Author: chogan@directresearch.com

Second walk the length of Maple, 1/23/2019, minor update 1/28/2019

I am convinced that the people pushing for MAC development haven’t actually spent much time walking or biking on Maple.  They keep saying silly things like “Maple should be more walkable”, when in fact, objectively, Maple is about as walkable as it gets.   And even sillier things like, we need broad sidewalks along Maple.  When, in fact, the sidewalks are perfectly adequate now, other than the irregular surface created by the bricks.  Which they are going to add to.

Ever since I have lived in Vienna, I have made it a point to walk along Maple.  Sometimes just for exercise, but more typically, to get somewhere.  To run errands without getting in a car.

So now I occasionally walk the length of Maple and count the number of pedestrians that I pass as I walk.  Just to get across the point that, although Maple is quite walkable, few choose to walk down it.

Today, 1/23/2019, 3:30 PM, about 45 degrees, light wind, mostly cloudy skies.  First nice day in quite a while.  On my 2+ mile round trip from Wade Hampton and Maple to East Street and Maple, and back, I passed a grand total of … two people.  Or about one person per mile.

Edit:  And on Friday 1/25/2019, 4 PM walk down the length of Maple– partly cloudy, about 45 degrees — I passed a total of 9 people, or fewer than one person per 1000 feet.

(By contrast, I passed a total of 12 on my walk on 12/31/2018.  Or maybe one person every 1000 feet.)

There are plenty of reasons not to walk down Maple, but the car traffic is the dominant one.  Maple gets about 33,000 vehicles a day — about one-fourth the traffic load of I-66.  It’s just unpleasant, no matter how you slice it.  It’s noisy, and you never escape the smell and taste of diesel exhaust.  It’s almost certainly unhealthful.  I tried to get this point across by explaining why Maple Avenue is never going to be anything like Mosaic District.  The traffic is the reason.

So Maple is, to be clear, a dis-amenity.  It’s something you avoid if you can, and you use it for purely utilitarian reasons — to get from Point A to Point B.  The whole point of walking down Maple is to get somewhere nice — as opposed to being on Maple.

So, to me, the idea used to sell MAC — that many individuals will choose to stroll down Maple — that it will become this walker’s paradise, and require broad sidewalks to deal with the crowds — is just absurd beyond all reason.   And so when I see my Town predicating part of redevelopment based on this notion, I just have to say, I have no idea why they keep saying this, but it clearly bears no relationship to reality.

But perhaps I see it this way because I, in fact, routinely walk the length of Maple.  Maybe some of the advocates for MAC zoning should try that.

 

Our assets become liabilities II, 1/18/2019

In a prior post, I used the example of Paul VI high school to show that large, privately-held open areas have moved from being assets to their communities to being potential liabilities.  And if you live next to such an area — e.g., a church, private school, or large parking lot — you are at risk for a radical increase in the density of your neighborhood, if the owner of that space sells it in the current market.  In particular, I used that page to explain why I want the Seventh-Day Adventists to be happy right where they are, on their lovely 8+-acre property at the end of my street. Continue reading Our assets become liabilities II, 1/18/2019

Sign up for email notices, 1-16-2019

This page is a brief update on yard signs, and postcard notices to alert you to public meetings about MAC zoning and Maple Avenue development.

Briefly:

If you would like to receive email notification from savemaple.org, to alert you to upcoming Town public meetings on Maple Avenue and MAC development, please sign up at the bottom of this page.  If you signed up for my postcard notices, and provided an email, you need not sign up again.

Detail follows.

Yard signs

I am out of yard signs and do not plan to order more.  A half-a-dozen or so requests came in after I ran out the last time.  I apologize to those who made those last few requests, but there’s not enough demand to warrant doing a fourth printing.  

When you are done with your sign and no longer want it, you are welcome to stick it at the end of my driveway, and I’ll deal with it from there (226 Glen Ave SW).  I hope that most signs will stay up at least until the May 7, 2019 Town Council elections.

