The January 2024 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Welcome 2024 —Opportunities and Challenges for the New Year
by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

A Happy New Year to all and a hope the holiday season gave us all a time to reflect how lucky we are.

I read The Richmond Times Dispatch, Virginia Mercury, and The Washington Post regularly. And while our area of Arlington has some stresses, we are so lucky to live in an area with tree canopy, relatively low crime, great neighborhood parks, fabulous schools, a trained and capable police force, and great neighborhood cohesion. It is a blessing.

I don’t see any serious changes to this scenario this coming year – but we have stressors that AHCA needs to deal with. 

Traffic is increasing, so we are seeing more accidents, pedestrian near misses, and speed in local neighborhoods. AHCA Transportation Chair Patrick Lueb, has developed some sophisticated analysis that he has shared with the county (and he will be happy to share with any of you that are interested) on the streets where Arlington police have set-up monitors. We have briefed Arlington County Board members and police staff, and we plan to sustain and increase this dialogue — looking at ways to calm traffic, redirect traffic, enhance visibility, and maintain dialogue with the on-going State of Virginia process regarding turnoffs from Route 50 and within Arlington at the County Board and Police department.

Development challenges on height, land coverage, density, EHO (formerly missing middle), Clarendon redevelopment are all high on our list. AHCA Development Committee co-chairs Jack Spilsbury and Alexander Tuneski attend meetings, participate in coalitions, and strategize on county input to maximize AHCA’s stated positions. Input from Ashton Heights residents is always welcome.

Tree canopy, native plants, and Stormwater Management have also come to the forefront. Our AHCA Tree Canopy – Native Plants Committee Chair Brooke Alexander is an effective advocate, educator, and practitioner – always the vanguard on the benefits to the health and quality of life to our community.

Chris Lewicki who chairs the AHCA Stormwater Management effort represents us at the relevant meetings, also an advocate and educator, and guides input and involvement on Arlington’s new stormwater programs newly applied tax in 2024. Both chairs work together to further the mutual benefits of trees and stormwater management.

While the above issues are continually “front and center”, our other AHCA committee chairs and co-chairs are very active. They are listed on page 2 of the newsletter. Feel free to contact them, join the various AHCA committees, and guide strategy and response that so significantly impacts our community.

Our AHCA officers also put in much behind the scenes time but deserve continual acknowledgment on what they do for our association and community. 

Dave Schutz, our VP of Programs, is responsible for scheduling speakers for our AHCA monthly meetings. WE ARE ALWAYS looking for input. Please contact Dave with your ideas, contacts, and issues of interest. And “yes”, this is a homework assignment. 

Jim O’Brien, has been our longtime VP for Membership, soliciting members and collecting our tiny dues payments. Please log onto to our AHCA website (https://ashtonheights. org/about-ahca/join-ahca/) and submit the $15 annual family dues payment. Or contact Jim to inquire about your membership status. 

Doug Williams has been our AHCA Treasurer, a thankless task, but a long and capable volunteer for many years. 

Chris O’Brien, the AHCA Secretary, who you see taking minutes at our monthly AHCA meetings on the third Wednesday of every month in the Clarendon United Methodist Church social Hall. He also oversees our website in conjunction with our AHCA newsletter editor Amy Miller, who puts in a huge amount of time coordinating and laying out our AHCA monthly newsletter, hand delivered and posted to our website eight months during the year. 

On that note, please contact our Editor Amy Miller with ideas and articles for our monthly AHCA newsletter. And lastly ongoing thanks to Betsey Lyon who serves as our AHCA listserv moderator. A thankless job, but so essential for our association. 

As always, I apologize to many others I did not mention, but deserve our community praise. I promise to continue the public acknowledgment to everyone who gives their time to help our community. 

Thank you all, each and every one of you. 

And finally, thanks to everyone in our Ashton Heights community for your time, interest, and commitment in making Ashton Heights a vibrant place — a wonderful community to live, work, and play. Happy 2024! 

The October 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

The Small Stuff Matters
By Scott Sklar, President, AHCA 

The last few months have been interesting and somewhat out of the mainstream.

Peter Lynch and Kevin Sweeney gave AHCA September meeting attendees an update on traffic issues. Saying it’s “a long and winding road” is an understatement. Ironically, after the meeting, a truck sped over another traffic circle on N. Jackson St. where Arlington County just put-up new signs after the last truck event. AHCA’s Transportation Chair, Patrick Lueb is working on a response from AHCA — please contact him at jiffy64@me.com to contribute.

While The Washington Post in September covered the rat problem in the District, I am glad to say our effort near North 10th Street with Arlington County to reduce our rat population, appears to be working. Dunkin’ Donuts and All Plumbing are taking preventive actions more seriously – but if you see their trash bins open, please complain to them or to the county.

