Arlington - The Buck Stops Here!

Build a school, fields, sportsplex, anything but a bus depot. Bus depots should be in more industrial areas. Not neighborhoods.

The Buck property should ABSOLUTELY not be considered as a bus depot. Let's be more creative for $30M! Have traffic impacts been studied? Quincy Street is a main artery for not only local residents, but it is a significant travel route for those in & out of MD. This land is situated between 2 very difficult intersections: 1) The "5-points intersection" is a disaster, has been studied over the years, and we STILL can't fix it. Adding Stratford Middle School traffic starting in 2019 will only compound this problem. 2) The intersection of Quincy St & Washington Boulevard has significant back-ups up 3 times/day. In the morning; at HS afternoon release; and in the evening due to activities at W-L and general commuting traffic. Cars routinely are stacked all the way up to Quincy & 15th Street and beyond. And your proposal adds buses to this mix of traffic and heavy pedestrian travel? NOT a smart idea. Have you even communicated this plan to the neighborhood directly? Not that I've seen. Come on, Arlington County, let's be smarter with our investment! We can't honestly be thinking of spending $30M+...on a parking lot!!

Seeing that I live 3 doors down from a firestation -- I image when the county makes up their mind we the tax payers are out of luck. I thought this space was a future middle school, but I guess trailers are cheaper than building a new school.

This is an appalling plan, and the lack of transparency even more appalling. Proceeding with this project without appropriate impact studies and without community debate is irresponsible and undermines citizen trust in the Board.

This bus depot would have severely negative consequences for the neighborhoods surrounding the Buck property. The buses are loud and produce a large amount of pollution. They would start moving very early in the morning and would disrupt the sleep in nearby homes. I think these neighbors would be well within their rights to seek compensation from the county for devaluing their homes under the rights of eminent domain.

This land -- situated in between two schools and a park -- gives Arlington the opportunity to continue to bolster its reputation for forward-thinking land uses; instead, it appears to be considering plopping an industrial bus garage in the middle of a residential area. This is the type of tract that Arlington could use to truly benefit the community at large and create a signature space (similar to what was done with Long Bridge Park not too long ago). The Board needs to think long and hard about this.

You should consult the neighborhood.

There are much better uses for this property located in a residential neighborhood across from a school! Such as a middle school, an HB or IB school, even a multi-purpose sports complex to be used for basketball, indoor Field hockey, indoor soccer and indoor volleyball. Plenty of space and enough ground parking. The County would make a profit within a few years charging for use.

I suggest the county board act like a 'world class' board and request resident input prior to making this decision [and others like it]. Perhaps a referendum would be a nice change of pace for the board to try?

This site is directly opposite a driveway in to Washington Lee high school that is heavily used, and it should not be given over to any use that promotes heavy traffic. It also lies directly below a major children's park/play area, which should be taken into consideration, as any pollution emitted would affect that space.

Residents of the area need to have the opportunity to speak their opinion before Arlington moves forward with this plan.

I respectfully request a decision to use the Quincy Street (Buck) property to address school capacity or green space needs, not bus storage. Examples of efficient uses of the Quincy Street property include more school space for the rapidly growing student population at the high school and elementary levels, or additional green space to accommodate the loss of such space as Arlington urbanizes. A bus depot on the Quincy Street lot seems uneconomical, and it could be placed on a more well-suited property. In addition, a bus depot poses dangers to many Arlington residents. Examples of the dangers of a bus depot across from a school and adjoining a residential neighborhood include fumes, gasoline leakage, and high levels of bus traffic interacting with student walkers and drivers, as well as obstruction of a major entry point for a neighborhood full of families with young children (and a sidewalk on only one side). No traffic signals to ensure safe driving on Quincy Street exist at the school entrances/exits or the entrances to 14th Street and 13th Street from Quincy Street. The bus depot could be more suitably, economically, and safely placed in several non-residential areas in South Arlington, for instance. I hope that Arlington county will decide to use the Quincy Street lot as an economically and environmentally sensible, safe solution to school capacity problems or green space needs, rather than spending county funds illogically on use of this property as a bus depot.