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- Our Team | LKLAWeb091319
Meet the Team Jim Klein Owner, Principal, Landscape Architect, ASLA Mr. Klein, with forty-five years of experience in the field, is well known for his extensive expertise in planning and design of all kinds of “long and skinny places” including river corridors, byways, heritage areas, touring routes, greenways, and trails. Jim served as the lead landscape architect for Virginia’s Route 50 Traffic Calming Project—a fifteen year national demonstration project for rural traffic calming. Mr. Klein's greenway and trail planning and design efforts including the design of the northern section of the Anacostia River Trail in Washington DC and Maryland suburbs, the Capital Crescent and the Metropolitan Branch Trails in Silver Spring and Takoma Park, MD, the East Peoria Riverfront Trails Plan, and the Neabsco Creek Boardwalk, a prime destination on the Potomac Heritage National Scenic Trail. Municipal scale active transportation planning experience includes the Peoria Heights Active Transportation Plan, Bowie Trails Master Plan, and Brookeville’s Active Transportation Comprehensive Plan amendment, Mr. Klein has graduate and professional degrees in Landscape Architecture from the University of Oregon and a Bachelor of Science in Agriculture from the University of Vermont. Elisabeth Lardner Owner, Principal, Landscape Architect, Planner, AICP Elisabeth Lardner has been practicing landscape architecture, planning, and urban design for forty-five years. She is a graduate of Harvard University’s Urban Design department with the honor of distinction, and the University of Oregon’s Landscape Architecture department. Ms. Lardner is highly skilled at working with community groups and other stakeholders to establish long-term partnerships in support of the implementation and management of public spaces. Ms. Lardner led the firm’s work on the award-winning master plan for Hindman, Kentucky, which started as a community-based development plan and resulted in implementation of 41 million dollars in investments in community infrastructure, open space enhancements, and transportation improvements over a ten-year period. Ms. Lardner is well known for Lardner/Klein’s park and recreation work including trail development projects in highly sensitive natural areas and cultural sites. Ms. Lardner is completing trail projects for the Idaho Nature Conservancy at the Silver Creek Preserve and for Baltimore County at Oregon Ridge Park. Rebecca Sibinga MLA, MArch, Landscape Architectural Designer Rebecca graduated from University of Pennsylvania with Masters degrees in Architecture and Landscape Architecture, and is preparing for licensure while working with L/KLA. Rebecca embraces multidisciplinary systems thinking: how does it all work, and what elements are vital for it to work for its users better? Rebecca has worked on public landscape projects at L/KLA, including concept designs for Oregon Ridge Park’s master planning process, trail assessment, and park master plans for Hopkins Quarry in Port Deposit, MD. She has managed and developed GIS data for sites ranging from parks to corridor scales; conducted and documented field reconnaissance; prepared concept plans, AutoCAD Civil 3D drawings, renderings, maps, and graphics for many of L/KLA's recent projects. Contact Us info@lardnerklein.com phone (703) 739-0972 fax (703) 739-0973 120 N Alfred St # 100, Alexandria, VA 22314, USA Home About Projects
- Parks, Trails, and Natural Areas | Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects
Parks, Trails and Natural Areas Stewardship is the key to L/KLA’s philosophy and practice, our foundation and outlook. In an era of limited resources—natural and economic—L/KLA brings skills and understanding on how to best manage and leverage a place’s assets while adjusting to the realities of capacity and site conditions. L/KLA has completed Natural Resource Management Plans for sites with rare and endangered species and important cultural resources and human interest; developed best practices for site management for treeless areas and homeowners; co-founded the Northern Virginia Urban Forestry Roundtable; and is an early implementor of bioinfiltration and complete streets practices. Beaverdam Reservoir Trail Assessment East Peoria Riverfront Trail Corridor Plan and Feasibility Study Neabsco Creek Boardwalk Nachusa Grasslands OTHER PROJECTS Active Park Planning Cameron County Dark Sky Park Resource Management Old Colchester Park + Preserve Natural Resources Managment Plan Laurel Hill Natural Resource Management Plan, Fairfax County, VA Elklick Woodlands Natural Resource Management Plan Rural Villages Study, M-NCPPC Ecological Planning, Guidelines and Manuals New River Gorge National River Landscape Management Plan + Vista Management Plan Treeless Area