It's not just Rosslyn. Poor government decisions threaten public green space throughout Arlington. Please support a petition to halt development plans for Lubber Run (a stream-bed park near Ballston). The petition can be found at:

https://gopetition.com/petitio...-keep-it-simple.html

Best,
Mark Antell

Below I forward a message about the petition from Suzanne Sondberg, an Arlington County Civic Federation activist.

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Hello Neighbors.

Many of us have become concerned about the proposed design of the Lubber Run Community Center. Final decisions are being made next week, and the County Board needs to hear from us now. So we created a petition:



We are not alone in our concerns. The County’s Environment and Energy Conservation Commission (E2C2) has reviewed the design and has similar concerns. A copy of the E2C2 letter is attached in case you would like to read it.

Here’s the quick story: The County has shared the new design for the Lubber Run Community Center and in spite of significant community input asking the architects to limit the footprint of the building and preserve the park, the proposed design is large, sprawling, and complex. The building runs the full length of the park from Park Street into the trees in Lubber Run and covers the area currently occupied by the playground. Over 115 mature trees will be removed from the site, including many on the side closest to Lubber Run itself.

Much of the space that the design counts as "green" space is actually a green roof of various heights — space inaccessible to humans. The design shrinks the playground, leaves little unstructured space for recreation or play, and raises significant concerns about long term maintenance for the green roof and wooden boardwalks, among other things. You can read the list of concerns on our petition page.

If you want to learn more, please check out the county LRCC planning webpage with all documents. The quickest way to see the design is this video (be sure to click on the “exterior” video, and try to imagine how it fits compared to the existing space).

Please sign our petition! If you want to do more, the County Board will discuss the LRCC at its 6:30 pm meeting on Tues., July 18. The Parks and Recreation Department has scheduled the last meeting for community input on the design on Wed., July 19 at Barrett at 7 pm. Please come if you can and share this message with others who love Lubber Run Park's natural beauty and who care about what happens on the Lubber Run Community Center site.

Thanks!

Suzanne (Sondberg)