Pool Parking on Village Drive

Hey there, wanted to get some opinions on the parking for the SW Pool on Village Drive.

During very busy days or swim meets, the parking is so bad that people are forced to park on the street -- OK no real biggie right? Well, the issue is that people park on both sides of the street and all the way up to the intersection of Village and Claiborne.

This barely leaves enough SAFE room to turn right/left onto Village from Claiborne or to exit Village -- because of the cars parked on both corners of the street.

I was wondering if its possible to either:
A: HOA ask the pool visitors to park further away from the corners of intersections or..
B: set up the street parking so that during these extremely busy times parking is allowed only on ONE side of the street. This will allow for safer access in and out of Village for other vehicles.


I know it sounds like a crazy request on the surface, but it won't the first time a car is involved in an accident because there wasn't enough space to drive or visually see traffic. Or worse yet, a kid runs out from either side of the road in between the parked cars and gets hit. With cars on one side only, you have less things to worry about.

Just a thought.

C-

 

I live off Village and therefore drive down it every single day. This weekend might have been parties, but trust me, Village drive is NOT lined with cars near the pool on normal days. Not even close.

On normal days you may find 3-4 cars total parked on the side of Village Drive.

Come down that road when there is a Swim Meet and you'll see what I mean. Recently I've noticed more and more people walking from their cars to the pool. I believe that during peak hours, the pool parking lot might get filled, forcing people to park on the road, then the people that park in the lot leave, creating the illusion that the pool parking lot is empty and therefore the street parking must be for residents.

Again, I'm not saying this is a common occurrence, just trying to look at it from a safety aspect.

 

Village is a VDOT street. The HOA does not control parking on it. If you see cars parked illegally (being parked to close to street corners IS illegal) call the sheriff's office.
The HOA can advise the swim team to patrol/enforce the parking during swim meets a little better. If not, then the end result could be cars being towed/ticketed for illegal parking.

 

thanks Cliff -- I'll keep an eye out and call the sheriff if need be.

Is there a place I can find that lists which streets are VDOT vs. community owned?

C

 

Take a look at the February newsletter -page 14 -
http://www.broadlandshoa.org/fileshare/files/24/2008/02FEB08.pdf

 

Being a Village Drive resident like a4guy I'll have to agree with him -- the street parking craziness is always whenever there is a swim meet. I think the attendees don't want to get "stuck" in the lot at the end of the event and park on the street to facilitate a speedy getaway. I have, on several occasions, nearly been hit or nearly hit someone for precisely the reasons a4guy listed. I do not routinely see this level of street parking around the front of Village any other time.
It would be great if the swim meet organizers would let attendees know ahead of time to please park away from the corners (and if possible to please use just one side of the road). I don't think this is unreasonable, if it's possible, and there's plenty of street parking further up Village and on other side streets.

I really wouldn't want some irate parents to come out of a swim meet to find their vehicles towed because they were never asked not to park in certain places. Sure, there may be an ounce of common sense they're not exercising, but at least if they're put on notification perhaps they'll be less likely to contribute to the problem if they know that the sheriff might be called and that might lead to a towed vehicle....

 

As much as I aggree with you, the argument would be that you could come in off of Milford and navigate to your house that way, avoiding the traffic mess.

now, yes you are 100% right. There are times when I have made the mistake of turning onto Village drive and have driven the gauntlet of mini vans and SUVs mainly avoiding the pedestrians standing in the road, while being honked at by the exiting parents on why I'm going so slow (avoiding said pedestrians). I think we really need to require the swim club to hire an off duty Sheriff to direct traffic in and out of there on days of their swim meets. It would be a wise investment on their part.

 

I could use Milford but my stubborn-headed stance is, why should I have to?
And, if residents do get fed up and call the sheriff's office, I'd feel bad about them towing cars if the swim meet attendees weren't warned of the possibility ahead of time. That's all I'm saying. They should just be asked to park safely and respect the laws.
What if the curbs were painted yellow to indicate "not a place to park" as is often used? Or would that go against the overall community image Broadlands is trying to project?

 

I am a Village drive resident and have to agree with a4guy and technospan. Parking on both sides leave very limited space for two cars to pass by in the middle of Village drive. It gets a little scary. However, I don't want to make these swimmers feel bad by towing them. I would rather advice them where to park.

Another issue I noticed lately is, when you come out of one of the side road off Village drive and stop at the stop sing, you see cars parked on Village drive on both sides (not both sides of Village drive. Side side of Village. But, left and right side of the side road.) Now, you have to come further (almost to the middle of Village drive) to see whether there are cars coming before you turn left or right. The other day, I was about to be hit by a van as I couldn't see the oncoming van as these parked vehicles obstructed my view. Need to work on this too.

 

I live off Village and totally agree with everything.

