Achieving a Workable Arlington Blvd Trail Width at the Goodwill Redevelopment
Level of Effort: 10 minutes, at home in your PJs
Deadline: Fri 11/3 11:59pm

Goodwill of Greater Washington, seeking to further its mission of workforce development & serving the community, has proposed redeveloping their Glebe Road store & donation center into a new and improved store, donation center, childcare center, and committed affordable housing. This project would bring a host of great benefits to the community but currently suffers from a car-centric design that doesn't fit with Arlington's walkability, sustainability, and urban design goals.

The project crams the Arlington Blvd Trail into a 5' wide sidewalk smooshed immediately up against a wall and railing with a large vertical drop on the other side.  This wall makes the effective width of the trail even less than the 5' of sidewalk being provided & it is far from the 11' clear width flanked by 5' planting areas on each side that are called for in the recently completed Arlington Blvd Trail Study.

Additionally, it is unclear how children could be dropped off at the childcare center without a car or donations dropped off without a car, as only roads seem to connect back to the childcare and donation center portions of the site. Huge amounts of the site are dedicated to asphalt for car circulation, and instead of a building immediately interfacing with the street on Glebe, a surface parking lot is the first and most prominent feature you encounter from Glebe, and pedestrians must navigate that parking lot to reach the housing and retail.

Suggested Feedback

Suggested Feedback by topic area:

Site Design and Layout

- The design seems to dedicate an unnecessarily large amount of space to grade-level car circulation.- 
The large setback from Glebe Road and the prominent surface parking lot is not in keeping with Arlington's urban design principles.

Site Access & Circulation

- The design seems to dedicate an unnecessarily large amount of space to grade-level car circulation.
- The large setback from Glebe Road and prominent surface parking lot is not in keeping with Arlington's urban design principles.

Parking and Loading

It is unclear to me how one brings a child for childcare or a donation to the donation center without a motor vehicle. I only see roads going back to the childcare and donation center portions of the building - no inviting sidewalks or obvious pedestrian entrances.

Streetscape Improvements

I am very concerned about the retaining wall along the sidewalk. Retaining walls are magnets for grafitti, impede sightlines that are important for safety, and appear to force pedestrians into a circuitous route to enter the retail store if they're approaching from the north.

Crossing Glebe at the off-ramp is fraught for pedestrians. Cars often turn across the crosswalk without looking & the generous curb radius allows them to do so at high speed. This development should crossing safer protect its residents & customers who are likely to cross here.

Streetscape Improvements (con't)

The proposal should provide the "preferred (with development)" cross-section included in the Arlington Boulevard Trail Study (11' wide trail with 5' planting area on each side). This is an important upgrade of an important transportation link. A 5' sidewalk crammed next to serious vertical drop with only a wall & railing separating the two is not safe.

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