2 questions about N Arlington, parking and Overlee Pool

[Anonymous]

Hoping to get some DCUM advice here.

1) We may have the chance to get an Overlee Membership via real estate transfer. Is it a good pool? We currently go to Cheverly, which fits our needs, but is clearly not close to our new house. Overlee seems really pricey, but if that is the cost of doing business I understand.

2) Give me the parking low down. I feel like our soon-to-be-street has a LOT of cars parked on it that are not neighbors. The new house is close to Lee hwy and some businesses but those areas have ample parking. I noticed the streets are not zoned. Is it a parking free for all?

Thanks

[Anonymous]

I was just at Overlee this afternoon visiting a friend who became a member this year. We were on the side with the diving board. It seemed fine to me - lots of kids, but well organized and the lifeguards were on top of things. my friend said they are undergoing a huge renovation, though, so the pool/clubhouse are supposed to be much different next year (thus the extra cost to new members). I have heard that the swim team is intense, so that is something to consider.

As for the parking, who knows? Most streets not near metro are not zoned so there is really nothing you can do about it. There is always tons of stuff going on during the day in neighborhoods in Arlington - construction, lawn service, nannies, etc, so some of the cars might belong to those people. If they are not parking right in front of your house, I wouldn't worry about it. Welcome to Arlington!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was just at Overlee this afternoon visiting a friend who became a member this year. We were on the side with the diving board. It seemed fine to me - lots of kids, but well organized and the lifeguards were on top of things. my friend said they are undergoing a huge renovation, though, so the pool/clubhouse are supposed to be much different next year (thus the extra cost to new members). I have heard that the swim team is intense, so that is something to consider.

As for the parking, who knows? Most streets not near metro are not zoned so there is really nothing you can do about it. There is always tons of stuff going on during the day in neighborhoods in Arlington - construction, lawn service, nannies, etc, so some of the cars might belong to those people. If they are not parking right in front of your house, I wouldn't worry about it. Welcome to Arlington!

Oh, and Overlee is more expensive than other pools in Arlington. You might look at Knights of Columbus or Highland (McLean) - they are cheaper and no waitlist.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:
2) Give me the parking low down. I feel like our soon-to-be-street has a LOT of cars parked on it that are not neighbors. The new house is close to Lee hwy and some businesses but those areas have ample parking. I noticed the streets are not zoned. Is it a parking free for all?

Welcome! I live in N Arlington also near Lee. Usually, there aren't zones. As you said, the businesses on Lee mostly have enough parking. But, I've never had an issue with this. There shouldn't be totally random people parked in your neighborhood- as a PP said, there are construction, lawn service, dog walker, childcare, friends and family, etc people coming in and out usually.

Many of the areas down by Clarendon, Ballston, Rosslyn corridor are zoned. Also, nearby Arlington Hospital, there is zoning and ticketing.

[Anonymous]

There was just a thread about this yesterday. Overlee is way way way more expensive than the other N Arlington swim clubs--Dominion Hills, Arlington Forest, etc. Overlee has a $3K non-refundable fee just to join. The other pools have a buy-in (usually less than $1000) and you get it back when you leave the pool. I'm sure Overlee is lovely but I don't know that it's so much better as to be worth THAT much more money than the other pools.

[Anonymous]

Overlee has become very expensive because of the construction ... which btw I think was handled very poorly in terms of communication to membership, which voted with very little real world numbers to judge (compared to other such projects I've been involved in).

But we've been in for some time so we're not paying the huge new non refundable deposit.

The K of C pool doesn't compare in any way IMO, we were members there and it wasn't that attractive to go to/hang out.

Overlee is well run, we don't have anything to do w/ the swim team intensity etc. but just swim laps.

Parking in Arlington can lead to confrontations and even violence between neighbors, we had a mentally ill neighbor who harassed us to the point where we moved out of that neighborhood before someone got hurt.

The flip/downside is that the overbearing Arl. Co. govt. has their residential parking zones in some areas (not near Overlee/Lee Hwy) where they make you pay to park on your own street that is supported by your taxes.

There are some limits on how long a vehicle may be parked and not moved but it's not a short time (I don't recall) & you have to have the County come out and observe, tag, etc.

[Anonymous]

The flip/downside is that the overbearing Arl. Co. govt. has their residential parking zones in some areas (not near Overlee/Lee Hwy) where they make you pay to park on your own street that is supported by your taxes.

