Panelists at the Arlington County Council of PTAs event on drug use on Monday, March 13, 2023 (via CCPTA)
(Updated at 4:15 p.m.) As more parents and caregivers grapple with substance use addiction among youth, they are increasingly turning to the juvenile justice system as a last resort.
Over the past year, there has been upwards of a 100% increase in the number of petitions being made for court-ordered services, such as drug treatment, according to Hon. W. Michael Chick, Jr., a judge with the Arlington County Juvenile and Domestic Relations Court.
He noted “a dramatic increase” in Child in Need of Services or Supervision petitions, “CHINs” for short, filed by parents. These days, most are related to fentanyl.
“They are coming to the court to say, ‘We’re desperate, please save my child,'” he said in a video message to parents shared during a panel discussion on drugs last night (Monday) hosted by three high school Parent-Teacher Associations and the Arlington County Council of PTAs.
“They are children with severe substance addictions and they’re desperate,” said Chick.
“To have kids come in front of you, asking for a treatment program and you’re not able to provide it — to have a kid beg you to put them in detention to save them from themselves — it’s heartbreaking,” he continued, reinforcing reports that youth are effectively detoxing in the Northern Virginia Juvenile Detention Center in Alexandria.
There have been at least seven juvenile overdoses in Arlington County this year, including the death of 14-year-old student Sergio Flores after a fatal overdose at Wakefield High School. Following his death, teachers, parents and School Board members have called on Arlington Public Schools and all of county government to do more for children.
A slew of school– and community-sponsored panels have brought together first responders, counselors and addiction specialists and prosecutors to educate parents. The most recent was held last night at Thomas Jefferson Middle School, featuring a live panel discussion as well as pre-recorded messages, drawing some 200 virtual and in-person attendees.
An emerging theme at these meetings is the role of parents. The panel was as an outlet for a handful who shared first-hand observations as well as obstacles they face obtaining resources for their kids and getting through to them, with some panelists suggesting different ways parents can step up.
Some attendees from the Arlington County Council of PTAs event on drug use on Monday, March 13, 2023 (staff photo)
One mother shared how her daughter recently attempted suicide twice, part of a mini-rash of student deaths and attempted suicides this school year, and how long it took to schedule meetings with the right school officials to obtain accommodations to keep up with her schooling.
Michelle Best, who co-facilitates a parent support group through the local branch of the National Alliance on Mental Illness, empathized with how hard it can be for parents to receive services from the public schools in these situations.
“There’s a lot of information that could be better given to parents, out there in a better way,” she said.
A few panelists put the onus on parents, including Deputy Chief Wayne Vincent, the leader of the ACPD Community Engagement Division, who encouraged parents to tip the police to known drug dealers.
“I can’t tell you how many times, when I’m in our community, I hear, ‘Wayne, how do you not know who’s dealing? Everybody knows,'” he said. “Here’s a flash. No, not everybody knows. The police don’t know. There are so many ways you can help identifying who they are.”
Chris Johnson speaks with ABC News’ Ryan Smith (via ABC News/Twitter)
Chris Johnson speaks during “The Confession?” an episode of ABC’s true-crime show “20/20” (via ABC News/Twitter)
This past Friday, ABC true-crime show “20/20” threw a spotlight on the 1998 homicide of an Arlington woman and the acquittal of a major suspect, her then-fiancé, last year.
In “The Confession?” ABC went on a deep dive into the death of Andrea Cincotta in her Arlington apartment.
It explained how a confession 20 years later kicked off a special grand jury investigation into the person who confessed, convicted felon Bobby Joe Leonard, and his alleged accomplice, Cincotta’s fiancé James Christopher Johnson. It concludes with their indictment in 2021 and a murder trial in 2022.
Johnson, who was a primary suspect, he says he discovered Cincotta dead in the closet of the apartment they shared back in August 1998. Prosecutors alleged Johnson had hired Leonard to kill Cincotta for $5,000. Last fall, Leonard pleaded guilty and a trial jury acquitted Johnson, who had maintained his innocence.
The trial happened during the tenure of Commonwealth’s Attorney Parisa Dehghani-Tafti. As the race to elect the next Commonwealth’s Attorney heats up, candidate Josh Katcher blasted Dehghani-Tafti — who was elected on a justice reform platform — in a statement highlighting the 20/20 episode.
