Minor Hill Task Force Meeting

Where: Little Falls Presbyterian Church
6025 Little Falls Road, Arlington
When: 18 February 2001 at 3:00 - 4:30 PM
Why: Review options for spring 2001 Minor Hill Project

The Minor Hill Task Force met on 18 February 2001 at Little Falls Presbyterian Church to discuss developments on Minor Hill and Emily Sharp Park. The 18 Williamsburg neighbors who participated reviewed the two options proposed by the Arlington County Staff for the Spring 2001 NCAC funding cycle and develop a priority list of project goals.

Howard McGowan presented material on the following:

• A summary of developments on the AT&T monopole issue, noting that -- for the moment -- AT&T (faced with strong community opposition to their proposal) is exploring other alternatives to Minor Hill as a site for a monopole and service building. This has given us a reprieve, during which we must move quickly to table a Williamsburg neighborhood plan for this area or lose the chance to make this property into something that enhances the community.
• Report on the Conservation Plan meeting on 23 and the Minor Hill Task Force meeting with County personnel on 24 January.
• Summary of Conservation Plan funding and project timetable.
• Summary of the County's two options for Minor Hill.
• Letter from Jay Fisette to Howard McGowan expressing support for uses of the area that met neighborhood needs.
• Minor Hill Task Force Project Proposal, which combines a Minor Hill Use Plan with the construction of a fenced Tot Lot, landscaping, picnic table, and park benches.

Participants were unanimous in their desire to move quickly to make sure that the Minor Hill/Emily Sharp Park area -- the last green space of any size in the Williamsburg neighborhood -- will be used to meet community needs.

Participants were also in favor of a plan that combined a Minor Hill Use Plan with some immediate improvements to the area.

Most participants favored construction of a tot lot, especially in light of the need to be responsive to the young families who are moving into the neighborhood. However, there was some uncertainty about where to place it.

Participants raised the following issues:

1. Meeting safety needs for the children: Several participants voiced concern that a tot lot on the triangle of land near Powhatan street would create safety problems because of the speeding on Powhatan. One partial solution was to make the entrance to the Tot Lot as far away from Powhatan as possible. Another was to install a textured (and possibly slightly raised) crosswalk at mid-block on Powhatan Street. Participants also stressed the importance of fencing around the tot lot, expressing support for something more aesthetically pleasing than chain link.
2. Several participants expressed concern about the possibility of parking problems. The Chestnut Hill tot lot, on Harrison Street, attracts a large number of people from outside the immediate neighborhood, creating some parking problems for the neighbors. Other participants pointed out that the proposed Minor Hill tot lot would complement other play areas.
3. One participant voiced concern about the slope of the area in question for the Tot Lot and suggested siting it on one of the water storage tank platforms as an alternative.
4. Participants also suggested that we might try to attract other sources of funding to supplement NCAC funding. This would give us additional "points" in the NCAC process. One participant mentioned that a private citizen had offered the County funding to construct a gazebo in the Emily Sharp Park area.
5. Several participants suggested including a figure eight jogging path around the perimeter of the tank area, especially if the Yorktown track (where many community residents walk and jog) is closed to the community.

Participants also discussed the process of informing other Williamsburg residents of the Task Force proposal. Several options were mentioned:

1. Voting on the Task Force proposal at the 27 February Civic Association meeting: The problem with this option is that it would be desirable to get copies of the proposal and an announcement that a vote will take place on it to all Williamsburg residents. Eight participants volunteered to do hand distribution of these items, if necessary.
2. Voting on the proposal at the 27 March Civic Association meeting: The problem with this option is that the vote takes place only three days before the 30 March deadline.
3. Holding another (special) Conservation Plan Committee meeting in early March. As with option one, this would necessitate hand distribution of the proposal, pros and cons, and meeting announcement.

Meeting participants decided to consult with the Neighborhood Conservation staff to to determine exactly what the County requires of us by the 30 March deadline. Chris Nixon, from the County's Neighborhood Conservation staff, indicated that a vote on the project would not be necessary until the 27 March meeting of the Williamsburg Civic Association or the 24 April meeting of the Williamsburg Neighborhood Conservation Committee.

We also asked the County staff for feedback on the revisions we had made to the County's Option Two proposal. The Minor Hill Task Force also asked County staff to clarify some of the questions and issues raised by meeting participants.

Chris Nixon consulted with the Parks staff and reported back to us on 2 March. She indicated that it would be extremely difficult to submit a proposal incorporating a tot lot for the spring funding round, for several reasons:

• County staff and the Planning Commission might object to siting an active-use facility (the tot lot) on area designated for passive use.
• County staff might also raise questions as to why we were proposing to build a fairly expensive (and not movable) play area before the land use study was done.
• The County has decided not to build any more playgrounds. Until one of its existing play areas is closed due to insufficient use, they will not build us one of our own.

For this reason, the Minor Hill Task Force re-thought its proposal and – after further consultations with the County staff on their reaction to our proposal – scheduled another meeting to collect neighborhood input on a new revised proposal to submit for the spring funding round. The follow-on meeting was held at 4:00 PM on Sunday, 18 March, at Little Falls Church.

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