County Board

Speed cameras and drones on the horizon for Arlington public safety

By Jo DeVoe
Drone seen flying near former Key Bridge Marriott this morning (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Public safety in Arlington County is poised to be increasingly automated and unmanned, with more traffic enforcement cameras and drones potentially coming soon.

The updates came during a work session on County Manager Mark Schwartz’s proposed budget, attended by County Board members and heads of public safety departments yesterday (Thursday).

Installing new speed cameras and adding more red-light cameras are part of the county’s Vision Zero initiative to reduce serious injury and fatal crashes, as well as a recommended way to reduce potentially adverse interactions between officers and civilians during traffic stops.

Cameras and drones could also help the Arlington County Police Department work more efficiently with fewer officers, as ACPD has had to scale back services amid ongoing challenges with recruiting and retaining officers.

More than a year ago, the County Board approved the installation of speed cameras in school and work areas to reduce speed-related crashes in these areas as part of the Vision Zero campaign to eliminate traffic fatalities and injuries. Now, according to Police Chief Andy Penn, a contract with a speed camera vendor could be ready this spring.

Last fall, the county told ARLnow that there would be more signs of progress, including camera installation and community messaging, once a contract is finalized this spring. Penn told the County Board yesterday that a request for proposal for both speed cameras and more red-light cameras will close next week.

“My hope is that we’ll have a contract for both of those in the next couple of months,” Penn said.

Meanwhile, the police department is working with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation to expand locations with red-light cameras, according to Penn.

“We’re almost at the finish line with VDOT on the PhotoRED expansions, there’s a couple intersections… we should be there soon,” he said.

There are nine intersections that currently use PhotoRED cameras, according to the county’s website. These intersections are located along major corridors including Columbia Pike, Route 1, Glebe Road and Langston Blvd.

A map of intersections with red-light cameras (via Arlington County)

Arlington is also considering deploying drones, which could be a safety tool for both police and fire departments. Penn and Fire Chief Dave Povlitz told the Board they are focused on improving employee safety and wellbeing, which could bolster staffing levels.

“While we’re on equipment, drones? Are we thinking about drones?” asked Board Vice-Chair Libby Garvey. “It’d be a lot safer to send a drone in than a person into a burning building.”

After working with other jurisdictions in the region and conducting a survey, a comprehensive proposal on drones could be ready for Board review in “the next couple of months,” according to County Manager Mark Schwartz.

“They are fantastic additions to any fleet,” he said. “We absolutely would, in many cases, prefer — not just for fire but police and also for our building inspections — to have the ability to have drones.”

Police may already be using drones locally in some cases. One could be seen flying near the former Key Bridge Marriott in Rosslyn this morning as part of a large public safety agency presence at the aging building, which the county condemned amid the continued presence of squatters.

Two hurdles to greater drone use could be privacy and flight regulations governing drones in the region, Schwartz said.

“We want to make sure we address the privacy concerns, which I think have been successfully handled in other jurisdictions,” he said.

Unmanned aircraft flights, including drones, are heavily restricted within a 30-mile radius of Reagan National Airport, according to rules the Federal Aviation Administration put in place after 9/11. Drones need FAA authorization and have to operate under certain restrictions.

Part of Donaldson Run will be stabilized against further erosion

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

Arlington County will be stabilizing part of the Donaldson Run stream to prevent erosion.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board approved without discussion a more than $888,200 contract with Sagres Construction Corporation to complete the work.

The project could provide relief to nearby property owners who have been trying for years to get the county to make improvements to the stream, but were stymied by land access issues, per a county report.

Two storm drain outfalls — openings that empty water into the stream — were in poor condition and discharged water onto private property, causing “significant erosion” downstream and possibly damaging private retaining walls and trees.

The county could not fix these outfalls, however, because they were left off “properly recorded” easements. And that was not the only problem.

“Since the stream meanders across multiple different properties, no one landowner could initiate a private project to stabilize the erosion,” the report said. “Residents were fearful due to large trees that had fallen on homes and private infrastructure, such as retaining walls and decks, and had been requesting assistance with the severe erosion for many years.”

The report credits county leadership for rallying multiple landowners within the Analostan Homes Association — a small townhouse community near a county-owned water tower — to provide temporary and permanent construction easements to make the project happen.

Impacted residents are “generally supportive of the project,” the report adds.

