The Williamsburg Civic Association was organized in 1951, when large-scale housing construction began in this part of North Arlington. The Civic Association was active over the next several decades, protecting community interests and campaigning for neighborhood improvements. During the late eighties and early nineties, the Civic Association became largely inactive.

In the late nineties, however, a cellular telephone company sought to install a monopole atop the Minor Hill water storage facility. This threat galvanized the neighborhood and the Williamsburg Civic Association was revitalized to deal with it. WCA leaders, recognizing the importance of the county's Neighborhood Conservation (NC) Program, focused much of their attention on developing a Neighborhood Conservation Plan, begun in March 1997 and approved by the Arlington County Board in 2000.

At the May 2001 WCA meeting, members identified several top priorities over the 2001-2002 year:

• Williamsburg's NC projects – the Neighborhood Signs Project, the Little Falls Project, and the Minor Hill Project.
• Traffic calming/pedestrian safety
• Zoning issues and infill development
• Beautification/parks projects.
• Meetings featuring both programs (with invited speakers) followed by business meetings
• Membership drive
• Social events
• WCA Directory

We were able to carry out some, but not all, of those priorities in the year which followed. Accomplishments May 2001-May 2002

We identified four major goals for May 2002-May 2003.

• Make Williamsburg a more pedestrian-friendly community.
• Improve neighborhood parkland, expand open spaces, and improve the tree canopy.
• Improve communication with the neighborhood, community, and County.
• Increase community involvement in neighborhood projects and build a sense of community in our neighborhood.

Proposed Priorities May 2002-May 2003

We made progress on most of these goals:

Accomplishments May 2002-May 2003

For 2003-2004, we retained the overall goals, but our priorities shifted from project planning and funding to implementation. Many of our Neighborhood Conservation projects and one neighborhood traffic calming project have already been approved and funded. Our focus in the coming year will be on monitoring County implementation and making sure citizens get an input into the design phase of these projects. Proposed Priorities May 2003 - May 2004.

Do these priorities fit in with what you would like to see happen in our neighborhood? Have some other ideas? Want to share your thoughts? Email the Web Editor or (better still!) follow up the email by coming to meeting and sharing your ideas about what the Civic Association should be doing to make Williamsburg a better neighborhood.