Monthly Board of Director’s Meeting

Thursday, September 12, 2019 at 7:30 PM

Parish House, Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill

3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA

Police Report:  Officer Lennon said there were 89 traffic stops on Seminary Road and 98 on Quaker lane in July – most were for speeding.  In August, there were 125 traffic stops on Seminary Road and 92 on Quaker Lane – once again, most were for speeding.  There were also 12 assaults over the summer, 3 hit and runs in July and 5 in August – most were in parking lots. 

Program:  Update on The Alexandria City Public High School Project – Alternatives for a 2^nd High School.

The City Planner for ACPS and a consultant gave the update.  There are now 4,000 students in TCW with a projected growth to 5,000 in the next 5 years. ACPS is considering 2 models.  One would be 2 High Schools and the other would be a 1 High School with a connected High School Network. ACPS says the values that are driving the process are Equity of Opportunity & Access for all Students, Relationships & Community, Student Achievement, Student Choice & Flexibility, Multiple Pathways to a Diploma, and Core Programming.  Over the past year, an Education Design Team has been studying the issue and will be presenting their recommendations to ACPS on September 26^th.

There was a general discussion with the SHA Board about possible site locations for a new High School.  Overall, the briefing was well received.

Announcements: Mimi Goff will be SHA representative for the coordination of the temporary movement of students from MacArthur School to the Patrick Henry School site during renovations. Additionally, a representative from Trans Urban, the company building the I-395 Hot Lanes, will be briefing us at the October SHA Meeting.

Minutes:  The June 2019 Minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report: The balance forward from June was $28,654.73.  Payments were made to Digital Phenom for the development of our website for $2,600.00, and to The Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations for $30 for our annual dues.  Two dues payments of $20 each were received.  The ending balance on September 2, 2019 is $26,064.73. The Treasurer’s report was approved.

Area Reports: Frances Terrell, Area 1, said they were awaiting the results of the TCW light issue; Bill Goff, Area 2, said he was awaiting the results of the other lawsuits affecting SHA; Area 3, Dick Hobson, said Quaker Lane road improvements were going fine; Jack Sullivan, Area 5, reported that there was a disease affecting Oak trees in our general area; Nan Jennings, Area 6, said some properties at the edge of Marlboro Estates were being affected by water runoff from Fort Ward Park; Jim Rowley, Area 7, said Trans Urban did a survey for ‘noise walls’ in his area – those eligible to vote did not want them; Paul Judge, Area 9, said elections will be held shortly for Seminary Ridge Civic Association; and Christina Holt, EHS, said work was going on for the traffic field and they are working with a consultant on the dormitory project.

Old Business:

Seminary Road – President Carter Flemming gave an update on what SHA and the Alexandria Federation of Civic Associations were doing to try and convince the City Council not to implement the City planned “Road Diet” project which would basically reduce Seminary Road from 4 lanes to 3 lanes with the middle lane being a left turn lane.  There would also be a dedicated bike lane on each side of the road.  SHA favors keeping Seminary Road as 4 lanes with some crosswalk safety improvements.  There was considerable discussion about this issue with most people feeling there will be traffic gridlock and that cars trying to get out of the side roads onto Seminary Road will face huge backups.  The decision by the City Council will be made on Saturday the 14^th of September.

SHA Bylaws:  President Flemming gave an overview of the reasons that the Bylaws were getting outdated and some changes were necessary.  The biggest change involved defining SHA  as representing all residents within the boundaries of SHA, not just dues-paying members.  A short discussion was held concerning possible ways to keep the treasury up.  A motion was made, seconded, and unanimously approved to accept the Bylaw changes.  The Bylaw changes are effective now and are subject to final approval (or disapproval) at the November Annual Meeting.

New Business: We need suggestions for a guest speaker at our Annual Meeting; we may want to get involved with the new Alexandria Mobility Plan; SHA now has a Facebook page, and make sure you sign up for email at our SHA web site so you will see all emails affecting or concerning SHA.

Having no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:21 PM

Richard J. Hayes, Recorder

Attendees: Carter Flemming, Tom Fulton, Dick Hayes, Frances Terrell, Bill Goff, Dick Hobson, Richard Hunt, Jack Sullivan, Nancy Jennings, Jim Rowley, Frank Putzu, Paul Judge, and Christina Holt.

Others in Attendance: Officer Patrick Lennon, Phylius Burks, Kathy Burns, Calvin Terrell, Sandy and Chuck Roasch, Mimi Goff, Beth Chase, A.J. Heidmann, Tricia Rodgers, Charles Ablard, Babette Smith, William Wannisky, Carolyn Griglione, J. Edsall, and Harriet McCune.

