BVSCA Newsletter March/April 2003
Contents:March 25 Meeting Agenda
7:00 pm Executive Committee Meeting
BVSCA dues paying members may participate as observers in BVSCA Executive Committee meetings. BVSCA will meet in its community room on March 25. The community room is located on N. Utah St. between Gaffney's Restaurant (4301 North Fairfax Drive) and the Windsor Plaza Condominiums. On-street parking is limited; however, space is available in garages adjacent to and across the street from the Rio Grande Cafe.
BVSCA Membership Meetings are held on the last Tuesday of alternate months from 7:30 pm to 9:00 pm. Our next membership meeting will be held on Tuesday, May 27 at 7:30 pm. The BVSCA newsletter is published six times per year in advance of the monthly meeting.
And the Nominees Are...
It's that time of year again - time to nominate officers for the 2003-04 BVSCA membership year. As per BVSCA by-laws, a three person nominating committee will be elected at the March 25 meeting. If you are interested in participating on the nominating committee, or most importantly, running for a BVSCA office, please contact Ben Axleroad at 703-525-3083 for more information.
On Site
BVSCA is being asked for input on a site plan application being proposed for the property bounded by N. Monroe, N. Nelson and 10th Street. Current plans entail a multi-story residential building. Cathy Pushkar of Walsh, Colucci, & Stackhouse will present this site plan application at the March 25 meeting for review and comment by BVSCA members.
More or Less Dense
A pending site plan amendment proposes combining the Arlington Gateway site plan with the 950 N. Glebe Road site plan. Developers are proposing that the hotel density be excluded from the original Gateway site plan (located on the east side of N. Glebe) and transferred across N. Glebe Road to the 950 N. Glebe Road site plan. The developer of the 950 N. Glebe site originally proposed demolishing the existing building on the site and constructing two new buildings by right under the existing zoning, a high-rise residential building and a one-story retail building. The new site plan amendment proposes construction of a 12-story office building, incorporating additional density acquired through the requested exclusions from the Arlington Gateway hotel. The office building is proposed to have 15,180 square feet of ground floor retail space, and the other floors would be offered as office suites. Tim Sampson of Walsh, Colucci, & Stackhouse will attend the March 25 meeting to solicit input from BVSCA members on the proposed density transfer and site plan amendment.
Canopy Canape
Metro has made plans to install a canopy over the entrance to Virginia Square metro station. These plans will be presented to BVSCA members at the March 25 meeting by Arlington County transportation liaison Jim Hamre. This will also be a good opportunity to discuss with Mr. Hamre the status of pending elevator upgrades and west platform at the Ballston metro station.
Miscellaneous News Items
RX X'ed Part 2. BVSCA President Axleroad sent a letter to the Arlington County Board expressing neighborhood concern over the impending closure of Georgetown University's medical clinic located at 3833 N. Fairfax Dr. County Board members instructed DHS to contact Georgetown representatives to convey these concerns given that Arlington County has no jurisdiction over the decisions of private institutions. Patients have been instructed to contact the Call Center at 202-784-3751 for more details.
In the Hood. On Saturday, May 10, Arlington will celebrate its 7th annual Neighborhood Day. The county is organizing a number of events, including free trees for neighborhood tree planting events. To reserve free trees, call 703-228-7747. To learn more about Neighborhood Day or to organize an event, call Pamela Locke at 703-228-3952.
Be Prepared. The Office of the Superintendent of Arlington Public Schools has developed emergency preparedness information that is available at www.arlington.k12.va.us/publicinfo/emergency_prepare.html on the Arlington Public Schools website. Or, you can call Adrian Carver at 703-228-6004 for information.
Water, Water Everywhere. The Arlington County Water Pollution Control Plant plans to update its Master Plan 2001. There will be an open house public information meeting on March 31 from 7-9pm at the Aurora Hills Community Center, 735 S. 18th Street.
