Approved - HCA Minutes April 2024
Draft - HCA Meeting Minutes April 4, 2024
Zoom meeting attendees: 14
Officers:
Tamara Srader, President
Mark Rogers, Vice President
Michelle Arsenault, Secretary
Michael Hamill - Treasurer
Official meeting called to Order @19:33 (7:33 pm)
Announcement & overview of published agenda
Review of Minutes from February 2024 - minutes can be found on the HCA website https://www.huntingtononline.org/single-post/draft-feb-2024-minutes The minutes from the February 2024 meeting were voted on and approved with no corrections. The March meeting was cancelled.
Treasurer’s Report. $1369.60 in bank. If you haven’t paid your dues, please do! HCA member dues are due in January. $12:00/year. https://www.huntingtononline.org/join-hca. Daphne mentioned that the website might be broken. Tamara will check. Tamara also noted that in order to get a 501C3 designation it will cost us about $800.00.
Committee and Other Reports.
MVCCA (Mount Vernon Council of Citizens’ Associations, Inc.) If you are interested in volunteering, please go to the MVCCA website www.mvcca.org for more information. You can also contact Tamara and she can connect people who would like to volunteer.
MVCCA - Environment and Recreation (E & R) - Alan Ruof. E & R met last night. Focus has been on proposals to regulate water front property owners. Discussed various considerations like bulkheads and living shorelines. The direction now is that people who have followed the rules would be grandfathered in.
MVCCA - Planning and Zoning (P & Z) - Ray Novitske. P & Z met on Monday. There were two items on the agenda. 1. Screening and special exceptions in zoning to allow some companies to store vehicles on their property. Industrial areas, not personal areas. 2. Office building on Richmond highway near Woodlawn will be demolished and replaced by garden apartments. Alan also mentioned that he heard from Katherine, the Chair of the Mount Vernon Council, about a request to store boats in the back parking lot behind the office building on Huntington Ave, next to Huntington Car Care. It would be a temporary use until the building is torn down and redeveloped. The boats are used for wounded warriors. There was no objection, and Ray indicated that it probably already got approved.
MVCCA - Transportation Committee (TC) - Jason Zaragoza. Met last month. Spent most of time talking about capital bikeshare expansion, and plan to continue discussions at their next meeting, next week. There are 4 proposed stations, one near Huntington Metro. The discussion revolved around regular bikes and e-bikes. There was opposition, and Jason noted that one of the Committee members is going to write a resolution. The National Park Service permits e-bikes and made it clear that it will not revisit this policy. Several HCA members voiced support for e-bikes. Mark shared information about the bikes regarding speed, safety, and inclusion. The bikes are rated Class 1, Class 2 and Class 3, and they vary in speed. It’s likely the bikes that would be available for rent would be class 1, which have a top speed of 17 mph. He also noted that e-bikes might be the only option for some people to enjoy the trail, and banning them could be discriminatory. Bert added that we should encourage alternate forms of transportation and less cars – so perhaps alternatives and better trail infrastructure is the answer. Mark and Jason both discussed the plan for improvements to the Mt. Vernon trail, although they will be small improvements in addition to the GW Parkway improvements.
Jason spoke with Peyton in Supervisor Storck’s office about the Huntington Road Diet project. There is a study scheduled for this summer (2024), and Huntington is scheduled to be repaved next summer (2025). Members mentioned that summer traffic is lighter, so that may impact the study. Jason will bring that up at the next meeting.
MVCCA - Education Committee - Mark Rogers. The Education Committee met briefly about the budget. Because the state was delayed with the budget, the county budget was also delayed. The budget proposal includes money for teacher raises. The Committee voted on the “sense of the committee” and they were in favor of supporting salaries and teacher pay to keep them competitive with other counties.
HCA President’s Report - Tamara Srader.
Development: Two proposed developments in area that are slated to be on the planning commission agenda soon.
One parcel on Huntington by the Parker (The circular green space in front of building). This is on the schedule for the May planning commission meeting. This project is delayed because it is partly in the flood plain. Someone on the FF County planning commission is pushing for a community center and the HCA wants retail, and has voiced opposition to the community center. Ray mentioned that the proposed park on the corner near this planned building will not be astro turf, as has been proposed.
Tamara shared two links to the Fairfax County Zoning Commission: https://plus.fairfaxcounty.gov/CitizenAccess/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Zoning&TabName=Zoning&capID1=REC22&capID2=00000&capID3=00CMB&agencyCode=FFX https://plus.fairfaxcounty.gov/CitizenAccess/Cap/CapDetail.aspx?Module=Zoning&TabName=Zoning&capID1=REC22&capID2=00000&capID3=00CM9&agencyCode=FFX
Brookside motel (6001 Richmond Highway) - lots of discussion about property. Developers want to buy. Owner wants more $$.
Cityside development is on hold. The owner of the Andruss (sp?) building next to Sunnyside Apts does not want to sell.
Metro garage is under repair. Repairs began January 24 and are planned through Spring 2025. Safety upgrades. North and middle garages will remain open.
Supervisor Storck mentioned being aware of four fatalities on Richmond highway, one close to use. It’s unclear whether anything is being done to improve safety.
Shout out to Jamie - Orchard looks great! Jamie thanked the community for helping and asked that if anyone happens to buy or save bulbs, Jamie will gladly accept them to plant under the trees.
Yi asked about the property on the corner of Huntington and Route 1 (former gas station). There was interest to build a high-end convenience store, but that was dropped and there’s been no further discussion. The land is currently for sale.
There was discussion of a new sign “welcome to Fairfax County”.
The plan to build a veterinary clinic behind the Hello Dispensary is still active, but delayed.
HCA Member Time (if you would like to discuss a specific topic, please email Tamara Srader, HCA president prior to the meeting at president@huntingtononline.org)
Several community members have expressed concern about an encampment along the levee, and have observed fires, trash, and environmental hazards. Supervisor Storck’s office has responded. Bert has engaged with the Fairfax County Stormwater Division, who is the entity responsible for clean up. Bert mentioned that the county has a website where citizens can report issues, although it’s not very user friendly. The County does have a plan to clean it up. Michael asked about organizing a community clean-up day, but Alan suggested letting the county engage to emphasize that they are responsible and need to keep an eye on it.
Tamara offered to send a note about community cleanup day at some point in the future.
The meeting was adjourned at 20:19.
Comments