2024 Meeting Schedule

Normally meetings alternate between
Alice West Fleet Elementary Library
and the
Public Montessori School of Arlington Library.
Meetings start at 7:00 PM.

Please check the newsletter for details.

Save the date: AHCA year-end meeting and voting November 8th -- IN PERSON 7 to 8:30 pm

Oct 25th, 2022

Hello neighbors,

Please save the date for our year-end meeting and annual voting for officers. We are in the process of securing MPSA (Patrick Henry Building) for an in-person meeting. Please let me or Nick know if you are interested in an officer position. AHCA NEEDS A TREASURER!.

We plan to have a representative from the county to speak about traffic changes to Columbia Pike and a representative from EcoAction to speak about how you can get a free tree planted on your property. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Kristi Rupert Sawert
AHCA, President

AHCA Meeting Agenda for May 10, 2022

May 6th, 2022

Neighbors,

This is a reminder to mark your calendars for our next meeting on Tuesday, May 10, from 7 to 9 pm. Unfortunately, I was not able to secure a physical location for a meeting (long story that I will share at the meeting) so we will be holding this meeting online. PLEASE RSVP BY SENDING EMAIL TO ahca@groups.io, and we will send you a meeting link.

Our tentative agenda is:

Please attend! And encourage any new neighbors not on this listserv to attend!

Thank you,
Kristi Rupert Sawert
AHCA, President

Important neighborhood announcements: Career Center update (please read if you live close), AHCA quarterly meeting dates for 2022, and more!

January 16th, 2022

Neighbors,

Happy 2022! Here are important updates for our neighborhood. Please read—especially if you live close to the Career Center—as construction on that parcel will start soon.

CAREER CENTER MEETINGS

The final meetings for the Career Center will begin this week. The meetings will be virtual and take place on Teams. If you live close to the Career Center, I highly encourage you to join the meetings. There will be only three meetings, and this is most likely the final time our neighborhood will have input on the Career Center site, at least for the mid-future. Nick Carrasco is our BLPC (Building Level Planning Committee) representative, and I will be our PFRC (Public Facilities Review Committee) representative. Construction is scheduled to begin in December 2023 and last until at least April 2027.

The meeting schedule is:

Please follow these links for materials and meeting link for this Wednesday:

If you are unable to access the meeting on your computer, you can call in using the following number: 571-451-2488 Conference ID 232 159 30#. The meeting will be recorded and available to view on the Arlington Career Center Project engage website.

Please contact Nick and me if you have any specific questions or concerns.

AHCA QUARTERLY MEETINGS

Please save the dates for our quarterly meetings this year:

For our first meeting this year, we will have an update from the County on the South Irving Street "Complete Streets" Project. Please see info on the County site here.

WELCOME TO OUR NEW 2nd VICE-PRESIDENT

Please join me in welcoming our newest 2nd Vice President, Scott Stewart. Scott lives close to the Westmont Shopping Center and has a background in urban planning. You can contact Scott at scottarlingtonheights@gmail.com And a big thank you to former 2nd VP, Jay Vennett, for his many years of service to the Arlington Heights Civic Association.

JOIN THE AHCA MAILING LIST

If you haven't already, please join our mailing list for important neighborhood updates and announcements. If you have any trouble, please contact Nick at nickc321@gmail.com. Please also encourage any new residents to join as well.

AHCA YEARLY DUES FOR 2022

Finally, please consider supporting the AHCA to help support our efforts this year to improve our website, publish a neighborhood newsletter, and (fingers-crossed) host a family-friendly neighborhood block party. Family/individual dues are $20 and business dues are $25. Pay by Venmo to @arlingtonheightscivicassoc, or checks made out to Arlington Heights Civic Association (AHCA) may be mailed or dropped off to:

c/o Matthew Ambrose
218 S Jackson St
Arlington, VA 22204

In the memo line, please write "2022 membership." Please contact Matt at ambrose.matt@gmail.com if you have any questions.

That's all for now! Please let me and/or Nick know if you have any questions.