Technical Manual, Fairfax County Park Authority, VA You and Your Land - A Homeowner's Guide for the Potomac River Watershed Urban Forestry Culpeper Downtown Plan Roundtable/Trees Virginia Board Bioinfiltration and Complete Streets Chincoteague's Robert Reed Park Sarah Walker Mercer Park Master Plans, Parks and Trails City of Alexandria Open Space Master Plan 2017 Updated Implementation Strategy Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Management Plan Master Plan for Facilities and Interpretation American Chestnut Land Trust Preserve Chesterfield Riverfront Plan Master Interpretive Plan Rappahannock Station I and II Historic Dove Bank ADA Accessible Trail, Historic St. Mary's City, MD Appomattox River Heritage Trail LEED- Certification Cromley Lofts- LEED Certified Gold Watkins Regional Park Bowie Trails Plan Van Dyck Master Plan Anacostia River Trail
- Bull Run Natural Surface Trails | LKLAWeb091319
Bull Run Occoquan Trail Fairfax County, VA L/KLA is serving as the prime contractor leading a multi-disciplined team for the development of a trail inventory, assessment, and final design recommendations to address ongoing maintenance and sustainability issues funded through the federal Recreational Trails Program (NOVA Parks). The project consists of the realignment of approximately nine thousand five hundred linear feet of new natural surface single track trail with an optimal width of 4’ with a 3’ minimum where tree preservation or side slope constraints need to be addressed. The trail is designated for multiple uses where permitted. Mountain bicycle use is prohibited north of Old Yates Ford Road. Equestrian use is permitted. The expected finished condition is “Trail Class 3 (Developed)” in the US ForestService Trail Class matrix and “More Difficult (Blue Square)” in the IMBA Trail Difficulty Rating System. The analysis included: A summary of existing conditions gathered from existing and readily available GIS data An assessment of trail design considerations and potential treatments and structures for each head slope, v-shaped channel and perennial stream crossing for use in confirming the preliminary design alignment as flagged in the field and a preliminary opinion of probable cost (order of magnitude) • The development of final design and construction drawings for the proposed trail alignment
- Illinois River Road | LKLA
Illinois River Road Corridor Management Plan Update Ottawa to Havana, Illinois The effort helped various partners and stakeholders associated with the Illinois River Road to update their management plan and to reorganize their efforts to bring together like-minded partners into a new umbrella organization as part of the process. The updated CMP identified common priorities for the organization and its partners. Recommendations provide the rationale, implementation steps and potential sources of funding for each action. Getting outdoors, reaching various age groups and demographics, tying byway activities to the health and livbility quality of the Illinois River Valley are all endorsements for the activities the Illinois River Road National Scenic Byway is promoting in the region. People powered activities are an untapped reservoir of activities to support in future byway efforts. Tying any proposed improvements, linkages or promotions to health care programs targeting the 25-44 year old demographic may also open a potential funding avenue. Beyond the health incentives, getting people out and on or near the water will do much to dispel the stereotype of the river and to communicate the positive changes that have occurred over the past thirty years in the Illinois River basin. No longer a place to avoid, it is a great natural resource for canoeing, kayaking, paddle boarding and even swimming as demonstrated by the recent Bradley University triathlon where the swim segment took place in the river. Getting visitors and residents ‘to the river’ is a key focus of the byway. River access needs specifics – support river infrastructure for canoe trails, e.g. shuttling/outfitters – blue trails. This system will also give access to new stories (river landings, early history of settlement) that can be interpreted. New and improved mapping, noting water access points such as those found in Peoria, East Peoria, potential access points such as at the Bass Pro property along the backwater (top right), the access point to the easily paddled loop such as at the USFWS Chautauqua site or between Henry and Lacon (2nd from bottom at right) will make it easier for visitors to get to the river and to build on nature tourism opportunities. Similarly, there are minor and major improvements that can be made to enhance the bicycle ‘friendliness’ of the byway and local communities. Maintaining a route for nonevent oriented riders is as important as sponsoring and supporting organized rides.
