where to report overgrown sidewalk in Arlington

[elbows]

Where, if anywhere, could one report shrubs growing out over the sidewalk? This is not on a road or a trail. It doesn’t match any of the categories here:
https://topics.arlingtonva.us/reportproblem/

I thought that sidewalks were a right of way. These shrubs are out at least 50% into the sidewalk.

Topic

[dasgeh]

There was just a thread on this on Nextdoor. Many pointed out that if the shurbs originate from private property, the kind approach is to leave a note for the homeowner, to give them a chance to address this without getting the County involved. If that doesn’t work, it’s a Zoning Enforcement issue: “Reporting a Violation To make a complaint, call 703-228-3883 between the hours of 8 a.m. – 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, or email us. All complaints will be taken and addressed by one of our administrative staff personnel.”

[hozn]

Talking to the neighbor sounds awkward. I vote you call the police.

Easiest, though, is probably to just F’ing take a step the side when you walk past their house. I’m sure they’ll trim their hedges eventually or one of their more socially functional neighbors will talk to them if they don’t know the rules.

[cyarie]

Please do not call the police. They are not there for us to settle matters like this, and, in the best case, it’s a massive waste of their time.

Just leave a note or talk to the property owner — if that doesn’t work, escalate as per dasgeh’s post.

[dasgeh]

@hozn 179461 wrote:

Talking to the neighbor sounds awkward.

Hence the note

[hozn]

I was being sarcastic. If there is a legitimate accessability issue caused by the sidewalk being restricted, I would think this would be pretty “not awkward”. If someone just wants to be a dick, then it’s probably appropriate that it be a bit awkward. @dasgeh 179469 wrote:

Hence the note

[hozn]

Yeah, sorry; it sounds like my sarcasm actually sounded like reasonable advice to my fellow Arlingtonians. You should not call the police. As my well-trained kids would say: woman up. Talk to the owner or f*king deal with the great inconvenience this causes you.

I do love Arlington. But holy f*k. And get your bike off the sidewalk.

[lordofthemark]

@hozn 179471 wrote:

But holy f*k. And get your bike off the sidewalk.

I live on Park Center Drive in Alexandria. I commute to work via 31st to Shirlington to the 4MRT. I regularly ride on the sidewalk on the east side of King from Park Center Drive to 30th Street. It’s not that I don’t want to ever share the road with the kind folks who exceed the 35mph speed limit by 10mph or more as they scoot from I395 – I mean I do regularly take King from Beauregard to North Hampton. It’s just that there is no legal way to make a left from SB King onto 30th, and I would prefer to not go out of my way on said fast paced traffic sewer to 28th, and then up the hill, just to avoid a short section of sidewalk, riding a hybrid, with the weight of a backpack and clothes. I proceed slowly and carefully on the sidewalk. Choice of route is very specific to both rider and geography, in my opinion. I assume elbows has good reason for her choice.

[lordofthemark]

That sidewalk BTW, sometimes has vegetation issues that impact both pedestrians and people on bikes, but usually using call click connect helps, as the City trims the vegetation.

[n18]

Go to Google Maps, zoom in really close(in the default map mode, not satellite mode) and you should see property boundaries based on public records, so you can tell which property it’s part of.

Some home owners are seniors, or with disabilities, so they may or may not be able to do it themselves.

[LeprosyStudyGroup]

I’ve seen a Lumberjack ambling round these parts, maybe I can give him a holler ?

[Starduster]

@LeprosyStudyGroup 179481 wrote:

I’ve seen a Lumberjack ambling round these parts, maybe I can give him a holler ?

He’s a lumberjack and he’s okay…

[dasgeh]

@hozn 179471 wrote:

Yeah, sorry; it sounds like my sarcasm actually sounded like reasonable advice to my fellow Arlingtonians. You should not call the police. As my well-trained kids would say: woman up. Talk to the owner or f*king deal with the great inconvenience this causes you.

I do love Arlington. But holy f*k. And get your bike off the sidewalk.

Yeah, probably too much Nextdoor. And I’ll get my bike off the sidewalk when there are safe alternatives for when I bike with my kids.

[huskerdont]

[crunch, crunch…] damn, all out of popcorn. BERIGHTBACk.

[huskerdont]

Difficult to ride on sidewalks in Arlington anyway because they keep disappearing. Seriously, in my N. Arlington neighborhood, some blocks of some streets have them, then the next block doesn’t. Sometimes it’s even within the same block where they disappear. Our next-door neighbor has a sidewalk, but he’s the only one on the street who does. WTF?

[bentbike33]

@huskerdont 179489 wrote:

Difficult to ride on sidewalks in Arlington anyway because they keep disappearing. Seriously, in my N. Arlington neighborhood, some blocks of some streets have them, then the next block doesn’t. Sometimes it’s even within the same block where they disappear. Our next-door neighbor has a sidewalk, but he’s the only one on the street who does. WTF?

Fairfax has the same problem. It is a consequence of when the property was (re-)developed and whether the developer was required to put in sidewalks or not at the time.

What, you think the County is responsible for building sidewalks?

[Author]

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