Author: Jo DeVoe

Yard work builds bonds and bots for Arlington robotics team

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

An Arlington Tech robotics team has an unusual strategy for building camaraderie and raising money ahead of competition season: yard work.

Every fall, members of the Koibots weed, rake and landscape around 40 yards in Arlington. Money funds the cost to pay for robot parts and travel and lodging when competitions start in March.

“We’re kids, we all we have the ability to go out and break our backs for four hours on a weekend, shoveling, raking leaves and whatnot,” says rising senior Madeline Florio. “It is a service that people do need and we are able to provide it. Our customers are pretty loyal.”

The team’s coach, engineering teacher Steve Nystrom, says yard work hones their ability to communicate and work together, which comes in handy during the building phase.

“So when you start making the robot, you need to know, who can I depend on? Who can I count on? Who has the skill sets?” he said. “Ironically, you can build a lot of that and know a lot of those answers by going out on yard jobs.”

This kind of fundraising makes the Koibots an anomaly, says rising junior Anna Litwiller. Most teams get large sums of money from Boeing, Lockheed Martin and sometimes the Dept. of Defense.

The yard work might provide the team a competitive advantage, especially considering how well they’ve performed in their short existence.

Despite being in existence for just five years and having constructed only three robots, the team has twice made the cut-offs for districts — where the top 50% of teams in D.C., Virginia and Maryland compete in the spring.

This year, the Koibots came in 36th out 0f 60 and won an award for its design and branding, which leans heavily into its quirky culture influenced by marine life.

Nystrom said he chose the name “Koibots” because Arlington Tech’s Frisbee team is called “The Kois.” After naming their second robot “Sharkbait,” the aquatic theme stuck.

“We try to do as much as we can send her around the fish, and the IKEA shark, and all sorts of aquatic things,” says rising junior Shangwen Cheng. “We highly encourage our team members to get a shark because they’re wonderful but it really brings together our team in a way that you really can’t from the engineering alone.”

“Obviously, we’re here to encourage a love of STEM and building things and learning all things technical, but it’s also a lot of fun and you get to throw sharks around at people,” she continued.

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Condo association: consider edibles rather than smoking weed

By Jo DeVoe
Multifamily units in Fairlington Villages (via Google Maps)

A condo association in Shirlington rolled out tips both smoking and non-smoking homes can implement to prevent the spread of stray smoke.

One suggestion, targeted to marijuana users, is blunt: consider switching to edibles.

Confronted with mounting complaints from residents about smoke from neighbors infiltrating their homes, management for Fairlington Villages reminded smoking residents to be mindful of their neighbors.

The issue is most acute within multifamily buildings in the community, which consists of townhomes and apartments in 2-4 story buildings around S. Abingdon Street in the Shirlington neighborhood. General Manager Gregory Roby told ARLnow his office gets complaints from tenants roughly once a month about tobacco and marijuana smoke drifting from one unit to another.

“This problem was on the decrease, corresponding to the decreasing number of people smoking tobacco products, but has started to turn around with the legalization and ready availability of marijuana,” he said.

On its website and on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, management suggested different tips for smokers and non-smokers to smoke-proof their homes.

In the thread, Fairlington Villages thanked residents in advance for any steps they take to mitigate the negative effects of smoking. While cigarette smokers have to find ways to keep the smoke in, or purify what does escape, the message notes marijuana users can talk to a doctor about switching to edibles.

People need a doctor’s note to get medical marijuana from a dispensary. Arlington’s first medical dispensary opened earlier this year — about a year and a half after Virginia legalized marijuana possession. State efforts to build up an industry around the plant have stalled.

Roby attributes the issue of smoke transferring among units to the age of Fairlington Villages, built more than 75 years ago. He said the walls have large gaps behind cabinets and appliances, as well as open spaces between units, through which smoke pass and even seep into common stairwells.

