Remarks at the January 29, 2007 public comment session on the Multi-Site Study
My name is Jim Gill, and I am the President of the Arlington Heights Civic Association.
Thank you for the opportunity to make comments on the Multi-Site study this evening.
Arlington Heights is bounded on the north by Arlington Boulevard, on the south by Columbia Pike, on the east by Fillmore Street, and on the west by Glebe Road. It houses Patrick Henry Elementary School, Thomas Jefferson Middle School, and the Career Center.
The Arlington Heights Civic Association received a briefing on the Multi-Site Study at its January 23, 2007 meeting. We recognize that the County school infrastructure must be improved, and we understand that this will be a multi-step, multi-year process. Since the outcome of this process will affect every aspect of life in Arlington Heights, we would like to participate in it, in a meaningful way, continuously, from the beginning to the end. We are asking your support for this objective.
The Association will meet in late February to develop a formal position on the study. In the meantime we offer the following informal comments:
- The options and plans presented to us on January 23 were not detailed enough for us to understand their implications. We request another public comment and review opportunity when more detail is available and before the final report is published.
- The options under consideration are being filtered through a set of criteria that includes the effect on educational programs. We believe that the filtering criteria should also include the impacts on the quality of life in the neighborhoods that host the schools infrastructure. To that end, we recommend that the study be informed by the Columbia Pike Form Based Code and the Arlington Heights Neighborhood Conservation Plan.
- The Neighborhood and the County have worked together to provide traffic calming measures and sidewalks to protect Patrick Henry Elementary School students. Uses for the Career Center site should not increase vehicle traffic and risk to these children.
- The South Arlington school facilities form one coherent and complimentary whole. Improvements to one should not be at the expense of another.
- Finally, we would like our informal comments to be a part of the record of this and any other public comment meetings and our formal comments on the report to be included in the report itself.
LIf there are no questions, I thank you for your time.
Jim Gill
President