They have to surmount some issues surrounding utilities, but Arlington officials expect to have the John Robinson Jr. Town Square in the Green Valley neighborhood ready for public use by the end of September.
That’s the verdict of County Manager Mark Schwartz, who briefed County Board members June 15 on a number of new facilities set to come online.
Robinson, who died in 2010 at 75, long was involved in the Green Valley (also known as Nauck) community. The Green Valley Civic Association asked the County Board to name the facility in his honor.
As head of the Martin Luther King Community Center and publisher of the Green Valley News, Robinson was a fixture in the community during turbulent times for a neighborhood that had been one of the few African-American Arlington communities during the era of segregation.
Voters approved funding for the project in a bond referendum.
The design calls for shade trees, a stage, a bio-swale that fills with water during rainstorms, moveble chairs and game tables, and a stage at the north end, along with a wall commemorating Nauck history. The highlight is likely to be a 30-foot-tall sculpture that spells out “FREED” rising vertically from ground level.
Initial plans called to have the project completed by 2019, but that timetable slipped several times. County Board members in July will be asked to approve a use permit for the site, so it can be opened for public use whenever ready.