“Sealing these openings, as well as common-wall outlets, etc., can help decrease unit-to-unit transference,” he noted. “Creating negative pressure in the unit, either by opening a window (depending upon outside pressure) or turning on exhaust fans, helps draw fresh air into the stairwells and units, minimizing the possibility of unit-to-hallway transfer.”

Previously, the condo association has dealt with wilder forms of infiltration, once by a mangy fox and another time by hungry racoons.

Construction could begin next year on affordable housing redevelopment in Crystal City

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

Construction could start on the redevelopment of Crystal House Apartments in Crystal City late next spring.

Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing (A, which is spearheading the project along with D.C.-area developer EYA, expects to kick off construction in May or June of 2024, APAH spokeswoman Elise Panko tells ARLnow.

Arlington County selected the two companies build more affordable housing on the Crystal House apartment property after Amazon granted the county development rights to the vacant land, worth approximately $40 million. APAH and EYA have plans to construct 844 units on this empty plot, of which 655 will be designated as affordable.

Meanwhile, existing units will be kept affordable through a separate loan from Amazon. In an effort to mitigate the impact of its move to Arlington on the local housing market, the tech giant loaned the Washington Housing Conservancy money to purchase and stabilize rent at the complex, located at 1900 S. Eads Street, just one block from its second headquarters.

Several months after being selected to lead the project, APAH has requested the county’s permission to amend the previously approved development plans for the site, aiming to incorporate affordable housing, according to recently filed application materials.

APAH began by redesigning the project’s first phase, dubbed “Crystal House VI,” which is set to be located at the corner of 18th Street S. and S. Fern Street.

A rendering of Crystal House VI (via Arlington County)

When the project was approved in 2019, the “Crystal House VI” was envisioned as a five-story building housing 63 units. However, APAH now intends to pivot towards affordable senior rentals, which the developer says is necessary to secure additional financing.

The developer requested permission to increase the number of units to 80 and halve the number of parking spaces.

It also requested different façade materials that “maintain a high quality and appealing design while reducing construction costs,” according to land-use attorney Nicholas Cumings.

According to a letter from Cummings, the increase in units can be achieved without changing the building’s overall footprint. The units will be smaller than the originally planned market-rate condos.

“The proposed minor site plan amendment represents a significant milestone in realizing the county’s goals,” APAH Executive Vice President Carmen Romero wrote in a letter of support to the county. “Creating these homes requires the approval of this minor site plan amendment in order to make the design compatible with an affordable senior rental project.”

Once construction starts next year, Panko says APAH anticipates Crystal House VI to be done in the fall or winter of 2025.

“This phase will reconnect the streetscape to the surrounding community as well as provide carefully crafted amenities for our seniors that foster a sense of belonging and enhance the overall quality of life for residents,” Romero said in her letter.

When asked for a timeline of the other projects in the pipeline, Panko said “there are two buildings on the site that will remain occupied, so the development will be phased to accommodate existing operations.”

Parks department reports credit card payment issues during fall class registration

By Jo DeVoe
A frustrated technology user (illustration by ARLnow)

(Updated at 2:45 p.m.) Registration for fall classes through the parks department hit a snag this afternoon.

Spots opened up Tuesday for this fall’s slate of recreation and nature and history classes, dubbed ENJOY classes. Today, however, users may have experienced a slow system with error messages not authorizing credit card payments or delays receiving receipts.

Early this afternoon, the Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation announced it was having technical difficulties with accepting payments by credit card.

In posts on social media, DPR encouraged people to instead pay by eCheck as it does not go through the same payment system as credit cards.

About 30 minutes later, the parks department said the issue had been resolved.

DPR spokeswoman Jerry Solomon tells ARLnow the payment snafu only briefly affected registration today. Between Tuesday and yesterday, she said, the system successfully logged more than 8,000 total registrations, including more than 7,000 completed online.

“The payment issue was only experienced during today’s registration,” she said. “We posted on our webpages and social media to make sure the community was aware, however as soon as the issue was rectified, people were able to resume their registration process as normal.”

