Finding Neighborly Solutions in Arlington

Residents Often Gather to Tackle Challenges

David Mog, a 26-year resident of Arlington Forest, has a concern. A few new neighbors aren't abiding by the informal neighborhood code -- and he came to the Arlington Forest Citizens Association meeting last month to do something about it.

His idea: Invite these neighbors to the association and politely teach them about the area and its customs. That way, "when people decide to renovate their homes, they're a little more respectful."

It's not radical, but it's in keeping with the neighborhood's civic traditions.

In Arlington Forest, there is little room for what are often derided as McMansions -- the homes in the neighborhood date to just before World War II. It's a place of tiny lots with two-story houses and two-lane streets, most nearly empty from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. People like Mog want to keep that feel, even though the neighborhood sits in the shadow of densely developed Ballston, a few minutes' walk from Ballston Common mall and some of Arlington's most popular pubs and restaurants.

Every month at Barrett Elementary School on George Mason Drive, the citizens association is called to order and, for an hour, residents solve problems with well-mannered old-fashioned discussion. Mog's proposal garnered lots of support at last month's meeting, attended by about a dozen people.

Mog, a physics teacher at Sidwell Friends School, was the association president in 1984-85. In many other neighborhoods, he might be considered an old-timer. Not Arlington Forest.

Sitting to Mog's right was Elroy Nieweg, the Arlington Forest historian. He has lived in the neighborhood for more than 40 years. He compiled the Arlington Forest history book, a compendium of notes from the association dating to 1939.

Before then, Arlington Forest was exactly that, a forest. That changed when a few real estate developers read about a new government building planned for the Defense Department along the Potomac River. The Pentagon would bring thousands of new government employees to Northern Virginia.

In 1939, developer Robert O. Scholz broke ground on the neighborhood's first house, on what is now Arlington Boulevard. After that, homes in Arlington Forest sprouted like dandelions. About 850 houses were built in the years before and just after World War II, few distinguishable from any other home in Arlington Forest. Some homes have been renovated and expanded since the 1940s, but most have retained their basic floor plan -- three bedrooms, one bathroom.

"I once suggested that since we all owned the same house, we should all have the same owner's manual," Mog said.

The neighborhood's earliest residents established a tradition of close-knit community. "They had a lot of pride," said Pete Sill, who grew up in Arlington Forest and owns a number of houses in the area. "They took care of [the homes] and over the years . . . there was just a concept of community there, and it's been there ever since."

There are certainly people who come and go, their names unknown to their neighbors. They are the exception, however, not the norm. For others, groups such as the citizens association and the Barrett school's parent-teacher association are a way to achieve shared goals. "I think it's because the people who live here, we work together, we have block parties together," Nieweg said.