Posts about Virginia

I had the opportunity to experience the Tide's inaugural weekend while visiting my parents in my hometown of Virginia Beach. We were among the over 75,000 people who boarded the trains during the first three days, when HRT was running a free promotion to introduce the community to the new light rail system.

Initial weekday ridership during the first year was projected to be only 2,900. However, the 6-month data shows that those early projections have been blown away. About 4,642 people ride The Tide during an average weekday. An even higher number—4,850—use the system on Saturdays, with 2,099 usually riding on Sundays.

Virginia Beach wary of light rail, but preserving its options

Originally, HRT had planned for The Tide to extend from downtown Norfolk all the way to the Virginia Beach oceanfront, along an abandoned Norfolk-Southern rail right-of-way. However, the transit agency needed the consent of both cities to move forward, and Beach residents voted down the proposal in 1999. Therefore, Norfolk proceeded on its own.

In recent years, however, the resort city has signaled that it may be warming up to the idea of light rail. For example, Virginia Beach's 2009 Comprehensive Plan adopted a new urban growth strategy that is designed to direct the majority of the city's future growth to 8 defined "strategic growth areas" (SGAs). Six of these SGAs are located along the city's portion of the abandoned Norfolk-Southern right-of-way currently used by The Tide in Norfolk. The comprehensive plan even gives a positive mention to light rail as an "alternative transportation" option.

In 2010, Virginia Beach contributed the $15 million in matching funds necessary to purchase the 10.6 mile stretch of Norfolk-Southern right-of-way which runs from the city's Newtown Road border with Norfolk to Birdneck Road in Virginia Beach—approximately a mile from the oceanfront. Additional right-of-way will need to be acquired to extend the existing rail lines to the city's convention center and ultimately to the resort area near the oceanfront.

Tide promises a "tsunami" of smart growth possibilities for region

For The Tide to become the truly regional transit system it was intended to be, it must extend to the Virginia Beach oceanfront. The resort city's portion of the abandoned Norfolk-Southern railway corridor has already been identified in the Hampton Roads Regional Transit Vision Plan as a priority rapid transit extension corridor.

HRT has begun a federally required transit extension study / alternatives analysis to determine what mode of rapid transit, if any, is appropriate for the corridor. The four alternatives being considered are (1) doing nothing; (2) enhancing local bus service; (3) building a bus rapid transit (BRT) line; and (4) extending The Tide's light rail line.

According to the study, an extension of The Tide light rail system to the Virginia Beach oceanfront would bring approximately 1.1 million square feet of residential and commercial development within a quarter-mile of the corridor, or 90,000 SF per corridor mile—the highest and most dense level of transit-oriented development predicted in the region. Those development projections double when taking into consideration the whole half-mile transportation analysis zone (2.3 million SF / 191,000 SF per corridor mile).

The study anticipates that the Beach extension of The Tide would have 8 stations, all of which lie within the city's 2009 Comprehensive Plan-designated strategic growth areas.

After being inspired by my inaugural Tide ride in Norfolk, and prior to looking at any planning documents, I decided to create my own map of potential Virginia Beach light rail stations. Based solely on my knowledge of the area from growing up there, I was able to identify all 8 of the stations that HRT recommended in its study, plus a ninth one (at North Plaza Trail). Here's my map:

Potential Virginia Beach Tide stations. Image from Google Maps.

In April 2011, HRT suspended the Virginia Beach Transit Extension Study until it could get 9-12 months of actual ridership data from The Tide's initial Norfolk segment. Having now obtained 6 of those 9-12 months of data, HRT should have no problem concluding that regional ridership will support the extension of light rail to the Beach.

Particularly in light of Amtrak's recent announcement that its popular Northeast Regional trains will directly service Norfolk's Harbor Park by the end of 2012, it makes even more sense to extend The Tide to Virginia Beach. That way, tourists and business travelers from as far north as Boston could seamlessly travel to most of the region's prime destinations without ever having to rent a car.

To paraphrase (in a shamelessly corny way) an early 1980s Blondie hit, The Tide is High—in Norfolk. Virginia Beach needs to catch the wave and extend the region's light rail system to the oceanfront as soon as possible.

