Category: Town of Vienna, VA

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

The Vienna Board of Architectural Review had a public meeting last night, and 380 Maple Avenue West was on the agenda.  This is a proposed 40-condo building to replace the small office building at Maple and Wade Hampton, across from the Amphora restaurant. Continue reading Review of 1/17/2019 BAR meeting re 380 Maple Avenue West, 1-18-2019

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)

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

At the end of last year, in my post on the Town’s plan to rewrite the entire building code,  I noted that the Town of Vienna was finally going to do a study of economic conditions on Maple Avenue (.pdf).  In effect, it was going to do a study to see whether or not MAC zoning was needed, and what impact it might have.

Separately, in my discussion of Town’s most recent capital budget, I saw that they finally decided to do some basic estimate of the cost of putting the Maple Avenue utility lines underground.  That is, a study to see what it will cost to do what the Town has already decided must be done.

I characterized these actions as the Town’s Ready-Fire-Aim approach to MAC zoning.  Half a decade (and counting) after writing the law, they were actually going to try to look at some facts, and some economic and cost analysis.

As the third installment of the Ready-Fire-Aim approach, the Town is now going to do a study of what MAC will likely do to Maple Avenue traffic over the next decade or so.  The proposal to award what appears to be a sole-source contract to a nationally-known firm (Kimley-Horn) was announced in the agenda (.pdf) for the Town Council’s January 7 2019 meeting.  It appears from the documents that Town staff decided to do all this back in November. Continue reading Traffic: Ready-Fire-Aim, or, Better Late Than Never? 1/2/2018

My system of using postcards to keep people informed about MAC zoning no longer works.  There are too many buildings in play, events are occurring too fast, the Town’s moratorium on new MAC proposals hasn’t actually stopped the Town from furthering new MAC proposals, and I typically have (maybe) one-to-three days’ notice that the one of the Town’s various boards (Town Council, Planning Commission, Board of Architectural Review, and so on) will be discussing some relevant item. Continue reading I’m going to have to ditch the postcard alerts, updated 1/15/2019

This is a brief note about Maple Avenue, but not related to MAC zoning.  It’s about Wawa. Continue reading 1-7-11, 2-7-11, 3-7-11, 4-7-11?