Posts about Crystal City

I distributed a questionnaire to 5 participating candidates, and received responses from Bondi, Garvey, and Kim Klingler. The questionnaire asked about the candidates' positions on the Crystal City Sector Plan, the Columbia Pike streetcar, the need for more affordable housing, and more. The candidates also participated in a January 4th debate at GMU's Founder Hall that featured many similar questions.

While the 3 respondents agreed on many points, key distinctions emerged. Bondi and Klingler offered more pointed, direct suggestions for bolstering Arlington's affordable housing stock, while Garvey's experience serving 15 years on the Arlington County School Board gave her detailed knowledge of the ACPS system's current efforts at mitigating the capacity crisis.

All 3 candidates, when asked about the County Board's October 2011 decision to approve Boeing's new regional headquarters in Crystal City, cited concerns with poor urban planning and citizen involvement throughout the process.

Below are exerpts from the candidates' positions on some of the most significant urban issues in Arlington County right now.

What do you see as the most pressing issue facing Arlington County today?

From the need for more affordable housing to transparent governance, each candidate expressed a different view on Arlington County's greatest challenge. What all three candidates appeared to agree on in their answers, however, is the need for collaborative, systematic planning between the County Board and the County's citizens for Arlington's growth.

Melissa Bondi:

I think the most pressing issue is to mitigate the continued threats to, and losses in, Arlington's affordable housing stock. A significant portion of our diverse Arlington population, from immigrants to seniors to persons with disabilities and young families need access to safe, decent affordable housing.

Kim Klingler:

As Arlingtonians, I believe our most pressing issue is to be able to maintain our identity, diversity, and quality of life as we continue to grow as a community. Therefore, we must pay special attention to:
a. Smart Growth and Transportation.
b. County/Schools Collaborative Planning.
c. Maintaining a Diverse and Caring Community.

Libby Garvey:

I think the most pressing issue is the need for more intentional and transparent systems for planning and improvement to manage growth: an overall strategic plan with clear goals, measurable data points and monitoring systems to see if we are progressing towards our goals and working as efficiently as possible.

What are your thoughts on the practicality and cost of the Columbia Pike streetcar? Is this project a good use of funds?

Arlington plans a $261 million streetcar project along Columbia Pike, which leaders say will drive economic growth and improve mobility far beyond what buses can provide, but critics charge is too expensive to justify the benefits. Bondi is a strong supporter of the project, while Garvey and Klingler expressed some doubts in their answers.

Garvey:

While I can see many benefits from a streetcar, the question for me and many people is, are those benefits worth the cost. Arlington needs a clear cost benefit analysis for the streetcar so we can make an informed decision as a board and a community.

Klingler:

In order to determine whether this $261M investment is justified, we need to take a step back and address the following:
a. What do Arlingtonians want? What is their strategic vision and plan for Arlington?
b. How will the street car project be implemented?
c. Can we afford it?
d. Do we have the resources to appropriately manage the contractors?
With the appropriate planning I think the Columbia Pike streetcar could be a promising investment; however, per my points above, I would need to be convinced that now is the right time.

Bondi:

I am a supporter of the Columbia Pike Streetcar, as an integral piece of Arlington's transportation network that will insure mobility for the residents of Columbia Pike in the near term, and for the region in the long term. Major transportation efforts, like a modern streetcar system, require extensive planning and are subject to rising costs. We need to be able to explain any changes in costs and to provide context that helps to reinforce the overall value Arlington residents will realize through such an important investment.

What is your opinion of the Crystal City Sector Plan and its impact on the economic development of Crystal City?

In response to the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, which could take up to 18,000 jobs from Crystal City and leave millions of square feet of office space empty, Arlington embarked on a years-long planning process to develop a Sector Plan to shape the neighborhood's future growth.

The plan calls for a modified street grid and a shift in demographics to better balance workers and residents. In their responses, Bondi and Klingler are supportive of the Sector Plan, while Garvey is skeptical that Crystal City residents truly had their voices heard throughout the planning process.

Klingler:

If it can be fully executed, the plan will favorably impact the economic development of Crystal City. [However], the plan will need to be updated to address: offering competitive pricing per square foot, lowering and maintaining emergency response times to Crystal City, planning for additional school and health services, and designing appropriate transitions between denser areas and traditional neighborhoods.

