In Vienna? No Way!
From the Fairfax Times comes an article that surely makes Mother Maud sweat hard. Notice in McLean the community is involved, whereas in Vienna...well everyone knows what happens here.
06/05/2007
Shaking up downtown McLean
By: Monty TayloeFour months ago, the Old Dominion Shopping Center, home to McLean hardware and other businesses, was sold to longtime McLean resident Dan Montgomery. Last month, the governing board of the McLean Community Center voted to work toward expanding the Old Firehouse Teen Center into a two-story, multi-use community space.
The two events may appear unrelated, but combined, they could make a big difference in downtown McLean in the years to come."Ten years ago, this kind of thing was almost a dream. All of a sudden, for the first time since I've been doing this, this might actually happen," said Dan Duval, executive director of the McLean Revitalization Corp.
The 10-year-old dream that Duval is referring to is the idea of a "Main Street" for McLean, a pedestrian-friendly shopping area in the center of town, McLean's community business center. The creators of McLean's comprehensive vision plan envisioned this in 1997.
Then, the design earmarked the area around the Giant supermarket and the Old Firehouse Teen Center as the location for the proposed main street, which would include wide sidewalks, a mix of retail and restaurants, and a plaza-style gathering area.
Although the concept was written into McLean's "vision plan," driven by public support at a series of hearings and the will of then-Dranesville Supervisor Stu Mendelsohn, little has been done to accomplish the goal of creating McLean's Main Street. Not all of the affected landowners showed interest in the idea, and the community center's future was murky at the time.
Eventually, Montgomery, a 55-year resident of McLean and president of Clark Construction, became actively involved.
"Stu [Mendelsohn] came to me and asked if I would help in getting landowners in the revitalization area to participate," Montgomery explained.
Now, Montgomery has become a kind of representative of landowners supporting the creation of McLean's Main Street. In addition to his most recent purchase, Montgomery has a leaseholder interest in the site of the former Gourmet Giant and has become an unofficial liaison between McLean's planning community and the owners of the McLean Shopping Center, home to Starbucks and the Asian Corner restaurant.
"They have said they're open to the planning process," Montgomery said.
The owners of the nearby PNC Bank property are also supportive of the idea.
Combined with the proposed community center expansion, Montgomery's efforts are already making waves. The increased scrutiny on the MCC's plans and the timing of Gourmet Giant's closing months ago combined with Montgomery's February purchase of the Old Dominion Shopping Center touched off rumors that Clark Construction was "buying up" the center of McLean. Both Montgomery and Clark have said that Montgomery is acting as a private individual, without participation by Clark Construction.
The activity in McLean's center had a more concrete effect on McLean's planning community. The McLean Planning Committee, the volunteer body that advises the Dranesville supervisor on planning in the business center, has merged its Old Firehouse and Main Street subcommittees into a "super committee," the better to create a conjoined plan for the properties.
"The community center expansion seems to dovetail well with the notion to bring people downtown," Duval said.
In addition, McLean's comprehensive vision plan will be reexamined for 2008, through an extensive public process. This will give the public a chance to participate in the possible creation of plans for future construction in the area.
"What we'd like to do is have community groups participate and plan for the next generation. We want the community to decide what's going to be downtown," Montgomery said.
Once an updated plan is created, the McLean Revitalization Corp. will work to implement it. Montgomery is expected to meet with the group later this month.
'This is about what this could look like for the next generation. It's not about things being built tomorrow, it's about having a plan for tomorrow," Montgomery said.
Comments
I'm still laughing that Maud called the town green the "economic focal point of Vienna."
And, what is this focal point surrounded by? Public buildings, parking lots, a church and essentially a four lane highway.
Please tell me just how the green will bring in money again? Sounds like a plan my 91 year old grandmother could have concocted. And, no offense to my granny, she's actually a very sweet old lady.
Posted by: vienna mommy | June 11, 2007 10:54 AM
"economic focal point"
Maybe she's thinking of the pennies the people will throw in the fountain. that is, if they bring a ladder to get up there.
the truth is that the town council is so hostile to economic development that it prevents more than it encourages.
Posted by: anne smith | June 11, 2007 12:56 PM
That's NOT a fountain, it's a water feature.
Posted by: Words... | June 11, 2007 04:46 PM
The Mayor said she loved the sound of the name - Town Green. I hate the sound of Town Green. The meaning of those two words - Waste Money!
