NEIGHBORHOOD CONDITIONS
The Leeway area was largely built as single-family homes for families coming to the
Washington area around World War II, and it retains that core housing stock to this day.
While the Lee Highway corridor has both commercial and townhouse developments, the
remainder of the community is primarily single-family, owner-occupied homes, on welltended lots, which provide Leeway a traditional neighborhood character that most civic
association residents seek to preserve.
The Leeway area varies widely in the amount of curb, gutter and sidewalk on each street.
The quality of street lighting also differs from one street to another. As part of its
Neighborhood Conservation Plan, community residents surveyed these features within
the Leeway area to identify locations where capital improvements are particularly
needed.
Curb, Gutter and Sidewalk
Map #X shows the existing curb, gutter and sidewalk in the Leeway Neighborhood
Conservation Area.
The majority of residents living in the Leeway Conservation Area believe sidewalks are
needed on all streets to improve pedestrian and traffic safety. However, some residents
are concerned that such improvements may diminish the rural feel of their streets and
destroy established trees and shrubbery. Most of the improvements recommended below
have been chosen based upon safety concerns. Additional projects identified and
qualified on a block-by-block basis shall be automatically incorporated into this
Neighborhood Conservation Plan. It is anticipated that none of the recommended capital
improvements will occur until the necessary majority of the affected property owners
agrees to them.
A periodic concern of the community is the need for repair to existing curbs, gutters and
sidewalks. The County’s program for surveying and repairing existing concrete work
should be aggressively pursued so that these items do not become unsafe or eyesores long
before scheduled repairs.
The following improvements to the network of curbs, gutters and sidewalks are
recommended by area residents:
Recommendations:
1. North Nottingham Street – install curb, gutter and sidewalk on the west side
between Lee Highway and 22nd Street North.
2. North Illinois Street – install curb, gutter and sidewalks to ensure continuous
sidewalk exists between 22nd Street North and Lee Highway.
3. 24th Street North – install curb, gutter and sidewalk between North Illinois Street
and North Kensington Street.
4. 22nd Road North – install curb, gutter and sidewalk between North Illinois Street
and North Harrison Street.
5. 23rd Street North – install curb, gutter and sidewalk between North Illinois Street
and North Kensington Street.
6. 23rd Street North – install curb, gutter and sidewalk between North Lexington
Street and North Nottingham Street.
7. North John Marshall Drive – install curb, gutter and sidewalk on the east side
between 25th Road North and 25th Street North, and just north of 26th Street North.
This will complete the sidewalk on this artery to Lee Highway.
8. North John Marshall Drive – install curb, gutter and possibly sidewalk on the east
side between 23rd Street North and 22nd Road North.
9. North Madison Street – install curb, gutter and sidewalk between Lee Highway
and 22nd Street North.
10. Install other curb, gutter and/or sidewalk where missing as qualified by property
owners through the County’s petition process and the Missing Links Program.
See Map #X and the Neighborhood Project List in Appendix A for listing of
streets without or with intermittent sidewalks.
In all of these, we recommend that infrastructure be installed in such a manner as to
maximize the greenery along the street, both by preserving existing trees and shrubbery
where possible, and by planting new trees and shrubs to replace those lost and to add to
the future neighborhood canopy and greenspace. Studies show that urban and suburban
streets with high levels of greenery are both safer and more valued as neighborhoods.1
Street Lighting and Utility Wiring
Map #Y shows the existing street lighting within the Leeway Neighborhood
Conservation Area.