“My opponent once described herself as an innocence protection attorney,” he said. “It is entirely beyond me how you square that statement with this prosecution.”
For the report, Johnson gave exclusive interviews to ABC, describing how his life changed the day he says he discovered Cincotta, dead, in a closet.
“Something like this… You’re never going to be the same,” Johnson told ABC. “I used to be a lot more trusting. I trusted everyone, trusted the police, and now my eyes have been opened.”
A criminal genius, or an innocent man who confessed to a murder he didn’t commit? Watch the exclusive 20/20 interview you won’t hear anywhere else. The all-new 20/20 with @RyanSmithTV drops TONIGHT at 9/8c on ABC. Stream on Hulu. pic.twitter.com/JQBUfbcTPB
Dehghani-Tafti told ARLnow her office prosecuted the case after Leonard — already in prison for kidnapping, raping and attempting to kill a 13-year-old girl — confessed to killing Cincotta.
When someone is killed and we have evidence we believe is credible, it’s our job to stand up for them and for the community. We knew this was going to be a tough case and we took it to the community in the form of an investigative grand jury, the community investigated and brought back indictments for both Mr. Leonard and Mr. Johnson.
Mr. Leonard pleaded guilty and received a life sentence. We litigated Mr. Johnson’s case in the most transparent, fair way we could, giving them all the evidence we had and all the evidence they needed to defend their client. We don’t run away from hard cases and hard cases are the ones that go to trial. The system worked the way it was designed to work and I respect the jury’s verdict.
The episode walks through procedural and substantive missteps Johnson and his attorneys say Arlington County Police Department made investigating the crime in 1998 — and the prosecution made bringing the case to trial in 2022.
It says police processed the crime in a way that made it harder to find fingerprints on Cincotta’s throat. They questioned Johnson for 28 hours before he broke down and said he had a “vision” of harming Cincotta. He wrote this down, didn’t ask for an attorney, and was released, as the description of what he said he did did not match Cincotta’s autopsy.
Chris Johnson during an interrogation by Arlington County Police Department (via ABC News/Twitter)
“From the onset of the investigation, the Arlington County Police Department has remained committed to pursuing justice on behalf of Andrea Cincotta and her family,” ACPD said in a statement to ARLnow. “The court proceedings are the official release of information in this case and we’ll defer to the court records for additional information presented in this case.”
Two decades after the marathon interrogation, prosecutors used the “vision” statement to show the jury that Johnson lied to throw police off. Arlington Circuit Court Judge Judith Wheat ruled the statement was admissible, the Washington Post’s Tom Jackman, who was interviewed by ABC, reported last year.
The “20/20” episode cast doubt on the validity of this evidence.
“How did this case get charged? As a lawyer, I don’t get it,” a member of the defense team, Frank Salvato, told ABC. “I think prosecutors brought this case hoping they could catch lightning in a bottle.”
Jurors, meanwhile, did not buy the argument that the men knew each other.
“You don’t hire someone to kill someone whom you’ve never met,” jury foreman Chen Ling told ABC. “And, out of all the Bobby Joe Leonard testimony, he never claimed that they met. I feel like that was, for me, the important detail that gave reasonable doubt.”
They were wary of deals struck with Leonard to hear his confession and coax him onto the stand. In exchange to confessing to Arlington cold case Detective Rosa Ortiz in 2018 — when Commonwealth’s Attorney Theo Stamos was still in charge — Leonard asked prosecutors not to seek the death penalty. Then, before he took the stand in 2022, he requested to be moved to a lower-security prison.
“We were aware that Bobby Joe Leonard was offered certain things in exchange for his testimony,” said a juror named Chris, who requested ABC withhold his last name. “It seemed to me the police were just hammering home what they took to be the case.”
But the special grand jury that initially investigated Johnson believed there was enough evidence to go to trial, points out Edward Ungvarsky, an Alexandria-based private criminal defense lawyer.
Ungvarsky tells ARLnow that this case is an example of the system working and credited Dehghani-Tafti for bringing the case to the special grand jury and sharing exculpatory information with the defense.
Prosecutors will convene special grand juries “if they are going to give the community, which is the people who comprise the grand jury, the opportunity and power to decide whether to bring charges and what charges to bring and to investigate the case,” Ungvarsky noted. “Using a special grand jury increases community empowerment and accountability in the charging, and provides greater transparency and fairness to the defendant and the defense.”