- Cultural Heritage - Tourism | Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects
Cultural Heritage Tourism Heritage tourism is the business and practice of attracting and accommodating visitors to a place or area based especially on the unique or special aspects of that locale’s history, landscape (including trail systems), and culture. Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects (L/KLA) has been helping communities from Connecticut to California in their efforts to preserve, promote, and protect the cultural and natural resources of an area and enhance the travel experience as a means of establishing a nature-based or heritage-based tourism destination We often hear 'we just want to keep our farms, wooded hillsides and small towns just the way they are today.' But keeping a place 'just the way it is today' requires more hard work than accepting change and business as usual. Heritage and nature-based tourism help these communities to preserve what is important while sharing their heritage with those that care most about it. Heritage travelers are interested in history, and experiencing places that are unique, memorable and that cannot be easily replicated. L/KLA has helped communities conserve and enhance the special qualities and develop place-based travel experiences by managing a community or region’s heritage travel infrastructure – its scenic roads, parkways, greenways, trails and heritage corridors and touring routes. Many of these plans focused on leveraging the cultural and heritage resources within a corridor or region, encouraging links and joint marketing efforts between communities and sites to extend the visitor's stay, filling hotel rooms and selling more meals. More than just moving through a community, L/KLA helps communities to share their places and stories—encouraging people to get out of their cars, learn about a community and its stories, linger along its main street, and uncover the hidden beauty and history of an area. L/KLA helps a community or region organize its stories so that they can be told in an engaging and entertaining way– leaving more to be experienced on the next visit. California Historic Route 66 New Jersey Bayshore Heritage Byway Livability Plan for Utah's Scenic Byways Port Tobacco National Historic Site Illinois River Road Corridor Management Plan Update OTHER PROJECTS Management Plans Illinois River Road Corridor Management Plan Update Great Smoky Mountains National Park Newfound Gap Road Corridor Plan Lewes Historic Byway Corridor Management Plan California Historic Route 66 Corridor Management Plan from Needles to Barstow Star-Spangled Banner National Historic Trail CMP , Maryland, DC and Virginia Journey Through Hallowed Ground Corridor Management Plan, Monticello to Gettysburg , Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania Walton Road Historic Byway, Tennessee Michener's Chesapeake Country Scenic Byway, Maryland's Eastern Shore Maryland Historic National Road Corridor Partnership Plan Update Delaware River Valley Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan , Pennsylvania Religious Freedom Byway Management Plan, Maryland Brandywine Valley Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan, Delaware Crossroads of the American Revolution National Heritage Area Management Plan Consultant, New Jersey Brandywine Valley Byway Landscape Plans, Delaware Millstone Valley Scenic Byway, New Jersey Catoctin Mountain Scenic Byway Corridor Management Plan, Maryland Blue Crab Byway Corridor Management Services, Maryland Route 2 Byway, New York Monongahela Scenic Byway Corridor Management Services, West Virginia Palisades Interstate Parkway Corridor Management Plan, New York Route 7 Corridor, Connecticut Salisbury Scenic Byway, Connecticut Route 169 CMP, Connecticut Roxbury Scenic Corridor, Connecticut Sharon Scenic Corridor, Connecticut Collinsville Scenic Byway, Connecticut Savannah River Scenic Byway, South Carolina Lincoln Highway Management Action Plan, Pennsylvania Strategic Plans and Program Assistance Enhancing Bicycling and Walking on Maryland's Byways and Main Streets Oil Region National Heritage Area Sustainability Plan, Pennsylvania Utah Scenic Byways Strategic Livability Plan Maryland Scenic Byway Program Strategic Plan, MD SHA New Jersey Scenic Byway Program Strategic Plan, NJDOT Connecticut Scenic Roads Corridor Management Study Federal Highway Administration National Scenic Byways Program Cultural and Historic Landscapes Rural Villages, M-NCPPC, Prince