Council Approves East Street Sidewalk, Stalls Nutley Street Project

While the Vienna Town Council moved forward with one state-funded sidewalk project at its Monday night meeting, lingering questions about the town's right-of-way put another on hold.

The projects, which propose putting sidewalks along East Street NE, and Nutley Street and Windover Avenue NW, are both part of the Walk to Downtown Vienna Initiative.

The town is eligible for reimbursement for both projects through a Virginia Department Of Transportation Congestion Mitigation and Air Quality Grant.

Council awarded a design contract to Rinker Design Associates for the sidewalk on the east side of East Street N.E., which will connect Maple Avenue and Church Street.

But while a number of residents spoke in favor of the second project -- which would put a sidewalk along Nutley Street from The Village Green to Windover Avenue and around Windover's southwest corner -- council members said it wasn't clear how much of the corner's property the town actually owned, information they needed to determine the size and scope of a sidewalk, or, if there is adequate space to build one at all.

The residents of the home on that corner have owned the property for decades, said Public Works Director Dennis Johnson, so "there's no survey ... we don’t know how much right of way there is there," Johnson said.

Councilman Howard Springsteen also worried a sidewalk would eat away at too much of the owner's property, saying the project wasn't high on the town's sidewalk priority list and therefore probably not worth the harm it would cause the homeowner.

"There are $10 million worth of sidewalk projects in town," Springsteen said. "I look at the aerial topography of this and that [sidewalk] would go right up to their house. If that was your house, would you want to eat up that much [of your property]?"

For many residents who came to advocate for the project, the answer was yes.

The route is popular among commuters coming to or from the Vienna Metro Station and also for students from nearby and High Schools, they said.

Currently, there is a sidewalk on the east side of Nutley Street and the north side of Windover Avenue. But for residents traveling in the opposite direction, on a road that attracts school buses and cars often traveling at high speeds, there's no safe place to go, residents said.

"I don’t know if you’ve tried to walk on a snowy street anywhere in Vienna, but it's especially dangerous and difficult to walk with no sidewalks whatsoever alongside buses and cars," one resident said. "I prize public safety over public property.  This is what the town is for, this is what the town is supposed to do: to protect us and keep us safe. It’s a safety issue."

He noted the speed at which cars come around the corner is often very high.

"There’s no place of safety, shall we say, so if car is a little too close you’re right in the trees," added Windover Avenue resident Brad Lumas.

Aldis Lusis, another Windover Avenue resident, echoed Springsteen's remarks about the low priority of the project, saying it is "not particularly convenient to get around on Nutley Street," but it was still possible.

"If this was the only place in Vienna where we didn’t have a sidewalks [this would make sense]," he said. "If there are other places we could put this money [we should do that] ... from Nutley to Lawyers on Windover there are no sidewalks at all."

A solution for both sides may be to build a narrower sidewalk, said resident Sean McCall, also the Safe Routes to School coordinator for Since parking is not permitted on that portion of the road, he said, adhering to the town's typical five-foot sidewalk standard might not be necessary; a smaller sidewalk would also take up less of the property in question.

The council authorized RDA to conduct a survey of the road, not to exceed $16,000, to determine right-of-way boundaries. It will revisit the project once that survey is complete.

"We need to have more information here," Councilwoman Laurie Cole said.