Thank you,
Kristi Rupert Sawert
AHCA, President

Columbia Pike Library Renovations Meeting - 11/18/2019

November 8th, 2019

Neighbors,

Please read the following announcement about proposed changes to the Columbia Pike library that I just received. If this announcement concerns you, it will be very important that you try to attend the meeting scheduled for Monday, 11/18. I recommend that we also discuss this development at our Civic Association meeting this upcoming Tuesday, 11/12.

Thank you,
Kristi Rupert Sawert
AHCA, President


---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Katie Cristol <kcristol@arlingtonva.us>
Date: Fri, Nov 8, 2019 at 10:46 AM
Subject: Invitation to a 11/18 Meeting on Columbia Pike Library Renovations
To: ahca.mail@gmail.com <ahca.mail@gmail.com>, ahca.ksawert@gmail.com <ahca.ksawert@gmail.com>, president@arlingtonmill.org <president@arlingtonmill.org>, itakig@gmail.com <itakig@gmail.com>, president@douglasparkca.org <president@douglasparkca.org>, penrosepres@yahoo.com <penrosepres@yahoo.com>, presidentcfca@gmail.com <presidentcfca@gmail.com>
Cc: Kanninen, Barbara (Arlington County Public Schools) <barbara.kanninen@apsva.us>, Shannon Flanagan-Watson <Sflanagan-watson@arlingtonva.us>

Hi, Lander, Kristi, Kay, Diana, Takis, Adam and Pete,

I hope this message finds everyone well and looking forward to the weekend.

I’m emailing you all in your role as Pike civic association leaders with an invitation to a meeting about some near-term improvements to, and shared uses with Arlington Public Schools at, the Columbia Pike Library.

The meeting, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm at Columbia Pike Library on November 18th, will be hosted by County leadership (from Libraries and the County Manager’s Office), Schools Facilities leadership, and School Board member Barbara Kanninen and me.

I also wanted to share some information to preview the meeting conversation. I’ve included more details below, but the headline is that this meeting really is to share good news and a design we’re excited about. My colleagues and I see these short-term renovation plans as a “win” for both County and Schools: a joint effort to solve a need (more capacity on the Career Center campus) that will result in more learning spaces for students while also improving the much-loved library branch for Columbia Pike residents in the near term.

We hope to see you on Monday the 18th, and would be grateful if you’d help us in getting the word out to your neighbors and civic association members.

Very best,
Katie

What’s Happening with the Columbia Pike Library in 2020?

The Columbia Pike library will be consolidating to the first floor by the end of 2020, offering significantly improved library space for patrons on the first floor.

The library will offer the same quantity and quality of library services on the first floor, including the same programming (story hours), number of public PCs, and access to collections. The library will have expanded small meeting room options following the renovation.

The second floor vacated by the library will up to 6 classrooms, plus a large, flexible common area space. Some classrooms and the common area space will be shared with the library during non-school hours. These classrooms will be available for the start of the 2020-2021 school year.

Why the Change?

Schools has committed to growing Arlington Tech to 600 seats by September 2021. This project will help Schools achieve this milestone.

The County remains committed to finding a new permanent location for the Columbia Pike library on Columbia Pike, as recommended by the Career Center Working Group. The timeframe for this is likely 5 to 10 years out (or more). The library will remain on the first floor as long as needed. When a suitable permanent location for the library is located, the renovated library space in the Career Center will revert back to Schools.

How Will Renovation of the Library Impact the Community?

The library will temporarily close while this renovation is completed. Although the specific timeline will be determined by the final designs for the renovations, the library is likely to close in Fall 2020 and will likely be closed between 6 weeks to 3 months.

A temporary location will not be opened during the renovation due to the short length of the planned closure, the cost of opening a temporary location, and the challenge of finding a suitable location for such a short time period.

But, we know that the library is well-used and is often a safety net in the community. The County will provide ample information and signage for patrons during the renovation regarding where and how to access other nearby full-service libraries as well as other nearby County resources, such as community centers and the Department of Human Services.

County staff will regularly communicate with the community leading up to and during the renovation as we are able to share more specific timelines and details.