Milling and Paving, Oh My. Arlington County Public Works is launching a milling and paving effort for streets in Arlington, which includes efforts in our neighborhood. A detailed area map showing the proposed work locations is available on the internet at www.co.arlington.va.us/dpw/engineer/pave/paving.htm. Flyers will be mailed to our civic association ahead of the operations in our neighborhood, and door hangers will be provided for residents with detailed instructions for parking, information on the process, and contact numbers for inquiries.
A Bridge to the Homeless. The Arlington Street People's Assistance Network (A-SPAN) will hold its annual awards dinner on Saturday, April 5 from 6:30-9:00 pm at GMU's Arlington campus. For more information and to purchase tickets for the event, please call 703-820-4357, Ext. 20 or send an email to volunteeraspan@aol.com.
Listserv. BVSCA members are invited to subscribe to the BVSCA listserv to receive periodic updates on issues of neighborhood interest, as well as the monthly newsletter. To sign up, send an email message to bvscamail@yahoo.com advising that you would like to join. Include your name and post office address in your message along with the email address(es) from which you will be sending messages. When you are added to the list, you will receive a "Welcome" message with details regarding how to use the listserv. Remember that a message sent by a BVSCA listserv member to BVSCA-L@rootsweb.com will be relayed automatically to all listserv members. To prevent senders of unsolicited commercial email from using our list for unauthorized purposes, only listserv members may send messages to the mailing list from a subscribed address.
Editor's Prerogative
Calling all scribes! After four years of writing the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association newsletter, I must relinquish my editorial duties. Regrettably, the May issue of the newsletter will be my last. I have enjoyed this experience, and I've found it's a great way to keep apprised of the latest happenings in our neighborhood. The BVSCA newsletter is published six times a year in advance of monthly meetings. The newsletter is an important forum for neighbors to stay connected, a means to announce the agenda for our monthly meetings, and an important recruiting tool. I'm hopeful that I'll be deluged with volunteers to assume this responsibility. The BVSCA newsletter format is available in Word software, which makes it easy for computer novices to add updated text. However, for any who are comfortable with more sophisticated publishing software, this transition provides an ideal opportunity for our newsletter to receive a facelift. If you are interested in volunteering to write the newsletter or have questions about this task, please call me at 703-528-5126. Also, I encourage you to attend our bi-monthly meetings. The rewards of being involved are tremendous -- it's democracy in action.
DeAndra Beck
Newsletter Editor
Ben Axleroad, President
3800 North Fairfax Dr., #205, Arlington, VA 22203
703-525-3083
Kate Wilson, Vice President
David Ryan, Secretary
Patricia Horoschak, Treasurer
3800 N. Fairfax Drive, #1804, Arlington, VA 22201
703-524-5080
Ed Parks, NCAC Representative
Theresa Smith, NCAC Representative Alternate
Dennis Burr
James Webster
Mike Ford
How to Join the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association or Renew Your Membership
All individual persons who are residents of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association's area or who in their individual capacity own residential property located therein, shall be eligible for membership in the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association. For the purposes of this organization, the boundaries of the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association are Kirkwood Road on the east, Glebe Road on the west, Wilson Boulevard on the south, and the I-66 right of way on the north.
If interested in joining the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, please complete the BVSCA Membership Application Form below and send your application and dues to DeAndra Beck, Treasurer, Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, at the address below.
Dues are payable when first joining and are renewable each year on or before the annual anniversary of that date. New members and members who have not paid their dues within the three preceding Association years must pay their dues 30 days before they receive voting privileges. Former members who have been members in good standing within any of the three immediately preceding Association years may be reinstated as voting members by paying their dues for that year.
All members of the Association are volunteers. Dues are used to help fund the Association's activities and sponsored events. Please join the Association today, or renew your dues paid membership. Visit us at (http://www.bvsca.org)
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Mail to: Patricia Horoschak
BVSCA Treasurer
3800 N. Fairfax Dr., #1804
Arlington, VA 22203
Please make checks payable to BVSCA.