Matt writes,

This article says that the housing markets in Virginia and Maryland are the same, and that the only difference between then is the strength of foreclosure protection laws. I don't believe that is true.

It's my sense that Virginia has more defense contractors and Maryland has more federal government workers. What other characteristics of the housing market are different between the two states?

Former owner Roger Fons bought the then-closed Old Town Theater in 2003 with the intention of opening a live music venue but it quickly became a movie theater once again.

The Old Town Theater was in a thriving and popular part of town, a "date night" area. It was a unique building surrounded by a supportive community. With the right approach, it could have become a destination in its own right.

Instead, it was a mess. The theater was not cleaned well. Posters and lighting units were stored in plain sight. Movies never started on time, leaving patrons crowded in the small lobby or spilling out onto the sidewalk.

One reason the movies never started on time is that Fons couldn't resist a captive audience. When there was a full house, instead of showing coming attractions, Fons would stand in front of the theater and opine about anything that happened to be on his mind. The topics were generally related to the movie industry, but he would sometimes meander into stranger topics such as military conspiracy theories and tips on safe driving.

For years, the theater did not work with online services such as Fandango. The theater's Facebook presence was not consistently maintained, even though it once generated significant activity.

Fons did not recognize the neighborhood demographic and staged movies inappropriate for the old, small theater. Old Town residents are more likely to want to see smaller, arty, independent movies than big Hollywood blockbusters. Non-residents tend to come to Old Town for "date night" trips. Neither of these audiences wanted to see "Twilight" or "The Hangover." Those who do want to see blockbuster movies such as "Transformers" want to see them on the biggest screen possible with the full surround sound experience. The Old Town Theater could never compete on those technical fronts.

But it could have competed on another front. There are very few theaters in Northern Virginia which show independent films. Fons could have carved out a niche into that market. He was told this by many people many times over the years. He said that he tried but that no one came.

New owner Rob Kaufman said he has tried to find and is looking for a tenant who will keep the space a theater. But Kaufman said consultants have told him the space is not financially viable as a theater. Kaufman has also received permission from the Board of Architectural Review to proceed with a plan to demolish the 1940s-era marquee and box office, making the chances of the space reaching 100 years as a movie theater seem very slim. Rumor has it that J. Crew is interested in the space.

Despite the sale of the property and the planned destruction of the marquee, with proper management, marketing and demographic understanding, the Old Town Theater could be a charming gem instead of an ersatz dump.

As a pedestrian, crossing 6 lanes of a major arterial road can be daunting. Adding an additional lane in each direction can make it even more difficult. Since Route 123 runs parallel to the Silver Line through the middle of Tysons, residents and employees will inevitably need to cross this busy street.

Route 123 in Tysons Corner. Image from Google Street View.

Last night the National Building Museum hosted an event on the Tysons redevelopment plan. Matt Ladd, a Fairfax County planner, said that lanes on 123 are 12 feet wide. The plan calls for a reduction to 11 feet, but that still means pedestrians would have to cross an 88-foot road, not counting any turn lanes.

This certainly isn't impossible. Infrastructure improvements like pedestrian islands and leading pedestrian intervals can make crossing easier. The problem is that crossing major streets like this isn't attractive and it makes for a pedestrian-hostile space.

Ladd also mentioned that the county's plan calls for wide sidewalks and a double row of trees along 123. These additions will make walking along the road more pleasant but don't make it any easier to cross.

Crossing 123 will be even more difficult at the Tysons Central 7 metro station because the tracks are at grade. Pedestrians will either have to cross over or under the tracks to get from side to side. Again, this isn't an impossible scenario. But if the county wants to make Tysons a walkable, accessible urban space, it will have to solve these barrier problems.

Today's Tysons lacks any real neighborhoods, in large part because of wide roads, on-ramps, mega-blocks, parking garages, and other major built environment factors that break up any coherent community. The new urban Tysons will overcome some of these, but a major 8-lane highway will act as an abrupt and unnatural edge to any future neighborhoods or districts that will stunt their growth and weaken them.

