Holmes Run Valley Community

The association met at Beech Tree Elementary School at 7:30 PM on Wednesday, 9 March, for its Spring meeting.  Mike Paup and Andy Novins were elected to the Board by acclimation to succeed Jim Mason and Virgil Bodeen who retired.

Most of the meeting time was devoted to discussing matters related to the quality of life in the community and the need for residents to engage in events that concern us.  The Board asked the membership whether residents would be willing to sign up as Issue Advocates with no assigned duty and no expectation regarding time commitment or product. Signing up in a particular issue area would express only an intention to serve as eyes and ears for the community, as time and opportunities permit, and to notify the association via the Google group when issues deserve our attention. Reassuringly, 14 of the 19 residents in the meeting signed up in one or more areas.  The issue areas are listed in the meeting report below.

The meeting talked through the following six current issues based on a set of slides available below.

• Final redevelopment plan for Seven Corners
• Successful community effort to keep DMV out of Barcroft Plaza
• Ongoing transit planning for Route 7 and Gallows Road
• Super. Gross’s new redevelopment plan for SE Quadrant at Bailey’s Crossroads
• County’s proposed amendment to the zoning ordinance and consequences for Seven Corners, Bailey’s Crossroads, and Annandale
• FY 2017 county budget priorities

Following are links to meeting documents.

• Agenda
• Meeting Report
• Slides

Clyde Miller

The Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) plans to relocate its Four Mile Run customer service center from Arlington County to Barcroft Plaza in Falls Church at the intersection of Columbia Pike and Lincolnia Rd. On December 3, Mason District Council and Delegate Kaye Kory convened a meeting of residents with nine representatives of DMV, VDOT, and the county to discuss DMV’s plan for the relocation.  It was apparent to most of the more than 100 residents who attended that the proposed service center would overwhelm Barcroft Plaza with traffic, parking, and safety issues.

Mason District Council has prepared a petition asking Governor Terry McAuliffe to terminate DMV’s effort to move into Barcroft.  A concise summary of DMV’s plan and community concerns, together with a link to MDC’s petition, is available here.  You can also reach the petition by clicking on this link.

Please consider signing the petition and asking your neighbors to sign as well.

Thank you.

Clyde Miller

Board member Jacke Zeiher has produced an excellent set of meeting notes available here.

The meeting agenda with names and e-mail addresses of board members is here.

A copy of the slides used in the meeting is here.

A Fall meeting is planned for October.

In the meantime, we can stay in touch via our Google e-mail group, hrvca2@googlegroups.com.

Many thanks to members who participated in our spring meeting.

Clyde Miller.

The Spring membership meeting was held at Beech Tree Elementary School from 7-9 PM on 29 April.  These preliminary notes include only:

Meeting agenda

Slides describing Mason District redevelopment activities

Subject: HRVCA Resolutions re Seven Corners and Willston

Date: February 8, 2015 8:10:14 PM EST

To: Penny Gross <Mason@fairfaxcounty.gov>

Cc: “. HRVCA” <hrvca@googlegroups.com>

Dear Supervisor Gross,

At its January 28 meeting, members of the Holmes Run Valley Citizen’s Association discussed the redevelopment of Seven Corners and the appropriate use of the Willston School site.

After discussing the proposed redevelopment of Seven Corner, members voted 27 to 1 to oppose the plan developed by the Seven Corners Task Force.  Principal concerns expressed related to traffic, potential for more overcrowding in our schools, the extreme density of the proposed redevelopment, and loss of community-serving shopping opportunities.

Members unanimously approved a motion to use the Willston School site exclusively for a public school.

Please consider the views of association members in your decisions regarding these issues of critical interest to this community.

I will ask the Clerk to the Board to distribute this letter to the Board Of Supervisors.

Sincerely,

Holmes Run Valley Citizens Association (HRVCA)

Clyde Miller, President

Mike Cook, Vice President

Jacke Zeiher, Board Member

Jim Mason, Board Member

The 28 Jan 2015 Holmes Run Valley Citizen’s Association (HRVCA) meeting at Beech Tree Elementary School was called to order by Jim Mason at 7:30 PM.

Thirty-five members and Theresa Tova, President of the Broyhill Park Civic Association, attended the meeting.   The meeting agenda and a document summarizing two community issues were provided as handouts.