Bondi:

Among the positive achievements I see in the plan are: 1) generally better urban design, more walkable streets, enhanced parks and public spaces; 2) affordable housing targets, perhaps the most ambitious yet included in an Arlington sector plan; 3) a commitment to transportation infrastructure, especially streetcar, which is essential; 4) inclusion of a vehicle for on-going citizen participation and monitoring in implementation, through the "CCCRC," a permanent advisory body led by residents.

Garvey:

Residents of Crystal City value the underground networks for their convenience and protection from the weather. They value the small open spaces that provide relief from many tall buildings. [With the Plan], these amenities will be lost. I've heard from several the sense that excellence in planning, emphasis of transit use and preserving the amenities valued by residence were not included in the plan. Only two residents were on the task force and many residents who tried to participate and work on the plan as citizens, finally quit the process in frustration and anger. This is very unfortunate.

Tomorrow, we'll post Bondi's, Klingler's, and Garvey's responses on the impact of defense spending cuts on the Arlington economy, the capacity crisis in Arlington County Public Schools, and what each candidate would most like to improve about Arlington County.

• Melissa Bondi's questionnaire responses
  
• Libby Garvey's questionnaire responses
  
• Kim Klingler's questionnaire responses

With few exceptions, the survey's choices pit effective wayfinding against more colorful, albeit sometimes less useful, station names. For most stations, it presents a fairly descriptive choice, such as "27th and Crystal" and a more creative option like "Potomac Yard Gateway." The survey also asks whether to name the key transfer station at the Crystal City Metro station "Metro Gateway" or "Crystal City Metro."

As for Alexandria's portion, the City received an $8.5 million design/build grant for the CCPY Transitway. It is anticipated that a design/build firm will be selected and under contract later this month.

The project will begin this fall with construction to be completed in Winter 2013. It is anticipated that a the bulk of Alexandria's portion will run along a dedicated center lane on Highway 1.

The survey is short and simple. If you think you might be likely to use the CCPY Transitway, you should make sure your voice is heard. Please share your preferences (or any suggestions for alternatives) in the comments.

Some residents of Crystal City are concerned about greater density and worsening traffic. Arlington County has created the Crystal City Citizen Review Council to work with residents to ensure the county adheres to the comprehensive plan.

County planners hope to reshape Crystal City, which is filled with superblocks of bland office buildings and hotels. There are few inviting streetscapes or pedestrian-friendly facilities. The plan also hopes to create a coherent grid of streets.

The concept phase is early planning, including alternatives analysis and environmental clearance. Design is the engineering phase, including Preliminary Engineering (PE). For projects in this phase, conceptual details have been finalized and detailed construction plans are being prepared.

Cross-posted at BeyondDC.

On Tuesday, June 7, NCPC will host a panel discussion as part of their Contemporary Design, Historic City series. Titled The Balancing Act Between Innovation & Preservation, the talk will examine how contemporary architecture can coexist with DC's historic characteristics. The event will be held at Catholic University, and though it's free and open to the public, RSVP is encouraged.

Finally, WABA's major summer fundraiser, BikeFest, is Saturday, June 11th, from 8 pm to midnight in Crystal City. Besides the "carnival-cycle games, a silent auction and raffle, sideshow performances, live music and dancing ... palm readings, photobooth and much more," three area bike shops will compete to create custom bicycles using low-cost, recycled materials.

You can get more information about these and other events on the Greater Greater Washington calendar.

Crystal City in the 1960s

Crystal City saw a great deal of construction in the 1960s, as its proximity to Route 1, the District of Columbia, the Pentagon, and National Airport made it an ideal location for office and residential construction.

Much of this growth was guided by modernist city planning principles of the time, favoring superblocks that limit road connections, separating transportation modes with elevated highways and underground pedestrian tunnels, creating internal retail space instead of along sidewalks, and employing an overall brutalist aesthetic.

Arlington CPHD posted some great historic images on their Flickr account:

Crystal City in 2006

Metrorail was introduced to Crystal City in 1977, and the area slowly evolved to become a multimodal transportation hub with connections to ART, Metrobus, Metrorail, the VRE, and National Airport. By the 2000s, Crystal City reached much of its development potential under the planning and zoning framework at the time and forged a more pedestrian friendly street and retail corridor along Crystal Drive.

