The County Board will have a work session on the Western Rosslyn Area Planning Study (WRAPS) this Wednesday, March 4 from 7:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m. Make sure that they know that current proposal is the WRONG approach for Rosslyn and the broader Arlington Community.

Here’s what you can do:

1. Write a letter to the County Board. I’ve provided an example letter and email list below. Modify as you see fit or, if you don’t have time, send the letter as is.


2. Sign the Arlington Parks Coalition petition to preserve all of Arlington’s precious parks and open spaces. You can sign the petition online at http://www.arlingtonparkscoalition.org/petition


Thanks for your support!

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Board Email Addresses

Board - countyboard@arlingtonva.us
Mary Hynes (Chair) - mhynes@arlingtonva.us
Walter Tejada (Vice Chiar) - wtejada@arlingtonva.us
Jay Fisette - jfisette@arlingtonva.us
Libby Garvey - lgarvey@arlingtonva.us
John Vihstadt - jvihstadt@arlingtonva.us
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Model Email message

A model email message is below. Please personalize it if you have time, but if you don’t have time to do that, please send it anyway!
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Subject: Save Rosslyn Highland Park!

Dear [INSERT NAME OF BOARD MEMBER]:

As a Rosslyn resident, I am deeply concerned about the future of open space in Rosslyn and, in particular, the future of Rosslyn Highlands Park. As a result of the Western Rosslyn Area Planning Study (WRAPS) process, it is clear that the staff’s proposal will have a significant and negative impact on the future of Rosslyn. These impacts include:

* Destroying valuable open space: Over two-thirds of the existing Rosslyn-Highlands Park would be eliminated and would be given to a private developer in exchange for building a fire station. Once lost, this open space will be lost for a generation or longer.


* Ignoring community perspectives: The proposed mid-block street consumes an enormous amount of space that could be used to consolidate the park (this option was opposed by 87% of the participants at November’s community workshop). The Ode Street connection would allow for significantly more contiguous open space, another community priority.

* Failing to meet the open space needs of the community: Rosslyn does not need any more plazas; in particular a plaza that will be owned, programmed and controlled by the developer. Rosslyn needs parks that are accessible to the growing residential community around the clock.

* Undermining opens space levels of service: This area is already highly underserved: eliminating an existing park in exchange for a fire station will only reinforce the image of Rosslyn as an austere and uninviting place for people to live. As individuals and families move into the Rosslyn area, including at the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing site at Queen’s Court, the demand for parks and open space has increased dramatically.

* Questioning the financial feasibility of the project: The agreement with the developer may not make financial sense for the County. At the February 25 Long Range Planning Committee (LRPC) meeting of the Planning Commission, the staff indicated that the approximate costs of a stand-alone fire station is $11M, while the cost to integrate it into a building would be $23M.

* Viability of the real estate market: Even if the County is interested in selling off existing park land (which is objectionable on many levels), doing so during such a soft commercial market makes even less economic sense. As we’ve seen with other sites in the Ballston/Virginia Square area, once the developer has control of the land, it may be years before it is developed and the County realizes tax benefits from the site.

At the February 25 LRPC meeting, the community learned that the county has been in formal negotiations with the adjacent developer for an extended period of time. While few details were proved, we learned that there is an existing agreement, described as an Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) or Memorandum of Intent (MOI), which was signed in early 2013, well before the WRAPS process commenced. I ask that County Board provide the details of that agreement (the MOU/MOI) to the community so that we can understand what limitations and deal were made between the County and the developer before the WRAPS process commenced in mid-2014.

Thank you for your consideration of my perspective.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]



CC: Members, Arlington County Board
Barbara Donnellan, Arlington County Manager
Jane Rudolph, Director, Department of Parks and Recreation

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If you have not yet sent a letter and you wish to, please do it in the next 24 hours. The County Board work session is tomorrow evening at 7:00 p.m. so we want them to hear from us before then.

Thanks!

Thank you for making this available. I sent a letter this evening (March 3), using your letter as the basis of my own.

All,
I forward a note Katie Elmore sent today to the Arlington County Board concerning plans for Rosslyn Highlands Park. I'd say the early and key word is "dismayed"
Mark

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Dear County Board,

As you have learned over the past couple of weeks, the Rosslyn community, as well as parks allies across the county, are dismayed that Arlington County would consider ceding part of a County park to a private developer. This is the wrong choice for our neighborhood and sets a precedent across the county that our public park land is less valuable than appeasing a private interest.

We hope that staff will present to you a comprehensive view of the issues at hand at the WRAPS site. The ill-advised bargain with Penzance is not necessary to realize the WRAPS objectives. Each and every proposed use for the WRAPS site already exists there today, including a school with significant open space, a public park, a fire station, affordable housing, multi-modal transportation and private development. To improve the site for the future, we can rebuild and enhance each current use on its current parcel. To provide an upgraded fire station, the County can build on its own County parcel using community benefit funds from the private development, at half the cost of co-location. Alternatively, we could use capital improvements funds, which voters have consistently supported, to build a new fire station where it currently exists. This would keep valuable public land in the hands of the public and preserve Rosslyn Highlands Park at its current size.

In response to staff's proposed detriment to our neighborhood park, the North Rosslyn Civic Association has joined with members of Radnor/Ft. Myer Heights (RAFOM) and Rosslyn Highlands, as well as neighbors in Court House and beyond to form Friends of Rosslyn Highlands Park (FORHP).

We respectfully request that the County Board hold a public hearing on this latest County staff proposal before any Board decision is made, where all perspectives on the future of this site can be heard. We hope to continue a dialogue with you and the broader Arlington community about protecting Rosslyn's publicly-owned open space.

Thank you,
Katie Elmore

Friends of Rosslyn Highlands Park