Barcroft Neighborhood Conservation Plan
Parks and Recreation
Neighborhood Park
Within Barcroft's boundaries, the only usable public park and recreation area at the present time is the playground and field at Barcroft School. As a school facility it is unavailable to the public during the school day, Extended Day, and other program hours, usually from 7:00 a.m. until after 6:00 p.m. on school days. The school playground is undersized, with fewer square feet per pupil than the current Virginia standard, and inadequately equipped.
Adjoining Parks
Two parks adjoin the Barcroft neighborhood. To the east and across South George Mason Drive is Alcova Heights Park, which has a ballfield and picnic, playground and basketball areas. To the west of the neighborhood is Glencarlyn Park along Four Mile Run, which connects by way of the W&OD Trail and other trails with a number of Arlington park facilities. These parks provide a wide variety of recreational opportunities for Barcroft residents.
Access to Parks
Access to both adjoining parks from Barcroft is difficult. To reach A1cova Heights Park, residents must cross busy South George Mason Drive. This crossing is hazardous for young children and senior citizens. It has only one traffic light, located at 8th Street South, with a very short walk cycle which does not accommodate senior citizens or parents with children. The Alcova facility is also nearly a mile walk from the northern parts of the neighborhood. Although Four Mile Run's Glencarlyn Park extends along the entire western edge of the neighborhood, the only improved access from Barcroft is at 9th Street South. Access at other points is by unimproved and often muddy footpaths. Once in the park at the 9th Street South access, there is a three?quarter mile walk to such facilities as the playground and picnic area, a long walk with small children. Access to Four Mile Run is poor from the northwestern portion of Barcroft, in duding South Abingdon Street, South Woodstock Street and parts of 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th Streets South. Residents of these streets are now forced to use entrances at South Park Drive (in Arlington Forest), or to use South Pershing Drive to 9th Street South. There is a connection to South Park Drive on a narrow path from South Abingdon Street but it is poorly maintained. A modest investment by the County at a few of these locations would dramatically improve Barcroft's access to Four Mile Run and to the impressive collection of park amenities accessible from the W&OD Trail.
The largest parcel of County-owned parkland within the neighborhood is a wooded stream bed with steep sides between Four Mile Run and South Pershing Drive. Although the County has not made any improvements to this land, there is a footpath along the bottom of the stream bed that provides a beautiful forested walkway in the midst of the neighborhood. Unfortunately the unimproved trailheads at both ends of the path are steep and often muddy. The County also appears to perform no inspection or maintenance of any sort on this parcel, as indicated by the trash and debris (including abandoned appliances) in parts of the parcel, and the substantial erosion at the South Pershing Drive corner. This parcel has no sidewalks along South Pershing Drive, and each summer it is overgrown with brush which hangs over the guard rails into the street. The area could provide an excellent route for a trail to improve access from the northwestern part of Barcroft (along South Abingdon Street) to Four Mile Run. A level connection for pedestrians from the end of 5th Street South to South Pershing Drive could be achieved with a small bridge.
There are two paths which link the ends of 8th Street South and 7th Street South with Four Mile Run. Unfortunately 7th Street South emerges at South Buchanan Street in a dip where sightlines for pedestrians, bicycles and cars entering or crossing South Buchanan Street are poor. Both entrances to the park could be paved, but due to the poor sightlines at South Buchanan Street the 7th Street South connection would not be safe for general use by bicycles or pedestrians.
Recommendation #23
Access to Four Mile Run and Glencarlyn Park.
A. The County should improve the trailheads at both ends of the path through the South Pershing Drive to Four Mile Run streambed to allow for easier use of this wilderness-like walkway that connects the neighborhood with the W&OD Trail. Improvements at the South Pershing Drive trailhead also should connect by a small bridge to 6th Street South and 5th Street South, creating a pedestrian link with the northwestern parts of the neighborhood.
B. The County should fulfill its responsibility to periodically inspect and remove accumulated trash from this parcel and landscape the section along South Pershing Drive. [Footnote 12]
C. Virginia Power and the County should improve the path that begins at 500 South Abingdon Street, and maintain the connecting bridge.
[Footnote 12: The County Board questioned the need for landscaping when this NC Plan was adopted.]
Trail Improvements on Four Mile Run
Numerous respondents on the NC questionnaire noted that they were not comfortable walking on the W&OD Trail in Four Mile Run due to the fast bicycle traffic there. Wider trails with center stripes have been found to be the best way to reduce conflicts between trail users, as on the County's new Bluemont Trail.
