Get Glimpse of Maple Ave Vision on Wednesday

Candidates in the 2013 Vienna Town Council Elections spent much of the campaign season fielding questions on local development and the Maple Avenue Vision, which will make over much of Vienna's main corridor.

On Wednesday, residents will get a chance to hear updates on the project for themselves  at  a community forum at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Vienna Town Hall.The forum is sponsored by the town and the Maple Avenue Vision Steering Committee.

The Town’s consulting team, led by Elisabeth Lardner of Lardner/Klein, will give residents and officials on early plans and take questions, along with feedback. Read more details in this blog post .

charging them, in part, with determining if the town can create overlays to its existing zoning laws to accomplish the vision  — marked by a proposed 15-foot setback, maximum building height of 54 feet and green, walkable community space — or whether it will have to create entirely new ones.

The consultants — who previously led Vienna's development of the Town Green in 2007 — will also give the town a more defined, three-dimensional look at what's possible in the corridor, now lined by several larger plazas separated by disconnected, small, independently owned lots.

The process, outlined last June, will include

• A vision statement work session with council members
• Phase One: A zoning draft outline and a public workshop to gain input on the draft
• Phase Two: Draft amendments and public forums about those amendments. The outline is updated with illustrations and text.
• Phase Three: Public review and adoption

The firm's initial proposal estimates the completion of phase three in early 2013, a prediction that has been pushed back several months.

The town completed a similar project for Historic Church Street called the Church Street Vision, a five-year process with the first set of ordinances approved in April 1996.

What do you want to see on Maple Avenue? Tell us in the comments.