1.  RSCA Annual Meeting Review:  County Manager Mark Schwartz and Old Dominion Project Manager Bill Roberts:  Answer Questions at Rock Spring Civic Association Annual Meeting :  Submitted by Charlie Flickner, RSCA Secretary

Mark Schwartz, County Manager since January, offered candid insights into the County government at the October 6, 2016 RSCA annual meeting.  Issues related to over-building and lighting of school athletic facilities dominated the question and answer period.  About 45 neighbors attended the first annual meeting held at Discovery Elementary School.

2.  Old Dominion Construction Project Update:

Arlington County is adding sidewalks on both sides of Old Dominion Drive (Route 309), making the road more pedestrian and cyclist friendly. Other project features include new curbs and gutters, installation of a storm water system, upgrades to transit stops and new traffic signals, street lights and street trees.   Construction work hours within the roadway are 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Thursday, and 9:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Friday.

• Street light wiring work continues.

• New sidewalks continue to be constructed along Rock Spring Road, just north of Old Dominion Drive.

• Sewer pipes, with two catch basin structures, have recently been installed.

• The contractor will soon be constructing the proposed curb and gutter along Rock Spring Road between Old Dominion Drive and Glebe Road; weather permitting.

• Stone dust has been added to the northeast and northwest quadrants of the Williamsburg Boulevard/Old Dominion Drive intersection to temporarily facilitate pedestrian mobility while traffic signal construction is taking place. Once signal work has been completed, sidewalks in these two corners will be poured.

• In the next few weeks, Dominion Virginia Power (DVP) will relocate an overhead guy wire along the Little Falls Road service drive, which will then allow the contractor to resume work. The current location of the guy wire is in conflict with a proposed storm sewer which has temporarily slowed down work on the service drive.

• Due to utility relocation delays, final paving work has moved back to its original slated time - spring 2017.

3.  Streetlight Demo Recap

On September 15, 2016 County staff demonstrated how new streetlights will function along Old Dominion Drive - staff answered streetlight and project related questions from local residents.

• Of the project's 84 LED streetlights, all but five have been installed. However, many still need to be wired.

• The streetlights won't be operational until the project's utility relocations and hardscape work has been completed (pouring of all sidewalks, storm sewer installation, curb and gutter installation, construction driveway aprons, etc...). Streetlights are expected to be operational in spring 2017.

• Once the entire project is complete, we will coordinate to remove the old existing streetlights mounted on top of the overhead wood utility poles.

We continue to update our project page on the Arlington County website and construction photos are available on Flickr.  If you have questions regarding construction please contact Gerald Roberson, Construction Manager. For project details please contact Jon Lawler, Capital Project Manager.

4. Williamsburg Blvd Green Street Project: Submitted by Jerry Paul.

The County reports that “we have had some delays in getting the estimate from the on-call contractor.  They had some questions on the project design and one small change to the design was necessary.  We have made the updates to the design and we expect to receive their cost estimate in the next month, and then move forward with scheduling the construction.  We are excited to move forward with this exciting Green Street project!  And, will keep the Civic Association informed”.  

5.  Williamsburg Field Evaluation Work Group:  November 2 Open House

You are invited to an open house/information event at Williamsburg Middle School where Parks and Recreation are offering an opportunity for the community to learn more about the status of the fact finding and outstanding issues concerning the decision about whether to install lights on the synthetic fields at Williamsburg Middle School.  (https://parks.arlingtonva.us/projects/williamsburg-workgroup/)

6.  High School Boundary Meetings:  APS is considering changing the boundaries for high school eligibility in order to accommodate overcrowding.  If you are interested, please see the website which describes the process and meeting dates. https:/www.apsva.us/post/school-board-discusses-framework-process-timeline-proposed-high-school-boundary-refinements/

7.  Create, Participate and Collect During Art Swaps at Arlington Mill Community Center.  Sundays this fall.  Nov. 6 and Dec. 4, 1 - 4 p.m.  Free. Open to all artists and crafters!

Schedule:

• 1-2:30 p.m. - Bring your own artwork or art supplies to create a piece onsite to swap- we’ll have art supplies you can use too!

• 2:30-3 p.m. -  Each finished work will be traded for a single raffle ticket

• 3-4 p.m. The swap begins! Raffle numbers are drawn, artwork is selected.

Trade and network amongst other artists. Participation in the swap is optional.

Arlington Mill Community Center
Street Level Gallery Space
909 S Dinwiddie Street

8.  Fall Fungi 101 Hike:  Saturday, Oct. 22, 1 - 3pm.

Don't be stumped by spores or mystified by mycelium!   Get to know these ancient organisms and the basics of mushroom identification then walk the park to find some fantastic fungi and practice ID skills. Teens welcomed. For information: 703-228-3403. Meet at Gulf Branch Nature Center, 3608 N. Military Road. $10. #612846-D

To contact the newsletter editors for information or items to share, please email either Judy Hadden cjhadden@gmail.com or Joan Trabandt, ctrabandt@comcast.net