The old Four Mile Run Trail, below and parallel to the W&OD Trail on the west side, provides a good place for dogwalkers, children, seniors and others who appreciate a less traveled trail to walk along the stream. Two bridges on this trail just south of Arlington Boulevard and close to John Carlin's springs have been damaged, and a section of the trail closed. The closing of this section of the trail forces users of this more leisurely trail onto the main W&OD Trail.
Recommendation #24
Trail Improvements
A. The County should work with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority to widen the W&OD Trail along Four Mile Run to the County's standard width of 12 feet.
B. The County should repair the two damaged bridges on the Four Mile Run Trail at Carlin's Springs and reopen the section of trail now closed. The County should maintain the parallel trails in this area.
C. The County should take steps to control erosion of the pathways at the foot of 7th Street South, 8th Street South and 8th Road South where they end at Four Mile Run.
Arlington Hall
The Arlington Hall site is currently under redevelopment by the Federal Government. Our neighborhood enthusiastically supports the commitment by Federal and local officials to devote portions of the Federal land on the east side of South George Mason Drive to expand and improve Alcova Heights Park (bordering on Barcroft), and to devote the entire portion of the site west of South George Mason Drive (and within Barcroft) to a neighborhood park. Barcroft's suggested plan for the Barcroft side of the site is shown on Map #9. Barcroft has taken a keen interest in the plans for park and open space development on the Arlington Hall site. As the planning process continues, the commitments made by Federal Government officials to devote portions of the site to park and recreation uses must be made binding by a formal agreement with Arlington County. While it does not appear that the property can be transferred to County ownership, the agreement should secure the portions of the site for exclusively park and recreation uses by the public for the longest possible term. Planned improvements to park portions of the site were shown on the Arlington Hall Site Plan approved by the National Capital Planning Commission in the Spring of 1989. On the east side of South George Mason Drive, this includes landscaping to extend Alcova Heights Park north, a bicycle and pedestrian trail using the pedestrian underpass under South George Mason Drive to reach Glebe Road on the east, and removal of unsightly perimeter fencing along South George Mason Drive. On the west (Barcroft) side, the neighborhood has proposed a park plan incorporating a playground, picnic area, unlighted softball field, bicycle and pedestrian trail, and other improvements. This plan is shown on Map #9.
Recommendation #25
Arlington Hall Parkland
A. In accordance with the commitments made by Federal and County officials, the two governments should cooperate to devote the entire portion of the Arlington Hall site west of South George Mason Drive to use as a neighborhood park. The Barcroft School and Civic League and adjoining residents want to be consulted on the final plans for improvements to the site.
B. The design of the neighborhood park should follow these principles:
1. All improvements to the site should be consistent with its use as a neighborhood park.
2. Existing mature trees should be preserved and appropriate landscaping should be added.
3. No lighted ballfields of any kind should be permitted.
4. There should be easy nonvehicular access to the park from the surrounding areas of the neighborhood. Auto traffic to and from the park should be directed away from neighborhood streets. Adequate parking should be provided on site for park use and steps should be taken to avoid spillover parking on neighborhood streets. The neighborhood recommends that the park not be used for satellite parking for other Arlington Hall facilities.
5. Improvements should be fully funded and undertaken without delay as soon as the site becomes available.
Potential New Parks
Barcroft believes that the County should actively pursue the acquisition of land for parkland within the neighborhood as a means of adding park amenities and preserving green space. Both are important to preserve Barcroft's uncrowded atmosphere of open greenery and the residents' enjoyment of outdoor
recreation. There are two possibilities for acquisition. One is the site of Virginia Power's former Barcroft substation, now a vacant plot since the substation was removed. This site adjoins the County parkland described above at the head of the streambed trail, and would be appropriate for use as a neighborhood playground. It would permit better access to the trail requested in Recommendation #23 above. A second possibility for increasing the neighborhood's parkland is the acquisition of individual lots as "mini?parks", or "tot lots" as some of Barcroft's large lots are split. Although an expensive alternative which the County does not currently use, early action to preserve such areas would be valuable before the pressure for infill development in the neighborhood drives land values even higher.
Recommendation #26
New Park Sites
A. The County should seek to acquire the site of the former Virginia Power substation on South Pershing Drive as a neighborhood park.
B. The County should consider devoting funds for the future acquisition of green space within the neighborhood or sites which could be used as "vest pocket" or "tot lot" parks. [Footnote 13]
[Footnote 13: The County Board questioned the appropriateness and viability of vest pocket parks or tot lots when this NC Plan was adopted.]
This page was revised on: August 28, 2004.
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