New 395 Crossing for Cyclists? Arlington County Board Needs to Hear from You
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Topic
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The Issue
Arlington cyclists have been pressing for over a decade to get bicycle-pedestrian access across a corner of the Army Navy Country Club (ANCC) to connect Army Navy Drive on the south side of Shirley Highway (I-395) with a street in the Arlington View neighborhood north of I-395. Such a connection would allow cyclists heading south on the new paved bike trail along Washington Blvd. at Route 50 to continue across Columbia Pike, past the Hoffman-Boston school and ride on under I-395 to the Pentagon City area. ANCC has long resisted giving an easement for this Hoffman-Boston trail connection.
The Process
However, the country club is now before the County seeking a zoning change and use permit that will allow for enlargement of its clubhouse. As part of that process, ANCC has agreed to provide the needed bicycle-pedestrian easement (which would also serve as an emergency access road) as one of the conditions for approval of the use permit. The item comes before the County Board for action this Saturday afternoon. Approval of the club’s use permit by the Board is not certain due to a number of other issues. But from a cyclist’s perspective, this is a moment we have been waiting for for many years.
The Action
Cyclists are encouraged to contact the County Board to urge for approval of this agenda item so that Arlington’s cyclists and pedestrians can gain a valuable new route to transit between north and south Arlington. Email messages can be sent to the Board at countyboard@arlingtonva.us. Note in the subject line Board Meeting item # 37 — Army Navy Country Club. If you prefer to call the individual board members, the County Board’s central number is 703-228-3130.
The most impact, of course, comes from direct testimony at the Board’s meeting on Saturday. This item is unlikely to come up before noon. You can see the Board’s meeting schedule here. You will find the bike-ped right of way mentioned on pp. 5-6 of Report 37B. The web site has a hot link to the full report.
If you have not testified at the County Board before, the first thing you need to do is submit a speaker slip to the clerk. The slips are available outside the Board room on the 3rd floor of Courthouse Plaza. The clerk is seated on the left side of the Board dais at the far end of the room. She has a box beside her in which the speaker slip should be placed. They MUST be turned in BEFORE item 37 is taken up by the Board–otherwise it is too late!
If Arlington is able to secure this trail right of way, we will still have challenges in designing and obtaining the funds to build the Hoffman-Boston connector trail. But without the initial right of way, we have nothing.
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