The January 2016 Wards Corner Civic League meeting will be held on the 25th at 6:45pm at the Fitness and Wellness Center.
Speakers include Robert J. McCabe, Candidate for Mayor, and Warren Stewart, candidate for City Council Superward 6.
Below is the President’s Message:
PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE
by Jim English ajim.english@gmail.com
Happy New Year and here is wishing all of you a prosperous 2016. As we begin the New Year there are continuing signs of improvement in the business district as new or renovated businesses emerge. Here is a list of those improvements so far. This information has also been provided and posted on Wards Corner Now by Martin Thomas Jr.
- The Pancake House and Grill which should to fully opened this month.. The new design and location should not scare any loyal patrons away as the restaurant is slated to maintain its family casual atmosphere as well as its breakfast and lunch menu offerings. The most notable change, aside from moving next door to the location of a former podiatry office, will be the added dinner hours and the change in name from “The Pancake House” to “The Pancake House & Grill” which reflects the dinner menu offerings that will be available such as crab cakes, seafood, and steaks. The breakfast and lunch menu will still be available during dinner hours. Dinner will be served Tuesday through Saturday for now with potential expansion to Sundays and Mondays in the future.
- Starbucks will be bringing “Evenings” to Wards Corner. This location in the Harris Teeter shopping area has applied for an ABC license. In fact our civic league will vote on it at our January 25th meeting. Starbucks Evenings is a fairly new concept that Starbucks has been testing and now expanding across the country.The Starbucks Evenings menu features a thoughtful selection of wine and craft beer alongside the signature coffee and tea beverages you know and love. Enjoy one of their savory small plates – whether it’s our creamy Truffle Mac & Cheese or a delicious flatbread.
So take a moment to unwind, meet up with friends and enjoy a glass of wine and a delicious little something—with us at http://www.starbucks.com/coffeehouse/starbucks-stores/starbucks-evenings
According to their special exception application filed with the City, beer and wine sales are to be 2pm – 10pm Monday – Friday, noon – 10pm Saturday, and noon – 9pm on Sundays. No entertainment or live music is being proposed. The new location will have 75 seats at approximately 24 tables including an 8 seat bar with wine, beer, and mixed drink offerings.
The City’s Department of Development recently reported that the Wards Corner Starbucks is ranked second in sales regionally.The PDF application can be viewed here: https://wardscornernow.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/starbucks_wardscorner.pdf
- Virginia ABC Store. They will be occupying the old nTelos location which is between the current Your Pie and GNC in the Harris Teeter anchored K&K Shopping Center.According to the regional ABC office the store is meant to be more convenient to those who live in the surrounding area and to alleviate some of the traffic at the Tidewater Drive location across from Southern Shopping Center. The lease for the property commenced on December 1 and the store is planned to open before the end of January.
- Self-Storage Facility on West Little Creek Road. A three story self-storage facility is planned for 801 W. Little Creek Road between Superior Pawn & Gun and the State Farm insurance office. The site is directly across W. Little Creek Road from the 7-11.
A storage facility is permitted by right at that location so no rezoning’s or approvals by the Planning Commission or City Council will be required.A proposed site plan, subject to change, is attached here at https://wardscornernow.files.wordpress.com/2015/12/2015-12-31-prelim-004.pdf - Yield to pedestrian signs coming to Wards Corner.
Many thanks to local business owner, John Knight, for contacting the City about the crosswalk between the Midtown Shopping Center and the K&K Shopping Center. It seems there have been a number of close calls for pedestrians crossing E. Little Creek Road at that location. The City’s traffic engineer studied the location and agreed that it was dangerous. New “Yield to Pedestrians” signs will be installed shortly on the appropriate traffic signal poles at the intersection. John Knight owns the Book Exchange located in the Midtown Shopping Center. These improvements are good news for our area and we should be pleased with the continued redevelopment and improvements to the Wards Corner Business District and Greater Wards Corner area, We all benefit from these improvements.
I have followed all of the postings on Nextdoor Wards Corner with great interest. I am happy to see so many of you using this venue to post interesting issues that all of us can relate to or are able to help each other. I read with particular interest the postings regarding criminal behavior that you witness or that affects you. Please know that the police do monitor Nextdoor Wards Corner but I would urge you to please call the police when you see these events going down. A quick response time is essential to catching these thugs and bringing them to justice. There is too much lag time to wait for the police to read Nextdoor and respond.
Also the Wards Corner Civic League has almost 200 residents from our area on Nextdoor. This is fantastic and I am pleased with its membership. I would urge all of you who are not WC civic league members to join us at our meetings and if you choose to do so become a member. Dues are currently $5 dollars per year per family. You may attend our meetings as a non-member but need to pay dues to vote and become a board member. Keep in mind that your dues pay in part for the newsletter that we deliver to about 1000 homes each month. This is a costly endeavor and we rely on dues and ads to fund our newsletter. So please consider joining.
As the New Year begins we will be once again provide you with speakers on timely and relevant issues at our civic league meetings. We also want you to attend and bring your issues and concerns to us so that we may help address and/or rectify those issues and problems. You may keep track of the civic league happenings in our monthly newsletter but your presence at the meetings is greatly appreciated. Please consider attending. Please also visit us at http://www.wardscorner.com or http://www.wardscornernow.com
Finally please note that our meeting date for January and February has changed due to the holiday on our regular meeting day. The January meeting is the 25th and the February meeting will be the 22nd at 645PM. The meetings will be at the Wellness Center. I hope you can attend.
Thanks for allowing us to continue to serve you as officers of the Wards Corner Civic League.
Sincerely, Jim English
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