The project begins at the stream’s headwaters at the 24th Street N. storm sewer outfall and extends about 650 feet downstream to a previously restored portion of Donaldson Run.

For this project, 28 trees will be removed and Sagres will reforest the area with 630 trees and 188 shrubs, per a project webpage. The company will use rocks and plants to stabilize the stream banks from 24th Street N. to the place where previous work ended.

Sagres will replace a failing retaining wall at the end of a stormwater pipe, called an endwall, add back soil to the stream valley and install some rock, wood or earth structures that hold that dirt down, preventing more erosion, which the county calls grade control measures.

An informational meeting about the project will be held on Tuesday, March 28, according to the project webpage. Some tree removal has already begun on the site, the site notes.

Tree removal has been a significant concern among some residents during previous restoration projects including, recently, restoration work on Donaldson Run farther downstream.

Construction is expected to begin in April or May and take about nine months. Sagres will access the construction site from 25th Street N. and the 11-acre hilltop property called Missionhurst.

Arlingtonians celebrate and lament new zoning code as dust settles after historic vote last night

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

(Updated at 11:10 a.m.) Last night, the Arlington County Board took a landmark step to allow the by-right development of 2-6 unit buildings throughout the county.

After the unanimous vote around 6:45 p.m., and additional statements by Board members, the room erupted in cheers from supporters, who shook hands and hugged and high-fived each other. There were, reportedly, a few teary eyes.

A slow trickle of opponents left the room as the meeting wore on, but many remained, swapping their yellow signs against upzoning for blue headstones mourning the burial of the “Arlington Way,” the name for the pathways citizens have for influencing policy-making.

Talk of a policy change like this dates back a decade and, for some Board members, was tied to tearful remembrances of conversations with the late County Board member, Erik Gutshall. After Amazon agreed to come to Arlington, the conversation picked up steam.

Arlington’s first step to increase housing stock was to allow accessory dwelling units. Its second step last night culminated more than two years of study that saw the proposal rebranded and modified to respond to some community concerns such as parking, tree canopy, and the pace of development.

There was lots of celebration on Twitter for the changes, which will go into effect on July 1 of this year.

A theme in the speeches County Board members made last night was that change is already here and county leaders have to respond to make sure the real estate market works for more people who want to live in Arlington.

In a statement from the advocacy group Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), member Pat Findikoglu echoed this sentiment, noting that the county is already changing, with larger, more expensive single-family homes replacing more modest homes.

“Change in the housing market is inevitable,” she said. “How we shape it to meet new needs and still remain livable is the challenge. VOICE believes this Expanded Housing Options proposal does that.”

Board members made a few more compromises, removing a clause that would allow for fewer parking for homes close to certain bus networks, plus approving a five-year cap of 58 units per year and a method of dispersing allowable units by zoning district.

YIMBYs of Northern Virginia co-founder Jane Fiegen Green accepted these limitations on social media but still heralded the decision as a win. She said the limitations could result in “less housing than otherwise.”

“Our organization is concerned that limitations imposed on the policy will yield fewer homes, without any practical or political benefit,” YIMBYs of Northern Virginia said in a statement. “Yet beyond the zoning changes that will help end racial segregation in the County and bring forth more housing, the Missing Middle campaign has shown our neighbors that restrictions on density and growth damage their community’s ability to be welcoming, inclusive and forward-looking.”

One group opposed to the plan did not acknowledge the concessions in its colorful post-mortem.

“This County Board has plopped a half-baked cake on the table that Arlington residents must now eat,” said Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future’s Peter Rousselot. “Arlington County is flying blind on Missing Middle, but it’s Arlington residents who now are headed for a crash landing.”

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BREAKING: Arlington County Board approves ‘Missing Middle’ zoning changes

By ARLnow.com
1/4

(Updated at 9:40 p.m.) After years of consideration, and multiple days of public testimony and County Board discussion, one of Arlington’s most contentious local proposals in memory is becoming a reality.

The Arlington County Board voted unanimously Wednesday evening to approve allowing smaller multifamily structures — also known as Missing Middle — in what were heretofore neighborhoods of only single-family detached homes.

The vote will allow the by-right construction of buildings from duplexes to six-plexes, depending on lot size, with the units capped at four on certain smaller lots. The structures will be no larger, in height or footprint, than what’s allowed for single-family homes.

