MINUTES – FIRST PRESIDENTS’ BREAKFAST, LEE HIGHWAY

February 23, 2013 – 9:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Langston Brown Community Center

Present – 11 Participants

  1. Tracy Greiner rep. Willie Jackson-Baker, President, John M. Langston CA
  2. Antony Maderal, President, Maywood CA
  3. Laura Johnson, President, Glebewood CA
  4. Mike Conyngham, President, Old Dominion CA
  5. Kim Klingler, President, Leeway Overlee CA
  6. Andrew Schneider, President, Yorktown CA
  7. Bill Richardson, rep. Anne Wilson, President, Donaldson Run CA
  8. Maureen Ross, President, Cherrydale CA
  9. Ginger Brown, President, Waverly Hills CA
  10. Louis Wassel, VP, Waverly Hills CA
  11. Sandi Chesrown, NCP Rep., Waverly Hills CA

A. Introduction of Process and Activities to Date – Ginger/Waverly Hills

  • Explanation of direction from WHCA as part of NCP process
  • Development factors that encouraged formation of a vision for Lee Highway

Bergman’s Redevelopment – approval of a 10 story building on Lee Highway

Parkland Gardens – garden apartment complex on Glebe/lost opportunity for mixed use

B. Introduction of Participants – Self-introduction & Comments from the Neighborhoods

  • Antony/Maywood – Their civic association has been active a little over a year; development they have experienced on Lee Highway includes Dominion Heights, a nice project.
  • Laura/Glebewood – They are a small civic association and it is difficult to get people to coalesce around an issue. They have been frustrated by the lack of responsiveness from the purchasers of Alpine Restaurant, as their walk-through access has been cut off.
  • Tracy/Langston – Their boundary runs from MacDonalds to Capital One Bank and includes the KFC and the Fire Station. Over the past year, eight new $1.5 mm homes have been built in their neighborhood, and they recognize that a good bit of commercial could be re-developed along Lee Hgihway.
  • Maureen/Cherrydale – Their NCC Plan is dated 2004, and they are preparing to update it. The Cherrydale Revitalization Plan is 20 years old and covers the area from Utah Street – boundary with Waverly Hills – to Lyon Shopping Center.
  • Mike/Old Dominion – He has been the President for the past four years, and the CA usually meets a few times a year. The neighborhood has stable residential and a number of County facilities including the water tank and mulch pile. There are no schools, and they usually coordinate meetings at a church. He lives behind the Metro 29 diner. Development issues include 26th Street and the potential for a new fire station on three acres that the County purchased. They have a good NCP rep and have benefitted from the NCP process including improved drainage.
  • Bill/Donaldson Run – They have developed good relations with Marymount, and issues they face include maintaining green space/tree canopy and residential infill development, e.g., Lorcum Ridge project at Lorcum Lane and Sprout Run where the 100 year old trees that were supposed to be preserved were killed during construction. They see Lee Heights Shopping Center and Shirlington as examples of ideal developments. They are concerned about the County’s over emphasis on rapid transit and biking, and feel that areas outside the R-B Metro corridor have been somewhat neglected.
  • Kim/Leeway Overlee – She has lived in a number of neighborhoods including Cherrydale, Donaldson Run, and now Leeway Overlee, which includes all types of residential development and commercial – including District Taco – and is at the edge of the East Falls Church Plan.
  • Andrew/Yorktown – He has been the President for three years, and their neighborhood includes Lee Harrison Shopping Center and Garden City Shopping Center. They have formed a Garden City Subcommittee which needs to be integrated with the Lee Highway planning. They feel Garden City is complicated, as there are 14 condo owners, and it is backs directly on to single family residential who are displeased with the current situation but also don’t want to look at the backside of taller, three to four story buildings. They see Lee Highway as a mishmash of commercial and residential that could be greatly improved.

C. Comment on WH NCP Process & Relationship to Lee Highway – Sandi/Waverly Hills

  • Brief discussion of process – walking tour, community survey, research on planning and zoning
  • Brief discussion of results of NCP planning - Resulted in understanding of infill sites that could be re-planned and re-developed including the large Courembis tract on Old Lee Highway across from Utah Street and WH interest in smart growth, walkable mixed use development and aging in place opportunities
  • Brief discussion of Arlington County zoning – now either traditional with a site plan review process or form based code which is more prescriptive from the beginning, and that perhaps Lee Highway could be re-planned under a hybrid solution

