Category: Town of Vienna, VA

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.

 

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?