If residents find it too difficult or unpleasant to cross major roads, they may choose to patronize businesses on their side or use parks that are easier to reach. The physical division can also create social divisions and isolate communities.

The county can't just rip up state highways, so the roads will always be an issue. But planners must be careful to prevent the roads from becoming enormous barriers to a true urban space. The county could narrow the lanes further and convert one lane for street parking.

Ladd suggested that because the county is planning for redevelopment over 40 years, these options could become a reality at some point. Hopefully the county doesn't wait that long to solve the problem. Encouraging strong urban growth in a transit-oriented Tysons Corner should be a priority now, not decades down the road.

The owner of the stone building where the Seven Corners Animal Hospital is located at 6300 Arlington Blvd. has been declared bankrupt, although the vet clinic's lease still has five years on it. The same person also owns an adjacent building at 6801 Wilson Blvd. Both properties have been foreclosed and are expected to be sold at auction.

6319 Castle Place. Image by the author.

Nearby, 3 medical professional buildings, at 6305 and 6319 Castle Place and a larger one at 2946 Sleepy Hollow Road are for sale. That land is zoned for higher density than the current buildings, so it could eventually support a larger development project, said Clark Turner, sales associate with West, Lane and Schlager. This sale is not a foreclosure.

The owner is asking $225 a square foot, or $2.9 million for 6305, $3.8 million for 6319, and $6.9 million for 2946. A buyer could purchase the buildings separately or all together. It should be noted the sales brochure for those properties says average daily traffic along Route 7 is 41,000 cars.

Meanwhile, an eight-story Hampton Inn hotel has been proposed for Arlington Boulevard at the South Street intersection between the BB and T Towers and American Lube.

These changes could be the catalyst for a different kind of development in Bailey's Crossroads; one that does not repeat the problems of the past.

"Seven Corners Shopping Center is difficult to enter, difficult to park in, difficult to like," Sellers wrote in the Lake Barcroft newsletter. "It's a 1960s shopping district faced with the realities of the second decade of the 21st century."

"Everybody knows the hideous intersection that brought Seven Corners its name and daily causes thousands of cars to stream through our neighborhood streets," he continued. "But fixing the intersection would be a nightmare and a huge expenditure."

Any new development will worsen the congestion on Route 7. "There are terrible right of way issues," Sellers conceded. "If you widen Route 7, you're going to put some shopping centers out of business. And if you put in streetcars, where would the cars go?"

Sellers believes addressing the mess at Seven Corners calls for an areawide solution that includes more than just the shopping center and intersection.

Seven Corners doesn't have a chamber of commerce but it does fall under the jurisdiction of the BCRC, which worked for the past 10 years on developing a conceptual plan for the revitalization of Bailey's Crossroads, which was adopted by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last year.

Sellers would like to see the BCRC "spearhead a community effort to consider the future of Seven Corners." He notes that "neither Fairfax County, the Office of Community Revitalization and Redevelopment, nor Mason Supervisor Penny Gross have ever done any overarching planning review for Seven Corners. We need to start."

All the neighborhood groups close to Seven Corners need to be involved. "The community needs to come to come together and focus on what they would prefer for that area for the next 50 years," Sellers says. "It has to be a process where everyone feels they are involved from the beginning."

Two years ago, the Ravenwood Park Citizens Association mobilized local residents to oppose a major redevelopment project proposed for the Sears site on Route 7. The developer ultimately withdrew that proposal. But more projects are on the horizon. "Any time there's a change of ownership, it creates an opportunity for development," Sellers says.

Bailey's Crossroads is poised for new development, too. A mixed-use project to include Fairfax County government offices for social service programs and about 300 residential units has been proposed for Moncure Avenue, next to Columbia Pike. That project has not gone through any official approval processes yet.

Meanwhile, a temporary fire station will be installed on that site while a new Bailey's Crossroads fire station is built on its existing site to replace the building badly damaged in a 2010 snowstorm.

Sellers encourages local residents interested in development plans for Seven Corners and Bailey's Crossroads to attend BCRC meetings. The group meets on the third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m. in the Mason District Government Building.

Crossposted at Annandale VA.