The Leeway area exhibits several types of street lighting. The street lighting most
common in the neighborhood is covered cobra-style lights. These are installed on
existing utility poles. Coach-style lights were installed in the 1970s and 1980s as more
pedestrian friendly lights. Coach lighting has been installed on portions of North
Kenilworth, North Illinois, North Jefferson, and North Madison Streets and along the
John Marshall greenway between 22nd Road North and 22nd Street North. For the past
decade the County has primarily installed Carlyle-style pole lights in street improvement
projects. These lights have replaced cobra-style lights on the affected neighborhood
streets. Carlyle lights were installed on N. John Marshall Drive adjacent to the Overlee
See, e.g. (California) Local Government Commission, “Livable Communities and Urban Forests,” 2008
[http://www.lgc.org/freepub/community_design/factsheets/urban_forests.html]; also, Project Evergreen,
Lifestyle Benefits of Green Spaces [http://www.projectevergreen.com/why-green-matters/lifestylebenefits/], and Clackamas County, “Benefits of Trees” [http://www.ccurbangreen.org/Benefits.html].
1
Community Association and along the south side of 22nd Street North between the
greenway and North Quantico Street.
There are several deficiencies in the lighting network. The following improvements to
this network are recommended by area residents.
Recommendations:
1. 5700 block of 22nd Street North, between North Lexington and North Kentucky
Streets
2. 5700 block of 25th Road North, between North Lexington and North Kensington
Streets (2 lights needed)
3. 2300 block of North Illinois Street, between 23rd and 24th Streets North
4. 2200 block of North Powhattan Street, between 22nd Road North and Lee
Highway
5. Install additional lighting on other streets and public walkways as qualified by
residents through the County’s street light petition process. See Map #Y and the
Neighborhood Project List in Appendix X for additional lighting projects.
6. As future County revenues may permit, existing utility wiring in the
Neighborhood Conservation Area should be rerouted underground and the
existing telephone pole street lights replaced with Carlyle-style lights.
Traffic Calming
The Leeway area includes several streets with significant speeds and volume that threaten
the safety of pedestrians, particularly when streets lack sidewalks. Per the latest
measurements, three streets currently qualify for Traffic Calming per the County
standards. Our recommendation is that traffic calming measures be put in place to
improve pedestrian safety on these streets and on streets that qualify based on subsequent
measurements. Traffic calming should be considered as other street improvement
projects are designed and implemented.
The following improvements to this network have been endorsed by area residents.
Recommendations:
1. North Illinois Street – Traffic calming between Lee Highway and 22nd Street
North. This should be implemented as part of sidewalk, curb and gutter project.
2. North Kentucky Street – Traffic calming between Lee Highway and 22nd Street
North.
3. North Kensington Street – Traffic calming between Lee Highway and 22nd Street
North.
4. Evaluate whether streets qualify for traffic calming as part of existing and new
curb, gutter and/or sidewalk projects.
The specific form of traffic calming installed should reflect community consultation and
meet County standards for community support.
Parking
The Leeway Conservation Area covers a large and diverse area, parts of which are closer
to commercial facilities and mass transit than others. Neighborhoods adjacent to the Lee
Harrison shopping center and those residing near the East Falls Church Metro station
experience different parking (and other environmental) conditions than those living
further away from the commercial areas. Those who live near commercial areas report a
higher level of dissatisfaction with overflow of traffic and commercial parking into their
neighborhoods. .
Since the Leeway Conservation Area has mostly single family homes on narrow lots,
many with no driveways or garages, the majority of the households in the conservation
area park one or more vehicles on the street. On 22nd Street North between North
Quantico and North Powhattan Streets, parking is zoned to limit overflow parking from
the East Falls Church Metro. Otherwise, residents park on the streets with no restrictions.
Those areas closer to non-residential areas including the metro, apartments, and
commercial businesses experience overflow parking causing residents to compete for
street parking. At some intersections in the conservation area, cars parked along the
street are so close to the curb that line of sight is blocked for crossing motorists. These
situations stand to be exacerbated with East Falls Church (EFC) re-development options
currently being considered by the EFC planning task force.
The following recommendations have been endorsed by area residents.
Recommendations:
1. Enforce the existing ordinance restricting corner parking to ensure good line of
sight for crossing motorists.
2. The County should develop new codes (other than zoned parking) that ensure
adequate parking for commercial and multi-unit residential properties to minimize
overflow parking onto adjoining neighborhood streets.