I have gotten some complaints that residents in corner lots have let some of their bushes or lower-level trees block the intersection views of traffic. And I just noticed my sidewalk trees and bushes are drooping low over the front sidewalk and need to be trimmed (which I will trim before you receive this newsletter). Reminder: it’s just the time to trim trees and bushes, and make all our sidewalks and intersection views safer.

Under leadership of our newsletter editor, Amy Miller, supported by a great committee, you will be getting a survey in this newsletter and is also available online. Please fill it out. We’re trying to see if we keep the status quo, move our newsletter to our website to access electronically or do a smaller hard-copy version and have the full version on the website. We will also survey our advertisers before the AHCA Executive Committee deliberates on options. Please share your feedback.

The October AHCA meeting will try to demystify Arlington County’s stormwater utility program. Chris Lewicki, Brooke Alexander and Margaret Beach have put in some time to review the county’s revamped residential stormwater fees and credit program to lower fees. Please come and ask your questions at our next AHCA meeting on October 18th.

Finally, the educational effort we put in last year to leave some leaves along the fence line so lightning bugs can lay their eggs, had some beneficial impact. As autumn approaches, please support native ground covers, leave some mulch and leaves – support our wildlife, along with our trees which makes Ashton Heights so special.

Happy Autumn to everyone and thank you for making Ashton Heights such a great place to live.

The September 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Off to a Busy Start
By Scott, Sklar, President, AHCA

I hope you enjoyed the summer – vacations, working in the yard, appreciating the extra rain (making up for our partial drought), and spending time with family and friends.

We have a series of ongoing issues that have not slowed down over the summer. 

One issue — speeding traffic and trucks going through our traffic circles and zooming through our neighborhoods. Good news! The county has installed sensors and counters on N. Jackson St. and N. Kenmore St. per our request. Once the data is collected, we can consider solutions to slow traffic and redirect trucks.

Small picture

Signs have begun to be installed on traffic circles, such as the one recently on N. Jackson St.

Big picture

A community letter, backed by an AHCA letter, went to County Manager Mark Schwartz on the super high parking-lot lights at the new CVS at N. Kenmore St. and Wilson Blvd. The lights shine endlessly at night onto the abutting houses around CVS. County Manager Mark Schwartz walked the site on April 24th. Hopefully, this will lead to lowering the lights, installing larger light shields and maybe, some taller bushes around the parking lot perimeter.

Neighbors near Dunkin Donuts and WBM Motors have been complaining about large rats in the area. The County has sent inspectors and they agree. WMB has fixed their bins and AHCA sent a listserv request that neighbors stop passers-by from throwing food and trash in them. Dunkin Donuts leaves their trash bin tops up, so if you see that, please go in and ask them to close them (or contact the County).

AHCA is working with the county to install “No Truck Parking” signs at the corner of Irving and 10th Streets to guarantee better sight lines for both pedestrians and turning vehicles. 

Our Development Committee (Co-chairs: Jack Spilsbury, Alexander Tuneski) is tracking the buildings being built on our borders with Clarendon, and follow-up to the Missing Middle Housing vote. Our Transportation Committee, (Chair: Patrick Lueb), is following up on traffic circle and traffic calming efforts mentioned earlier.

Our Tree Canopy and Native Plants Committee Chair Brooke Alexander, is following-up on tree planting and preservation. And our Stormwater lead, Chris Lewicki, is coordinating information on the new county efforts to add fees to our water-sewer bill on impermeable areas. 

Many issues were juggled this summer and I am sure these and other issues will grow — so check the AHCA Committee list in this newsletter and e-mail the chairs and co-chairs with questions or to join in the fun.

The way we increase livability and protect our quality of life – is to be engaged, and AHCA is set up for you to do just that …so stay involved and in-touch.

I hope to see you at our first AHCA fall meeting the third Wednesday of the month, September 20th at 7:30 p.m. at the Clarendon United Methodist Church social hall. Please bring in a new neighbor during our social networking time at 7 p.m., so we can introduce and get to know them.

I want to thank everyone for their dialogue on the listserv, your time on our committees, and for being such great neighbors. See you in September.

The May 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Good Neighbors — May Be Getting Harder to Find
By Scott Sklar, President, AHCA 

What makes a good neighbor ?

Our civic association has welcomed businesses and promotes them in our community. In fact, we want local vendors and restaurants, because they make our neighborhoods walkable. These businesses advertise in our AHCA newsletter, and during COVID we promoted them to keep them “in business”. We did lose a few businesses during that hard time (I personally miss the leather/shoe repair next to the Clarendon Post Office) but overall, most businesses survived in an extremely hard time.