Just after 12:50 p.m. the parks department received the all-clear from the payment processor that the system is fully functioning. By 1:20 p.m., more than 3,600 people were able to successfully register for classes, Solomon noted.

“We will have a better sense of what occurred today once our payment processor has diagnosed the issue,” Solomon said.

There was an issue with the payment processor during the Summer ENJOY registration process but she said it is unclear if this issue is the same.

“During the summer, staff were able to quickly respond by sharing an announcement online, helping callers, and making arrangements for payment by eCheck or at a later date,” she said.

This bug may be new but DPR has a history of issues with its registration platform.

In recent years parents would wake up bright and early, mouses at the ready, they would encounter problems logging in and navigating error messages — due to the crush of people trying to register at the same time.

Longstanding issues bubbled over last year when, despite efforts to beef up the system, it still crashed. County leaders put pressure on DPR to study what went wrong and develop a corrective plan. The break down also prompted the county to focus on ensuring departments properly vet technology services vendors.

After some tweaks and the addition of a wait room, this year’s summer camp registration process seemed to go off without a hitch — only for this new credit card payment issue to arise.

D.C. restaurant Immigrant Food to journey across the Potomac into Ballston

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

(Updated at 12:20 p.m.) D.C. restaurant Immigrant Food appears to be coming to Ballston.

The eatery looks to be moving into a building across the street from the Ballston Metro station, according to an application filed with the county.

This would be the restaurant’s first foray out of the District, where Immigrant Food has three outposts: the Planet Word Museum, the White House and Union Market.

As part of its move, the restaurant applied for permission to build out a patio seating area for the space it is leasing at the base of a 7-story office building. The office tower, owned by The Nature Conservancy, is located at the corner of Fairfax Drive and N. Taylor Street, while the restaurant’s address is 4245 Fairfax Drive, Suite 150.

“The proposed changes, if approved, would further the Countywide goal of promoting the economic vitality of Arlington by increasing the walkable restaurant space within the high-traffic Ballston Metrorail area,” land use attorney Andrew Painter wrote in a letter to the county filed with the patio application.

The head chef of Immigrant Food is Enrique Limardo, of D.C. restaurant Seven Reasons fame. With the expansion of Immigrant Food into Arlington, Limardo cements his culinary presence in the county, as he is also behind Chicken + Whiskey — another restaurant that started in D.C. and opened in Clarendon earlier this summer.

The space was last occupied by Zoë’s Kitchen, a Greek-inspired soup, salad and sandwich restaurant, which appears to have closed some four years ago. Fast-casual chain Cava purchased the Zoë’s Kitchen in 2018 and has since taken over many locations.

Immigrant Food did not return requests for comment submitted to their website.

The proposed patio for a forthcoming location of Immigrant Food in Ballston (via Arlington County)

APS proposal to change middle school boundaries already has some opposition

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Plans from Arlington Public Schools to redraw middle school boundaries have already prompted opposition from some families.

A new petition is circulating that calls on the Arlington School Board to reject the proposal and keep Dorothy Hamm Middle School, one of the affected schools, walkable.

“This proposal is being rushed through an approval process in the summer/early fall without the benefit of proper input from those who will be most impacted by the change,” reads the petition, which had 148 signatories before publication. “Middle schoolers from a great many households located within a few short blocks of Hamm will now be forced to take a bus to a school 3 miles away.”

APS is developing plans to address declining enrollment at Williamsburg Middle School and over-capacity problems at Gunston and Swanson middle schools. It proposes bussing several students from Dorothy Hamm and Swanson to Williamsburg, even though many live within walking distance of their current schools. Additionally, to reduce enrollment at Gunston, APS is considering relocating the Spanish language immersion program to Kenmore Middle School.

The proposal has elicited negative reactions from some parents of both current and former Dorothy Hamm students.

The Parent-Teacher Association of Taylor Elementary School, which feeds into Dorothy Hamm, also sent an email to families expressing its opposition to the changes and shared its plans to advocate against them.

