Three-plus years of research, discussions and meetings paid off for residents that live in the Heart of Arlington Neighborhood Association (HANA) area after Arlington City Council approved its Neighborhood Action Plan on May 21.
With the approval, the 128-page document created by residents became official City policy for development in HANA and will serve as a guide for future decisions.
" We see a lot of development and change coming in the future, and we wanted to have a say in it," said Rebecca Boxall, who was part of the task force that acted as a liaison between HANA residents and the City.
HANA is a coalition of neighborhoods located directly south of downtown Arlington beginning at Border Street and stretching south to Pioneer Parkway, with Cooper Street and Collins Street as the western and eastern borders, respectively.
Joining HANA is voluntary for the area's residents. The organization's members seek to preserve, protect and enhance the quality of life in the diverse area that houses some of Arlington's oldest residential areas and buildings. Richard Thomas, who led the HANA Neighborhood Action Plan Task Force, lives in a house that he estimates to be about 120 years old. Since his daughter and son-in-law are interested in living in the house, Thomas became a HANA member.
" I want to make it a nice place for my daughter and her family to live some day," he explained. " I joined HANA with the hopes of trying to keep this property and the ones surrounding it livable."
Developing a Neighborhood Action Plan is a stepping-stone to do just that.
" It gives us a roadmap of ways we can go when we have the leisure and means to do so," said Grace Darling, current HANA President.
The HANA task force met for two to three hours monthly, sometimes weekly, to discuss the plan. To ensure the final document reflected input from all HANA residents, the organization sent out a survey to gather opinions from those who could not attend the meetings.
Based on the task force's research, HANA was able to identify seven principal planning themes covered in the document: community partnerships, land use and redevelopment, housing, mobility, sustainability, parks and green spaces, and public safety.
Each theme's section pinpoints a specific goal, lists strategies and policies that can help achieve that goal and provides in-depth analysis. For example, the goal in the land use and redevelopment section is to encourage development that adds long-term value. To communicate how residents envision the area maturing, the plan includes a map that recommends a range of appropriate land uses among other things.
Now that the plan has been approved, HANA members are anxious to set priorities and implement the strategies outlined in the document. Clayton Husband of the City's Community Development and Planning Department assisted throughout the process and was especially impressed by the ownership and initiative that HANA took throughout the planning process.
" That's built some momentum for them to succeed in the future," he said.
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