During its regular hearing Saturday, the Arlington County Board will vote on the general location of the Mosaic Park and its elements. The park, located between N. Quincy and N. Pollard streets in Ashton Heights is part of the Founders Square redevelopment. That development, across N. Randolph Street from the Ballston Commons Mall, will place high-rise mixed-use buildings on Wilson Blvd. between N. Randolph and N. Quincy streets. The county will sell the higher density needed for the Founders Square buildings to Shooshan Companies, the developers, in order to fund the first phase of park construction, about $4.5 million.
“The major elements of the master plan [of the park] include an interactive water feature, children’s play area, multi-purpose court, flexible use lawn area, half-court basketball area, large flexible urban plaza, centrally located casual plaza, rain garden, walkways and sidewalks, site furnishings and landscaping. A major feature of the park design will be to incorporate sustainable practices and features including use of wind and solar power as well as innovative stormwater management techniques.”
The Ashton Heights Civic Association, the Ballston/Virginia Square Civic Association, other groups and commissions, as well as the Mosaic Park Planning Team, a group of community stakeholders, all wrote letters of support for the park. However, Ashton Heights was a little more nuanced in their acceptance, as the buildings with three additional storeys are growing taller than the civic association would like.
Completion of the first phase is expected in about five years. The estimated $2.3 million second phase, shown inside the dotted red line on the image, is yet unfunded, but is planned to continue after 2014.
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Mosaic Park Planning (Feb. 7, 2009)