The following photos were taken in 2006, and show Crystal City one year after the announcement of the recommendations of the 2005 Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) called for moving 13,000 jobs out of Crystal City, potentially sapping the economic vitality from the area. According to the January 1, 2010 estimates, Crystal City had approximately 10,700 residents and 24,800 jobs.

Crystal City in 2050

The Crystal City Sector Plan establishes an overall future vision for Crystal City and provides a planning framework that will enable the neighborhood to thrive in a post-BRAC era. The Sector Plan addresses future land use, transportation, public open space, urban form and character, parking, sustainability, infrastructure financing, and other components to guide public and private reinvestment in Crystal City's built environment. In summary, the Sector Plan includes key strategies to:

• improve neighborhood form by setting guidelines for the placement and massing of buildings, and gradually transforming the existing superblock environment into a more fine grained neighborhood block pattern;

• mix land uses and create active street life to increase safety and walkability;

• improve accessibility, circulation, and wayfinding via a comprehensive and multimodal transportation network;

• create new and/or improve existing public open spaces as part of a network of diverse, usable, accessible and high-quality parks and plazas; and

• finance and implement improvements to the public infrastructure networks of streets, transit, and public open spaces needed to support growth in Crystal City.

While a typical objective of creating superblocks is to make a place more pedestrian-friendly, often the superblock's focus on separating vehicles and pedestrians actually can create a place that on the whole lacks cohesion and is not very pedestrian friendly. Current thinking in many planning circles generally supports the idea of now bringing vehicles and pedestrians together as shared users of complete streets, rather than having them exist in isolation.

A leisurely stroll through Crystal City today would introduce one to distinct examples of both.

The "Underground"

The first wave of development in Crystal City included both a legible superblock pattern of development and an interior pedestrian concourse (locally referred to as the Underground) connecting many of the superblocks together.

With the construction of each superblock, multi-lane arterial streets were incrementally built to provide local access to Crystal City's buildings. These streets were often one-way and not exactly pedestrian-friendly, largely due to the limited and meager sidewalk facilities and expansive blank walls at ground level that accompanied the first generation of redevelopment in many places.

The Underground is Crystal City's answer to a less-than-cohesive external pedestrian network. An interior, pedestrian-only network that is climate controlled, traffic free, and sometimes lined by retail, the Underground provides a safe, convenient travel option for pedestrians in Crystal City.

In fact, most buildings in the core of Crystal City provide their tenants with direct access to the Underground via their main building elevators. In some locations, the Underground is complemented by a series of pedestrian skywalks that link together superblocks above grade (although most of these have gradually been taken down in recent years).

Anecdotal evidence suggests the Underground has more than its fair share of users and can be a very active corridor during peak commuting hours. But does this necessarily make for a great urban place? And in an area studied for potential revitalization and redevelopment in the face of pending impacts from BRAC, what challenges or opportunities will Crystal City's superblock form and Underground provide in the quest to make Crystal City a better urban place?

Reshaping Crystal City's neighborhood form

Among other things, the recently-adopted Crystal City Sector Plan generally proposes to guide future redevelopment in Crystal City to break down the superblocks into a more traditional neighborhood development pattern. But how can this be achieved?

One-way streets can be converted to two-way traffic, as is already being done in some Crystal City locations, and new streets can be created wherever possible with redevelopment to provide a more refined urban street grid complete with safe and attractive sidewalks, streetscapes, and pedestrian facilities. Given the community's value placed on the Underground, it is an element embraced by the plan to be maintained, though modifications to its alignment are possible.

In addition to street improvements, key land use and urban design changes in vertical building form can also play a role. For instance, instead of the "towers in the park" typology that characterizes much of Crystal City today, more mid- and high-rise buildings can be placed at the back of the sidewalk and oriented to have their building facades (on at least two sides) help to frame and create the urban spaces that comprise the neighborhood's streets, parks, and plazas.

Even in instances where new streets aren't being created to technically break down the superblock pattern, the introduction of new infill buildings at strategic locations should help to at least create the perception of breaking down the superblock.

