Author: chogan@directresearch.com

Post 215: Accidents involving bicycles along Maple

This is a continuation of my prior post, same data source.  Bicyclists who get hit by cars along Maple mostly do so when riding in the roadway.  Secondarily, while riding in a crosswalk.  Over the period 2015-2019 (to date), there was one reportable accident involving injury to a bicyclist who was on the sidewalk, crossing a driveway along Maple Avenue.

As in the prior post, the blue dot marks the accident scene.  Same minor caveat applies:  The DMV only plots the accident location when they have GPS latitude and longitude data but they appear to have that information for most if not all accidents in Vienna.

Roadway, Tom Yum Thai
Sidewalk, Chipotle shopping center driveway
Crosswalk, Westbriar
In the roadway, west of Nutley
Crosswalk, Pleasant Street
In the roadway, east of Courthouse
In the roadway, mattress district
In the roadway, Mill Street

Post 214: Accidents involving pedestrians along Maple Avenue

This page is an introduction to some easy ways to view traffic accident data in Virginia, including interactive maps showing the exact location of each accident via Google Street View.  The point is that you can look at at all pedestrian injuries along Maple for the past five years to see that the sidewalks along Maple are not dangerous.  You incur some small risk when you cross the road.  The risk of vehicular injury while walking down the Maple Avenue sidewalk appears to be negligible.

Continue reading Post 214: Accidents involving pedestrians along Maple Avenue

Post #213: The 3/27/2019 Planning Commission meeting on 380 Maple West, edited to correct a significant mistake.

More than 50 people attended last night’s Planning Commission meeting regarding 380 Maple Avenue West.  Twenty-five spoke.  Of those, just two people approved of the project.

The Planning Commission “held open” the public meeting, meaning, if you have not spoken up yet, you will have an opportunity to do so next month.  Next month, the Planning Commission should vote on this project and forward its recommendation to the Town Council.

Go to this Google Drive link to find my audio recording of the meeting, along with an Excel spreadsheet that serves as the “index” to the audio, showing what was said at what time.  The audio is a bit rough in spots due to the crowd noise.

In brief:  The builder offered a second option of a somewhat smaller building, with less parking, and one less condo unit.  He agreed to enclose the back wall of the garage (facing the residential area) as a noise-control measure.  He will put a masonry wall on the back lot line or not, at the Town’s option.  And he would not commit to burying the power lines as part of this until he sees the cost of that from Dominion Energy.

My review of the meeting follows.

Jump to:

Continue reading Post #213: The 3/27/2019 Planning Commission meeting on 380 Maple West, edited to correct a significant mistake.

Post #212: Planning Commission meeting TONIGHT 3/27/2019, on 380 Maple West

On Wednesday 3/27/2019 at 8:00 PM in Town Hall, the Planning Commission will have a public hearing to discuss 380 Maple West (40 condos plus retail at the intersection of Maple and Wade Hampton).

PUBLIC COMMENT IS INVITED.    You may speak for up to three minutes regarding the 380 Maple West proposal.

Continue reading Post #212: Planning Commission meeting TONIGHT 3/27/2019, on 380 Maple West

Post #211: Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, 3/26/2019

I attended the 7 PM 3/26/2019 meeting of the Town of Vienna Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC).  The BAC reports to the Town’s Transportation Safety Commission (TSC), and from there to the Town Council.

This BAC matters, in the context of MAC zoning, due to the Town’s much-hyped multi-modal transportation study, aka, the traffic study.  “Multi-modal” means that in addition to cars, that study will include travel by bus, bike, foot, and possibly other means.  Our Town government bike experts should matter in the ensuing discussion.

I recorded the meeting, and if you click this Google Drive link, your browser should open up an audio player.  (If not, you can download it and listen to it.)  Many parts are unintelligible as speakers frequently did not use microphones.  Click here to get to my index of that recording (what was being discussed, when) is in this post, below.

In theory, the Town will post its own recording, but if so, I have yet to figure out where they are going to post it.  Click here to see my final section on Town governance for a further discussion.