The vote also comes with a temporary cap: 58 such structures per year, for five years, geographically dispersed by zoning district. It also comes with minimums for off-street parking: half a parking spot per unit as the minimum 3/4 of a mile from Metro rail and 1/2 mile from certain bus stops and one spot per unit outside of transit zones.

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey called the previous single-family only zoning a “vestige of old times” in comments immediately following the vote on the measure, which he called a “reform” and “fundamental good policy.”

Dorsey, echoing other Board members who spoke of the expected future growth of Arlington’s population, expressed support for allowing more types of housing in all parts of Arlington, with greater affordability as an overarching goal. Currently, much of the redevelopment of older single-family homes has resulted in the construction of much larger and more expensive single-family homes.

“We are part of a dynamic vibrant community of Arlington that has for generations invested in the kind of living conditions that makes this the kind of place that most people value and naturally people will be attracted to,” Dorsey said. “That is not a bad thing, in fact, that is a damn good thing. We should think of how we accommodate that so that it continues to work well for as many people as it can.”

While the vote was unanimous, some Board members expressed concern about allowing up to six units in less transit-accessible parts of the county. Matt de Ferranti and Libby Garvey backed an amendment that would have limited more lots to only four units away from Metro corridors, but the amendment failed by a vote of 3-2.

Board member Takis Karantonis, in his remarks following the vote, noted the general disparity in age between supporters of the Missing Middle proposal, dubbed Expanded Housing Options by the county, and those who spoke against it, who were notably older on average.

“Now is the time to intervene: to shape change on our terms before change shapes us,” Karantonis said. “Enhancing housing options for Arlingtonians who live here today and those who will choose to live here tomorrow is one of the decisive actions we cannot afford not to take.”

“Whoa, we just de-segregated Arlington,” a supporter of the proposal said to another after the vote, seemingly in disbelief. Only a few other large localities in the U.S. have taken similar action to densify housing, including Minneapolis and Portland.

Elsewhere in the County Board room, opponents were holding up blue tombstones saying “R.I.P The Arlington Way” and balloons with a winged heart, saying “Forever in our hearts.” Since a draft Missing Middle proposal was first reported by ARLnow last May, opponents have predicted deleterious consequences from rezoning and decried what they characterized as a rushed process that did not include a sufficient level of study and community engagement.

Board member Matt de Ferranti spoke in favor of correcting a historic wrong — among other reasons for the vote — citing the county banning construction of row houses from the 1930s to 1960s. The County previously “protected the wealth of those already living in single-family neighborhoods,” he said.

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County Board pushes parks dept. to improve teen programming in response to opioid crisis

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington County Board members and Dept. of Parks and Recreation staff during a March 16, 2023 work session (via Arlington County)

Arlington County’s Dept. of Parks and Recreation says it has a surfeit of programs for teens — but not enough teens to fill them.

Between July 2021 and June 2022, DPR logged 6,350 visits to its teen programs, down from 46,500 visits during the same span of months across 2018 and 2019. The dramatic drop was caused by the cancellation of programs during the 2021 fiscal year, according to County Manager Mark Schwartz’s proposed budget.

That year, DPR logged a low of 3,286 check-ins to teen programs. Now, the parks department is aiming to get those kids involved in activities once again. It projects 24,000 visits to teen programs in the next fiscal year.

“I think that, during the pandemic, a lot of teens reverted to their phones, to their rooms, and really didn’t get out into parks and into our centers,” Jane Rudolph, the director of the parks department, told Board members during a budget work session last week. “I look forward to working with our partners to get them back.”

The Arlington County Board is also motivated to see higher participation in these programs, which are geared toward preventing risky behavior and increasing physical activity, among other goals.

County Board members indicated they would like to see these programs figure into the county-wide effort to tackle the mental health and substance abuse epidemics affecting Arlington youth. Member Takis Karantonis kicked off a round of questions for Rudolph about how her department plans to boost offerings for teens and tweens.

“It’s not so much expanding the offerings but getting people into the programs we offer. That’s where we see our biggest challenges,” Rudolph said. “Where we need to do better, to be honest, is getting word out more about our programs, working better with schools so kids understand where they can come to us.”

