Fear Mongering

I can generally agree with that reply. DB was proposing the redivisioning and rezoning of lots along Wolftrap Creek to achieve new homes on smaller lots... i.e. higher density. I caution, 'Where will it stop?'. This recipe could be extended to many areas in SE Vienna. I also point out that higher density development in our area, in general, is going to make our traffic problems... among the worst in the nation... much WORSE given the inadequacies of our transportation system and of those who maintain it. Build some roads and reform VDOT FIRST, and then you can pop up some condos around the Windover Heights Historic District.

As usual, I can see both sides...Certainly, we do need to address traffic and transportation issues, and obviously creating denser residential zoning is inviting more people to live within our borders. I do not visualize condos in SE Residential neighborhoods, but only limited to 4-6 story structures along the 123/possibly Church Street corridor. What I see in my mind for the RPA/RMA area along Wolftrap Creek, is not condos, but several parcels given to parkland, and then others re-zoned for smaller/affordable zero lot homes or perhaps quadraplex units. Neither condos along Maple Avenue nor modest homes along Branch Ave would be conducive to increasing traffic. Both locations are highly walkable to almost any store or service in Vienna (Never mind that there are primarily only banks to walk to anyway - That's a subject for another post...) I live very close to Maple, and really rarely use my car. I walk almost every day, to the market, to the dentist, to my church... I think of my son and daughter, both of whom live in Brooklyn, and neither of whom has a car at all...If you live in the middle, then you are not necessarily contributing to the traffic problems. And affordable condos or modest homes would hopefully be appealing to the elderly, many of whom may not drive in the first place.

Oh, and by the way - Let's get off the "greedy rich builder" wagon. At least that certainly does not apply to us, and has nothing at all to do with my thoughts here. We are not developers at all. We do not build any commercial or any condos. We do not build the type of home that I am describing here as "affordable"product. So nothing I am saying in any way benefits our company or lines our pockets. These are just thoughts that I have for Vienna, and how we can make it a better town for our future.

btw, Town Green - Thanks for explaining about Piney Branch Creek. It always looked to me like it just appeared out of no where. I did not know it was buried under the Town Green and Freeman Store.

Deborah

TG - I was out on the path this afternoon - I see what I think is Piney Branch Creek running along behind Vienna Elementary, next to the Path beside the rear of Whole foods. Then it disappears. It reappears breifly, right at the Freemon Store bridge, and then disappears again by the Caboose and along the industrial area of Mill Street. I do not see it again until after I pass the industrial area. Is it running UNDERNEATH the Mill Street industrial area? If so, what does that mean? Is that area of the creek somehow more protected, because it is undergound, and then becomes endangered once it emerges?

I am really perplexed by this, and I had never considered it. If you know, and if you can explain it to me, I would really appreciate it - Deborah

DB: Walk west on Mill St.... you will see Piney Branch resurface again on the right along the side of Mill St. as you near the Town property yard. It's not protected. It's the watershed for the center of town... all surface water uphill from it flows into it, whether its buried or not. When they spread chemicals on the bowl shaped Town Green to keep it looking like a garden, it will all flow directly into the creek. You said you live on Park... if your gutter flows toward Rte. 123, you are probably in the Piney Branch watershed area. Otherwise, you may be in the Bear Creek watershed to the east... its headwaters are now buried under that big stupid house for sale on Park.

I did not know this. My gutters flow toward 123. I am in the Piney Branch watershed. When the Town Green is futher along (surveyors were out this morning...) I'll ask at the Town to see what fertilizers they will be using and to see if there are products that are more environmentally friendly that they would consider. Thanks for the info! DB

To whom it may concern:

Municipalities and Railroads, etc. are exempt from the Chesapeake Bay ordinance. In other words the possible worst polluters are exempt.

The Vienna Town Council revised the new Verizon Fiber Optic franchise agreement to include service to the Freeman Store/Town Green. I wonder why they want fiber optic data service in that historic old building?

Be afraid... be very afraid! Read the 8/29 and 8/30 Washington Post. They want to increase the density of Tysons Corner by 65%. There are only 3 roads serving Tysons... Rte. 7, Rte. 123, and the Dulles Toll Rd... and none of those serve it very well. They want to build 60,000 homes in SE Loudoun County... 4 times as many as in Fredricksburg. Consider the increasing rate of infilling and redevelopment that is happening in our immediate area and along the Metro Orange Line at Dunn Loring and Vienna stations. And don't forget Merrifield and all of that growth that has overlooked the Lee Highway corridor for too long but not any more. Higher density is arriving EVERYWHERE around Vienna and upon Vienna's meager roads. Everyone agrees that the road network in Northern Virginia is inadequate. Well, higher density is arriving NOW and I don't see any road improvements! And you want to line Maple Ave. in Vienna with 5-6 story condos??? Fear that!

Town Green ...

Do you know what is interesting? When I goto Clarendon, there are not vast parking lots of cars or huge traffic pile ups. People get their butts out and WALK. No one in Vienna walks - tell me about the last time you walked to do your errands? Make Vienna pedestrian friendly (like us young farts want it) and Vienna will be so much better.

Oops... 30,000, not 60,000. Make that 60,000 plus cars!

Vienna is more pedestrian friendly than many areas of the county. The problem with suggesting that a shift to sidewalks will solve the traffic congestion problem is i) Vienna has very little retail worth walking to, imo, and ii) commuters are not going to walk through Vienna to get to work and to the prime shopping destinations.

They want to rebuild Tysons into a pedestrian Town Center. I'm beginning to think this is a bad joke... an excuse to reorganize and develope what's left of Tysons Corner without much concern for the end result. Look at Reston... that's a planned community and Town Center built from the ground up... and it is what it is. Now they claim the new Tysons will become the model for the 21st century... after they REBUILD it. Tysons Corner is so nearly built out and screwed up now that I wonder what they expect to accomplish... other than squeeze out the last drops of development dollars possible before throwing in the towel. Who here envisions having fun walking around Tysons corner? It's a pain in the ass just getting in and out of the malls, walking miles to visit one retail store. Long live e-commerce!

Regarding land along 123... much of the Vienna strip is ripe for redevelopment... trash the flea markets, the quilt shops, the $1 stores, the other dumps, and put in nice condos. But good luck backing out of your driveway onto 123.

What am I proposing? Stop the madness! You can't keep building out the eastern seaboard without re-engineering our transportation network. And suggesting new developments will afford use cash to fix what's broken is a ridiculous red herring. We need to solve the transportation problem first. At least in other parts of the country, they build roads FIRST and then develope around them. But not in NOVA... no roads, no planning, no sense.

Regarding house values... hold on tight, the ride is going to get bumpy. Just wait and see what happens to your big stupid house value when i) the cost of energy gets real; ii) multi-residential thrives to make housing more affordable and accessible to work centers; and iii) the baby boomers start selling off to liquidate their retirement investment (like some want to do with their condo plans)... the coming glut of big, expensive, energy inefficient houses sprawled all over the hinterlands will reverse the moon values you now see stalling. Yes, put the genie on hold.