Board votes against W&OD Trail Connector, saves "Meadow"

The Carlin Springs Connector Trail was voted down tonight by the Arlington County Board. 

Saying they believed it was unnecessary, the County Board today voted 4 to 1 to deny a permit sought by the County to build a Connector Trail to the Washington & Old Dominion (W&OD) Trail at North Carlin Springs Road. County staff had sought the permit, in partnership with the Northern Virginia Regional Parks Authority, to build an eight-foot-wide, 220-foot-long trail for cyclists and pedestrians. Residents had complained that the proposed paving would degrade an existing open area.

“We need to protect and enhance open space,” said Arlington County Board Vice Chairman Walter Tejada, who described himself as a “fanatic” cyclist. He and fellow cyclist Board Member Jay Fisette said they believed there were adequate trails in the area.

As someone pointed out in the comments on the previous post, 

[This] was the way the railroad crossed Carlin Springs, and as I recall, it was a paved connection to the road until the underpass going under Carlin Springs was built in the late 1990s. So this isn't a new trail, it's restoring an old one.

Enjoy your meadow Arlington, you earned it.

Comments

[Kevin Beekman]

Google maps shows the connection already, I believe.

[cyclist AND environmentalist]

We will enjoy our meadow, thanks. Every inch of green space near Four Mile Run is very valuable for providing a buffer zone to slow and filter runoff and keep the water clean. It's not just about a nice meadow with flowers. You can disagree with the decision, but mocking the value of the meadow shows you just don't understand the ecological issue involved.

[washcycle]

Every inch of green space near Four Mile Run is very valuable for providing a buffer zone to slow and filter runoff and keep the water clean.

Valuable, no doubt. "Very valuable", less certain. Not every square inch is of equal value. For example packed down dirt, that used to be a railroad and then was a trail until 15 years ago, isn't quite as valuable as a bioswale - which was to be built as part of this project.

And every trail connection with utility is valuable too - for making active transportation better. The job here was to balance those two benefits against one another - not simply respond to the group that complained the loudest.

mocking the value of the meadow shows you just don't understand the ecological issue involved

Oh I do. I even tried to quantify them. On the one hand you have the addition of a trail that would marginally increase stormwater runoff and marginally improve access to the W&OD and on the other you have leaving it it a packed down social trail of little value. Also, if the trail were built, other parts of the project would more than mitigate the increase in stormwater - AS REQUIRED BY VIRGINIA LAW, meaning there would be no net increase in stormwater runoff.

What I'm making fun of is the ruthless torture of the English language needed to call this strip a "meadow." It's about as much a meadow as Las Vegas is.

[cyclist AND environmentalist]

It's called a meadow because nobody can come up with a better name, at least not one that describes its function and isn't a technical, sciency name. But it's not a bad name - a meadow is just open space occupied by low plants that aren't shrubs or trees, and that's what that area is. I'm glad you understand the ecological issues involved though.

[Mike]

so, presumably, you understand that the environmental justification was bogus, and that the project would have led to a net reduction in runoff?

[DE]

To be fair, the runoff portion of the environmental justification was what was bogus. You could make other environmental arguments, though the differences one way or the other would be tiny. An aesthetic argument would have been more honest.

[Brett Young]

Can anyone post a link to a photo of the meadow?

[DE]

If no one can, Google Earth gives a good idea of its size/configuration:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8680175,-77.1270892,127m/data=!3m1!1e3?hl=en

Street view hits it from Carlin Springs:

https://www.google.com/maps/@38.868285,-77.127453,3a,75y,115.11h,79.67t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1s8n1sGGgSwIMqx5L9a_0czw!2e0!7i13312!8i6656?hl=en

[cyclist AND environmentalist]

Yes. I know mitigation was required. I was just defending meadows.

[Paul]

I see it as an incremental improvement that was turned down, not a devastating defeat.

The councilman was mostly correct, there's an alternative that while not perfect, is good enough. I also see his point that any crossing of Carlin Springs without a light is going to be dicey at best. Not something to do lightly without considering additional infrastructure.

I hate it when any bike project get's turned down, but this is the sort of thing to let go in favor of bigger fish.