In addition, special grand juries often have higher standards than regular grand juries, which are more commonly used to indict someone. This process is transcribed and copies are given to defense lawyers before trial. Witnesses testify and jurors can ask questions.
The grand jury “was advantageous for the defense,” Ungvarsky said, adding that they also benefited from the prosecution making available to them a local expert in false confessions, former D.C. police Detective James Trainum.
Trainum said Johnson’s confession was false and advised the prosecution not to use it. Prosecutors shared his information with Johnson’s attorneys, Ungvarsky and one of Johnson’s defense attorney confirmed to ARLnow.
“In this case, there was… lots of favorable information to help the defendant help defend himself at trial, and I think that really needs to be recognize,” Ungvarsky said. “It’s proper to do so because it’s exculpatory, favorable evidence.”
Not providing favorable information, called a “Brady disclosure,” is more common, he says.
Commonwealth’s Attorney candidate Katcher, however, was more pessimistic in his reading. He says the case belies his opponent’s lack of experience.
Katcher’s full statement is below.
Real justice means only engaging in just prosecutions. The 20/20 exposé on my opponent’s decision to prosecute an innocent man for murder, highlights exactly why relevant experience matters when it comes to the Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office.
This is not about trying ‘tough cases.’ This was about making a tough decision, and my opponent failed. Mr. Johnson will forever live as someone accused of murder.
My opponent once described herself as an innocence protection attorney. It is entirely beyond me how you square that statement with this prosecution.
The foreperson of the jury in the Johnson case asked, “Why did [the prosecution] even bother to bring the case?” My opponent owes an answer to Mr. Johnson and this community.
Darlene Superville, co-author of “Jill: A Biography of the First Lady,” poses with a copy of the book on Tuesday, March 7, 2023, in D.C. (courtesy photo)
When Ballston resident and Associated Press reporter Darlene Superville volunteered to cover then-First Lady Michelle Obama, she knew it would generate a lot of stories.
“I took it upon myself to be the primary person on my team to cover her,” she said. “She was the rage of the country. Everything she did was interesting. If she sneezed, people wanted to know.”
Little did she know that first ladies would become her beat and eventually land her a deal to co-author a book about Jill Biden.
A Ballston resident since 1994, Superville kicked off her reporting on Michelle Obama when her husband Barack Obama was inaugurated, and has since covered Melania Trump and Jill Biden. She had previously covered Laura Bush when her colleagues needed extra help.
She talked with ARLnow about the enduring interest Americans have in the wives of presidents and “Jill: A Biography of the First Lady,” a book she co-wrote with AP Executive Editor Julie Pace, with additional research done by Evelyn Duffy. The book came out last April.
“For a long time, I think the American public has been fascinated with First Ladies,” Superville said. “Even though they’re not elected, they do represent the country… There’s always a fascination with what they wear, what they do, the causes they support, the trips they take, that kind of thing. I don’t want to compare it to British royalty, but it’s on the same level.”
When Michelle Obama was First Lady, Superville said, everything she wore that was off-the-rack would sell out within hours of a public appearance.
“People want to see them with their kids if they have young children,” she said. “They’re interested in how they’re raising them, ‘Are they a good mother?’ All those sorts of questions.”
People also want to know about the wives of presidents with whom they disagree, she says.
“For example, in the case of George W. Bush and Laura, people who might not have cared for him might have wondered, ‘What does she see in that guy?'” she said. “Same with Melania and Trump.”
But Jill Biden, who sat down with Pace and Superville for three one-hour interviews, holds the interest of some Americans for different reasons.
She is the oldest woman to become First Lady, assuming the role at 69. She is the first First Lady to hold a paying job outside the White House and is relatable, Superville says. She adds that women who read the book would be interested in understanding how Jill — “one of the more active ladies in recent history” — does it all.
“She is a mother, wife, a grandmother. She’s a working woman,” Superville says. “She went through a brief skin cancer scare. Many people have gone through that as well. She lost a son to cancer in 2015. There are many people who have lost loved ones to cancer, children or other relatives.” (more…)
The ramps and medians at the intersection of S. Glebe Road and 9th Street S. (via Arlington County).