Now some of you may remember Darna, next to Jiffy Lube, whose night time noise was generating calls and complaints. They did invest in insulation, and four years ago, the co-owners came to our AHCA meeting to make a presentation, brought some food and gave me their e-mails. We still get some complaints, but they are open to hear from us and take actions.

The exact opposite is Don Tito’s, which has generated most of the noise calls, and seems oblivious to their obligation to the surrounding neighborhoods.

In contrast, were the developers of The Lot, the outdoor food and beer place at the corner of Wilson Blvd and 10th Street North. Before they opened, they walked our AHCA Development Committee co-chairs around The Lot. We made some recommendations: fence and shrubs around The Lot so the kids do not wander into the street, lights & speakers facing downward, and a contact phone of someone on the Lot that can be called for noise or other issues. The co-owners have done exactly what we asked, to the letter and noise complaints have been minimal.

That brings us to the new CVS on Wilson Blvd across from Hurt Cleaners, a by-right development under law. Here, the national chain had no discussions with the community, built a solid brick wall facing Wilson Blvd, installed very high lights without shields, and provided no bush/tree barriers closest to the residential neighbors. 

AHCA asked if we could have W&L students paint a mural on the Wilson-facing wall. AHCA has asked them to lower the lights and put-up glare shields to keep light out of the residential neighborhoods – so far nothing, even with County intervention. AHCA asked for barrier plants to shield the development from the residents closest to CVS – nothing. So far, not a responsive or good neighbor.

Ashton Heights has been lucky that in most cases, our neighbors have tried to be good neighbors, but with increasing density, changes in County attitudes to intervene to behalf of residential neighborhoods – it’s getting tougher.

So the point of this article, as the primary allows voting to start in early May – please begin asking questions and demanding answers. We must have Board members who are not arms-length on day-to-day issues in our neighborhoods. If we don’t expect greater awareness and involvement to solve day-to-day problems – our quality of life as individuals, as families and as a community will be significantly downgraded.

The April 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Spring is Coming – Walk Around Your Community
by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

What struck me during COVID, when many of us were stuck working from our homes, is that I saw families, couples and children walking around the streets of our neighborhoods. I met many in my community who I saw over the years in passing, but now exchanged words, updates, and quips.

I see many people walking their dogs or even walking with their children, and are busied on their cell phones.

As the flowers are sprouting and birds are raising their young families, the life and beauty of spring is all around us. What makes this community so wonderful, especially in spring are the trees, beautiful gardens, wildlife-friendly laws and landscapes, and more and more native plants, bushes and trees.

I wanted to use this column to bring to light, how lucky we are – and how unique our communities in this section of Arlington are – it is a gift.

I remember how clearly I cherished what we had when my daughter Stella was so young (now 30), having a number of neighborhood playgrounds, several parks within minutes of my house, and this panoply of trees, flowers, birds, wildlife, butterflies, fireflies, etc. I am the son of a professional photographer, and spent many hours taking pictures of all of this. 

Ashton Heights resident Julia Tanner, shares beautiful pictures of hawks and other birds right in our own backyard (see page 3). Just stunning.

AHCA has had a long-time hand in all of this. We have pushed for green corridors, ramping down building heights away from metro sites and major roadways, tree canopy and open spaces and parks. Chris Horvath chairs our AHCA Open Spaces Committee, Brooke Alexander chairs the Tree Canopy and Native Plants Committee, and Jack Spilsbury and Alexander Tuneski co-chair the AHCA Development Committee. All of these committees are centrally involved in these issues. I urge you to contact them and work on preserving and expanding these wonderful natural assets and benefits we have.

I visit my friends in Springfield, Woodbridge and my daughter in Sterling (Loudoun County) and none of them have the natural assets within their communities as we have here. 

So as we waken up with spring and see nature at its utmost beauty, please take a deep breath, turn off the cell phones, walk around with your friends and family, share your flowers and vegetables with your neighbors and friends – and most simply, enjoy and be thankful for what we have. 

This did not happen by chance. So the old cliché is apropos here, “Wake up, and smell the roses”.

The March 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Process is Everything
by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

We will have two jointly-sponsored candidates’ nights with the Lyon Park Citizens Association (LPCA), to cover the entire spectrum of state and local Virginia candidates. I am using this column in a more philosophical bent, to address some underlying issues.

The County’s Missing Middle process winded me, but the precursors were in the planning processes – the planning commissions, the GLUPS — I was beginning to see a more controlled county-sponsored planning effort which focused less on process and less on genuine community input. Many of us involved in these processes have been grousing about it.