In many instances, multi-family residential buildings comprise slender and flexible building forms and are well-suited to smaller or challenged sites. As such, they often can be designed to help define block edges in a more urban manner. Nevertheless, if situated correctly, hotel and office buildings can offer similar opportunities to help break down the perception of superblocks in Crystal City as well.

This type of infill and redevelopment envisioned in the Crystal City Sector Plan has the potential to break down the apparent pattern of superblocks, and provide a more consistent, cohesive, and amenable outdoor pedestrian network at the same time.

Cross-posted at Under One Roof, Arlington County's housing blog.

1. Approval of the Tysons Corner plan: After seven years in the making, the plan will transform the infamous "Edge City" into a sustainable urban community. It's a real first for the nation, and people around the country are watching to see how it turns out.

Change doesn't happen in a vacuum, and this is no exception. It took countless phone calls, letters to elected officials and testimony by the residents of Fairfax and others throughout the region. It must have been the astoundingly frustrating traffic that kept everyone motivated to make change happen.

While the plan will take years to implement, development applications are already moving forward and the approval is the catalyst for making Tysons Corner a walkable, bikeable and transit-oriented community with a vibrant mix of homes, jobs, retail, parks and entertainment.

2. Passage of the White Flint Sector Plan: If you hang around White Flint or joined us for our walking tour, you know that White Flint, like Tysons Corner, isn't exactly a model of walkability. But with the unanimous passage of this plan (PDF), we can look forward to a vibrant, walkable center for North Bethesda anchored by the White Flint Metro station.

The plans include adding new parks and public spaces, an improved local street network, a boulevard conversion for Rockville Pike, a vibrant mix of uses, more housing choices, and better pedestrian/bicyclist access.

3. Pedestrian victories across the District: The Washington Area Bicyclist Association and Greater Greater Washington have led the way in making DC a lot more bike-friendly. But this year saw a lot of progress for pedestrians too. The DC Council passed the Sidewalk Assurance Act, ensuring that DDOT adds or completes sidewalks while they perform scheduled reconstruction of streets that have missing sidewalks. Simple, common sense.

We joined forces with Connecticut Avenue Pedestrian Action to improve walking conditions along a major dangerous roadway in the District. This grassroots-led effort, that started with volunteers in safety vests taking notes along Connecticut Avenue, concluded with the community presenting a professional pedestrian safety audit and research report (PDF) to DDOT.

Progress continued near the Minnesota Avenue Metro station with the launching of the Nannie Helen Burroughs Great Streets project. We also pushed for fixing the narrow sidewalks at the Rhode Island Avenue Metro station as part of the new development project.

4. Saving Metro service: It's been an ongoing struggle to sustain Metro service through these tough economic times, and devastating cuts were closer than ever to becoming a reality. A coalition of transit advocacy organizations, including CSG, Sierra Club, Action Committee for Transit, and Greater Greater Washington, led the way to preservation of this region's most vital asset.

Thousands of signatures sent to elected officials and the WMATA board won increased funding from the jurisdictions and avoided massive service cuts. The cuts would have hurt businesses and workers who rely on Metro every day, delivering a blow to our region's economic vitality.

Speaking of Metro, did you send your email to defend the $230 monthly transit benefit?

5. Capital Bikeshare: Strength lies in numbers, and we're thrilled with the 1,100 Capital Bikeshare bikes and 114 stations throughout D.C. and Arlington. The day the program launched, we saw tons of people on the shiny red bikes. Ridership hit nearly 37,000 trips in the first month.

Leave your bike and lock at home. Hop on a CaBi, ride to a meeting and deposit the bike at a nearby station. No worries. Combined with all the new bike lanes, it's clear that residents are increasingly choosing cycling as a mode of transportation. Just remember to wear a helmet!

Honorable mentions:

• COG reports (both PDFs) called "What Would it Take?" and "Aspirations" (the land use portion of the scenario, NOT the $52 billion in toll roads) confirmed what we've long said: transit-oriented, walkable communities are effective in reducing driving and traffic.
  
• Adoption of our recommendations in the Envision Prince George's report.
  
• Passage of the Alexandria Potomac Yard Plan.
  
• Passage of Arlington's Crystal City Plan.
  
• Governor O'Malley making transit-oriented development a priority in Maryland.
  
• Prince George's winning a HUD Challenge Grant for the Green Line, while the District won a large grant for affordable housing.

