the procedure for the site plan extension and extension of the vacations is as follows:
1. The items are currently scheduled to be heard by the Board at its meeting on Dec. 10th.
2. I don’t know if they will be on the consent agenda or the regular agenda yet.
3. If they are on the consent agenda, it is brought as a group to the Board on the 10th—any Board member or member of the public can pull an item from the consent agenda.
4. If an item is pulled, then it is heard on the regular agenda, the following Tuesday night.
5. If the item is on the regular agenda, it will be scheduled for either the Saturday agenda or the Tuesday night agenda.
I have included Matt Pfeiffer on this e-mail; he is the planner for the underlying site plan and can answer any questions you may have concerning the site plan.

Terri,

Your recent note points out that the Rosslyn Gateway project will eliminate the possibility of ride pick-up and sharing for poposed toll lanes on US 66.
The NRCA Oct 20, 2011, general meeting passed the following resolution opposing the Rosslyn Gateway Project.

Mark Antell

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posted October 05, 2011 05:11 PM

Motion for consideration at the North Rosslyn Civic Association (NRCA) meeting on October 20:
“NRCA opposes the the current Rosslyn Gateway Project insofar as it asks for permanent cession of county owned right-of-way.”
(see the list of signers below)

Background:
The Rosslyn Gateway proposal redoes the entire block between Lee Hwy and 19th, and Ft. Myer and Moore. It includes tall construction .... pretty much right up to the sidewalks. We are particularly concerned about the plans for the service road between current construction and Lee Hwy. That service road is owned by the county and is used by buses and informal commuter groups. The service road also provides a view corridor east for Georgetown Vista. Additionally, the Right of Way is partially covered by plantings which humanize the street level experience by screening pedestrians from Lee Hwy. The project proposes that the county give that Right of Way to the developer who would use it for the following:
- Maintain a portion of the ROW for service to the project; and
- Construct commercial space above much of the ROW almost all the way north to Lee Hwy and east to Moore; and
- Reduce the planted area along Lee Hwy to five feet in width. That wouldn’t provide much of a visual break for an area otherwise dominated by concrete
surfaces.

Note, the undersigned support smart growth for Rosslyn. This motion does not question plans for property owned by the developer. Rather, it objects to a County give-away of public land for a project which would cause harm to some North Rosslyn residents.

Further, the land give-away would also create a precedent. One should expect that the Holiday Inn would ask for a similar give-away of the space between their building and Lee Hwy. That concession would smack views from The Dakota, from a number of residences along the northeast corner of Highview, and from Georgetown Vista. It might also affect views from The Turnberry and The Atrium.

This project is now pretty far along and the public review process has begun (it’s called the ‘Site Plan Review Committee” process). Seems to us it is time, now, for NRCA to evaluate and take a position on this project.

Conclusion:
We hereby submit a motion for consideration at the upcoming NRCA meeting: “NRCA opposes the the current Rosslyn Gateway Project insofar as it asks for permanent cession of county owned right-of-way.”

Mark Antell, VP Georgetown Vista Association, current VP NRCA (mantell@northrosslyn.org)
Bill Maron, Treasurer Georgetown Vista Association, member and former Pres. NRCA
Vance Hedderell, Secretary Georgetown Vista Association and member NRCA
Carlos Ruiz, Unopposed Candidate to Georgetown Vista Association Board and member NRCA

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Additional thoughts about Rosslyn Gateway

Our motion speaks only to construction on current public right of way. Based on project description documents now on file at the Virginia Room of the Arlington County Library, we offer the following few thoughts about other aspects of the project:

Even if the developers are denied the 2/3 of an acre of county land they desire, the project will create increased density and the problems associated with that. Additionally, views from many vantages in Rosslyn (eg. The Turnberry) will be harmed.

The relevant County ordinance (Arlington County Zoning Ordinance 25B, C-O Rosslyn) allows dense development in Rosslyn if “the proposal includes important community benefits....” A lot might be forgiven if this project helped out somehow with community needs. But it does not provide greenspace; it does not help out with recreation space for our children and young adults; it doesn’t provide a dogpark; and it doesn’t build the very much needed replacement firestation that the new Rosslyn Gateway would depend on.

Similarly, the project would get some community benefit ‘points’ if it were a unique architectural jewel. But it is not. Taste is an individual thing, but for sure this project will not be memorable like the ‘airfoil’ buildings in Rosslyn.

Oct 31, 2016

TO: Linda Collier, Arlington County Department of Environmental Services, Real Estate Bureau
TO: Kedric N. Whitmore, representing JBG request for cession of the public loop road and sidewalks encircling the proposed 'Rosslyn Gateway’ Project

This is a communication from the Georgetown Vista Condominium Association concerning a rehearing of the 'Rosslyn Gateway' site plan. We request confirmation of receipt of this note. We raise two issues below:

1. Continuing Issues.
In 2011, the Georgetown Vista Condominium Association opposed this project for reasons which are largely unchanged.. We remain concerned that the elimination of the existing puhlic circular road will:
- Remove the current barriers between Lee Highway and sidewalk thereby reducing pedestrian safety and degrading the pedestrian experience.
- Degrade or eliminate a heavily-used location for car and bus pulloff which allows pedestrian discharge and pick-up near the Rosslyn metro.
- Harm the view corridor for our condo. We understand that this concern often does not prevail for private development of private land. But the issue here is cession of public streets and public view to a private developer, which cannot be so easily discounted.

2. Is this land transfer a good deal for Arlington?
Government 'Sunshine' rules in the Commonwealth of Virginia require public release of information concerning cession of public lands to private parties. This project involves cession of 2/3 of an acre of prime Rosslyn downtown real estate to a developer. We request the following information:
- What is the county estimate of the value of the land ceded?
- Will the developer pay that amount in cash or in projects?
- To what projects will those resources go?
We ask that these questions be answered in some detail. This should not require any new work from County Staff; it’s hard to imagine that the County has no clear idea of value of land it is ceding and the value of payment for that land.

When we asked County Staff about financial accounting 5 years ago, we were told this information was a matter of ‘negotiation” and therefore exempt from release to the public. Is the County now willing to release this information to the public? If not, what is the basis for continued withholding?

Mark Antell, for
The Georgetown Vista Condominium Association
(Owner/Occupant 1573 N. Colonial Terrace, Unit 301, Arlington VA 22209)

PS. The North Rosslyn Civic Association (NRCA) spoke against cession of the loop road to JBG in 2011 and will oppose any extension of the current site plan. We understand that NRCA will send a separate response to you later this week.