By Tabitha Ricketts

As Vice President of Neighborhood Conservation, I serve as Lyon Park’s representative to the Arlington Neighborhoods Advisory Committee—ArNAC, for short. ArNAC is a program through which the neighborhoods of Arlington can leverage Arlington County government funding for projects that benefit our community. 

These projects can be capital improvements—updates to streets, streetlights, sidewalks, and other pedestrian safety measures, for example. There is also an increasing number of beautification projects in the works, which can help to improve the appeal and usefulness of County-owned parks and add green space where concrete would otherwise prevail. You can learn more about neighborhood-driven projects by visiting www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Projects/Arlington-Neighborhoods-Program/Capital-Improvement-Projects or explore a broader range of County-funded projects at www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Projects/Project-Types. 

What does this mean for Lyon Park? We, the members of the community, get to decide! As you look around our neighborhood, what stands out to you as an area that could use improvement? The first step is to have an idea. From there, we can start working through the steps to turn an idea into a project proposal. 

When determining priority projects for Lyon Park, I’ll consider the following factors:

– Size, scope, and cost of the project—the effort required

– Level of impact—the number of neighbors benefitting

– Proposed champion—a neighbor ready to lead the charge and champion the project with me

– Neighbor support—sentiment of the neighbors directly impacted by the proposed project

– Additional funding sources

– Bonus for sidewalk or park project

Priority will go to projects that are lower in effort, positively impact the greatest number of neighbors, have a dedicated champion ready to work through the process, have general support from impacted neighbors, have additional funding sources to supplement County funding, and address sidewalks or County park locations. (Note that Lyon Park and our community center are owned by us, the neighborhood; that is not a County park.)

These criteria align closely with the ArNAC points system, in which points are awarded to neighborhood projects in the Committee’s queue (projects with the highest point value determine which projects are considered for approval first by ArNAC and then by the County). The ArNAC points system awards additional points for projects with supplemental funding sources and sidewalk or park projects, so our priority measurement takes that into account.

Are you ready to get started? Reach out to me via email at Tabitharicketts@gmail.com with your ideas, keeping in mind the factors listed above, and let’s turn our dreams into actions!.