For its part, APS says it is aware that fewer students would be able to walk to school if the proposed changes go through. Per a presentation from the school system, about 55% and 70% of students live within walk zones for Hamm and Swanson. These numbers would drop to 40% and 60%, respectively.

“We know that, in order to fill capacity at the building, we’re going to move probably quite a few walkers from Swanson and Dorothy Hamm to Williamsburg in order to even out capacity across schools,” APS Planning and Evaluation Dept. Executive Director Lisa Stengle said during a June work session on the proposal.

Current conditions for middle schools in Arlington (via APS)

The proposed changes would reverse a decision APS made in 2017 boundary process to prioritize sending students to schools within walking distance. Stengle said staff at the time knew the tradeoff would be overcapacity at Swanson and vacant seats at Williamsburg.

Swanson is currently projected to reach 105% capacity by 2025, while Williamsburg is expected to drop to 71% capacity in the same timeframe, per the APS presentation. Although Swanson’s overcapacity issue is predicted to lessen by 2027, Williamsburg’s enrollment is forecasted to continue declining.

“This recommendation possibly fills middle schools closer to capacity, increases the number of students who require transportation based on current policy and practices and requires more information to determine transportation costs,” Stengle said.

Projected school utilization rates in Arlington in 2027 (via APS)

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Arlington County eyes better coordination after tech struggles

By Jo DeVoe
A frustrated technology user (by Jane Michelle Sayson for ARLnow)

For the sixth year in a row, Arlington County has been named the No. 1 Digital County for 2023 for counties of comparable size.

The accolade highlights Arlington’s progress toward moving its operations onto the cloud — which Arlington County Chief Information Officer Norron Lee says makes county processes safer, greener and easier — as well as its broadband access study and the priority placed on customers.

These achievements exist alongside the reality that many residents have reported not-so-seamless experiences interacting with certain county processes online. Perhaps this happens once a year when the sign their kids up for camp or apply for a residential parking permit or more frequently, for instance when builders interact with Permit Arlington.

System crashes, delayed launches and slow service have made local news headlines over the past few years. While not headline grabbing, other issues linger: having separate logins for various county systems, minimal online-based support, and — in at least one recent case, for a specific business tax — a requirement to receive mail or make phone calls in order to register for a new “paperless” system.

One issue, according to multiple interviews conducted by ARLnow over the past month, is a highly siloed approach to technology at the county level, with departments making their own tech decisions despite limited expertise.

“I think we started to deviate from best practice when, in other parts of the world, technology was more of a component of every other department’s daily life, not a separate entity unto itself,” says Aneesh Chopra, a longtime resident, who was appointed by former President Barack Obama to be the first Chief Technology Officer of the U.S.

Arlington may have world-class broadband but, he says, “when it comes to these applications that are effectively run by different departments, it feels like they stopped innovating since the 1990s.”

Arlington County Board members and the County Manager’s Office say they are aware of the frustrations their constituents face and envision a day when technology does a better job of streamlining bureaucratic processes, freeing up staff for complex issues, and houses all government interactions in one place.

“We are in a good place, in my opinion, but I do think — instead of trying to adopt a relatively bureaucratic system with a digital face or front — we have to think about how those processes can be streamlined,” County Board member Takis Karantonis said, when talking about Permit Arlington. “This is a work in progress, still.”

He and County Board Chair Christian Dorsey say Arlington needs a one-stop shop for people to take care of all the ways they interact with government.

“There ought to be some… seamless way to [respond to bureaucratic needs] in a central web portal that’s also optimized for mobile use as well, where people can do this with a minimum of user names passwords to recall,” said Dorsey.

Dorsey alluded to “an articulation of way forward” before he leaves the Board this December.

“We can easily articulate what we need to be doing but getting there needs resources the Board has felt uneasy committing while we’ve had other pressing priorities,” such as the response to Covid, he said.

The county does not have someone whose sole responsibility is inter-departmental technology integration. The effort instead falls to the County Manager’s Office and the Dept. of Technology Services, which is guiding a cooperative effort across 26 county departments that have staff with varying technological literacy.