Before the work session, ARLnow had asked DPR to share its offerings for teens and tweens. It provided a long list of offerings, including:

  • “Out of School Time” programs daily at Gunston and Thomas Jefferson Community Centers
  • More than 100 summer camps from exploring outdoors to coding, as well as volunteer and employment opportunities through other camps
  • Esports, flag football and basketball leagues
  • An annual soccer tournament in partnership with the Arlington County Police Department Gang Prevention Task Force
  • DJ and music production classes

Recent community meetings on opioid use, however, encapsulate the gulf between what is offered and what the community actually knows about.

When a group of Latino parents convened the same week 14-year-old Wakefield High School student Sergio Flores died from an overdose, many parents did not know what options were available but seemed desperate for after-school programs and open recreation time at the school gyms, meeting organizers told ARLnow.

In another meeting ARLnow attended a few weeks later, at Kenmore Middle School, a representative from Arlington County Police Department asked the audience to guess how many programs the county has for youth. The answer was more than 300, but one parent challenged how helpful sheer volume if there is a lack of awareness and enrollment is a challenge.

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Arlington County Board expected to vote this evening on Missing Middle

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

Today, Wednesday, could be the day that the Arlington County Board allows the by-right construction of 2-6 unit homes in the county’s lowest density neighborhoods.

The scheduled vote on proposed zoning amendments, known by the shorthand Missing Middle or Expanded Housing Options, would culminate nearly a year of intense discussion since a draft was published in May and updated in November, and before that, more than a year of study and public engagement.

Ahead of the Board’s vote, more than 250 people signed up to urge the Board to move forward with the most expansive options, build more consensus by making a few tweaks, or reject the proposal altogether. The long list of speakers led the County Board to dedicate its regular meeting Saturday and carryover meeting Tuesday to hearing public comment, pushing the vote to today.

On Saturday, about 200 people spoke during the marathon meeting that went from around 8:30 a.m. to just before 6 p.m.

Of the 204 speakers who took the podium on Saturday, some 57% were in favor of the zoning changes, according to a spokesman for YIMBYs of Northern Virginia, an advocacy group supporting the change. At the conclusion of Tuesday night, 226 people had spoken across the two days of hearings, of whom nearly 54% were in favor.

About 50 speakers in support outnumbered about 20 opponents during Planning Commission hearings earlier this month, per commissioner Daniel Weir.

Representatives from the Planning, Transportation and Housing commissions, as well as the Disability Advisory Commission, all voiced strong support for the proposal. By another metric, more than 6,000 people have signed a petition against the proposal as of Tuesday night.

On Saturday, a number of renters and homeowners shared their personal stories of saving — or trying to save– enough money to buy a home in Arlington to underscore the stakes of the changes.

Proponents said more people would have the option to stay in Arlington with Missing Middle housing allowed throughout the county. Opponents disputed how helpful it would be, with some predicting surging property values should the zoning changes be approved. Other opponents predicted the dwellings would deflate property values and jeopardize their long-term investments.

Through an interpreter, Héctor Herrera urged the Board to allow Missing Middle to give Hispanic residents more home-buying opportunities. He and his wife tried twice, unsuccessfully, to buy in 2010 and then in 2016, while working two jobs and even with the help of their adult children.

“Since I came to the U.S. — and I thank God for this wonderful country — I have worked this whole time in the construction industry in Arlington,” Herrera said. “I’ve seen how much it costs to build a house that costs more than $1 million. My community that represents 20% of Arlington cannot buy a house.”

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County Board to receive Narcan training today, helping to promote free training sessions for residents

By ARLnow.com
A training session for how to administer naloxone, also known by the brand name Narcan, to reverse opioid overdoses in 2019 (staff photo)

Arlington County is offering residents free training on the anti-overdose drug Narcan.

The sessions are available as an hour-long online training course or an abridged, 10-minute training over the phone.

To help promote the trainings, County Board members will be trained on the use of Narcan at their meeting this afternoon, the county said in a press release.

Arlington has seen elevated levels of opioid overdoses in recent years, including a fatal overdose at Wakefield High School in January and a near-fatal teen overdose in a Ballston parking garage three weeks ago. The quick application of Narcan by first responders helped to save those who overdosed in the parking garage.

Rising overdoses among juveniles in particular have resulted in calls for more vigilance in schools and expanded local addiction treatment options. The string of student overdoses this year has also prompted action by Arlington Public Schools.

Nationally, the presence of the powerful synthetic opioid fentanyl in counterfeit street drugs has been blamed for a significant portion of deadly accidental overdoses.

More on the Narcan training in Arlington, below, from a county press release.

