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“A Tradition of Exceptional Service and Success” Bret Brock, NVAR Liftetime Top Producer
SunGazette
703.538.6030
www.BrockRealty.com
VOLUME 79 NO. 35
ARLINGTON’S SOURCE FOR HOMETOWN NEWS SINCE 1935
JULY 24, 2014
$219 Million in Bond Referendums Head to Voters Arlington residents on Nov. 4 will be asked to provide $219 million in funding by approving four bond referendums. County Board members on July 19 formally asked the Circuit Court to place the referenda on the ballot. Pending court approval, voters will cast ballots on four packages:
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$105.78 million for education, funding the entire package requested by the School Board. • $60.24 million for Metro and transportation. • $39.9 million for community infrastructure, including the Neighborhood Conservation program.
• $13 million for local parks and recreation,
including $2 million for land acquisition. County Board members traditionally send bond packages to voters in two-year cycles. No bond package has been turned down by the Arlington electorate in 30 years. At their July 19 meeting, County Board members voted to increase funding in the
transportation bond by $500,000 from the initial estimate, to provide transportation improvements to the East Falls Church area. The community-infrastructure bond was cut $250,000, with a $1.5 million increase to fund renovation of the Aurora Hills library Continued on Page 29
OVERLEE NIPS CHESTERBROOK FOR NVSL TITLE
Overlee’s Brenna Neuman swims the girls 11-12 breastroke in competition against Chesterbrook in McLean July 19. Overlee won, 211-209, to reclaim the Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) Division 1 title. See full coverage in sports and a photo slide show on the Web site at www.insidenova.com/news/arlington. PHOTO BY DEB KOLT
County Board Taps the Brakes on Relocation of Fire Station County Board members on July 17 tiptoed away from fast-tracking the move of Fire Station No. 8 and the Office of Emergency Management to new homes at 26th Street North and Old Dominion Drive. Staff will “go back and look at what other county sites might be available,” County Man-
The County Board’s action suggests that staff may have jumped the gun in proposing the relocation without enough community input. Residents of the Langston/Hall’s Hill community have been critical of relocating the fire station from their neighborhood farther north, although fire officials said moving the
station was the only way they could hit fourminute response times in much of Arlington’s northernmost areas. Donnellan said Fire Chief James Schwartz had met with Langston residents, which proContinued on Page 29
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ager Barbara Donnellan said after County Board members took off the “preferred location” designator that Donnellan had attached to the Old Dominion location in her draft capital-improvement plan. “We will then have a collaborative masterplanning process for the entire site,” she said.