For Deputy County Manager Aaron Miller, the county’s “federated” structure has its pluses, like staff who are more responsive when there are problems, but there are downsides.

“When we do have to have centralized discussions it takes a lot of time to get everyone on the same page,” he said. “It’s a lot of time to pull everyone together… What we want to do is make sure that we are implementing systems that get the best experience but, sometimes, that comes with trade offs. When you look to centralize those systems, you essentially can water down functionality that might be important.”

Striking that balance and reaching this goal is fraught technological and legal hurdles, Miller says, but the county is motivated by hiccups people experienced getting permits and signing up for camp.

Already, the Dept. of Technological Services has stepped up its vetting of technology vendors for other departments. Miller says vendors often come “promising us that they can solve all of our problems,” but it can be difficult for someone without a technical background to evaluate a vendor’s ability to actually deliver on their promises.

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Arlington historians are collecting documents that tell the history of the county’s Latino community

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington Central Library (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Arlington County historians are collecting artifacts to document the history of the Latino community in the county.

So far, some notable contributions include personal effects from former Arlington School Board member Emma Violand-Sanchez, who has been active in the Latino community for many years, Arlington Center for Local History Manager Judith Knudsen tells ARLnow.

“She is a wonderful resource and has also introduced us to several organizations [and] people who also have material we would like to receive and preserve,” Knudsen said. “The Bolivian Soccer League has donated their records and Kathie Panfil who worked in the schools for many years has also donated material.”

Between 1990 and 2000, Arlington’s population of Hispanic and Latino residents increased by nearly 53% and today, this group makes up 15.7% of the population, according to the Center for Local History, or CLH. But the Arlington Community Archives stewarded by the CLH did not grow at the same rate.

To remedy that, county archivists embarked on this multi-year collecting initiative, dubbed “REAL,” or el Re-Encuentro de Arlington Latinos. The CLH is looking to fill the holes in its archives with donated materials from people, businesses, civic groups, schools and the government documenting the history of Arlington’s Latino community.

“Community archives play a vital role in documenting all voices of a community,” the library website says. “Understanding the diverse experiences of these individuals, students, families, businesses, officials and community groups is critical to understanding Arlington’s history. With four decades of rich community history, it is vital to begin collecting materials that capture this story.”

Efforts like this take time, Knudsen says, adding that REAL has always been seen as a long-term project.

“Current organizations are busy working to help their communities, understandably, and donating material to an archive is not the first thing on their mind,” she said. “However, as more groups donate the word spreads and we get more donations. We just have to be patient and remind organizations/individuals from time to time. The interest is there.”

The CLH is accepting any and all materials “created in the process of engaging in community, civic, educational or personal pursuits in Arlington County.”

Examples include:

  • Meeting Minutes or notes
  • Fliers
  • Financial Materials
  • Publications
  • Photographs
  • Newsletters
  • Personal Papers such as diaries, journals, notes, lists, etc.

“Donated materials will become part of the Center for Local History’s Arlington Community Archives, and will be available to donors and other researchers,” the website says. “Donations may be digitized to increase access.”

Arlington National Cemetery seeks feedback on plans to remove Confederate Memorial

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington National Cemetery Confederate Memorial (via Arlington National Cemetery/Twitter)

Arlington National Cemetery is seeking public input on its proposal to remove the Confederate Memorial from its grounds.

Atop a 32-foot-tall pedestal in the cemetery stands a bronze statue of a woman depicting Confederate soldiers and Southern civilians, according to the cemetery website. The figures include an enslaved woman holding the infant child of a white officer and an enslaved man following his owner to war.

“The elaborately designed monument offers a nostalgic, mythologized vision of the Confederacy, including highly sanitized depictions of slavery,” the website says.

The statue is set to be removed nearly 110 years after its unveiling and placement in a section of the cemetery where Confederate soldiers were buried starting in the 1900s — decades after the war ended. The memorial’s sculptor, Moses Jacob Ezekiel, was also buried there.