A pedestrian crosses S. Glebe Road at the 9th Street S. intersection without using a crosswalk (via Arlington County)
A photo of a deteriorating ramp and faded pavement markings (via Arlington County)
‘Overgrown vegetation’ at the S. Glebe Road and 9th Street S. intersection (via Arlington County)
A utility pole and retaining wall along S. Glebe Road (via Arlington County)
The intersection of S. Glebe Road and 9th Street S. (via Google Maps)
A high-traffic intersection one block north of Columbia Pike could get some safety upgrades, including a traffic signal.
Arlington County is embarking on a project to develop plans to upgrade the intersection of S. Glebe Road and 9th Street S., located between the Alcova Heights and Arlington Heights neighborhoods.
In addition to replacing a rapid-flash beacon with a traffic signal, the county says changes, in collaboration with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation, could include extending the curbs, updating the crosswalks and refuge medians, and fixing deteriorating ramps that do not comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act.
The forthcoming project responds to community feedback, a 2022 safety audit of Glebe Road — a VDOT-maintained artery — and a 2020 analysis of “crash hot spots,” according to a county webpage. The latter two reports include data, photos and community comments describing unsafe conditions for pedestrians, cyclists, transit users and drivers.
“Glebe Road from 14th Street N. to Columbia Pike is part of Arlington County’s High Injury Network,” the county says. “These corridors experience high concentrations of critical crashes compared to other corridors in Arlington.”
Per the safety audit, the intersection saw two pedestrian crashes and five left-turn vehicle crashes between January 2018 and February 2021. It also found that many people drive over the speed limit by at least 5 mph between 8th Street S. and 9th Street S., going an average of 38 mph.
“Community feedback received as part of the Vision Zero Action Plan development identified Glebe Road and 9th Street S. as an unsafe crossing,” the county said.
Arlington is working toward eliminating traffic-related serious injuries and deaths by 2030 as part of its initiative known as Vision Zero. Transportation advocates and the Arlington County Board called for swift action to realize plan goals and make roads safer after a rash of crashes involving pedestrians last year.
Some residents heralded the project on Twitter as sorely needed and a long time in coming.
Back in 2018, cyclists who participated in a “protest ride” to advocate for better cycling conditions, called specifically for improvements to 9th Street S., which is part of the Columbia Pike Bike Boulevards, a bicycle route parallel to the Pike.
This spring, there will be a public engagement opportunity in which the county will solicit feedback on existing conditions, including site constraints such as utility poles that block parts of the sidewalk.
County staff are preparing engagement materials, and “when that’s ready, the engagement will open,” Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Claudia Pors said.
The engagement will first ask people to share how they currently use these streets as well as any ideas or concerns they have.
“This input will be used to refine to goals and develop concept options,” the webpage says.
This spring and summer, county staff will again request feedback on a concept plan, which will be incorporated into a final design plan that the county anticipates can be prepared this fall.
Arlington County has completed, started or has planned other transportation upgrades along Glebe Road, per the 2022 audit, including new or re-programmed traffic signals and new ramps.
Other projects on Glebe Road (via Arlington County)
Sponsored by Monday Properties and written by ARLnow, Startup Monday is a weekly column that highlights Arlington-based startups, founders, and local tech news. Monday Properties is proudly featuring 1515 Wilson Blvd in Rosslyn.
Sip n’ Clip, a portable drink holder for airplanes devised by a local inventor, is ready to take off.
The cup holder that clips into tray tables, which first launched on Kickstarter, is now on available on Amazon. Meanwhile, on the promotional products circuit, it has gotten into the hands of some big clients, according to the company’s founder, Seth LaPierre.
The Clarendon resident, who taught himself 3D printing to design and build a prototype, says getting the product listed by the e-commerce giant was also a big learning curve.
“I thought it was a platform you put stuff on and sell. There are so many layers to selling and marketing on Amazon,” he said.
LaPierre devised the cupholder to slot into tray tables after his wife couldn’t figure out what to do with her coffee cup on a flight to France. As a bonus, he says, it doubles as a phone stand and can hold certain baby bottles. He previously told ARLnow that there is nothing like it, specifically for airplane travel, on the market.
On Amazon, LaPierre aims to get enough reviews for Sip n’ Clip to participate in Amazon Launchpad, a service the company offers to help products get discovered faster.
“My ultimate goal is to be really proficient by the holiday season,” he said.
The Sip n’ Clip (courtesy photo)
Earlier this year, LaPierre flew to Las Vegas to look for knock-offs and competitors at the Promotional Products Association International expo. There, he said, he did not find quite anything like it on the show floor.