George's County, MD Flight 93 National Memorial Travel Corridor Study, Somerset County, PA Aldie, Middleburg, and Upperville Battlefield Preservation Plan Consultant, Virginia Maryland Historic National Road Model Design Guidelines George Washington Birthplace General Management Planning Services, Virginia Appomattox National Historic Site General Management Planning Services, Virginia Sharon Green Preservation Strategies Laurel Hill's Lindsay and Physician's House Places Barstow Route 66 Specific Plan, California (underway) Fort Ward Park and Museum Area Management Plan, Alexandria, VA (in progress) Kings Highway Design Guideline, Princeton, NJ (in progress) Master Interpretive Plan Rappahannock Station I and II, Fauquier County, VA Historic Dove Bank ADA Accessible Trail Vienna Town Green, Virginia Hindman/Knott County Community Development Initiative--Using our Heritage to Build Tomorrow's Community, Kentucky Washington Heritage Trail Signage and Wayfinding Plan Chincoteague Waterfront Park Fredericksburg Riverside Park Master Plan, Virginia Fredericksburg Waysides, Virginia Main Street Gettysburg Alumni Park, Pennsylvania Apppomattox River Heritage Trail, Virginia New River Gorge - Nuttleburg Historic Site Preservation and Access
- Nachusa Grasslands | LKLA
Nachusa Grasslands Visitor Pavilion Franklin Grove, Illinois The reintroduction of bison at The Nature Conservancy’s Nachusa Grasslands has resulted in an increase in visitation at the 3,400-acre preserve in Lee and Ogle Counties, Illinois. Much of the acreage is reclaimed from active farmland and is knitted together with remnant (original) prairie. The preserve is home to 700 native plant species and 180 bird species in north central Illinois. The introduction of wild bison in 2014 attracted new visitors, many unfamiliar with the ecological landscape and the role of bison as a land management tool. The Landscape Architect, as the lead project director on a multi-discipline team for the concept and design development phase and team member for the construction administration phase, was asked to provide a sustainable, low-carbon footprint, accessible visitor facility encouraging visitors to educate themselves through a non-staffed, self-guided tour of interpretive exhibits. Visitor accommodations include a large open shelter—powered by the sun, accessible paths and overlooks, a bus drop-off and parking, native granite boulders for sitting and climbing, compost toilets, and potable water via a hand pump for splash playing in the summer. The new facility showcases the site’s stewardship and ecological importance through public, accessible facilities that are environmentally respectful and sustainable. Recognized with a 2019 Merit Award for Design (built) from the Potomac Chapter ASLA Recognized with a 2019 Jens Jensen Award from the Illinois Chapter of the ASLA Featured in ASLA Magazine's November 2015 Issue page 164 The Bison Begin Again By Timothy A. Schuler Click here to read Nachusa Grasslands Visitor Pavilion Development article in the Friends of Nachusa Grasslands Newsletter (3/17/16)
- Route 50 Traffic Calming | LKLA
Route 50 Traffic Calming Aldie, Middleburg Upperville, VA L/KLA served as the landscape architect on a multi-disciplined team that prepared conceptual, preliminary and final engineering plans for traffic calming measures along twenty miles of U.S. Route 50 in Virginia. The award-winning conceptual plan resulted in a $13.8 million federal demonstration grant for rural traffic calming. Traffic calming measures have been designed to increase highway safety by reducing speeding and aggressive driving through roadway design that naturally encourages motorists to drive at slower and safer speeds, while at the same time maintaining the character defining features of each of the town’s historic context. The project began in 1995 with a community-designed traffic calming conceptual plan prepared with the assistance of Ian Lockwood, an international expert in traffic calming. The award-winning plan resulted in a $13.8 million federal demonstration grant for rural traffic calming. The design includes: • Entryway treatments for Upperville, Middleburg, and Aldie • Special warning strips approaching the entrances to villages and towns • In-town measures including raised intersections, valley gutters, and the use of different pavers to narrow the look and feel of the road • Rural intersection treatments to protect left turning traffic • Changes to in-town horizontal alignment deflect the path