Reply to APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan

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Reply to "APS Superintendent High School Overcrowding Plan"

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]
Right, I know.  What I meant, but didn't write out, is that it seems like the most valuable input will come from people who live near the parcel.  Because the parcel is in south Arlington, that's probably not going to include very many people on MONA.[/quote]

Imagine, if you can, a world in which the long-term needs of Arlington County and APS are considered as whole, not piecemeal, with available resources presented at the same time so all groups (parents, the elderly, the young and sporty, the low income, and all the other members of the community, complete with competing AND overlapping needs) could see what the tradeoffs for various decisions are. If you build a high-rise school here, it leaves the park here untouched. If you put a middle-school here, where do you put the senior center? The high school? The art center?

If people had to think about everything at once, maybe you wouldn't have a situation in which people shout down a solution because they don't want (or do want) something to happen in their neighborhood. Something is going to happen in every neighborhood. What does the most good for the largest number at the best cost?[/quote]

It sounds like you are agreeing with one of the major recommendations of the year-long Arlington Facilities Committee (below)--a recommendation that the County Board, as advised by the new County Manager, is basically not going to implement right now. (Instead they have their new wacky 6-person cabal.) Ironically, the test case for the new public siting process also recommended by the Facilities Committee is that Carlin Springs parcel....but the Board wants to do the siting process without having the joint discussions about needs and resources. It doesn't make any sense.

"We recommend the Boards establish a Facilities Strategic Planning Committee consisting of two County Board and two School Board Members (with a rotating Chair). This committee would monitor and provide strategic guidance on public facilities and associated budgets to the full Boards for their respective ultimate decision-making processes. The Facilities Strategic Planning Committee would also provide guidance to a Joint County/APS staff team. This staff team would be chaired by a designated senior person from the County Manager’s office and composed of the key facilities planning staff from APS and County departments. The staff person designated to lead the effort must be senior enough to provide direction and leadership to the rest of the team and be charged with taking a longer strategic view of needs. A longer term, data-driven strategic view of needs—in conjunction with a recognition and understanding of immediate priorities—is critical to ensuring a balanced view of capital facility needs.

The Facilities Strategic Planning Committee would receive annual updates on demographic trends, development market projections and other factors (including the natural aging of structures) and, for schools, the general geography of future school needs that might impact the need for future facilities, whether County or Schools.

In developing a master list of projected future needs, the four-person Committee would review those facilities currently in the pipeline (e.g. the adopted CIP and other previously identified needs) and also the various adopted plans that are part of the Comprehensive Plan, and supporting documents including sector and area plans that are adopted for different areas of the County.

Community involvement would be achieved through a new Joint Facilities Advisory Commission, with members appointed by both the County and School Boards. This commission would provide a venue for broader community input and coordination with other established advisory commissions.

Under this proposed approach, once the public facility needs have been listed and prioritized, in a more open way with community members, this work would feed into other processes on specific projects. As charged by the Boards, the Committee is proposing a new siting process that would be followed by the County and Schools when a new site is needed for a facility. This framework would guide all types of large and complex public facility projects including new schools, fire stations, storage and infrastructure “back of house” needs."

--Final report, page 17
http://commissions.arlingtonva.us/community-facilities-study/[/quote]

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