The proposal is part of a broader effort by Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin to remove all references, displays and paraphernalia that commemorate the Confederate States of America and its soldiers from each of the Dept. of Defense’s assets. This includes renaming several military bases and removing statues from the West Point Military Academy, among other recommended changes.

Plans to remove the Confederate Memorial have already been challenged in court, the Washington Post reports. The federal government is seeking to dismiss a suit filed by the Sons of Confederate Veterans and descendants of Confederate soldiers in March. The plaintiffs argue it would be a “disgrace” and illegal to remove the statue because it serves as a grave marker for Confederates buried at the site.

The Arlington National Cemetery website disagrees with this interpretation of the Confederate Memorial. It says the statue perpetuates the narrative that Southern secession was a noble “Lost Cause.”

“This narrative of the Lost Cause, which romanticized the pre-Civil War South and denied the horrors of slavery, fueled white backlash against Reconstruction and the rights that the 13th, 14th and 15th Amendments (1865-1870) had granted to African Americans,” the website said.

While the cemetery says the government has already started preparing “for the careful removal and relocation of the memorial,” the public is invited to provide feedback on “alternatives that will avoid, minimize, or mitigate adverse effects of the monument’s removal.”

The Army is seeking its first round of public feedback now through the beginning of September. There will be a virtual public meeting on Wednesday, Aug. 23.

“The removal of the Confederate Memorial must be conducted in a manner that ensures the safety of the people who work at and visit ANC and that protects surrounding graves and monuments,” the website said. “The entire process, including disposition, must occur according to applicable laws, policies, and regulations.”

Two years ago, Congress directed the establishment of a naming commission tasked with assessing how much it would cost to remove Confederacy references and recommending renaming procedures.

The commission developed recommendations that informed a plan approved by the Dept. of Defense last October.

The public engagement process for removing the Confederate Memorial at Arlington National Cemetery (via Arlington National Cemetery)

Arlington is the third-best place in the U.S. to raise a family, says new report

By Jo DeVoe
Parents and kids celebrate the last bus drop off of the school year with a water balloon fight in the Yorktown neighborhood (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

(Updated at 10:40 a.m.) Out of more than 130 municipalities, Arlington is the third best place to raise a family, according to a new rankings report.

Arlington was evaluated alongside nearly 140 cities nationwide based on factors such as, cost of living, housing, the local economy and quality of life for renting families, according to RentCafe, which analyzes rental data and trends.

Arlington ranked near the bottom for cost of living but clinched second place for “Local Economy” and third for “Quality of Life,” which boosted its overall score – surpassed only by Plano, Texas and Scottsdale, Arizona.

“Arlington provides the ultimate combination of budget-friendly options, a growing job market, and high quality of life,” per the report, which called the county “a place teeming with history, but still keeping up with the younger crowd.”

With a cost of living 40% above the national average, the county ranked 128th in the “Cost of Living & Housing” category. In addition to having the 10th highest rental rates in U.S., RentCafe says renters looking to “upsize” for a growing family can expect to pay, on average, $645 per additional room.

While that “may not be so appealing for many renter families,” the report notes, “Arlingtonians can rest assured that they are raising their children in one of the finest locations in the U.S.”

RentCafe highlighted that 85% of apartments in Arlington are situated “in prime locations” near “excellent schools” and family-friendly spots, including parks and museums.

The reported also noted Arlington has one of the highest child school enrollment rates nationwide, at 92%, and the second lowest percentage of children living below the poverty line, at 6.8%.

In terms of its economy, RentCafe highlights that 76% of Arlington residents possess a higher education degree, ranking it second-highest. Additionally, there’s been a 1.6% uptick in job growth and a mere 2.9% unemployment rate, marking the lowest among the top 10.

“The city proves that it knows how to both play hard and work hard,” the report said.