“I walked 12 miles in one day, talking to people, and some said it was the best thing they had seen in years,” he said. “This was really encouraging because that’s going to be the main core of my business.”
While there, he connected with HALO, which he describes as the largest commercial product distributor in the industry, grossing some $1 billion in branded swag sales. LaPierre says the company asked him to supply Sip n’ Clips to them; after getting everything set up with HALO about a week ago, he is hopeful about the product being introduced to more corporate clients.
Sip n’ Clip will be sponsoring a corporate travel-related event in New York City as well as a airport customer experience symposium in Louisville, Kentucky, hosted by the Alexandria-based American Association of Airport Executives.
“I think that will be a really good growth opportunity and a good way to introduce Sip n’ Clip to airport channels on a larger scale,” LaPierre said. “We already have the Daytona Beach International Airport and the Akron-Canton Airport as customers.”
Additionally, LaPierre submitted a pitch to host his product on the shopping channels QVC and HSN.
“Those are huge things that I’m really excited about,” he said. “Now I’m getting more inbound leads, and people calling me and saying ‘Can you give me a quote?’ instead of me knocking doors.”
Arlington County firefighters rescue someone stuck under a Metro train in Crystal City (via ACFD/Twitter)
Arlington County firefighters rescued a person from underneath a Metro train last night (Thursday) in Crystal City.
Arlington County Fire Department units were dispatched to the Crystal City Metro station (1750 S. Clark Street) at 8:25 p.m. for a report of an individual struck by a train, per a press release today. They found the person under a train, “conscious and alert.”
“Crews immediately began rescue operations, sending personnel onto the track bed and underneath the train to safely remove the patient,” per the release. “The patient was successfully extricated from beneath the train just before 9 p.m. and loaded onto an awaiting ambulance.”
The person was taken to an area hospital in critical condition, according to ACFD.
“Rescue operations like the one our crews faced on March 9 can be extremely challenging,” Arlington County Fire Chief David Povlitz said in a statement. “I am extremely proud of our responders and WMATA safety partners for their ability to perform such a technical operation safely, proficiently, and quickly.”
Asked about the current condition of the person who was struck, a spokesman said the fire department typically does not do any immediate follow up once someone gets to the hospital.
Metro suspended service between the Reagan National Airport and Pentagon City stations in response to the incident and requested shuttle buses to accommodate passengers, according to a tweet published around 8:4o p.m. last night.
Two hours later, Metro announced that Blue and Yellow line service had resumed.
UPDATED: Blue Line Alert: Train service restored btwn National Airport & Pentagon City following a person struck by a train at Crystal City. Expect residual delays.
Arlington Public Schools is giving its website a facelift.
A redesigned website is set to go live on July 1. It culminates more than a year of work to revamp a website last redesigned seven years ago, which is well beyond the industry standard of 3-5 years, says Assistant Superintendent of School & Community Relations Catherine Ashby.
“The redesign aims primarily to address a common complaint about the current website, that it is difficult to find information because there is so much available,” she said. “The new design also shifts to a more graphics-oriented, intuitive layout which should make navigation easier for all audiences.”
The navigation scheme, she continued will be “centered on student and family needs, to make it easier to find the most-requested information like registration processes, school boundary zones, and student health and wellness information.”
Indeed, last month, an ARLnow reader reached out to highlight difficulty she experienced when trying to find information about the elementary school options.
“It just seems a little strange that out of the five option schools, threehave broken links for their school profiles, and the other two link to press releases, not profiles,” the reader wrote. “One of the press releases is a story about a reading carnival held at the school. It is oddly difficult to get information about the schools.”
Ashby says work began with an internal committee of school-based and central office staff, who reviewed feedback and website use statistics and reviewed current best practices and trends in K-12 education websites. Last summer, an outside consultant reviewed the school system’s plans and tested out navigating the website.
This month, Ashby says, the visual design has been completed and the technical development is well underway. APS will invite staff, parents, students and community members to form a robust testing panel to try out the website in mid-April.
There will be various page layout options to make it easier for staff editors to present information that gets uploaded to the website clearly and accessibly. It will continue to feature instantaneous translation, compliance with web content accessibility standards, interactive calendars and quick access to common tools.
After the APS website launches on July 1, the school system will start rolling out the new design to the sites for individual schools.