The county’s earlier signature issue was “the street car, on Columbia Pike” and what surprised me was how poor the public outreach was. As a result, the first time in a long time – the party-designated candidate did not win, nor was it unanimously supported on the Board, and the issue failed.

Now in the midst of Missing Middle Housing, 13 civic associations have formally polled their members and over 70% opposed the county plan in each and every poll. The county has issued its own poll, worded in ways that many of us do not believe captured the issues of concern. The county has also staged impromptu street events to take input, where they did not take down attendees information or make sure they were residents of Arlington.

To me it doesn’t matter where any of us stand on the above issues or other issues. I actually embrace the fact that people have different views, concerns, and philosophies. That’s all good.

And from that, it seems to me the role of civic associations and local governments, and their committees, commissions, councils, and bodies is to help upload these many viewpoints — the pros, the cons, the risks, and the benefits and create a stew that comes out that tastes reasonably good to most members and residents. This was called “The Arlington Way” and became a point that we as a county crowed about.

When I became your AHCA President 13 years ago, I established a formal committee structure so that our AHCA members could work together more formally on issues. What started as a few committees, is now over seven formal and subject committees: Development, Housing, Noise, Open Spaces, Safety & Security, Schools, Tree Canopy & Native Plants, Transportation, and some AHCA leads on COVID and Stormwater Management.

In 2023 I am concerned about our county. As we urbanize and densify — the tendency is to become more hierarchical and more contorted, and in many cases less representative. The pressure on issues, and growth mandates response, many times without thorough input.

So if what I laid out is a trend, how do we as caring residents in a great county and even a better community help re-orient where the county is going? Since Ashton Heights and Lyon Park are jointly sponsoring two candidate forums, I am hoping that many of us focus on process, on better planning, better risk & costs analysis. Request better surveys and input tools, where results are published and subsets are re-polled as a way to build consensus.

Frankly, it is up to us to help re-orient and improve governance. And build it up in a more positive way. We have raised our families, and built our careers, and participated in many events and organizations in our communities. I hope we pool our talents, ask questions to elected or aspiring elected officials, and writing to these officials as much we can. We need to energize ourselves and our inputs to let our County and State government know we are watching, what our expectations are and that we have on-going concerns.

Democracy and participatory government actually is hard work. But it is worth it. And I hope we can activate to re-energize the various government processes, established theoretically to assist us.

The February 2023 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Juggling Priorities as Trends Come Together
by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

All of us have been bombarded on the listserv about the Missing Middle proposals by the Arlington County Board. We had an AHCA monthly meeting program in October 2022 and again in January 2023 to cover the issue and answer questions. AHCA also polled our membership and shared those results with our members and the Arlington County Board.

Many of you testified before the Arlington County Board on January 21st, and these testimonies were exceptional. With any hard issue, there are many sides to consider and the quality of information that we all were able to bring forth was excellent. This issue is ongoing, and we are prepared and working with our 15 other sister civic associations on this issue together.

But MMH is not our only issue by far.

We are still spending a large amount of time on the Clarendon redevelopment proposal. Led by the AHCA Development Committee, with input from the AHCA Transportation and Tree Canopy Committees, our signature issue is directed on a park on the 10th Street North fire station-Verizon block. We’re also raising issues of density, parking, setbacks, native plants and trees The issue of breaking up the cement caverns of development and having places residents can congregate, have programs and events – is an essential quality of life ingredient. Get ready for action on this important issue for our community.

Looming is the Arlington Board’s movement to change the status quo on neighborhood parking — and AHCA needs to be prepared with our position this year. Now is the time for some consensus building. This is a call for us to begin our internal dialogue so we are prepared for changes expected later this year.

Noise from our food establishments catapulted as an issue this year – primarily, but not limited from Don Tito’s on Wilson Blvd and in some instances Darna and others. This issue is going to get worse as we have six other structures soon to be built with food establishments a stones-throw away. We need to be prepared to address these issues within the early-permitting stage, than be reactive as we now are.

All this means as Arlington changes, densifies, and becomes less responsive to its residents – we, as the Ashton Heights Citizens Association needs to stay organized, focused, collaborative with each other and with the other civic associations. Our comfort and quality of life demand it.

As always, I look forward to your input directly. Please email me at solarsklar@aol.com. As important is your input to our chairs and co-chairs of our AHCA Committees, listed on page two of this newsletter. Your ideas, thoughts, and concerns are welcome. We are on this boat together, so get ready for the ride.

Have a fine last month of winter, and I look forward to seeing you at our February AHCA monthly meeting in the Clarendon United Methodist Church social hall – this time on all aspects of our Arlington recycling program. 

Happy Winter!