The list of the top 10 municipalities is below:

  1. Plano, Texas: Top-ranked for its balance of urban and suburban life, high-quality schools, and spacious apartments.
  2. Scottsdale, Arizona: Offers upscale living, stunning views, and over 330 sunny days a year.
  3. Arlington, Virginia: A history-rich city with a youthful vibe, boasting excellent economy and quality of life.
  4. Marietta, Georgia: Provides a low cost of living, large apartments, and excellent schools.
  5. Sunnyvale, California: Heart of Silicon Valley, offering diverse kid-friendly activities and top-notch schools.
  6. Round Rock, Texas: Known as the “Sports Capital of Texas,” it’s perfect for active families who love their space.
  7. Austin, Texas: A cultural hub with a vibrant entertainment scene and an appealing cost of living.
  8. Fayetteville, Arkansas: Leads in cost of living and housing, blending small-town charm with ample family apartments.
  9. Raleigh, North Carolina: A perfect blend of Southern charm and a busy college town, perfect for raising a little scientist.
  10. Ann Arbor, Michigan: A renter’s paradise with dense forestation, great schools, and a thriving cultural scene.

Animal agency, county commission at odds over deer claims

By Jo DeVoe
Deer grazing in the forest (via Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation/YouTube)

(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) Two groups have got their antlers locked over whether and how to manage deer in Arlington.

Arlington’s Forestry and Natural Resources Commission, (FNRC) is calling out the Animal Welfare League of Arlington, which handles the county’s animal control service, for “publicizing incorrect and misleading information about deer management,” according to a letter it sent to the county.

After a consultant determined that parts of Arlington County may have deer populations that exceed “healthy” levels, the County Dept. of Parks and Recreation charted out a mitigation strategy. It is mulling four management strategies: sharp-shooting, citizen hunting, sterilizing or building fences. There will be more public engagement and commission hearings before the county makes a decision.

When the initial population numbers were released, AWLA disagreed with the claim that Arlington has “unhealthy” deer levels. Now, AWLA says culling is unwarranted, expensive, ineffective and unsafe.

The FNRC says it supports reducing the deer population to preserve natural resources, including trees, shrubs and wildlife, saying their overgrazing hurts other wildlife and deer themselves. AWLA’s position, it continues, “could cause serious harm to the County’s natural resources.”

“The FNRC is puzzled by the AWLA’s opposition to reducing Arlington’s deer population, because studies also show that lower numbers of deer in the County would result in healthier deer, an outcome that an animal welfare organization should support,” according to the letter from FNRC Chair Phil Klingelhofer.

While AWLA was not able to respond to a request for comment before publication, it laid out its position in a post on its website last month. In a statement to ARLnow after publication, the agency said it stands by its previous statements. It also said it considers the county’s approach to be incomplete and the debate largely one-sided.

“Despite the inherent differences in opinions among stakeholders, we believe it is imperative to consider every side of the discussion to find the most appropriate solution for Arlington,” the agency said in a statement. “A more inclusive process with diverse perspectives will lead to a better-informed decision. It is vital to have more voices at the table, rather than solely those advocating for specific interests, such as tree preservation.”

AWLA suggests sterilization as more humane and effective. Klingelhofer disagrees.

“Indeed, we understand that the Department of Wildlife Resources will not approve of sterilization as a population management tool,” he said. “In contrast, successful culling programs have been implemented in scores of urban and suburban communities across the United States, bringing dramatic improvements in the local environments.”

AWLA also says hunting deer can hurt other wildlife while Klingelhofer says numerous peer-reviewed scientific studies shows the opposite.

The animal control agency says deer are being unfairly blamed for changes to the forest understory also caused by foot traffic and climate change. Klingelhofer emphasizes that deer in Arlington were found to be eating away the understory at substantial rates.

The ‘browse line’ created by hungry deer herds (via Arlington County Dept. of Parks and Recreation/YouTube)

AWLA argues that Arlington has an average of 13 deer per square mile — much lower than neighboring jurisdictions that began culling, such as Fairfax County, with 90-419 deer per square mile, and Howard County, Maryland, with 47-118 deer per square mile. Culling in these counties, it says, has become a permanent but ineffective solution.

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