Arlington County is committed to reducing fatal overdoses in Arlington and offers multiple opportunities for community members to be trained in using the overdose-reversal drug Naloxone, also known as Narcan.

Narcan is a safe and effective medication that can reverse an overdose of opioids, including prescription painkillers, heroin, and/or fentanyl. If you or a loved one are experiencing addiction or are prescribed powerful narcotic painkillers, you should have Narcan on hand. You can find Narcan at your local pharmacy or via the County’s website on Overdose Reversal & Naloxone.

Members of the public can schedule free 1-hour virtual Narcan trainings, or a 10-minute abridged training over the phone, by emailing [email protected].

The Arlington County Board will receive this training from the Department of Human Services on administering Narcan at their Recessed Meeting on Tuesday, March 21, 2023.

The training highlights the importance of familiarity with Narcan and demonstrates the ease and accessibility of the County’s abridged 10-minute training. “I view this as a basic emergency response skill for everyone in our community, and we are looking forward to having Human Services join us on Tuesday to share just how quick and easy it is to receive training that can save someone’s life,” Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said.

The meeting can be viewed via the County website and YouTube, and is broadcast live on Arlington TV, the County’s cable channel, with live captioning on Comcast 25 & 1085 (HD) and Verizon FiOS 39 & 40. Videos of Board meetings are archived on the County website (with captions and staff reports) and on YouTube.

Ahead of planned Arlington County Board vote on ‘Missing Middle,’ new recommendations emerge

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

Update at 9:40 a.m. — The Saturday County Board meeting is underway and 248 people are signed up to speak about Missing Middle. The Board expects to hear speakers today and during its Tuesday meeting before deliberating and potentially voting on Wednesday, according to County Board Chair Christian Dorsey. The Wednesday meeting will start at 4 p.m.

Earlier: The Arlington County Board is set to vote Saturday on zoning changes intended to add housing by allowing greater density in single-family neighborhoods.

The vote is the culmination of nearly a decade of discussion by elected officials that picked up steam after Amazon agreed to come to Arlington.

Since then, the county has taken incremental steps toward increasing housing. First, it allowed accessory dwelling units. Then, in fall 2020, it kicked off the “Missing Middle” housing study.

After more than two years of grassroots advocacy, politicking and vigorous debate — some of it caustic, introspective and divisive — County Board members have a final vote on their weekend agenda. There are no indications, at least as of today, that the discussion will get moved to the Board’s traditional carryover meeting next Tuesday.

The rezoning plan known as Missing Middle has been rebranded and modified in response to some community concerns such as parking, tree canopy, and the pace of development. The county intends it to address the racial, socio-economic and environmental impacts of previous exclusionary housing practices, in addition to allowing more of the moderate density housing currently limited by zoning codes.

Ahead of the vote, a trio of current and former Planning Commissioners, including two architects, published a guidebook with 12 “fixes” they say will help the county meet its goals more effectively. They say the goals of the current proposal are understandable and laudable but they predict numerous problems once the plan is in place.

“We felt that it was important to… not just criticize what the county has, but study what other communities have done and put on the table proposals that address some of what we see as planners and architects as shortfalls in the county plan,” said architect and former commissioner Brian Harner in a meeting of the Arlington County Civic Federation housing committee Thursday night.

The “fixes” range from placing more limitations on height, lot coverage and density to allowing more accessory dwelling units — effectively creating cottage clusters — and building in tools to incentivize affordability and reuse of existing homes, rather than teardowns.

These may come too late, given the vote is set for tomorrow, but Harner chalks this up to the public engagement process once the county had a draft in October 2022.

“The process was teed up in such a way that there was no chance for adequate public discussion,” Harner tells ARLnow.

For instance, the Planning Commission had just over one week to read the document and prepare for three meetings in rapid succession around the Thanksgiving holiday.

“In response, we created the guidebook, hoping to chart a course to a more well-considered EHO,” he continued, using the abbreviation for “Expanded Housing Options,” another term used by the county for Missing Middle. “The Board should pause and improve its proposal before adoption, but if not, we hope our work provides a set of tools to help Arlington get to a better EHO through the follow-on work that will be essential for overall success.”

Specifically, they say the proposal allows buildings that are too tall, too big and too dense, while falling short on affordability, equity, environmental preservation and neighborhood character. The Missing Middle proposal limits multifamily structures on lots to what is currently allowed for single-family detached homes, which the guidebook authors suggested is too big.

