Arts and Humanities Council of Falls Church

CATCH Meeting May 22, 2014 Falls Church City Hall Dogwood Room Minutes / Notes Present: Barb Cram, Sally Cole, Keith Thurston, Nikki Graves Henderson, Marybeth Connelly, Laura Hull, Nikka Graves Henderson, Irene Chambers, Lindy Hockenberry, Midge Wang. Mr. Jim Snyder, City Planning Director attended the earlier Legislative Committee and stayed to provide some development updates to CATCH. The Downtown Small Area Plan is out for review and available on the City website. There will be a public meeting on June 2, 2014 and the City Council hearing and adoption on June 23, 2014. There was a discussion about possible walkways instead of streets such as Katie’s Alley in Georgetown. He also announced that the Blue and Gray building has been bought by the Lion Restaurant of Arlington. The empty Odd Fellows Lodge on Maple Ave has been acquired by Kerns Architects and will become their offices. Brian Ficky is the leader of the Kerns Group and was named as an emerging leader by the AIA. Mr. Snyder also mentioned his hope for the Rolling Road Trail off of South Maple Avenue could be developed as a pedestrian trail, celebrate it’s history and used for events. Banners was a key item of discussion with more in the works. Keith Thurston briefed about the set that is being acquired with Grant funds to basically serve as an entry feature and provide directions when entering the CATCH District from the south, at the corner of South Washington Street and South Maple Avenue. There will be a directional banner for the Tinner Hill Historic Site and the Historic Henderson House on South Maple Avenue. Banners for events will be handled by Recreation and Parks mounting them on the poles based on a schedule. City non-profits can buy their banners and the City will manage getting them up. CATCH Website Update. The site home page is being updated. The City’s new website has been launched and a link will be added to the City site to route visitors to CATCH. The Tinner Hill Blues Festival is for 3 days on the weekend 2 weeks after Memorial Day. Friday night is at the State Theater and the music Saturday and Sunday is at Cheery Hill Park. The Creative Cauldron is presenting “Shout” though May 25th – just 3 days left. There was a discussion about where to market City events. Oakwood has agreed to promote Falls Church events instead of just Fairfax events as has been in the past. Also, there is a possibility of using the Oakwood vans for shuttles on weekends for City events. Additionally there was a discussion about Welcome Packages for new residents and ensure that there is community announcement space in new retail developments approved by the City. The meeting adjourned at 10:40 am. Submitted: Keith Thurston