D. Summary of WH Research on Lee Highway and Recommendations from Interview of Stakeholders – Louis/Waverly Hills

  • There are 42 commercial businesses in WH, and in the broader study area from Utah to McKinley there are 300 businesses – a two mile stretch of land.
  • From Rosslyn to East Falls Church is a six mile study area.
  • With regard to Lee Highway Shopping Center, there are 76,000 people within a one mile radius and 171,000 people within a three mile radius.
  • WH has conducted 40 interviews over the past eight months including with all the Planning Commissioners, County Board Members, Economic Development Commission, developers, land use attorneys, Columbia Pike Revitalization Organization, etc.
  • The results of those interviews were the recommendations we are bringing to the Presidents today – the group needs to define the study area boundaries, collect and understand their neighborhoods’ interests and concerns including not only residents but also business owners, institutions, retail, etc., focus on the re-planning of activity nodes, establish an understanding of a variety of topics involved with planning, develop a walking and bus tour to visualize models for good development, and meet monthly if possible.

E. Feedback from and Discussion with Participants – Open to All

  • Ginger - Both the Planning Commission and County Board have noted that they would like this to be a grassroots process, and that we will represent the voice of the CAs along Lee Highway. At the end of the first year, we will have demonstrated a clear understanding of planning and development which led to our vision for Lee Highway.
  • Discussion on Process – A lot of discussion ensued about how much learning is necessary and the time necessary for the process; most understood the need for time to allow not only education but also to go back to their CAs for input.
  • Discussion on County Involvement – WH reps noted that the County has been very helpful in holding interviews, putting together the maps, andvolunteering their time to be involved in the Presidents’ Breakfasts. Bob Duffy, the Planning Director, has volunteered to attend meetings and to put together a web site for the Presidents Breakfasts. This was much appreciated. The WH reps noted that the goal is for the Presidents’ Breakfasts to evolve into a Lee Highway Task Force, involving all stakeholders, including the planning staff, and that hopefully the Civic Associations’ vision for Lee Highway will be the starting point for the Lee Highway Task Force. Ultimately, the LHTF will send their planning recommendations through the County Manager’s office to the County Board for consideration. There was concern that if the County is too involved at the beginning that discussion will not be as open as it should be. Consensus was reached that discussion should continue at the beginning of the April meeting, and that we should request that the Planning Director attend the second half of the meeting rather than the whole meeting to allow for completion of today’s discussion on organization.
  • Study Area Boundaries – The WH reps explained that this needs to be an inclusive, transparent public process and that although our original goal was to only include the area from our boundary at Utah Street west to Lexington/McKinley, we were strongly encouraged in nearly all our interviews to include all of Lee Highway from East Falls Church to the border with Rosslyn. The Presidents felt that this was too large an area, and that adding five more CAs to the group would make it an unwieldly process.
  • Meeting Goal - Consensus on the Study Area – The group came up with criteria for the study area boundaries and consensus for moving forward –
  1. The two gateways to the study area – Lyon Village Shopping Center and East Falls Church would form the east and west boundaries. Those CAs are viewed as allies and would be consulted with but would not be formally invited to the monthly meetings as participants until after the visioning process. It was noted that eventually in the process after the lee Highway TF is formed transportation lines will link all of us along the corridor. Others noted that the study area could be re-visited later in the summer.
  2. Only those CAs that actually touch Lee Highway/Old Dominion will be formal participants. The other CAs including Williamsburg and Tara Leeway who are close to but not touching the highway would be consulted.
  3. All CAs along Lee Highway would receive courtesy updates on the proceedings of the Presidents’ Breakfasts.
  • Meeting Goal – Consensus on Voting Participants – At the second meeting this will be discussed again after the Presidents have gone back to their CAs. It is most probable that each CA will have two votes – the President and one other officer or active CA participant. The Presidents will email Ginger the names, so that we can put together a directory for them and distribute it at the next meeting.
  • Meeting Goal – Agreement on Schedule & Topics – It was agreed that the next meeting – Presidents’ Breakfast #2 - will be held on April 6th rather than March 30th to avoid Easter weekend. The WH reps will book Langston Community Center from 9:30-11:30 a.m.

From 9:30-10:30 the organizational aspects not decided today, including voting rights, will be decided, and from 10:30-11:30 Bob Duffy will be invited to sit in on the discussion.

  • Homework for the Presidents - All will go back to their CAs and decide on their formal representatives – 1-3 per CA. They will also review the draft schedule and list of topics presented today, and rank the topics. (Louis volunteered to circulate a Survey Monkey to make it easier for them to rank the topics.)