Arlington Public Schools (APS) held a community meeting on September 8 to explain their recent design changes and next steps for constructing the new access to the backside of the school from Montague Street. APS said they plan to start construction this month and it would take a little over two months to finish the job.

As you may recall, APS’s first design from February 2014 (starting page 39) was an unappealing massive concrete ramp structure. Building it would have involved cutting down almost all the trees at the end of Montague Street on public and DHARA pool land, and it would have added to the water runoff and erosion going into Four Mile Run.  We suggested a boardwalk-style construction could be considered for the ramp, but APS could not be persuaded to do so.  APS did put in a boardwalk with concrete planks in the part nearest the school in what proved to be an interim design from February 2015, but informed us at the September 8 meeting they decided they can just do a simple concrete sidewalk there. They feel a concrete structure is easier to maintain. We have noted to APS that Arlington parks manages to build boardwalks and maintain them, and as many of us has observed — and as was raised at the meeting — the new concrete sidewalks around Ashlawn already have crumbly spots, creating maintenance issues.

The APS September design spreads out the ramp by using part of the end of Montague Street and preserves more trees, primarily those on the pool’s property. It also keeps the back entrance to the pool in its current location. The only reason the design is less destructive to the trees and environment compared to the first design is thanks to our continued community input and the refusal of the pool to grant an easement for APS’s tree-cutting.

In any event, stand by for some construction in the coming months. Also, after the ramp, stairs and sidewalk are completed, we will need to monitor the area to ensure APS does maintain it, erosion does not set in, and it does not become a mini-skate board park.  Finally, as part of the overall Montague street project, the County currently intends to narrow and make some further improvements to the remaining small part of Montague Street. Planning is tentatively scheduled for 2016 with a possibility of construction in 2017.