Postcard alerts

As noted above, the postcard-based system is obsolete, given the large number of Town sessions to be held about MAC proposals, and the very short notice that the Town gives regarding those sessions.

The problem is not the lack of a schedule.  The Town appears to have these meetings planned well in advance.  For example, a February work session on the two current MAC proposals was casually mentioned at January 7 2018 Town Council meeting.

The main problem is that the Town does not make the schedule public.  So citizens have no idea what’s going to be discussed until the Town posts the agenda for the relevant meeting.  Town insiders get weeks to months of advance notice; mere citizens get hours to days of advance notice.  The Town knows what it plans to do when, it just doesn’t bother to tell us.

This is compounded by the lack of video for most meetings.  For Town Council and Planning Council meetings, the Town a) broadcasts and streams the meeting live, and b) eventually provides the recorded video via the Town website.  (The TV channels and streaming link are given a few paragraphs down on this page.)   For those meetings, perhaps the short notice isn’t so bad — you can watch it on Verizon, Cox, or via internet, from home.

But for other meetings where MAC projects may be pushed forward, there is no video.   For those meetings, the only way to know what went on, in a timely fashion, is to attend in person or read the notes of someone who attended.  These include Board of Architectural Review (all meetings), Planning Commission (work sessions), Town Council (work sessions), not to mention other potentially relevant Town board meetings (e.g., Transportation Safety).

Typically, minutes are eventually posted, but those can be a very brief summary of events, and those are often not timely.  Here’s a snapshot of the status of minutes from November and December 2018 meetings, as of 1/16/2019.  The gist of it is that six weeks to two months can easily pass between the time of a relevant public meeting and the Town’s publication of the minutes of that meeting.

For example, the Town Council held a work session 12/3/2018 regarding a couple of proposals aimed at increasing the speed of development along Maple and throughout Vienna.  Minutes for that meeting still were not posted as of 1/16/2019.

For the time being, we typically get advance notice that ranges from less than 24 hours (as occurred for a recent Board of Architectural Review (BAR) work session) to perhaps three working days (for a typical Town Council meeting).  And that’s only if we are scanning the Town of Vienna website before each planned BAR, Planning Commission, or Town Council work session or public session.

I have asked the Town to publish some sort of schedule so that citizens can plan ahead, but it is too soon to expect any sort of answer back on that.

If you would like to sign up to receive email alerts from savemaple.org, please sign up below.

   Any time that I am aware of a Town public meeting where MAC development or Town of Vienna development will be discussed, I’ll send out a brief email notice to those on the list.

Submit email for meeting reminders
This email will be used to send you reminders about upcoming Town of Vienna public meetings where MAC zoning and/or Maple Avenue development will be discussed. Unsubscribe at any time by replying to the email with the word "unsubscribe".

Board of Architectural Review Meeting 1/17/2019, 380 Maple West (Wade Hampton Office Building)

Courtesy of Vienna Citizens for Responsible Development (VCRD), I found out today (1/15/2019) that the Vienna Board of Architectural Review (BAR) will discuss 380 Maple West in their 8 PM meeting 1/17/2019 at Vienna Town Hall.  You can download the agenda from this page, and see that 380 Maple West is the last item for the evening.  Although the agenda does not note it, VCRD’s email says that the public will be allowed to speak at this meeting. Continue reading Board of Architectural Review Meeting 1/17/2019, 380 Maple West (Wade Hampton Office Building)

Our assets become our liabilities, 1/10/2019

It’s tough for me to sit in on Town Council meetings and do the writeup of what’s happening.  I just grit my teeth and do it.  So now that that chore is done, I’m going to write up something that’s a little more theoretical, and a lot easier to think about.

The thesis of this article is that privately-owned open space in Vienna has gone from being an asset to its neighborhood to being a potential liability.  And if you live anywhere near a chunk of privately-held open space, in the current market, you are at risk for radical changes in your neighborhood. Continue reading Our assets become our liabilities, 1/10/2019