Moving to West Springfield/Burke... (Alexandria, Reston: chapel, loan, theater)
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I think what they are doing to Church street is amazing - Bazins, Alegria, Caffe Amouri coffee, Pure Pasty Co., a new bakery, etc. It has really developed into a great, walkable street in the years that I lived there. I would love to see this happen in other suburbs.
Is the boring actually a feature, or a presumed tradeoff for being safe?
Im not at all sure why non boring has to mean unsafe. Kingstowne, whose movie theaters you mention, is hardly unsafe. Arlington has had zero homicides in 24 months, IIUC.
Now of course those places are pricey - that indicates to me that we have not met the demand for such places. To some extent the market can and will adjust, but its certainly worth looking at what there is in our zoning codes, road standards, etc that makes it harder to build places like those, and other kinds of non-boring places.
I didn't want to live in Kingstowne. I like it being at a distance. I like living in a bedroom community. So yeah, I guess "boring" is a feature to me. It's what I grew up in, and it's what I imagine raising my children in.
I'm not saying I can speak for everyone. Obviously some people love it and want to be there. But I didn't want to walk to movie theaters and restaurants, and I don't care if strip malls get redeveloped into town centers. If someone wants to take that on and do it, great. But it's nothing I'd ask for at this point. Maybe I'd change my mind later, who knows. My point is that RVM is not a negative to me, and I don't see a need to focus on changing it.
actually vienna is pretty low density, altogether, and its pretty car oriented. Im not sure we can't get a little bit more of the Vienna style with minor changes to zoning codes.
Would it even be legal to build something like Church street in West Springfield today, given minimum parking requirements?
Im not expecting changes in west springfield - but the county IS looking to redevelop richmondy highway, and issues like parking requirements and their impact on urban form is going to loom large.
BTW, Burke is actually a planned community, and its shopping centers tend to be located away from the roads - it doesnt necessarily make the area particularly walkable, but it does give it a very different look from places like Rte 1, rte 236, or rte 29.
It was planned back then... now 644 is a massive freeway (or might as well be) so saying the strip malls are off the roads is a bit odd seeing as they all now line Old Keene Mill (644) and 7100
I think what they are doing to Church street is amazing - Bazins, Alegria, Caffe Amouri coffee, Pure Pasty Co., a new bakery, etc. It has really developed into a great, walkable street in the years that I lived there. I would love to see this happen in other suburbs.
I didn't want to live in Kingstowne. I like it being at a distance. I like living in a bedroom community. So yeah, I guess "boring" is a feature to me. It's what I grew up in, and it's what I imagine raising my children in.
I'm not saying I can speak for everyone. Obviously some people love it and want to be there. But I didn't want to walk to movie theaters and restaurants, and I don't care if strip malls get redeveloped into town centers. If someone wants to take that on and do it, great. But it's nothing I'd ask for at this point. Maybe I'd change my mind later, who knows. My point is that RVM is not a negative to me, and I don't see a need to focus on changing it.
well Im pretty sure there will still be places you would prefer for a very long time Just to note, you can drive to Kingtwone's theaters and restaurants even if you live within walking distance. Im really not sure what negative there is to folks who live in Kingstowne from having a towne center there that looks different from a strip mall, but each to their own taste.
As for RVM, i would certainly think it would be a mistake for Fairfax Cty to spend $$ to try to redevelop it (heaven knows there are much better places to put in bucks to encourage redevelopment, and Rte 1 is a good place to start) - but if the developer wanted to change it to something more like a town center, and found it profitable to do so, and needed some (minor?) change to zoning to make that possible, would you object?
It was planned back then... now 644 is a massive freeway (or might as well be) so saying the strip malls are off the roads is a bit odd seeing as they all now line Old Keene Mill (644) and 7100
last time i was on 644 many of the shopping centers in burke were still far enough back to present a very different vista from Rte1, rte 236, or rte 29. However I havent been (except one time at night) in probably over 5 years.
I would like West Springfield/Burke to be more like Fairfax Corner (but on a weekend night if it is nice out you can't park anywhere). I would also like to have a flavor of Ballston Common Market. But I do not like the fact that on Friday and Saturday nights there in Clarendon you can see 2 to 3 fights late night. I will stay away from that.
Just wanted suggestions of places to eat and what to do. I know we are moving to a more "boring" area but what am I supposed to do? Spend $600,000 on a 2bd 2ba condo in Arlington? No thanks. I will take my 4bd 2300+ sq ft house.
well Im pretty sure there will still be places you would prefer for a very long time Just to note, you can drive to Kingtwone's theaters and restaurants even if you live within walking distance. Im really not sure what negative there is to folks who live in Kingstowne from having a towne center there that looks different from a strip mall, but each to their own taste.
As for RVM, i would certainly think it would be a mistake for Fairfax Cty to spend $$ to try to redevelop it (heaven knows there are much better places to put in bucks to encourage redevelopment, and Rte 1 is a good place to start) - but if the developer wanted to change it to something more like a town center, and found it profitable to do so, and needed some (minor?) change to zoning to make that possible, would you object?
Very few jurisdictions would ever assist a private development like this. In fact the developer will likely need to provide a concession, like improving the god awful VRE parking lot that attracts vagrants at night along 644, and payment to the county is likely as well for pedestrian improvements. net winner? The tax payers, the county, and the person who can now keep a long term tenant.
7,
The way to do this is to not allow any club/bars. This can easily be done in the zoning for the property. It assures that good retail comes, instead of run down stuff. Again, no one is saying Clarendon, but some sort of unified vision for these central parts of burke would help bring investment back into the community and keep it from becoming only a residential sprawl land.
I would like West Springfield/Burke to be more like Fairfax Corner (but on a weekend night if it is nice out you can't park anywhere). I would also like to have a flavor of Ballston Common Market. But I do not like the fact that on Friday and Saturday nights there in Clarendon you can see 2 to 3 fights late night. I will stay away from that.
Just wanted suggestions of places to eat and what to do. I know we are moving to a more "boring" area but what am I supposed to do? Spend $600,000 on a 2bd 2ba condo in Arlington? No thanks. I will take my 4bd 2300+ sq ft house.
Its been years since ive spent much time there, but I recall loads of hole in the wall ethnic type places in and around the old part of springfield - near commerce street, backlick, and all that. We went to one pakistani place that was perhaps too authentic for us - the food was a tad too far on the spicy side - I dont think they got many non-Pakistani patrons.
is that what you are looking for? If you want the town center sort of thing, I think Kingstowne is the closest - but the restaurants there wont provide the level of adventure that some of the places in Springfield would, I think.
As for RVM, i would certainly think it would be a mistake for Fairfax Cty to spend $$ to try to redevelop it (heaven knows there are much better places to put in bucks to encourage redevelopment, and Rte 1 is a good place to start) - but if the developer wanted to change it to something more like a town center, and found it profitable to do so, and needed some (minor?) change to zoning to make that possible, would you object?
So long as I cannot hear/smell/see it from my house, and it is like Kingstowne where I can still park next to the one store I want (as opposed to Reston where I have to carry packages way far to get back to my car), nope, no objections.
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Just to note, you can drive to Kingtwone's theaters and restaurants even if you live within walking distance. Im really not sure what negative there is to folks who live in Kingstowne from having a towne center there that looks different from a strip mall, but each to their own taste.