Residents of a street can request zoned parking or a change in the hours zoning is in effect if too many nonresident cars are taking up spots for too much of the day. The county checks to see if there are in fact too many nonresidents parking there, and then it will issue parking passes, which are either no or low-cost (I don't remember).

All county residents pay to maintain all streets, even if they don't drive or park on them.

[Anonymous]

that's right, and when we initiated our residential zone in our former house, we did not have to pay an additional yearly fee to park in front of our own house ....

then the County decided it needed more $$ so it started squeezing the residents, when in fact the need for the residential zone resulted from the many poor planning decisions by the county that created huge office buildings with inadequate parking, so nonresidents started taking up residential parking.

If not for the county's love affair with overbuilding in the Metro corridor without adequate planning/parking, the residents would never have had to have a residential zone in the first place.

So it's pathetic that the county then soaks the residents by making them pay to park in front of their own homes, when the need for the parking restrictions was caused by the County -- not the homeowners.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:that's right, and when we initiated our residential zone in our former house, we did not have to pay an additional yearly fee to park in front of our own house ....

then the County decided it needed more $$ so it started squeezing the residents, when in fact the need for the residential zone resulted from the many poor planning decisions by the county that created huge office buildings with inadequate parking, so nonresidents started taking up residential parking.

If not for the county's love affair with overbuilding in the Metro corridor without adequate planning/parking, the residents would never have had to have a residential zone in the first place.

So it's pathetic that the county then soaks the residents by making them pay to park in front of their own homes, when the need for the parking restrictions was caused by the County -- not the homeowners.

we won't see you complain the 'love affair' when you net $300K profit selling your house, will we? and BTW those $300K is tax free, because the neighborhood property values shot up due to your own effort and hard work so the county is not going to get a sniff of that money!!!

[Anonymous]

Damn, 12:01, how much are you paying for your parking permit? I think ours was $35. It sure wasn't a "soaking."

And there is plenty of parking near the retail along our section of the Orange Line. There's a charge for it, and the auslanders don't want to pay, so they park in the neighborhoods. But like them, we want to be here, and we want to park near our house.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Damn, 12:01, how much are you paying for your parking permit? I think ours was $35. It sure wasn't a "soaking."

And there is plenty of parking near the retail along our section of the Orange Line. There's a charge for it, and the auslanders don't want to pay, so they park in the neighborhoods. But like them, we want to be here, and we want to park near our house.

What's an auslander?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

What's an auslander?

Auslander

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Overlee has become very expensive because of the construction ... which btw I think was handled very poorly in terms of communication to membership, which voted with very little real world numbers to judge (compared to other such projects I've been involved in).

But we've been in for some time so we're not paying the huge new non refundable deposit.

The K of C pool doesn't compare in any way IMO, we were members there and it wasn't that attractive to go to/hang out.

Overlee is well run, we don't have anything to do w/ the swim team intensity etc. but just swim laps.

Parking in Arlington can lead to confrontations and even violence between neighbors, we had a mentally ill neighbor who harassed us to the point where we moved out of that neighborhood before someone got hurt.

The flip/downside is that the overbearing Arl. Co. govt. has their residential parking zones in some areas (not near Overlee/Lee Hwy) where they make you pay to park on your own street that is supported by your taxes.

I would agree that Overlee is nicer than KOC - it is definitely bigger and more space to hang out. If you have $3000 to spend on Overlee, it is probably worth it. If not KOC or one of the other smaller pools would be fine.

There are some limits on how long a vehicle may be parked and not moved but it's not a short time (I don't recall) & you have to have the County come out and observe, tag, etc.

[Anonymous]

I don't think there are real estate transfers to Overlee any more -- I think we got rid of those maybe 5 years ago, so this is likely a moot point.

I've lived near 22nd and Harrison for 12 years now and I've never heard any of my friends complain about commuter parkers.

If you have kids going to Tuckahoe -- Overlee can be a benefit because it's probably the big pool that folks go to and you won't have to worry about play dates.

I take exception to the "poor communication" issue with the Overlee buildout. There were countless emails sent, probably 4 to 6 open meetings with the architects that the membership attended. There were several reminderst to vote on the three options once they were firmed up -- in fact it dragged on an extra year due to the debate over what the pool needs, etc, and whether to tear down the 100 year old "House" or build a new facility. I think the Board and committees tried VERY hard to get everyone involved. Maybe they don't have your current email address?