The division webmaster will work with each school web liaison to prepare their site for the new design and to communicate with school staff and families, Ashby said. All 39 school sites should get upgraded to the new design by the end of the 2023-24 school year.
Progress on the information architecture, visual design and technical development has been reported to the Superintendent’s Cabinet and to the School Board, most recently in January of this year.
“I’m very excited about the website redesign this has been a long time coming,” Ashby said during that School Board meeting. “We’ve wanted to do this for a long time.”
The RCA building at 1901 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn in March 2023 before demolition began (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
An HVAC unit is removed from the RCA building in Rosslyn in fall 2022 (courtesy of anonymous)
Rendering of 1901 N. Moore Street (via Arlington County)
Rendering of 1901 N. Moore Street (via Arlington County)
Pre-demolition work on the rooftop of the RCA building in October 2022 (photo courtesy anonymous)
The RCA building at 1901 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn on March 9, 2023 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The RCA building at 1901 N. Moore Street in Rosslyn on March 9, 2023 (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
The RCA building in Rosslyn could soon be demolished — not with a bang, but mechanically and over the next five months.
“We are awaiting issuance of the demolition permit,” said Greg Van Wie, the senior vice president for McLean-based Jefferson Apartment Group. “[We] anticipate receiving it any day and commencing immediately thereafter.”
The looming demolition work comes nearly two years after the county approved plans to replace the concrete-cladded office building at 1901 N. Moore Street with a 27-story, 423-unit apartment building in June 2021. Construction of the building is expected to take three years.
“We are currently completing the interior demolition and abatement so [we] have not necessarily been delayed, just working through the County requirements for full demolition,” Van Wie told ARLnow today (Thursday).
JAG is leading a joint venture to demolish the building, built in 1969, as well as the skywalk connecting it to the Rosslyn Gateway building. The new structure, comprised of of a north and a south tower joined at the base and at the rooftop with an “amenity bridge,” will have retail and parking across the third and fourth floors and underground.
A letter to residents of JBG Smith-owned mixed-use apartment building Central Place, shared with ARLnow, informed residents that demolition would start Friday.
Van Wie said he is “not sure it will be Friday.”
Residents noticed prep work for the site occurring last fall. At the time, Van Wie told ARLnow he did not yet have a demolition schedule to share, but did say it will be dismantled, rather than imploded, “so there won’t quite be the same show as with the old Holiday Inn, unfortunately.”
The letter to Central Place residents outlined hours of demolition and expected closures over the next five months.
“We are expecting temporary closures of N. Moore Street just north of N. 19th Street,” it reads. “All closures will be coordinated between the developers and Arlington County.”
Per county zoning ordinances, demolition may take place Monday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., and on weekends and holidays from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., the letter said.
“In our experience, teams will begin working promptly in the mornings, however it is common that activity will slow in the evenings,” the letter continued.
JAG projected demolition would occur in February or March back in December, when the Washington Business Journal reported that a joint venture led by JAG acquired the building for $55.5 million.
Three years ago, JAG took over the plans to redevelop the property from Weissberg Investment Corp., which built the initial building in 1969 and had plans to redevelop it back in 2017. The original plans were later put on hold.
The Arlington Planning Commission during its meeting on Wednesday, March 8, 2023 (via Arlington County)
(Updated 11:45 a.m.) Arlington’s Planning Commission voted 8-0 to recommend the Arlington County Board adopt the most flexible option of the proposed zoning changes, known as “Missing Middle.”
Commissioners Denyse “Nia” Bagley and Leonardo Sarli abstained during last night’s vote. Next, the ordinance to allow the by-right development of 2-6-unit buildings on lots currently zoned for single-family homes is slated to go before the Arlington County Board on Saturday, March 18.
“This has been a multiyear process,” said Planning Commission Chair Devanshi Patel. “It hasn’t been just December to March. Staff has labored on this for many, many, many years, and many, many, many hundreds of hours have been put into this process — including lots of hours by this commission itself.”
The county says this will help counteract the last century’s exclusionary housing policies while increasing the supply of options for people looking to buy a smaller, more moderately priced home than what is commonly built today. Large single-family homes have been replacing smaller, older single-family homes throughout the county for years.
Opponents say it is unclear whether the changes will meet those goals. The group Arlingtonians for Upzoning Transparency, formed to oppose the proposal, blasted the Planning Commission for “recommending [the] most extreme Missing Middle options.”
