Residents against the relocation of Fire Station 8 have won a small victory.
The County Board on Thursday accepted the county manager’s recommendation to create a community task force to examine possible locations for the new Fire Station 8, which includes the site it currently sits on.
A fire on the sixth floor of the Virginia Hospital Center caused the building to be evacuated and patients to be moved to another part of the floor.
The fire was reported around 3:30 p.m. It was caused by medical equipment, including an oxygen tank, on a stretcher, said Battalion Chief Dan Fitch.
According to a new report from Arlington Public Schools, the relocatable classrooms have been deemed the best solution to address overcapacity at the two North Arlington schools.
“In light of all of the opportunities and constraints associated with the options under consideration as well as the community feedback that has been received, APS Instruction and Facilities staff has determined that the use of on-site relocatable classrooms is the most effective, flexible, and least disruptive approach to address interim capacity needs at Swanson and Williamsburg middle schools through 2019,” APS said in the report.
The owners of Conte’s Bike Shop are planning to open a new location at 3449 Wilson Blvd in Virginia Square by March 2016, said co-owner David Conte.
“We have always wanted to open up company owned stores in this market. My wife Angela is a graduate of George Mason University and we have many great friends in the area,” Conte said.
The car-sharing service will now arrive in October, said Car2Go spokesman Brad Ducey.
Car2Go planned to launch last Saturday, Sept. 19, with a fleet of 200 new vehicles that would unlock using the Car2Go smartphone app. Due to production delays, the new cars are not ready, Ducey said.
Editor’s Note: Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow.com, Startup Monday is a weekly column that profiles Arlington-based startups and their founders, plus other local technology happenings. The Ground Floor, Monday’s office space for young companies in Rosslyn, is now open. The Metro-accessible space features a 5,000-square-foot common area that includes a kitchen, lounge area, collaborative meeting spaces, and a stage for formal presentations.
“I really wanted to provide a way to have fun, exercise a little on vacation and bond with the locals,” said Megan Morrison, the CEO of Dance Adventures.
(Updated on Sept. 22 at 11 a.m.)Arlington County is seeking the public’s opinion for the new design of Powhatan Springs Skatepark (6020 Wilson Blvd).
Residents had the chance to vote for their favorite preliminary design of the skatepark during a showcase last Thursday, Sept. 17 at the Arlington Mill Community Center. Those who could not attend the presentation can vote on the designs on the skate park website.
The Capital Weather Gang may have declared summer over in the D.C. area, but National Weather Service’s predictions for this weekend look pretty summery. NWS expects a high of 86 degrees for Saturday and a high of 78 degrees on Sunday.
One way to enjoy the beautiful weather may be a trip to the Air Force Memorial, located off of Columbia Pike, to say happy birthday. The Air Force turned 68 years old this week.
The last planned community meeting on the topic of Fire Station 8’s potential relocation turned heated quickly as residents strongly objected to the county staff’s recommendation to move the fire station to what’s now a salt dome at 26th Street N. and Old Dominion Drive.
The county plans to replace the aging fire station with a larger, “state of the art facility,” which requires the station to be relocated to a larger piece of land or for the current building to be torn down and rebuilt. For the most part, residents at the meetings have objected to any relocation of the fire station, citing the station’s history and importance to the surrounding community, among other issues.
The Lyon Park Community Center may be open by the end of October, despite some trouble securing a source of funding earlier this summer.
The renovations to the community center are set to wrap up on Oct. 31, but there is always the potential for construction delays, said Jeannette Wick, chair of the Lyon Park Community Center. Wick says she thinks residents will like what they see when the community center reopens.
(Updated at 5:40 p.m.) A new group made up of South Arlington residents and teachers are asking the County Board to approve the Affordable Housing Master Plan at its meeting this Saturday, Sept. 19.
The plan calls for an additional 15,800 affordable housing units to be built by 2040, to bring the county’s percentage of affordable housing to 17.7 percent. The plan has caused a divide in South Arlington, with the new group, Mi Voz Cuenta asking for the County Board to approve the plan, while the group Coalition to Arlingtonians for Responsible Development (CARD) is continuing to ask the Board to ensure that affordable units will be spread throughout the county instead of clustering them around Columbia Pike.
Karen Bate, founder of communication firm KB Concepts, was part of multiple entrepreneurial groups in Arlington, but none were just for women. So she decided to start her own organization, now called Arlington Women Entrepreneurs.
The group has quickly grown since it started in 2014, with the 100th member having just joined the group this week, Bate said.