Election of Board for 2015: Nominees for Board positions were presented to the membership, and the floor was opened for additional nominees. There were no nominations from the floor and the following were elected by acclamation:

• Clyde Miller, President
• Mike Cook, Vice President
• Jacke Zeiher, Board Member
• Virgil Bodeen, Board Member
• Jim Mason, Board Member

Purpose of the Association: A brief discussion of the purpose of the association focused on assuring the quality of life in our neighborhoods, including keeping the membership informed of matters affecting the community, making the views of the community known to county officials, and maintaining and improving our environment. For example, developers and the county are promoting a number of redevelopment efforts nearby, including at Seven Corners, Bailey’s Crossroads, and what used to be Loehmann’s Plaza. These projects potentially will increase traffic through our community and crowding in our schools. They will affect as well local shopping opportunities and services available to us. The association is a means for the community collectively to monitor and influence these redevelopment activities.

Seven Corners Redevelopment: Mason District Supervisor Gross and the county are planning a large-scale redevelopment of Seven Corners. The long-range plan envisions that two of the current shopping centers and some residences will be replaced with 5800 to 6000 apartments in buildings 7 to 12 stories high. The document handed out in the meeting summarized the plan; the agenda provided the link to the on-line plan document in footnote (3). The membership discussed the plan and voted by a margin of 27 to 1 to oppose it. Principal concerns expressed related to traffic, potential for more overcrowding in our schools, the extreme density of the proposed redevelopment, and loss of community-serving shopping opportunities. The position of the membership will be communicated to Supervisor Gross.

Location for a New Elementary School: The county is planning to begin building a new elementary school within the next year or two to relieve overcrowding and, hopefully, to retire some of the modular units (trailers) that surround our schools. There are two principal choices for a new school site. The five-acre Willston School site on Willston Drive opposite Seven Corners is in a residential neighborhood and would provide green space for outdoor activities. The 2+ acre site favored by Supervisor Gross on Columbia Pike in the Bailey’s Crossroads commercial district opposite Trader Joe’s would provide outdoor recreation space only on the roof of the parking garage. Supervisor Gross intends to build a new $125M county office building on the Willston site. After discussion, the membership voted 24 to 0 in favor of constructing the school on the Willston site. This position also will be communicated to Supervisor Gross.

The Mason District Council has posted an on-line petition whereby individuals can express their opinions regarding the use of the Willston School site and will host a forum on the state of our schools on February 10. Access to the petition and information on the forum are available by clicking on Current Events in the upper right hand corner of this page.

Association Google Group and Blog: Jacke Zeiher (jzeiher11@gmail.com) has set up a Google group for the association. The group provides a convenient means for us to exchange e-mails, including attachments. Anyone in the group can send an e-mail to the group, and everyone receives every e-mail sent to the group. People not in the group neither receive the e-mails nor can they send e-mails to the group. Every e-mail includes a link at the bottom whereby one can unsubscribe and instantly quit the group. There’s no danger of getting stuck in the group if you want out. Association members are asked to please join the group. We intend that it will be our principal means of communication. To join, send Jacke an e-mail with your request. The group e-mail address is HRVCA@googlegroups.com.

The association maintains a blog at www.holmesrun.org authored by Clyde Miller. It is an effort to provide information (occasionally opinions) on topics and issues of general community interest. It does not accept comments due to the time and effort required to manage them.

Annandale Blog and NextDoor.com: The Annandale Blog (http://annandaleva.blogspot.com) is the very best source of community information. Subscribe and you will receive a weekly e-mail with a list of local news articles that you can access with a click of the mouse. Highly recommended.

NextDoor.com describes itself as a community social network whereon you can exchange messages with neighbors. Most of the messages relate to household activities such as finding baby sitters and repairmen. We don’t plan to depend upon it for association business, but many neighbors find it useful. Go to www.nextdoor.com and give it a try.

Next Meeting: The next meeting is planned for spring, April or May. If, in the meantime, a member feels the need for a meeting, please let the rest of us know via the Google group.

Clyde Miller,   cmiller1017@verizon.net

Overcrowding in ‘boarding houses’ and the associated parking issues plague some neighborhoods in our area.  An effort led by the Mason District Council is underway to work with the county to better control the problem.  A public meeting with county officials was held at the Sleepy Hollow Elementary School on Thursday, 6 February.  A report of the meeting is available on the Annandale Blog.  Information on the results of the Mason District Council code compliance survey is available on their Web site.

If you have code compliance issues that need to be addressed, contact the county Department of Code Compliance at 703-324-1300 or on their Web site here.