Homeowners Seek Injunction
A group of residents who live near Little Pimmit Run in North Arlington are trying to stop a county hydrological project in court.
The project would widen a culvert on Old Dominion Drive and allow water to flow more easily downstream. The residents, whose homes are located downstream from the culvert, say that the project will drastically increase their risk of floods.
"We believe that the increase in culvert size is going to have a dramatic effect on the downstream homes," said Courtney Harden, the lawyer representing the residents. "We feel that there is imminent harm that will occur to our clients’ properties."
Arlington County Attorney, Stephen MacIsaac, did not respond to repeated requests for comment on this story.
The project to widen the culvert was approved by the County Board in late April. They cited the need to lessen the flood risk for the homes that are upstream of the culvert. Many of these homes sustained severe damage in the June 2006 floods that occurred in the Washington area.
Zoe Hathaway, whose husband Michael is one of the plaintiffs in the case, said that many downstream homes were also damaged in the June 2006 floods.
"This project has been going forward all along," she said. "[The County Board] used the excuse of the June floods to push it forward."
The residents are seeking an injunction which would force the county to stop construction on the project until the legal matters are resolved.
Bill Roper, director of the county’s Department of Environmental Services, said that construction on the Little Pimmit Run project began this week.
"We’ve been advised by the County Attorney’s office to proceed as planned," he said. "We’re implementing the plan we’ve had all along."
The construction will close all lanes will on Old Dominion Drive between North George Mason Drive and North Dickerson Street.
The closures will be in effect at all times and will last until approximately Sept. 11. Traffic will be detoured along North George Mason Drive and Williamsburg Boulevard.
— David Schultz
School Custodian Fights Charges
Darrell Beckham, a Randolph Elementary School custodian accused of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl, turned down an offer of a lesser charge at a hearing on Monday.
Molly Newton, the prosecutor in the case, offered Beckham a misdemeanor charge in exchange for a guilty plea. But Beckham, a father of three from Camp Springs, Md., turned down the offer.
Beckham also discontinued the services of his court-appointed lawyer, Vanessa Hicks, after deciding to retain his own counsel.
After Beckham announced that he was changing lawyers, his court case was delayed for a second time. The first delay occurred on May 31 when the prosecutor and Hicks jointly requested that a preliminary hearing be postponed.
Beckham has been held without bond at the Arlington County Detention Facility since his April 23 arrest at Randolph. Arlington Public Schools has placed him on paid administrative leave from his custodian position.
— Ashton Ward & David Schultz
Local Bus Engulfed In Flames
A local transit bus burst into flames last week in South Arlington. There were no injuries to the passengers or to the driver.
The incident occurred at 7:40 p.m on June 7. The driver of an ART bus pulled over on South Carlin Springs Road when he saw smoke coming from the vehicle in his rear view mirror.
Shortly after the driver and three passengers exited the vehicle, the bus was completely swallowed by flames that rose high enough to damage cable and power lines overhead.
Stephen Del Guidice, chief of Arlington County’s transit bureau, said that the fire department extinguished the inferno "fairly quickly" but that "there was a need… to secure the area."
ART, a local transit company run in tandem by the county and a private company, is investigating the fire which it says is its first since it began operating in 1999.
The initial investigation indicated that the fire may have started in right rear wheel well of the vehicle. Del Guidice said that this could have been caused by overheated brakes.
He also said "This has never happened to an ART bus before. We’ve had other mechanical breakdowns but this is our first fire."
— David Schultz
County Finalizes Buckingham Deal
The Arlington County Board officially approved a plan to maintain the affordability of the Buckingham Village apartments this weekend.
The plan calls for the county to purchase of one of the three Buckingham villages. The county will then partner with an affordable housing provider to offer 140 low-rent apartments.
The county will also give Paradigm Development Company, which purchased Buckingham Village in the early 1990s, $7 million in loans to create 100 additional affordable housing units in another village.
The plan was initially approved by the Board in March. Details for the financing of the program were finalized at the Board’s June 9 meeting.
Buckingham has long been a haven for low-income families and immigrants. When Paradigm announced their plans to renovate the complex, many feared that the current residents would be displaced.
To keep current Buckingham residents in the community, the plan as approved by the Board includes tenant relocation assistance and financial support for tenant-based organizations.