“We don’t see it as a zero-sum game where density fights against other qualitative aspects,” Harner said in the CivFed meeting. “We think we can have them both.”

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Arlington to buy its first home to use to relieve extreme flooding

By Jo DeVoe
4437 18th Street N. (via Google Maps)

(Updated at 1 p.m. on 03/21/23) Arlington County is looking to buy its first home for flood prevention.

The county has entered an agreement to buy the home at 4437 18th Street N. in the Waverly Hills neighborhood for $969,200, according to a staff report to the Arlington County Board.

The Board is set to review and approve the agreement during its meeting on Saturday.

The single-family home and detached garage is located in the Spout Run watershed, which has been hit hard by recent flooding events, such as the floods seen in July 2019. It will be torn down and the property will be replanted to serve as “overland relief,” at a cost of around $350,000.

Overland relief is a safe flowpath for flood waters to the nearest stream or storm drain during a large storm event. (An earlier version of this story incorrectly explained overland relief.) 

Arlington County is looking to step up its mitigation efforts in response to severe weather events. While the 2019 flood has been described as a “100-year flood” — or a flood that has a 1% chance of happening each year — some research suggests these may occur more frequently due to rising sea levels and more frequent and severe storms, which are linked to climate change.

As part of this effort, last year county staff sent letters of interest to 38 properties in parts of the Waverly Hills and Cherrydale neighborhoods where overland relief is “an essential element” to manage extreme flooding, the report says. Funding for this voluntary property acquisition program was included in the adopted one-year 2022 capital improvement plan.

“The County will pursue acquisitions of properties whose owners are willing to sell to the County, and whose properties would allow for greater access to existing stormwater infrastructure for potential future upgrades, provide overland relief during periods of intense rainfall,and other future engineering solutions,” it says.

“Several” owners have indicated interest in selling to the county, the report added.

ARLnow last reported that there is some interest among residents in selling, while a number of others say that uprooting their families would come at too high a cost.

We were also told several had unanswered questions about the process and how these properties will be managed. One concern is that a piecemeal acquisition process would result in a “checkerboard” of homes and blighted-looking properties.

That “checkerboard” could result in “community fragmentation, difficulty with providing municipal services, and inability to restore full floodplain functionality,” and is one reason local governments may have a hard time getting enough community support for buyouts, according to a Congressional Research Service report.

Other reasons include the potential impacts on property values and housing stock and fears of displacement, it says.

Still, people are more likely to be interested in selling after a major flooding event.

“Buyouts are often a politically unpopular option unless there is a particularly catastrophic event that changes people’s willingness to move and creates unified state and local support for relocation,” the report noted.

A still from a video showing flooding in the Waverly Hills neighborhood on May 22, 2018 (via YouTube)

Other research shows that property buyouts are one of the most effective tools at the disposal of local governments to combat frequent flooding.

“At their best, they provide a permanent solution,” according to Pew Research. “Effective buyouts prevent future damage, make people safer, and ideally protect entire neighborhoods or communities. Moreover, once bought-out properties become natural open space, they can provide an added benefit of absorbing additional stormwater, further reducing flooding and helping to conserve habitats.”

Langston Blvd McDonald’s makes a second pass at adding another drive-thru lane

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

The McDonald’s at 4834 Langston Blvd is once more looking to change its drive-thru to reduce backups that spill onto the busy road.

The fast food restaurant has filed a special exception use permit application to add a second ordering station and three more “standing spots” for customers. Currently, the site has one drive-thru lane and a circulating lane wrapped around it.

“The Application proposes a site layout that will improve vehicular flow and help minimize stacking onto Langston Blvd,” McGuireWoods lawyer Matthew Weinstein wrote in the application prepared on behalf of McDonald’s.

One apparent casualty, based on the rendering above: an aging and sparsely used McDonald’s PlayPlace, a free indoor playground for kids.

About three years ago, the fast food restaurant proposed a second drive-thru lane and a new recirculating lane that would have run between the restaurant and Langston Blvd. These plans fizzled, however, after county officials blasted the plans during an April 2020 meeting of the Arlington County Board.

This time, Weinstein says, the business engaged Arlington County staff to address issues they had with the 2020 application. After talking with staff, McDonald’s nixed the recirculation lane.

