Board to Consider Streetcar, Sign Ordinance Before Summer Recess
Elected officials will also vote on $2.45 billion, 10-year Capital Improvement Plan.
The Arlington County Board will decide the fate of several major projects — including a controversial streetcar proposed for the Columbia Pike corridor — and set spending priorities for the next decade before its summer recess.
The county's $2.45 billion, 10-year Capital Improvement Plan is one of a long list of items the board will consider at its regular meeting Saturday.
The plan, which is updated every two years, focuses on assets and infrastructure and lays out a financial roadmap for big-ticket projects — projects like building construction, renovation, demolition or acquisition.
The proposed plan has gotten a good bit of attention in part because it lays out the first five years of funding for a planned Columbia Pike streetcar project.
It also sets aside money for parks and open space, Penrose Square, public art, the acquisition and conversion of 2020 14th St. N. into county office space and a year-round homeless services center, a fiber-optic network connecting county and school buildings, and the expansion of the county's Water Pollution Control Plant — among many other things.
The board on Saturday also will likely decide a smattering of zoning matters and permit requests, formally approve a $1 million state incentive for a defense contractor moving its headquarters to Crystal City and move forward on the massive Rosslyn Gateway project.
The streetcar will be in the spotlight again Monday night, when the board will be asked to formally adopt that as the preferred transit alternative for the five miles between the Skyline/Bailey's Crossroads area of Fairfax County and Pentagon City in Arlington County — an endeavor estimated to cost up to $261 million.
That night the board also will take action on the broader Columbia Pike Neighborhoods Plan.
Finally, on Tuesday, the board will consider amending the county's zoning ordinance to update regulations governing the size, number and placement of signs. The county has been working on updating its sign ordinance since December 2010.
Barry
7:39 am on Friday, July 20, 2012
Time to scrap the Pike streetcar and start seriously discussing the three bus options. Accidents involving streetcars, vehicles, pedestrians, and bicyclists, and streetcars immobilized by derailments and lengthy power outages, indicate that streetcars are a bad option for the Pike.
Don
5:30 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
When will the local media show us what a 21st Century articulated bus looks like? What a 21st Century double deck bus looks like? What a 21st Century fuel cell powered bus looks like?
Allie
8:59 pm on Friday, July 20, 2012
Yes. Local media are absurd, appear to be total Zimmy boosters. Why do I have to do Web searches to find basic information about streetcar and bus transit pros and cons?
T
10:38 am on Saturday, July 21, 2012
How will larger buses that people do not want to ride solve anything? If the goal is to entice automobile drivers to switch to a different mode of transport then the alternative has to be appealing. Articulated buses are even less appealing than regular buses.
A.B.
5:57 pm on Saturday, July 21, 2012
Local Media are wusses, wimps, and cowards. Will not show photos of 21st Century articulated buses but will print rants from anybody who states that 'people won't ride 21st Century articulated buses'.