Glencarlyn resident Steve Elkinton has noticed the deterioration of a ravine in Glencarlyn Park. Torrents of water have worn the ravine down to bedrock. Its banks are starting to collapse, threatening the trees around it, he said.
THE RAVINE is at a "tipping point of failure," Elkinton told Arlington County Board members Monday.
The deteriorating ravine was one of several concerns brought up Monday night by Glencarlyn residents to the five members of the Arlington County Board.
They voiced their concerns about the neighborhood during a special walking tour of the area. Sometimes Arlington County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman responded to their concerns.
Zimmerman told Elkinton the county expected to learn from its effort to restore Donaldson Run. Several residents on the walking tour brought up the county's policy on sidewalks.
Since 2002, the county has not been installing curbs and gutters on streets unless, on those streets without any sidewalks, sidewalks are to be added as well. Out of a concern that the sidewalks would remove parking space, driving space, trees and/or yard space, some residents have chosen not to have work done on their streets.
Complying with the sidewalk regulations would be very difficult on Third Street, said resident Eric Haugen. "We're really hoping we can get a review of those regulations," Haugen said.
When it snows the snow on Carlin Springs Road is plowed on to the sidewalk, said Glencarlyn resident Lynn Robinson. She said no one shovels the snow off the sidewalk, so people do not walk on it.
THIS IS A safety issue because Kenmore Middle School is across the street from this sidewalk, she said.
"My question is if we get sidewalks in here, who will walk on them when the snow gets piled up on them?" Robinson asked the county officials.
John Shepherd, member of the Glencarlyn Citizens Association, said some roads deserve waivers from the sidewalk requirements.
Five Arlington County Board members are looking into creating such a waiver, responded Arlington County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman. However, Zimmerman said he has learned on the board, "everything takes longer than you think it should take."
After the tour Glencarlyn resident Jan Mt. Pleasant said, "I believe that the children and the disabled among us have the right to a safe place to walk." The more heavily traveled interior streets should have sidewalks, she said.
Area residents brought up other concerns on the walking tour.
Glencarlyn resident Merianne Liteman said she had noticed trash left by patrons of the local 7-Eleven store left on the neighborhood's roads and yards. "I don't know what can be done. But it's a huge problem," she said.
Contacted after the tour, the manager of the 7-Eleven store said he kept his property clean and that there were trash cans in front of the store. However, "it is not our concern" if patrons left trash beyond the store's property, said Fareed Uddin.
Jeff Liteman, president of Glencarlyn Citizens Association, said the neighborhood needed more street lighting. Liteman pointed out the corner of Lexington Street and First Street as an example.