Arlington County staff presented a number of options to commissioners, with their preferred recommendations. Mostly, the commission supported the recommendations of county staff.
In a deviation from staff, the commission recommended removing parking mandates for lots near transit. Staff had recommended 0.5 spaces per unit for these lots.
The Planning Commission also supported 5- and 6- unit buildings on the widest number of lots, which YIMBYs of Northern Virginia Director of Communications Adam Theo, and former County Board candidate, heralded as “the best option for providing homeowners flexibility” during public comment.
Annual caps on the number of permits for “Expanded Housing Option” projects proved an impasse for the commission. Staff had no recommendation here, and the only consensus the commission could reach was that any cap should have a three-year sunset clause.
Missing Middle proponents had advocated fiercely for no caps. A limit of 58 permits per year was proposed, but opponents did not seem to champion this as a concession.
“We have a responsibility to consider what the impacts will be and how it works with competing policies,” said Commissioner Elizabeth Gearin. We don’t know if this will have the outcome that we want, or if it’ll have negative impacts — if we’ll be displacing potentially low-income minority home owners in favor of moderate-income renters.”
“For this reason,” she continued, “I am definitely supporting caps, either that or some sort of pilot study, until we know more than we originally new and that we examine these impacts as we go forward.”
Member Daniel Weir said there is “no rationale in Arlington County’s Comprehensive Plan, or other planning documents, upon which to recommend annual limitations to EHO permits.”
Vice-Chair Sara Steinberger said she appreciates the sentiment behind this, but caps are “an appropriate way to push us into EHO and see what impact that has on the county.”
When the final vote came, Sarli confessed he “was struggling,” before ultimately abstaining.
“I think it’s really great our community is embracing this — a little trepidatiously — but it is,” he said.
Sarli did make two recommendations that received full approval from the commission. One was the creation of a design guidebook with conceptual designs for EHO conversions and new constructions.
The other was a future study of ways to tackle policy concerns like the proliferation of oversized dwellings, including single-family homes derided by critics as “McMansions.” Commissioners wondered whether it might remain more profitable for developers to simply continue building large single-family homes, undermining the advancement of EHOs.
A large single-family home being built on N. McKinley Road (courtesy anonymous)
Sarli had a message for the Arlington County Board, expressing dismay with the unfolding of the multi-year process, which was rife with contention.
Building permits affixed to the window of an entertainment venue in Clarendon (file photo)
Construction on a large home on N. Dinwiddie Street (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
(Updated 4:45 p.m. on 3/14/23) Builders and entrepreneurs tell ARLnow they are waiting up to twice as long as they used to for Arlington County to issue permits, costing them thousands — if not hundreds of thousands — of dollars.
Permits that used to be issued the same day now take 1-3 weeks while those that took 2-3 months take double that time, they say. Meanwhile, the Arlington Permit Office’s limited hours of operation compound the delays and the high permitting fees exacerbate the costs incurred from waiting.
The apparent degradation of the county’s permit operation — corroborated by a number of sources, some of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals — follows the years-long development of a new online permitting system dubbed Permit Arlington.
The online system was touted by the county as a solution for long-standing problems with the former, more antiquated paper system.
“They have completely destroyed the system. They are slowing progress. The new system still doesn’t work nearly two years later,” a local custom home builder said. “Builders’ and developers’ holding costs are staggering.”
“Some of our members may accept paying more for a quality permit service, but the timeframe and process must improve in order to justify the costs,” spokesman John Musso said. “We encourage the County to continue to recognize businesses as customers seeking a service, in this case permits.”
The complaints come as Arlington County continues transferring all permitting processes to its online system. The county has tied delays to the migration of permits into the system but has maintained that the overall wait time has not changed.
“With the phased launches of Permit Arlington, we are moving from a system with 1990 technology to a modern system,” said Dept. of Community Housing, Planning and Development spokeswoman Erika Moore. “This type of technological transition is complex and presents a learning curve for both staff and customers as all users adjust to using a new system.”
As part of the migration process, which started in 2019, Certificate of Occupancy permits moved online last week and last summer, nearly 10,000 active applications for building, trade and land disturbing activity permits moved online.
In response to customer inquiries, Moore said the Permit Arlington team is actively working through issues, has increased the size of the help desk team, has added numerous “how-to” documents and is making permanent fixes to prevent issues that caused earlier delays.
“The team will continue to work through these fixes until all the issues are resolved,” she said.