Posted by: Disgusted | June 11, 2007 07:42 PM
I do like the water feature; in fact, I like the fact that our town has a meeting place with a stage for shows and gatherings. I have traveled and seen many other "town" and city parks, stages and outdoor meeting places, and the TOV's isn't all that bad on the surface.
I just have a weird feeling about the layout and location, though. I have heard that people are looking forward to seeing movies, for instance, on the stage, I presume with some sort of video projection. There is a significant problem here, though. In every place, where I have seen an outdoor movie stage, they are located in areas devoid of street lights, vehicular traffic lights, and vehicular traffic noise, for obvious reasons. So this is a major negative in the TOC choice for location. Also, the water feature would have looked better in front of a major TOV official structure, such as even going as far as being associated with the Town Hall, not a park.
This Water feature is "out of place" for a small town "town green" and is better suited for a government building or business center, or even a larger community center. I like the feature, but it's out of place with the location - right across the street from a shopping center, and a town green, which should have really has an old fashioned spray fountain that is more akin to a real small town park. It's as if they (the Vienna Council) was trying to hard to put too much in a small parcel of land. Or did the folks at VPC have a hand in this? Food for thought. Who knows.
The downward slope of the park to meet with the Freeman Store at first glance maybe in theory a nice "flow" to the casual observer, but with a more intensive analysis, this design leads itself to a more serious and perhaps legal liability that the TOV should have planned to avoid: the overall layout does little to nothing to prevent the potential for crimes to occur in the nature of assaults. There are many unprotected areas and places where sinister people can hide to wait for their victims. Take a close look at night, if you think this criticism is unjustified. The layout is all wrong, especially around the stage and near the Freeman store.
I am still confused why the TOV even thought they required a bathroom there, but it's there, and I would add that it looks more like a shed than a bathroom. Even putting in fake windows would have looked better than what is there. Again, too much in too little a space, makes me feel like they had a checklist and they had to include all of these items, no matter what the final result was, and since several of the TC attend the VPC, right next door, who is this actually benefiting?
I could be wrong, but it's weird how the TC just happened to take a major parcel out of the business side of town, in a time when more and more land for business is being taken away from our town to result in activities that offer nothing to our citizens with respect to actual tangible stores that actually provide for services that we can enjoy and use, such as restaurants, ma and pa stores, and goods and services of all sorts: now we have more and more banks, and a poorly planned Town Green.
I would go as far as to say the water feature would have been better placed outside the front of our already existing Community Center, and the stage should have been placed in the green lot between the school and the west side of the Community Center. Sounds okay to me, but, it's plain to see that this TC offered little to no input before it ram-rodded this TG into Vienna. It's more akin to a sore thumb. Thumbs are needed, but you don't connect a thumb to the face of a person, everyone knows, the thumb should be connected to the hand, and handiness is something this town is grossly lacking in.
Posted by: Actually | June 12, 2007 08:29 AM
"I would go as far as to say the water feature would have been better placed outside the front of our already existing Community Center, and the stage should have been placed in the green lot between the school and the west side of the Community Center. Sounds okay to me, but, it's plain to see that this TC offered little to no input before it ram-rodded this TG into Vienna. It's more akin to a sore thumb. Thumbs are needed, but you don't connect a thumb to the face of a person, everyone knows, the thumb should be connected to the hand, and handiness is something this town is grossly lacking in."
I could not agree more. The other day I was walking across the Georgetown U. campus. There is a very similar water fountain behind Healy Hall, but with two main differences. First, the surrounding area is cloistered, making it a place for quiet contemplation. Second, the fountain is not festooned with flags. Those two differences are why the one works but the other does not. In front of Healy Hall is the main quad. It is several times the size of the TG, but it just features grass, mature trees, and a couple of brick walkways. Once again, sometimes less is more.
Posted by: gridlock | June 13, 2007 07:46 AM
You are all missing the point. The Town Green is an ugly, poorly designed blotch located in the wrong place along a major commuter highway right next to an ugly strip mall of shops that will never change. And, given that it cost each and every household between $800 and $1000, depending whether you believe the phony costs the Town assigns to the TG or the real costs, we have all been fleeced or should we say - we had the money stolen from us without any say in the deal.
The 1st two events were lightly attended and just watch what happens over time. We've been robbed!
Posted by: Disgusted | June 16, 2007 12:10 PM