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Spring 2025 Newsletter

Resource Available for Cherrydalers looking for Business Recommendations

Are you tired of searching through old listserv emails to find a recommendation for a good plumber?  Andrew Robb has been keeping track of them for us.  Andrew created a Google Sheet with neighbor’s recommendations for local vendors and services. The  editable and shareable sheet  not only organizes the information for easy access but allows us, as a community, to collaboratively update and expand it.

Next time you need work done at your house, check out Andrew’s spreadsheet to find the best architects, duct cleaners, carpet cleaners and electricians, exterminators, fireplace cleaners, housekeeper:  tinyurl.com/4zfw9p72

Cherrydale Needs Your 
Leadership and Your Participation

Civic engagement is more important than ever. Join in at the neighborhood level by becoming an active participant in the Cherrydale Citizens Association. Now you can join without paying dues. Just come to our meetings and get involved!
We’re counting on both our long-time residents and our brand-new arrivals in Cherrydale to continue to step up and play a leadership role. We are currently looking for new volunteers to serve as our  Website Editor. And we almost always have volunteers forming committees or joining in to address particular issues. 

​The CCA plays a unique role in guiding transportation, development, and school issues going on in our neighborhood. We help all our residents and businesses interact with County and State officials as well as private developers who are bringing about many changes in Cherrydale. These changes have a real impact on your lives, so you should be a part of them. The CCA can only serve you if you come to our meetings, where you can meet your fellow Cherrydalers, become better informed, make yourself heard, and, most-importantly, vote. We look forward to seeing you at our next meeting.

Tell Your Vision for Cherrydale

The CCA is working with the Lee Highway Alliance to move Lee Highway away from a “cars-first” design that speeds commuters through Arlington to a series of interconnected neighborhood main streets focused on Arlington residents and businesses.
Cherrydalers love to visit shops in and around the Lyon Village Shopping Center. But too few of us walk or bike there because of the narrow, unlit sidewalks underneath I-66, and the long stretch of sidewalks hemmed in by huge retaining walls.

We can change this. First, we hope to light the under-pass and turn it into a destination for walkers and bikers. Second, we need to reclaim the retaining walls, and maybe even an unnecessary traffic lane, and turn them into a fea-ture.

​This is where you come in! We need input on what this will look like in Cherrydale. The NoMa Business Improvement District in DC is leading the way for us on lighting. NoMA is hiring an artist to light the railroad underpasses that divide that neighborhood.T he CCA is already moving forward with the LHA and VDOT to explore our own light installation under I-66. We need your ideas about what our under-bridge lighting project could look like. Do we keep our costs down and follow NoMa’s lead? Do we find our own artists and create our own design? How do we incorporate a design that accounts for sidewalks on both sides of the street and the bike path?
Similarly, we need your ideas for reclaiming the huge stretches of sidewalks that pass underneath the bridge and continue along the concrete retaining walls. Fortunately the County has redesigned the traffic signals and crosswalks at I-66. It’s a great start, but what else can we do? Do we turn the walls into painted murals? Hang other art installations on the walls? Or maybe we reclaim one of the unnecessary driving lanes with concrete planters and industrial-scale art installations?
While always cost conscious, we want to be bold. We invite you to think about what you’ve seen in other parts of Arlington, other parts of the DC area, and other cities around the country and the world that you think could work along this stretch of Lee Highway. Lots of other communities have, without breaking the bank, found creative ways to reclaim spaces for walkers and bikers that were originally designed with only cars in mind. We can do it, too.

Share Your Vision for Cherrydale

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It’s time to update our Neighborhood Conservation (“NC”) Plan, and we want to hear from you. Please scan the QR Code and take our 40-question survey about Cherrydale. 

We want to know what you think about our neighborhood: what you like, what you think could be improved. We want to know your views about potential redevelopment of the Langston Boulevard commercial corridor. What businesses and amenities would you like to see? What do you think about our residential streets and sidewalks? What about pedestrian safety and bike lanes. How about our parks and recreation spaces?  Think about stormwater management, our tree canopy and the heights and setbacks for new construction on our residential lots. 