Otherwise, the first part of this post is about Capital Bikeshare. Continue reading Post #211: Bicycle Advisory Committee meeting, 3/26/2019

Post #210: The cost of putting utilities underground

This page gives a brief discussion of the cost of burying the power and phone lines along Maple Avenue.  Best guess, this is going to cost $25M, or roughly the same as the cost of the new community center and the new police station, combined.   It is not clear, yet, what portion of that we are going to pay for.

Continue reading Post #210: The cost of putting utilities underground

Post #209: Public meetings the week of 3/26/2019

This week there is one Town of Vienna public meeting regarding changes to Maple Avenue Commercial (MAC) zoning.   

On Wednesday 3/27/2019 at 8:00 PM in Town Hall, the Planning Commission will have a public hearing to discuss 380 Maple West (40 condos plus retail at the intersection of Maple and Wade Hampton).

PUBLIC COMMENT IS INVITED.    You may speak for up to three minutes regarding the 380 Maple West proposal.

Materials for this meeting can be found at this URL:
https://vienna-va.legistar.com/LegislationDetail.aspx?ID=3893999&GUID=7A08988A-C1C5-4E34-8BD2-3CF06EB9EF5A&Options=&Search=

In addition, at this meeting, the Planning Commission is expected to discuss and pass new by-laws.  Among other things, these by-laws may require disclosure of any meetings between members of the Planning Commission and developers who have business before the Planning Commission.

On Friday and Saturday, 3/29/2019 and 3/30/2019, the Town will host Maple Avenue Community Workshops at the Vienna Community Center, to educate citizens about the benefits of Maple Avenue Commercial Zoning and to get feedback from citizens.  More about these events can be found at these links:https://www.viennava.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=4899&month=3&year=2019&day=29&calType=0
https://www.viennava.gov/Calendar.aspx?EID=4900&month=3&year=2019&day=30&calType=0

My skepticism toward these workshops is expressed here, and here.

The Town reserves the right to change or cancel meetings on short notice, so check the Town’s general calendar before you go, at this URL:  https://www.viennava.gov/Calendar.aspx?NID=1&FID=220

Post #208: Maple Avenue retail, goods versus services

I did a rough survey of Maple Avenue retail, just a quick count of establishments by type, following up on my prior estimate of the retail vacancy rate.  The mix of Maple Avenue retail was mentioned at the Town’s 3/20/2019 joint work session, with the basic idea being that service-oriented retail is required to make retail work in Vienna.

In this brief posting, I’m going to give my characterization of Vienna retail.  I don’t think a simple goods-versus-service cut is adequate to understand what we have now.

Continue reading Post #208: Maple Avenue retail, goods versus services

Post #207: The last half hour of the 3/20/2019 joint work session

I attended last week’s joint work session of the Town Council, Planning Commission, and Board of Architectural Review.  But I only caught the first few hours of it, and left around 11:45.  As it turns out, the last half hour or so was probably the best part.  I downloaded the Town’s audio, and here’s a minute-by-minute summary of what happened in the last half hour of that meeting. Continue reading Post #207: The last half hour of the 3/20/2019 joint work session

Post #206: Chick-fil-A-car-wash: You still ain’t seen nothing yet, again.

Edited to correct a significant error 3/23/2019.  The front face of the building is nearly as tall as it will get (except for the largest tower, still to be built).  They still need to add another 7′ to the front corners of the building.

I hate to keep re-using that title.  I used that phrase here, and here.

But today, as I was driving into town from Oakton, I noticed a  big HVAC unit installed on top of the Chick-fil-A car wash — in plain sight.  This was as I was driving down the hill from Emanuel Lutheran church.

I didn’t understand that, because a) I thought those walls were as tall as they were going to get, and b) I doubt they would have made a mistake like that.  So one of those two things must be wrong.  Either the walls are going to get taller, or we will be treated to the sight of their HVAC every time we come into town. Continue reading Post #206: Chick-fil-A-car-wash: You still ain’t seen nothing yet, again.