of vehicles Construction in Upperville was completed in 2008 (above and right) and in Aldie in 2012. Roundabouts at Gilbert’s Corner (top left) were constructed in 2009 as part of a separate design build contract (by others). L/KLA continued its fifteen year effort as the landscape architect on a multi-disciplined team, led by HW Lochner that prepared conceptual, preliminary and final engineering plans for traffic calming measures along twenty miles of U.S. Route 50 in Virginia. The award-winning conceptual plan resulted in a $13.8 million federal demonstration grant for rural traffic calming. In Middleburg, L/KLA worked with the Town, its streetscape committee, and VDOT to incorporate the federally funded traffic calming measures into an ongoing streetscape renovation, completed in 2016. L/KLA was responsible for developing design concepts to ensure the project fit within MIddleburg’s historic context, including preliminary and final design plans for: • Curb extensions incorporated into eight intersections within the historic downtown • Working with the Town to select historically appropriate materials including vehicular clay pavers for crosswalks and matching existing brick pavers for the sidewalk areas • Installing new and expanding existing tree wells and incorporate soil cells, where appropriate to expand the root zone • Detailed design to carefully match existing conditions along the construction limits for the project • Worked with VDOT staff to develop special provisions for specialized project details not utilized on previous VDOT projects including soil cells and vehicular clay pavers Click here to read the Route 50 Traffic Calming Design Memorandum (February 2003)
- Current Projects | Lardner/Klein Landscape Architects
PROJECTS Parks, Trails, and Natural Areas Landscape Architecture Design Cultural Heritage Tourism Infrastructure and Resiliency Urban Design
- ViennaTownGreen | LKLA
Vienna Town Green Vienna, VA Completed in 2007, the Vienna Town Green is Vienna’s new central park and gathering space directly abutting Maple Avenue/Route 123 and the Washington & Old Dominion Trail. A sloping lawn serves as seating for the new amphitheater and is home to summer library programs, a concert series, and unstructured play space. A separate, formal green is protected by a low stone seat wall. Adjacent to the four-lane road, an extensive plaza serves as the front door to the community and host for many activities. As Project Manager for the Town Green, Ms. Lardner won the project based on her initial drawing of what she envisioned for our urban park at the Town’s core. The initial drawing became the design of the Town Green, capturing everything we had hoped for. The park is a masterpiece of common sense with whimsy and charm built in. In an atmosphere of doubt regarding the development of the Town Green, her calm and graciousness created trust among the Town residents, businesses and elected officials. Because of her ability to bring people together to work towards a common goal, the Town Green is now the focal point of our community.’ We feel privileged to know and to have worked with Ms. Lardner. Her designs are meant to last many lifetimes and to be identifying parts of our community. She is a wonderful asset to all landscape architects and an advocate for community design and involvement.’ Catherine Salgado, Director and Project Manager, Vienna Parks and Recreation, VA. A story in The Washington Post stated "The project will turn on its head the traditional notion of how a community develops: Colonial-era towns rose around their greens, and many Northern Virginia communities have built a town center first and counted on development to follow. Vienna’s green will be reclaimed from the growth that established the 116-year-old town." It is very powerful to create public space right in the heart of the town. Unlike plazas where shoppers rest at malls, the Vienna green is a true public space, reclaimed from the strip and owned by the public. On the site of a former commercial building and surface parking lot, the southern end of the block was reunited with its northern end, home to two historic buildings. Integrating the two seamlessly and creating open space in the heart of the strip - Vienna’s downtown, demonstrate how our suburban-built communities can be reclaimed. Constructed with a limited budget, a passionate client and highly sophisticated community, the project represents responsible stewardship of all resources—living and budgetary.