The April 2020 plans from McDonald’s to add a second ordering lane and a recirculation lane (file photo)

“The recirculation lane was staff’s primary concern about the 2020 application,” he wrote. “By removing the recirculation lane, the Applicant envisions a smooth traffic flow and minimal pedestrian conflicts.”

Building a second order station would result in 16 total standing spaces for cars, compared to the 13 that exist today, which “will help minimize potential vehicular stacking onto Langston Blvd,” Weinstein said.

Customers will access the drive-thru from the property’s northwest side, queue in one of two lanes, order, pick up their food and exit on the property’s northeast side.

McDonald’s also took the plans to the Langston Blvd Alliance to compare them against Plan Langston Blvd. This planning study reenvisions the corridor as denser, greener and more walkable.

McDonald’s new plans would reduce parking spots from 34 to 28 spaces but will plant more trees and shrubs to “provide a natural buffer between the restaurant and the Langston Blvd frontage,” Weinstein said.

“[This] will create an attractive setting for McDonald’s customer sand drivers passing by the restaurant on Langston Boulevard,” he said. “McDonald’s customers will also be able to enjoy an outdoor seating and dining area in the landscaped area long the Property’s Langston Boulevard frontage.”

Although the County Board has yet to adopt a final version of the Plan Langston Blvd study, Weinstein says, the plans from McDonald’s align with the preliminary concept plan, or PCP. This document envisions an enhanced streetscape with a wider-right-of-way, landscaped areas, street trees and flexible open spaces.

“The Project accommodates and will not inhibit the PCP’s enhanced streetscape recommendations,” he said.

The application is slated to be reviewed by the Arlington County Board alone, per a public notice of items up for review by the Planning Commission and the Board this month. The Board will meet on Saturday, March 18 and Tuesday, March 21.

Arlington County sues civic association and residents over attempt to block bus parking

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

(Updated at 11 a.m.) Arlington County is suing three residents and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association over their attempt to stop buses from being parked near their homes.

The county charges that they used the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) process improperly to prevent the approval of a special use permit to allow 29 Arlington Transit (ART) buses to park on a county lot across the street from Washington-Liberty High School while a new ART bus facility is built in Green Valley.

The county says the BZA doesn’t have the authority to hear their case and, without an allegation of harm or potential harm not shared by their neighbors, the residents are not “aggrieved parties” and are thus improperly using the appeal process to block the county’s plans.

“The Applicants sought their appeals simply as a way to undermine the County Board’s authority and to prevent the County Board from approving a special exception use permit for the Subject Property, thereby weaponizing the stay required by Va. Code… and in effect usurping the legislative power of the County Board,” per the lawsuit.

But the residents, who live in two of the five homes on a ridge overlooking the parking lot, argue the county is suing them preemptively while running afoul of its own zoning ordinances. Further, they say the bus activity will seriously undercut their property values and quality of life and suggest the county should buy their homes.

The lawsuit says that one resident’s BZA appeal asked the body to “compel the County Board to purchase some of the Applicant’s properties.”

Both the county and the residents declined to comment to ARLnow on the ongoing lawsuit, set for a hearing in Arlington County Circuit Court later this month.

Arlington County bought the largely industrial site, also known as the Buck site after its previous owner, in 2015 for $30 million to serve a variety of needs.

Arlington Public Schools parked “white fleet” vans there and, as part of an agreement in 2022, the county moved the vans from a part of the site zoned for “light industrial” uses to another zoned for “mixed use,” and park the ART buses in the “light industrial” zone.

This violates an ordinance, a site plan and a deed of covenant governing the property dating to 1985, the civic association alleged in a letter to the County Board in May 2022. The letter says county staff made procedural and substantive missteps that should have invalidated the county’s special use permit application and subsequent action to abandon the right-of-way of a former street on the site.

The civic association alleges that this change came after the county already violated zoning ordinances related to parking and landscaping by conducting motorcycle maneuvering training and storing dumpsters in parking areas while, in landscaped areas, letting trees die and English ivy take over.

As for the new use, they say the noise is unbearable, emissions from the Compressed Natural Gas-powered buses are “toxic,” and vibrations shake nearby homes — leading to their properties becoming “unmarketable” and “uninhabitable.” The BVSCA posted the following video of an ART parking exercise on the site last year.

 

 

Residents say the county’s real estate office proposed reducing their property assessments by up to $190,000 and heard from four realtors who say they’d be reluctant to list these properties.

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