At a WCA meeting in August 2001, WCA members voted to pursue two projects for the spring 2001 funding cycle: Minor Hill and Little Falls Road traffic calming and beautification. WCA President Brett Fox appointed Ellen Jones chair of the Conservation Plan Committee. After some preliminary fact-finding meetings with County staff, three subcommittees were formed:

• Minor Hill Task Force led by the Minor Hill "Fearsome Foursome" of Jim Toronto, Don Gross, Steve Taub, and Howard McGowan
• Little Falls Task Force led by Ellen Jones.
• The Signs Committee led by Ann Lunson.

Each task force, working with County staff, generated a project proposal, based on recommendations from the Williamsburg Neighborhood Conservation Plan. To elicit neighborhood input, the task forces:

• Informed neighbors through regular reports at WCA membership and Conservation Plan meetings.
• Hand delivered reports to residents in the project area.
• Held a series of open meetings, with meeting reports posted on the WCA web site.
• Kept neighbors informed through email alerts and frequent web site updates.

The Neighborhood Signs Project was approved in the Fall 2000 funding session. This is a "freebie" project, bestowed upon all neighborhoods which complete a Conservation Plan. Our signs were ordered over the summer 2001 and were installed over the winter. The County will add landscaping in the spring 2002. Landscape Plan

Spring 2001 Funding Round: The other two other projects were spring 2001 funding projects. WCA members approved both projects at the March 2001 WCA meeting. At the 24 April 2001 Conservation Plan Committee meeting, they affirmed this approval and voted to make the Little Falls project the top priority. For details on the Minor Hill Project, click here. For details on the Little Falls project, click here.

These projects were officially "qualified," which means they became eligible to compete for spring 2001 NCAC funding. NCAC then assigned "points" to all qualified projects. These two projects got extra points because the first four projects submitted by a newly-approved neighborhood plan area are given preference, as long as they are submitted within the first two years. (Signs do not count as one of these first "big four" projects.) Click here for more information on the NC Project Schedule. Click here for more information on the NCAC Point System.

At the June 2001 NCAC meeting where the spring funding round items were reviewed, NCAC members approved both projects, but significantly scaled them back:

• Williamsburg was asked to scale back the Little Falls project by deferring the North Nottingham to North Lexington Street portion. The block between the Williamsburg traffic circle and Ohio became Little Falls 1.
• Williamsburg was also asked to defer the Minor Hill project altogether, but – thanks to a happy intervention on the part of a kindred spirit from a neighboring civic association – we succeeded in salvaging the use/development plan portion of it.

Click here for more information on the 14 June 2001 NCAC meeting.

The Spring 2001 funding package then went to the Planning Commission and the Arlington County Board in the summer and fall of 2001. The County approved the package in September 2001.

• County staffers began planning for the Minor Hill use plan in October 2001, when members of the Minor Hill Task Force met with County officials to outline issues that the Use Plan needs to cover.
• Also in the fall 2001, County staffers began design work for the Little Falls project.

Fall 2001 Funding Round: Over the summer 2001, we worked with County staffers to explore alternate sources of funding fothe portion of the Little Falls project which was rejected in the June 2001 NCAC funding meeting. Efforts to divert some of the Safe Routes to Schools funding (to construct sidewalks) failed, when County officials rejected our proposal to use the sidewalk funds to construct large, landscaped swales to narrow the streets (in place of median strips).

At the October 2001 Civic Association meeting, we voted to submit the unfunded portions of the Little Falls project as our priority project in the Fall 2001 funding round. On 13 December 2001, the NCAC approved Little Falls 2 as part of the fall 2001 NC funding package.

The Little Falls project now consists of three components:

• Little Falls 1 (installing a landscaped median on the block between the Williamsburg Circle and Ohio)
• Little Falls 2 (installing a median from Nottingham to Lexington)
• Safe Routes to School Project (to fill in the missing sidewalk on Little Falls Road across from Nottingham Elementary).

At the 22 January 2002 meeting, County staffers presented some early plans for the combined project. Once these ideas have been approved within the County Staff, we will hold a meeting of the Little Falls Task Force to review them.

Spring 2002 Funding Round: This leaves us with one remaining "Big Four" project which we must submit before our four-year window. On 17 January, the WCA Executive Board endorsed a proposal to submit the Williamsburg Boulevard Project – a combined traffic calming/beautification project – as our Spring 2002 funding round top priority. For more information, email Williamsburg Working Group chair, Jim Finley. Or call him at 703-534-6714.

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