- Port Tobacco Courthouse | LKLA
Port Tobacco Courthouse Preliminary Design Charles County, Maryland L/KLA worked with Charles County, the Town of Port Tobacco (population 15) and key stakeholders to prepare a preliminary design that expands the capacity of the site to accommodate visitors while respecting the rights and privacy of individual property owners. The preliminary design addressed the following key program elements: Historical context of the village, once a bustling port along the Tobacco River and now a site rich in archaeological resources Expanding parking capacity utilizing permeable and/or turf pavers while avoiding archaeological sites Developing a village interpretive walk to tell the story of the once bustling town utilizing the original footprints of former building sites and historic photographs A landscape plan that captures the historic character of the town and hits heritage as a once bustling port Developing a signage plan for a family of five sign types (entry, orientation, wayside exhibits, historic markers, and regulatory signs Developing new sanitary facilities that do not rely on existing septic tank drainfields (architecturally appropriate portable facilities or composting toilet) A phasing plan that illustrates how the projects can be build out over time
- New Jersey Bayshore Byway | LKLA
Bayshore Heritage Byway Corridor Management Plan New Jersey L/KLA served as the scenic byway consultant working with a committee representing various state and local governments and civic groups to develop a corridor management plan for the Millstone Valley Scenic Byway. Members of the Advisory Committee represented many different viewpoints, all who shared an interest in the route. The Committee included people who lived or worked along the route, those responsible for its management and those with an extensive knowledge of the history of the area. The byway was designated as a National Scenic Byway through FHWA’s National Scenic Byway program. The byway, located in the narrow Millstone River Valley of north central New Jersey, offers a glimpse into the past where skirmishes between the local militia and British troops played a key role in the Revolutionary War. Attractions along the route include the Delaware & Raritan Canal State Park, the relocated Rockingham site in Franklin Township and the 1860 House near Rocky Hill Township. Click here to read the Bayshore Heritage Byway Corridor Management Plan (includes Appendix) (November 2012) The Bayshore Heritage Byway Corridor Management Plan was the recipient of a New Jersey ASLA merit award in the Landscape Planning and Analysis category in 2019
- About | Lardner Klein Landscape Architects
WHO ARE WE? WE ARE: PASSIONATE Our passion is the collective public landscape. We work with communities at local and regional scales to plan, design, and embrace stewardship at each site. Projects take the form of trails, greenways, parks, streetscapes, historic sites, and natural areas. We help clients and communities develop creative solutions that are sustainable, culturally sensitive, and cost effective. EXPERIENCED Our firm brings 34 years of practice as planners, landscape architects, and urban designers working in diverse communities. Creative problem solving and iterative, process-based thinking drive our practice. We paint a big picture of future opportunities coupled with detailed implementation strategies to achieve the vision and project mission. With years of experience, we astutely define key issues and challenges engaging in ongoing and relevant community dialogue, generating innovative solutions and effective results. CREATIVE We harness imaginative ideas and embrace the nuances of each problem to come up with unique and comprehensive solutions. We seek to engage communities to develop ideas from the ground up, articulating and refining visions and dreams. COLLABORATIVE We form, lead and work with multi-disciplined teams explicitly tailored for each specific project. Through careful collaboration, our teams—composed of designers, planners, engineers, scientists, cultural resource experts, interpretive planners, professional cost estimators, and others—respond to the inherent characteristics of sites and the context of the places and communities we engage. VISIONARY We employ regenerative and resilient design tools on every project to assist communities in shaping a more positive future, one that is responsive to immediate and long-term changes induced by factors such as limited budgets, climate change impacts, and demographic shifts. CONTACT info@lardnerklein.com phone (703) 739-0972 fax (703) 739-0973 120 N Alfred St. #100 Alexandria, Virginia 22314 Meet the Team Careers Media