Our survey is designed to get answers for all of these questions, without taking a lot of your time. You can take it on your phone, your iPad, or your computer and you do not have to answer every question. Most questions are multiple choice, but you can also share your thoughts using your own words. 

The survey results will be the driving force behind updating our Neighborhood Plan. The Plan is an opportunity for our community to assess the current neighborhood conditions and to set out our own vision for solving problems and implementing strategies. It becomes a guidepost for County planners as they allocate resources for development and improvement plans affecting each neighborhood.

Meanwhile, Arlington County has plans to update what’s called the Cherrydale Revitalization Plan, which governs redevelopment along Langston Boulevard from I-66 to Koons Toyota. The County will seek our input for that plan, but ultimately the results will reflect the County’s goals, which may not overlap ours. Updating our own NC Plan ensures that our priorities are documented.

More practically, an updated NC Plan allows us to continue to choose the park and sidewalk projects we want the County to fund under the Arlington Neighborhoods program. The Neighborhoods program is funded by a separate set of capital improvement bonds. It allows each Arlington neighborhood to select the parks and streets it wants to improve.

NC Plans are only good for ten years –  that’s why it’s necessary to update ours now.  Having a current NC plan will also shorten the wait time for our new Cherrydale Park playground and three additional future projects. 

Your participation is important, neighbors. Please take our survey and make your voice heard. 

Updating the CCA for the 21st Century

Since its founding more than 100 years ago, the Cherrydale Citizens Association has been an unincorporated association.  Moving forward, it may be better to incorporate the CCA as a non-profit 501(c)(4) association organized to promote the social welfare.  The move would provide greater protection for officers and members alike, and would allow us to explore obtaining liability insurance.  It would also improve our ability to accept donations via credit card payment.  We’ve found a law firm that will donate their services to help us with the process and to file all the necessary paperwork.  If this works out, we hope to move forward with this in the next few months. 

Nominate a New NC Project!

We need your ideas for our next Cherrydale NC project. NC projects can include sidewalks and street lights, street lights only, park improvements, beautification, and other capital improvement projects to benefit the neighborhood.  Download the forms and send completed forms to our NC Representative.   Our next project in sidewalk improvements on North Quebec St. between 17th St. and 18th Rd.  But we are already thinking about our future projects.   Submit your ideas today!​
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Contribute to the Sweet and Sour News

The Sweet and Sour News is a great way for the Cherrydale Citizens Association to reach every Cherrydaler, young and old. It is a unique resource for providing news and information about Cherrydale and Cherrydalers.

​Over the years, we’ve had a number of Cherrydalers contribute articles or even start a column. We’re looking for folks to start doing that again. 
And delivering the Sweet and Sour News is a fun and easy way to join our tremendous network of Cherrydale volunteers. The newsletter comes out five or six times a year, and volunteers adopt a street and have two weekends to hand deliver the newsletter. It only takes about 20 or 30 minutes and is a great way to stay in touch with your neighbors.

​Email CCA President Jim Todd  at [email protected] and/or Newsletter Editor Mary Byrnes at [email protected] if you are interested in contributing an article or volunteering. Thanks! 

Stormwater Impacts in Cherrydale

Arlington’s stormwater problems are decades old – as new development took place on buried streams. Cherrydale is particularly vulnerable, as many of our buildings sit on top of Spout Run.  

As efforts to relieve the problem by improving tunnel capacity failed, the County has turned to property acquisition to provide overland relief in areas most drastically affected by extreme rain events. 

According to Demtra McBride, the County prioritizes buying properties along the buried streams, including Cherrydale’s Spout Run.  Already, the County has purchased five properties in the Spout Run watershed.  

While plans call for demolishing buildings on purchased properties, Demetra says the County is committed to consulting with neighbors and maintaining landscaping on properties while future plans are made.  

Residents can learn more about the County’s property purchasing effort here. 


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