I think it's somewhat of a minor thing to be calling the Sheriff to tow folks (unless it's really bad/illegal/dangerous).

Cliff or HOA - do you have a contact for the swim folks we can email or call? I think it's best to contact them and suggest maybe they can help enforce parking on only one side of Village. I think that will help.

It has been a major problem with folks parking too close to the intersection so when you pull out to turn on Claiborne you cannot see oncoming traffic. The last few meets I've seen someone putting out orange cones so folks don't park so close (which has helped).

My other concern is what when folks park on both sides, families and kiddies are darting between cars and across the street to get to/from the pool because they cannot see either!

 

This page lists the Board members of the swim team.

http://www.broadlandsswimteam.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=147&Itemid=101

ODSL swims at the Southern Walk Pool, so contacting the VP of ODSL might be your best bet. I know that they encourage people to park at the Nature Center, but with ~ 80-100 kids on the team (plus whatever is on the other team), available parking fills up fast.

If you check their schedule, they only have three home meets left this year - Wednesday July 16, Saturday July 19, and Wednesday July 23. Note that the 19th is a divisional meet against 3 other teams, so parking should be especially bad - and the 23rd is a relay carnival for the league, which could be even worse, though only a portion of each team will probably attend this one.

 

The swim team has been informed that they are not suppose to park along Village this is a policy that has been in effect for the last few years. If you see any cars that are parked within 10 ft of an intersection it is parked there so illegally and the sheriff's office should be called. If the people get mad I am sorry they have already been warned they will be towed.

Staci

 

What about parking at the Nature Center lot and walking through the tunnel to get to the pool? Aren't most meets during non-business hours? Just a thought...

 

A lot of pools, when they host divisional meets (6 teams), they will usually allow very limited general parking in the lot (reserved for officials and coaches) and will have general parking offsite. The Nature Center is perfect for this or see if the church parking lot can be used and run shuttles. I have seen this be done very effectively over the years.

 

Since we are on this subject... I have seen cars and pickup truck along side of Village drive at the intersection of Windy Oaks Sq. and Village Drive which makes it difficult to see traffic before making the turn from Windy Oaks Sq onto Village Drive. Kindly requesting the person who parks their vehicle to park 15 to 20 feet away from the intersection to prevent.

 

I emailed the VP and the President. I'll let you know what I hear. I also gave them the thread link and encouraged them to come here also.

thanks!

 

Would it be possible to yellow-curb the 20 feet or so before the Claiborne/Village intersection, since it's illegal to park there anyway?

 

Here is the response to my e-mail from yesterday,

"Thank you for your concern. We are aware of the posting, and will make sure that all parking for our final home meets, of which there are 3, is legal by
the county and by VDOT standards. We plan to "amp up" our current parking
signage, to indicate 'No Parking" 20 feet from the intersections. We will
continue to encourage our team and the visiting team to park at the Nature
Center for overflow.

As we did last year, for our larger meets (Relay Carnival and Divisionals)
we have secured the Mill Run School lot and clearly marked the tunnel to
direct safe foot traffic.

As we have grown over the years (we are now over 210 Broadlands families on both teams , we have always worked with our fellow neighbors and residents to tackle new challenges as they come. Ideally, with only 6-7 home meets a year, this is hopefully only a concern for a few 4 hour periods. We
appreciate your patience with the situation, and will make sure the intersections at the next meet are safe for residents, swimmers and
families.

Please feel free to stop by and cheer us on!
Thanks again for your concern, and feel free to contact me for anything else
you may need.
Annie Baba"

 

Update: for the people who think this is just "party parking" please go take a walk or drive by the competitive pool complex right now, before everyone leaves. You'll see what a mess it is.

"Thank you" to the meet organizers, who I believe do try to control the parking situation by placing out signs clearly stating "no parking beyond this point" to keep the intersections clear and visible. I'm not sure if letters go home to parents/families of swim team participants letting them know about the otherwise common-sense parking laws in this state, but perhaps they should consider it if it's not done.

Some drivers have, again, removed the "no parking" signage, as they have done at the last several meets. I guess they think if they take away the sign, they can park in those places, and they're not breaking the law?

So to that end, I'd like to say "thank you" also to the Loudoun County Sheriff's Office for helping re-educate those people. Several cars have parked too close to intersections and were ticketed tonight, though I saw several more that could have been (including one parked literally on the corner of Village Dr and Windy Oaks Sq). I also stood and watched as drivers coming off of the Village Dr. side streets, and off of Village Dr onto Claiborne, struggled to see around these idiot parkers. One driver couldn't see a group of children crossing -- at a crosswalk, no less -- and nearly took them all out. The driver was going safe speeds. She just couldn't see over the huge minivan parked right at the corner.

Ah well. Here's hope for the next meet. Go Piranhas!