "anti-terrorist" tactics are discussed among participants. And the CIA is involved in a major way. According to my husband, there is little doubt that some of what is shared in the way of "anti-terrorist" tactics will be used by American police officers against American citizens.

The Washington Post and other media absolutely know the World Police and Fire Games are all about. But they are censoring information in the interests of "national security". Same Post that went after fraternities at UVA based on fiction in "Rolling Stone". So much for 21st Century "Journalism".

M.B. 22207

Dorsey, Abingdon Parents Throw Renewable Energy Under SUVs, Call Police on Nearby Residents

Hey, Yupette,

I live in Fairlington Villages in a townhouse that's directly adjacent to Abingdon School. First of all, we are NOT low income housing, as Christian Dorsey's fellow Abingdon PTA parents would have everyone believe. Townhomes in our neighborhood are selling for $450,000 and up.

So, APS held  a so-called 'Gallery Walk' at Abingdon School last Wednesday to show off the plans for the school's renovation and expansion. This was also supposed to be a County Board Meeting. Nearby neighbors showed up with e-mails (obtained via FOIA requests, exchanged among County Planning Staff, APS Staff, Planners, Consultants, and 'Community Leaders') and the use permit conditions (including architectural drawings) and demanded to know why the promised on-site renewable energy and building and classroom upgrades were eliminated from the architectural plans in favor of large expenditures for landscaping, and parking lots for SUVs. And every TDM 'improvement' in the Smart Growth Dictionary is going to be imposed on the neighborhood adjacent to the school, whether it's needed or not.

Hearing their country day school infrastructure being threatened, Christian Dorsey and his fellow PTA Parents called the Arlington Police to attempt to intimidate Abingdon's neighborhood residents from asking more embarrassing questions. Cops showed up and neighborhood residents were incensed and complained bitterly. Oh, turns out that APS can't afford to construct both state-of-the-art building infrastructure and upscale parking infrastructure for SUVs so new building infrastructure (including renewable energy) was thrown under the Parents' SUVs.

K.L.