She says the Permit Arlington team applied lessons learned from the launch last summer to improve the implementation process for Certificates of Occupancy, “which launched smoothly two weeks ago.”
Musso counters there were still some issues.
“We have had several members note pain points with the transition of Certificates of Occupancy to Permit Arlington, resulting in confusion and uncertainty,” he said.
Concurrently, the county is requesting feedback about the permit process from recent applicants.
“We have heard from 250 people, but we want to provide enough time for people to respond,” Moore said. “Once it is closed, we will analyze the feedback and identify any potential action items.”
Meanwhile, the feedback was rolling into ARLnow.
Another home designer and builder was frustrated with office hours, which are from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Tuesday and Thursday. Every third Thursday, the office closes at noon. The Permit Office re-opened for in-person service in September after being completely virtual due to the pandemic.
“I would be willing to say that the eight hours a week are just not enough and that the threat of Covid is no longer there,” said home designer and builder Leonard Matthews. “How odd it is that Arlington County Schools are [fully] open but the permit office is not?”
People on smartphones (staff photo by Jay Westcott)
Should Arlington Public Schools keep students from using their phones in schools?
The School Health Advisory Board — a committee of parents, some of whom are nurses and doctors, and a few administrators — has recommended APS adopt a policy for the next school year requiring smartphones to be off and put away during school hours.
This group has been advocating for a system-wide phone policy since 2019 but today, principals and teachers are following this policy on a school-by-school and classroom-by-classroom basis. Kenmore, Dorothy Hamm and Swanson and middle schools have these phone policies in place, says APS spokesman Frank Bellavia.
There, students are not allowed to have their cell phones out in school unless for very specific instructional purposes, he says. Phones are not allowed during passing time or in the cafeteria, too.
This ad-hoc approach “makes it difficult to enforce for both teachers and principles,” committee chair Desiree Jarowski told the School Board during a work session this January, advocating for a system-wide policy.
“It creates more problems for the students because there is no consistency in policy, and no consequences if they don’t follow the rules — particularly if the teacher is the one requesting the student puts the cell phone or other device away,” she asserted.
Jarowski described instances of students cheating with their cell phones and refusing to put away their phones when teachers asked. She said that SHAB has heard from “many parents” concerned about cell phones use in schools, while an informal survey of parents on the Arlington Education Matters Facebook page showed some 88% of respondents would want “away for the day” policies at all secondary schools.
A parent of a Swanson Middle School student tells ARLnow that despite the policy, his son has observed kids use their phones in the hallways and during class to play music, watch videos, play games and look at dating apps.
SHAB is urging APS to adopt a draft policy it created in 2019. Doing so, Bellavia says, would have to follow the usual APS process for policy development, including drafts being written and shared with stakeholder groups and made available for public comment.
If APS agreed to draft such a policy, it would follow the lead of Fairfax County Public Schools. Last summer, it updated the student conduct guidelines to say phones have to be silenced and put away for the duration of the school day for elementary and middle schoolers and during instructional periods for high schoolers, “to help foster a learning environment that is conducive to learning.”
This change came after Herndon High School cracked down on record-high phone use last spring with some positive results.
Current APS policies stipulate when and how kids can use their phones and ways schools can teach them proper phone use.
“APS is committed to assisting students and staff members in creating a 21st century learning environment,” the APS student handbook says. “To support this progress, with classroom teacher approval, students may use their personal devices smartphones, laptops, netbooks, tablets, etc.) to access the Internet and collaborate with other students during the school day.”
It has an acceptable use policy that stipulates, among other things, a digital citizenship curriculum “educating students about appropriate online behavior, including interacting with students and other individuals on social network sites, public websites, blogs, and other electronic communication tools.”
Reactions among School Board members to the idea of a system-wide policy were mixed.
School Board Vice-Chair Cristina Diaz-Torres strongly opposed it. She said the draft policy is concerning and based on research with disputable sample sizes, while enforcement would eat into instructional time.
“What I would strongly consider that we do is really double down on our efforts to encourage our students to use these devices responsibly,” she said.
“There’s no version of the world where cellphones are ever going to go away,” she continued. “In the same way we’re teaching our students to self-regulate emotionally, as one board member, I would strongly encourage instead that we be leaning into ways to teach our students to self-regulate, to self-moderate, to really understand the utility of the tool, and use it in appropriate moments.”