Wonder what else happened this year? Check out our year-end highlights.

Stewart Schwartz is Executive Director of the Coalition for Smarter Growth.

Crystal City, as it currently exists, is not well integrated into the surrounding community. Highway 1 cuts the bulk of Crystal City off from most its neighbors, creating what Jane Jacobs calls a "border vacuum." Crystal City offers relatively few attractions for those that live near, further lessening the incentives to ever go there.

The neighborhood was designed and developed at a time when superblocks and underground malls were all the rage. Such developments have not weathered the test of time well. Experience has shown us that people prefer cities offering diversity in both design and amenities. As a result, monolithic developments of the variety represented by Crystal City have been shown to be economically unsustainable over the long term.

There are also some very good aspects to Crystal City. Nonetheless, Crystal City could be better. It could be better integrated into the surrounding community, offer a greater choice of activities and amenities, a more walkable environment, and more easily accessible public and green spaces.

The Crystal City sector plan is a step towards many of these changes.

The plan doesn't do anything on its own. It functions as a planning tool to manage future development and redevelopment over the next 50 years. The plan itself doesn't approve the construction or destruction of any buildings. It doesn't cut down any trees or remove any parks. Although implementation of the sector plan requires certain zoning changes, each major project will be analyzed by its own merits in the normal course at the block level.

What it does do is to provide a guiding vision for the future of Crystal City and the surrounding areas. That vision includes the following:

• An updated, comprehensive transit plan that would relieve traffic and better connect Crystal City to neighboring communities while recreating Highway 1 as an urban boulevard.

• Establishing a recognizable block structure by reducing the number of superblocks and adding connecting neighborhood streets, providing a more cohesive and integrated neighborhood with greater access to storefront retail and entertainment options.
  
• Adding new, dedicated parks and public spaces (including a substantial new central park) in excess of any losses realized by redevelopment (much of Crystal City's current "green" or "public" space exists in traffic medians or on private land where it is not protected from future development.).

• Increased maximum building heights over much of Crystal City, facilitating greater density and ultimately creating an incentive for property owners to engage in full scale redevelopment rather than simply rehabbing the interiors of existing buildings.

In the absence of this guiding vision, the region will still see growth, construction, redevelopment, increases in traffic and additional usage of transit. But the sector plan is designed to ensure Crystal City grows in a managed, structured, and coherent fashion.

The plan will support, to the greatest extent possible, diversity of use, a more traditional street grid, integration into the surrounding community, and greater amenities. It includes proposals to help relieve some of the traffic and transit congestion that is inevitable based upon growth in the region.

Moreover, adding density creates the opportunity for additional amenities that would benefit Crystal City and existing neighborhoods, such as new schools, recreational opportunities, public health facilities, and affordable housing.

Last year, the Crystal City Vision Plan (the basis for the proposed sector plan) won a Charter Award from the Congress on New Urbanism. For more information on the Crystal City redevelopment process, check out the dedicated website.

Unfortunately, despite the plaudits, and despite an incredibly transparent process that engaged extensively with community members and stakeholders, there is a great deal of opposition to the proposals from some quarters.

Some are don't think the county will follow through with the infrastructure requirements of a 50-year plan, or don't think it can effectively provide carrots for good development instead of just sticks to prevent bad development. These are legitimate concerns, particularly for Crystal City residents who would be extremely troubled to find the redevelopment plan abandoned in 10 years with projects left incomplete and goals unachieved.

Similarly, others worry about giving out substantial increases in density before adding public services like schools and medical care, in particular. Still others are afraid to adopt a plan that will likely eliminate certain existing open spaces based on the promise of future (even superior) public open spaces. And as usual, some are concerned about building heights, traffic, and public safety.

While many of these concerns are valid, there are those that seem unlikely to ever support a plan to increase density one iota, restructure a single street, or redevelop a single parcel of land. They use innuendo and suggestion to argue that the County (inexplicably) wants to enrich developers on the backs of the local residents.

These critics are unwilling to recognize the serious negative effects on the horizon as a result of the BRAC process, which will move thousands of jobs out of Crystal City. Moreover, they refuse to acknowledge the benefits of making Crystal City a high-quality public realm with a robust diversity of uses and neighborhood activity 18 hours a day.