Neighborhood Conservation (NC)
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Nominate a New NC Project! |
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Arlington County's Neighborhood Conservation Program helps improve and enhance Arlington neighborhoods. When the program was created in 1964, the goal was to empower residents by having them come together to discuss and share ideas for improving their neighborhoods. Today, the program provides funding for a variety of improvements, including installation of sidewalks, curbs and gutters, streetlights, signs, park improvements, neighborhood art and beautification. This program empowers citizens to identify and plan projects in their own neighborhoods. Funding for NC projects comes from voter-approved General Obligation Bond Referenda.
Neighborhood Conservation Plans typically serve a community for approximately 10 years. Each neighborhood decides if it wants to develop a plan and when it is ready to initiate a community-lead process for updating it. Cherrydale updated its NC plan in 2014. Through the County's NC Program, Cherrydale has added (at no cost to affected property owners) new sidewalks and street lights to Stafford St., Utah St., Randolph St., 18th St., Kenmore St. All sidewalks and street lights are built only in County-owned right-of-ways, not on private property. NC can also be used for the county's missing link sidewalk program, which can connect existing sidewalks separated by up to three houses. Currently under construction is a new sidewalk and new street lights on 20th St. between Kenmore St. and Monroe St. Cherrydale is also using NC funds to build new 2-5 and and 5-12 playgrounds at Oak Grove Park. Cherrydale's next project is sidewalk improvements and new street lights on Monroe St. between 17th St. and 19th St. Arlington Debating Changes to NC ProcessNew ideas are under consideration by Arlington’s Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee (often referred to as NCAC or NC) to better foster a fairer, more community-inclusive project selections process. As the easier projects get built out, the emerging problem is that homeowners on the affected blocks can stymie progress for all neighborhood stakeholders. Publicly owned Right-Of-Way is for the public after all. That is where the NC process must change and better reflect the needs of the entire community, not just the homeowners on a given block. This is a issue that affects everyone who lives and works in Cherrydale, and Arlington, because we all drive, bike, and/or walk though multiple neighborhoods. These changes will improve the fairness and speed of the NC process for all of Arlington’s citizens.
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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 below and send completed forms to our NC Representative. A vote of all eligible projects will occur at our September CCA meeting.
How a NC project proposal becomes a funded projectArlington’s Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee recommends street, park, and beautification projects to the County Board for funding. Each participating Arlington neighborhood may propose a project. Once qualified, a project is assigned points based on published criteria and also accumulates 10 additional points for each funding round it is not selected for recommendation to the county board. Typically the three projects with the most point get recommended for funding. In a nutshell the combined Cherrydale and NC process works like this:
Stage 1. Cherrydale residents propose projects based on Cherrydale’s NC Plan via an application available at Cherrydale.net. Street projects also require signatures of at least 70% of the affected block’s homeowners. Park and beautification projects do not require signatures. Signatures at this stage only serve to allow a project to be voted on as Cherrydale’s #1 priority NC project and gauge support for a successful NC clipboard petition (Stage 2). Three to four months after the initial call for nominations, Cherrydale residents select a qualified project to send to NC as its #1 priority project. Stage 2. The selected project’s block captain obtains signatures of at least 60%, by lot frontage, of affected homeowners – those that own on the block or a cross street. County NC staff verifies signatures and initiates engineering and concept plans for the project. Once completed, and before the project goes up for a funding recommendation, NC staff present the plan at a block meeting and also receive feedback. Staff will try to accommodate all practical and legally permissible changes. Stage 3. Following the block meeting NC staff will begin the final petition drive. This petition also requires 60%, by linear frontage, of all affected homeowners. If successful the project is qualified and likely to be recommended for funding at the next funding round. Stage 4. Once it receives NCAC’s recommendation for funding it is sent to the County Board for funding. Construction planning begins, thought it will be a year or two before ground is broken. During this time NC staff updates homeowners as warranted. Stage 5. Pre-construction meeting to introduce construction contacts to block owners and review plans followed by construction. | ||||||