Monthly Board of Director’s Meeting

Thursday, April 11th, 2019 at 7:30 PM

Parish House, Immanuel Church-on-the-Hill

3606 Seminary Road, Alexandria, VA

Police Report:  Officer Lennon said there were 39 reportable incidents in the March timeframe with no major incidents.  There were 4 narcotics, 3 reportable accidents, 5 hit and runs in private parking lots, and the rest were minor offenses. Of note, 90 speeding tickets were issued on Quaker Lane and Seminary Road.

Sheriff’s Report: Captain Pankey reported that Police and Sheriff’s Week will be held during the first two weeks in May – expect a lot of traffic.

Minutes: The March Minutes were approved.

Treasurer’s Report:  Paul Judge, reporting in Joanne Lepanto’s absence, reported that there was $28,614.73 in the bank account.  A $495 Web Site fee was paid since the last report.

Area Reports:  Nancy Jennings, Area 6, discussed the move of students from MacArthur School to Patrick Henry School as part of the Swing Space move approved by the ACPS Board.  This move will result in loss of recreation fields for the next 3 to 4 years after already not having them for 2 to 3 years during the construction of the new Patrick Henry School; Area 9, Paul Judge, discussed the results of a recent Seminary Ridge Civic Association meeting concerning the Seminary Road repaving project; and Jonathan Musser, VTS, announced that some facilities will be shutting down between mid-May and early January.

Old Business:

Landmark Redevelopment Plan - Jim Durham said the plan was approved.

HOT Lane Sign on Seminary Road – Carolyn Griglione reported that the sign will be coming down shortly and will be moved to VDOT land near the shuttered Steak and Ale restaurant.

Report from SHA Transportation Committee - A Draft Resolution for a SHA Alternative to Seminary Road changes had been approved by the Committee and a Doodle Poll was created on the website, where members could choose between the 3 City Alternatives and the SHA Alternative. 97 people responded to the poll: 52 were in favor of SHA’s proposal to keep Seminary Road four lanes between Howard Street and Quaker Lane, with additional pedestrian crosswalks and speed enforcement. 17 participants voted for City Alternative #1 keeping the road 4 lanes, 2 voted for City Alternative #2, and 23 participants voted for City Alternative #3 to reduce the car travel lanes to 3, one of which is a center left turn lane.

What followed was considerable discussion from members of the audience as well as the SHA Board of Directors.  The main issue revolved around whether Seminary Road should have four lanes from Howard Street all the way to Quaker Lane or the City planned Diet Road Plan to reduce Seminary Road to two lanes with associated bike lanes and with a possible middle turn lane. After the discussion, two small changes were made to the Draft Resolution and the Resolution was approved by the SHA Board on a vote of 11 to 2.  The approved Resolution and the results of the Doodle Poll will be presented to TE&S staff for their consideration. The final approved SHA Resolution has also been posted to the new SHA Web Site (www.seminaryhillassn.org/).

New Business:

Residential Permit Parking Program – Ms. Gail Noren, a resident of Marshall Lane, submitted material regarding the TCW student parking on her street and possible changes to the Residential Parking approval process.

Update on Alexandria Renew Rate Increase – for the next two years the increase will be $5 per month but will eventually rise to about $40 per month.

Status of SHA Web Site – It is now ‘on line’ and board members were urged to look at it and provide feedback and give any recommendations for improvements.

Proposed Membership Dues Increase – the last dues increase was about 20 years ago.  We now have added costs associated with the Web Site and Pay Pal fees for managing dues payments. This item will be discussed more thoroughly at the May SHA Meeting.

Having no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:44 PM

Richard J. Hayes, Recorder

Attendees: Carter Flemming, Tom Fulton, Dick Hayes, Frances Terrell, Bill Goff, Richard Hunt, Jack Sullivan, Nancy Jennings, Frank Putzu, Paul Judge, Loren Needles, Jim Durham, and Jon Musser.

Others in Attendance: Officer Patrick Lennon, Captain Joe Pankey, Calvin Terrell, Babette Smith, Jack Richards, Kathryn Tatko, M. Barbour, Beth Chase, E. Darden, Phylius Burke, Peter Carson, Marianne Coates, Jim Norman, Carolyn Griglione, Bill Rosselo, Irma O’Day, Bob Hart, Jack Edsall, Elizabeth McIntyre, Mike Brookbank, Mark Pedley, and Mary Johnson.