BLPC - Career Center expansion

September 19th, 2019

The first meeting for the Career Center Expansion was held on Tuesday. It was a joint kick-off meeting between the BLPC and the PFRC.. There were introductions from Katie Cristol, Barbara Kanninen (both are Liaisons for their respective Boards), to APS Staff, Stantec (Consulting Company), Principal of the Career Center, to all of the members that are in both committees. All in all there were about 40-45 people who made introductions. We were given a summary of history behind how we got to this point, reviewed the Charge for the Career Center, and discussed the rules by which the PFRC and the BLPC are governed.

Here is the link to follow which encompasses everything from the project:

https://www.apsva.us/design-and-construction/arlington-career-center/

The presentation from Tuesday is at the bottom of the webpage. The right side of the page has the upcoming meeting times/dates.

Tuesday was a refresher and a meet and greet. We will get into the substantive topics during the Oct 2 meeting. Please let me know if you have any questions - feel free to email me directly.

Regards,
Dave Priddy
Fenwick St

Quarterly meeting Recap for August 14, 2019

September 3rd, 2019

Neighbors,

Many thanks to everyone who turned out for our quarterly meeting on August 14, 2019. Please save the date for our final meeting of 2019, to be held on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, at 7 pm (location TBD).

Please let me know if you have any questions about the following updates discussed during our meeting:

Construction at Westmont Shopping Center

2nd VP Jay Vennett presented on the proposed construction at the Westmont Shopping Center. The developer's final application is currently under final review with county staff. More information about this project (including architectural plans) can be found here.

Fleet dedication and civic pride day

October 9th, 2019

Neighbors,

Here is the invitation for the Fleet dedication and civic pride day, co-sponsored by Arlington Heights Civic Association. EVERYONE is invited, so please RSVP so that the planners know how much food to buy. Please forward to any neighbors not on this list. AHCA will have a table set up so please stop by. I hope to see everyone there!
Fleet

Thank you,
Kristi Rupert Sawert
AHCA, President

Quarterly meeting Recap for August 14, 2019

September 3rd, 2019

Neighbors,

Many thanks to everyone who turned out for our quarterly meeting on August 14, 2019. Please save the date for our final meeting of 2019, to be held on Tuesday, November 12, 2019, at 7 pm (location TBD).

Please let me know if you have any questions about the following updates discussed during our meeting:

Construction at Westmont Shopping Center

2nd VP Jay Vennett presented on the proposed construction at the Westmont Shopping Center. The developer's final application is currently under final review with county staff. More information about this project (including architectural plans) can be found here.

Second Annual Fall Festival

A 2nd annual fall festival is a go! Please let me know if you'd like to volunteer to help organize the event, which will be scheduled for late October.

Career Center Building Level Planning Committee (BLPC)

Many thanks to Arlington Heights resident Ted Black who gave a presentation on the BLPC for the Career Center redevelopment. The BLPC will help plan for the expansion of the Career Center site to accommodate 800 new seats in the near term and a possible 2500+ seats in the long term. This is a major project that will affect our neighborhood for years to come, so please consider attending the BPLC meetings and getting involved!

Please note that David Priddy is serving on the BLPC as AHCA's representative. Dave will be sending out emails and speaking at our meetings over the course of the BLPC. More information can be found here.

Location of future AHCA meetings

At our meeting, we decided to try to switch off AHCA meeting locations between Fleet and the Montessori school (formerly Patrick Henry).

Fleet Open House

Speaking of Fleet, please save the date for the public Open House and Dedication ceremony, which will be held on Saturday, October 19, 2019. More information will be forthcoming.

AHCA Officers Elections

Elections for AHCA officers will occur at our November meeting. Please let me know if you are interested and/or would like further information.

Thank you,
Kristi Rupert Sawert
AHCA, President

Arlington Heights School Guide

See what public schools serve Arlington Heights, and learn about the many good choices available to Arlington Heights parents.

Columbia Pike celebrates its 200th anniversary

Read "Columbia Pike: The History of an Early Turnpike" by John Paul Liebertz, Arlington County Historic Preservation Office, April 1, 2010

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