Arlington - The Buck Stops Here!

I understand there are a lot of changes going on and I ask you to please consider this comment regarding the use of the buck property on Quincy, across the street from Washington and lee high school. 1) traffic. As you know, Quincy is a heavily traveled and relied on road that has one lane in each direction in the area of the buck property and beyond. In particular during morning rush, the buses exiting and entering the lot. This slow down will result in frustrations, potential attempts to speed around buses, dangers in the cross walks near Washington and lee. Further, it is very possible drivers will seek cut throughs in the neighborhoods, including on the other side of Washington and lee where the entrance and bike racks are on one side and a residential area is on the other. That puts student walkers and bikers at risk. It is also a narrow road to take on that traffic. A study should also be done to assess risks on other residential roads. For example, n Quebec, where I live, could easily become a cut through. There are no sidewalks and there are several blind hills. We already complain to the county regularly that drivers speed through, putting kids and adults in danger. Imagine multiplying the traffic. It will have a significant negative impact on our quiet and safety. 2) safety and security. It is well documented that large commercial parking lots attract increased crime, in particular petty thefts and muggings, and sexual crimes to a slightly lesser degree. That part of Quincy has already seen sexual predators and an uptick in muggings, including of several high school students last weekend alone. The investment required to truly secure the site and keep round the clock guards to ensure that a bus storage space does not exacerbate an already growing problem would be significant. Its proximity to a vulnerable high school population, that can both be victims of trouble or attracted to trouble, seems especially problematic. Due to the impact on o

This seems like a terrible use for such a prime location.

Please solicit community feedback before moving ahead with this disruptive and environmentally unsound plan. Arlington deserves better.

We bought our house five years ago so we could be walkable to W-L. We are 4 blocks away and under this plan our kids would be bussed 2 miles away. We opppose ithis plan and any plans that would add more traffic and pollution to our County.

What a terrible place for a massive school bus storage facility. It's in the middle of a neighborhood that backs to a heavily used park, across from a 2000+ school with pedestrians everywhere and already a major connector route between Glenda Road and Lee Highway! What about a school with actual classrooms so our children can stop going to school in trailers for years? As an Arlington taxpayer for over 10 years, that would feel like money well spent.

This is a prime location with MANY possible, superior uses.

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Added to foot, car and bus traffic from W-L, such a use would seem to cause more vehicular traffic on a two-lane road lined with residences.

This rare space in Arlington should be used for another school for the hugely over-crowded school system or a sports complex with parks fields. No way a parking lot...seriously!?

As a resident of 14th St, it is already difficult to get on to Quincy due to heavy traffic. The tract is ideal for better use, but a bus depot in our residential neighborhood is not ideal.

There so many better uses for such a large and centrally located space that would be of greater benefit to the families in the neighborhood--including mine. Perhaps open space for a park or overflow for W& L.

A bus parking lot/repair facility would not be an appropriate use of this land given (a) the resulting traffic increase on an already crowded street, especially considering the substantial pedestrian traffic in the area (high school, residential neighborhoods, high-rises and metro nearby), (b) the high cost of the land, and (c) the noise/pollution impact on nearby neighborhoods.

I wholeheartedly support this petition for so many reasons. First is child health and safety. The emissions for buses, particularly PM emissions for diesels, can be disturbingly high. To put a bus pool right across the street from athletic fields for high schools makes very little sense. The location begs for more public or commercial use, be it additional athletic field space (there are very few properties in the county one could even look at to turn from commercial to green space), potential growth annex learning space for APS (particularly with the continued growth of W-L), or any number of other smart growth concepts. Why one would consider turning this space that is so potential useful to the surrounding academic and residential community into a massive parking lot is not the hallmark of Arlington's smart growth philosophy. I urge far more thought be put into what could be a tremendous boon for our space-constrained county.

Not the right property for a bus Depot

This land would be far better suited as educational space.

It's like these Commissioners have just decided to stop thinking. They now complain about how busy their jobs are and say they "need" a pay raise. Well....if it's too much to do your job -- get a new job. This is just another example of a County Commission that is out of their depth.

Please no bus depot in a residential area. The community desperately needs more space for schools and sports fields and this would be an ideal location for either.

This is neither a responsible nor reasonable use of the land that was purchased. APS has a number of other more pressing needs, not the least his classroom space for the burgeoning school age population K through 12 (with additional students in the pipeline). They're not making more land in Arlington County. Land usage must be considered

I am disturbed by what feels like an increasing trend of backroom deals without citizen input. I moved to Arlington 7 years ago and was so impressed by the transparency and openness of the civic process. This has been changing over the last years, and it needs to stop.

I'm sure this land could be used for other purposes (maybe an additional high school (maybe spend some money on building a pedestrian bridge from W-L to this site, and then the kids can safely cross Quincy) - and then accommodate the students in the neighborhoods currently up for redistricting. Seems a win-win to me: more walkers to school = less need for additional buses. Come on Arlington, you can do better than this.