NRCA Quarterly Meeting
Thursday, 14 January 2021
Zoom, 7:00 pm
1. Welcome
2. Treasurer’s Report
a. NRCA started 2020 with $2400 in bank, and ended the year with $2100 in bank. NRCA drastically cut expenses through the year.
b. Hair Gallery has renewed its sponsorship for 2021.

3. NRCA Membership Renewals
a. After this meeting, NRCA Treasurer Rick Froehlich will invoice everyone who was a member in 2020 to ask them to renew their membership.

4. Holiday Inn Implosion
a. On Wednesday January 27 at 1:00pm there will be a meeting with Dittmar to discuss modifications to the plan, including decreasing the number of apartments and increasing the number of hotel rooms. NRCA will post the link to join on their Facebook page and forum in the days prior to the meeting.

5. Washington Gas Project
a. Washington Gas is working on the last section starting tonight (1/14/2021). Work on North Nash has impacted the traffic pattern.

6. Residential Parking Program
a. The County is wrapping up the Residential Permit Parking Review, including permit parking within the NRCA area.
b. Further information can be found at: https://projects.arlingtonva.us/rppreview/

7. ART Fare Collection
a. Fare collection will resume for ART busses on 1/3/2021

8. Search for new Arlington County Policy Chief
a. There is an ongoing search for a new Arligton County Policy Chief. NRCA president Tom Cooke participated in the 11/20/2020 meeting on this and will keep NRCA members updated on the search as further information arises.

9. New Elementary School Naming
a. An immersion school is being redistricted to an elementary school and there is an ongoing process to select a new name for the site. There is a committee that has had two meetings thus far.
b. Currently there are five name options: Gateway Elementary School, Grace Hopper Elementary School, Innovation Elementary School, Polaris Elementary School, Summa Elementary School.
c. When the final draft is available which provides the reasoning behind each proposed name, NRCA will post the survey poll on both its Facebook page and forum so individuals can vote on their favorite names.

10. Commonwealth Towers, SP #24, Microsoft National Headquarters
a. Microsoft announced a new national headquarters to go into the former Ruby Tuesday location in Rosslyn. It is not a rebuild but a restructuring of the building that will likely take about a year (into 2022).

11. AMES Project Update
a. This is the project for the building where the church and gas station currently are. There will be a plaza on the Nash street side and the Ft. Meyer side of the site.
b. The church and gas station will come back when the building is complete. The gas station will be built such that when the lease is up, if they want to turn it to retail they will be able to. The current plan is to allow the church to get through next holiday season, so demolition would begin in 2022. It will be 3 years to completion after that.
c. On the three lowest levels of parking they are working with Dominion Electric so that those parking spaces can be changed to e-spaces in the future. The next two floors of above-grade parking will be built such that they can become residential in the future if needed.
d. The two items the commission asked the developers to look at are: 1) there is currently an elevator shaft overrun that the commission has requested be made more aesthetically pleasing, and 2) all of the plans show beautiful planters on the first 1/3 of the building, so the commission asked that the plants be kept up as well as possible (as a part of the site plan condition).
e. The developer has worked to make everything handicap accessible.
f. There will be change to North Nash Street: it is going to get 2 bike lanes (1 protected), a floating bus stop, and temporary parking for rideshare services. There will be almost no parking left on the street.
g. Hyatt is suing the applicant, as currently the construction goes right up to the edge of the Hyatt. This could delay or derail the project.
h. A date has not been provided for taking the raised bridges down, but the developers have received approval to do so.
i. Affordable units will be provided in the building, of which will be 12 accessible affordable units.
j. On January 23 the plan goes from the planning commission to the County Board. If you would like to provide feedback, you have to send your comments to the County Board before then or at the meeting.

12. Highlands Plan Amendment
a. Highlands will include 800 apartments. There is a proposal to surrender some of the originally-proposed apartment space for a hotel, especially with the greatly reduced hotel access in Rosslyn right now.

13. RCA Development Project
a. The proposal is a building with 23 stories and 423 apartments.
b. The RCA building is the last building if you exit Rosslyn, on the left-hand side of Lynn Street (right before you get to Gateway Park).
c. In the project will be a conversion from office space to apartments. Currently the project is being held up by long-term leases.
d. NRCA will keep the community up to date on updates on the RCA project moving forward.

14. Marriott Key Bridge Development Project
a. Outwardly, there is nothing happening at the Marriott right now.
b. Mary O’Conner mentioned that there is bidding on the work, which includes retrofitting the current hotel so that it has fewer rooms and more meeting space. The front lawn will become two tall condominiums. There will be two new streets – Nash will go all the way onto the Marriott property, as well as a new street that will come onto Lee Highway.

15. Next Meeting
a. We hope to be able to gather in 2021. The next meeting will likely take place on April 6, 2021. Please be on the lookout for invoices for current-year dues. We appreciate your continued membership and any way you are able to help us build our community!

16. Meeting Adjourned