By Brian Trompeter
It took two votes that failed by the same 4-3 margin, but the Vienna Town Council on Feb. 26 decided against proceeding with final-design work for a new sidewalk on Johnson Street, S.W.
The Vienna Town Council that evening had planned to approve a $29,750 contract with Urban Ltd. to design a sidewalk along the west (odd-numbered) side of Johnson Street between Glen Avenue and the end of the street. The initiative was part of a group of five projects to be financed with funds from the Maud Ferris Robinson Charitable Trust.
But Council members Roy Baldwin, Sandra Allen, Ray Brill Jr. and Jessica Ramakis voted to strip the project out of a larger motion with four other projects. The Council members noted that residents of three homes along the street opposed the project.
“I just want to make sure we are listening to residents,” said Allen, who added that if the Council was unwilling to heed the concerns of small neighborhoods such as this one, it should do the same with the Malcolm-Windover Heights area.
That historic, well-heeled northwest Vienna enclave has its own separate town body – the Windover Heights Board of Review – that approves new construction and major exterior alterations to buildings within its confines.
Baldwin said the point of the Robinson Trust-funded projects was to fill in sidewalk gaps in the town, but that there were no other walkways in the subdivision where Johnson Street is located.
“I think there are better places to spend the money from the trust,” he said.
Council member Charles Anderson immediately afterward moved to reconsider the Johnson Street design work as a separate item. Citing his upbringing in a small Michigan town where there were sidewalks on both sides of the street, Anderson said he favored approving all walkways on the town’s project list.
“I look at this as a short-term-pain and long-term-gain issue,” he said.
Mayor Linda Colbert, who along with Council members Anderson and Howard Springsteen supported the Johnson Street sidewalk, said such walkways were in accordance with the town’s comprehensive and pedestrian plans.
“We need to be thinking about our future, our future residents and the town’s future,” Colbert said.
Springsteen said he was “very reluctant to start rolling back” proposed sidewalk projects. But Anderson’s motion failed after the same four members voted nay.
The Council did, however, unanimously agree to have Urban Ltd. perform final-design work for four other proposed sidewalks on:
• The south (even-numbered) side of St. Andrews Drive, N.E., between Maple Avenue, E., and Westbriar Drive, N.E., at a cost of $31,000.
• The south (even-numbered) side of St. Bernard Drive, N.E., from Maple Avenue, E., to Westbriar Drive, N.E., for $27,500.
• The south (even-numbered) side of Ridge Road, S.W., from Hillcrest Drive to Frederick Street, S.W., for $25,250.
• The west (even-numbered) side of Frederick Street, S.W., between Tapawingo and Kingsley roads, S.W., for $36,750.
Once that design work is finished, the Vienna Department of Public Works will obtain cost estimates from Arthur Construction Co. Inc., which then will be forwarded to the Town Council this spring for final approval. The projects then would be constructed this summer.
Council OKs Agreement with Optimist Club for Operation of Farmers’ Market: As part of its consent agenda Feb. 26, Vienna Town Council members approved a memorandum of understanding with the Optimist Club of Greater Vienna that will allow the organization to continue to operate the Vienna Farmers Market.
The group since 2018 has hosted the market in the Vienna Community Center’s parking lot on Saturday mornings from May through October.
Under the pact, the market will be open from 8 a.m. to noon, with setup starting no earlier than 6 a.m. and tear-down completed by 1 p.m. Vendors will need to remove their own trash, as the community center’s dumpster is not to be used for vendor waste, but only for trash collected in receptacles set up by the Optimist Club.
Vienna Council Backs Extra Funds for Scoping Study of Town’s Annex Property: The Vienna Town Council voted 7-0 Feb. 26 to spend a total of $39,500 with Kimmel Bogrette Architecture+ Site to conduct a business-planning and operational-cost study for the town’s annex property at 301 Center St., S.
The site includes the former Faith Baptist Church, which served as a temporary headquarters for the Vienna Police Department while its new police station was being built next door. Town Council members last year voted to demolish the former church building and use the property for still-to-be-determined recreational purposes, the leading candidates for which include a recreational pool and fitness center.
The Council last September put off a vote on the business-planning and operational-costs study until this year, after a new Council had been seated.
The study’s cost was estimated at $23,500 last year and Council members on Feb. 26 reluctantly agreed to provide $10,000 more to cover the project’s extended schedule and scoping requirements, plus an additional $6,000 for reimbursable expenses, such as printing, mail, photography, travel and presentation materials.
