planning

A collection of single-family homes in Cherrydale will soon be eligible for Missing Middle redevelopment

By Jo DeVoe
1/2

Eighteen properties formerly within a special “revitalization district” in Cherrydale will soon officially be eligible for redevelopment with 2- to 6-unit homes.

On Monday, the Arlington Planning Commission unanimously adopted changes to the county’s General Land Use Plan map that removed 18 properties from the boundaries of the Cherrydale revitalization district, outlined in the 1994 Cherrydale Revitalization Plan.

According to Missing Middle ordinances, these properties would have been exempt from Expanded Housing Option, or EHO, development because they were intended for larger-scale redevelopment. But that was unlikely to happen.

“Since the redevelopment on adjacent properties did not also include these parcels as part of the site assemblages, it is unexpected and likely infeasible for the balance of properties to redevelop on their own consistent with the Cherrydale plan,” per a county report.

If the Arlington County Board approves the proposed map changes this month, these 18 properties could have a new path forward for redevelopment as EHOs, potentially creating a subtler transition from higher-density or commercial buildings to single-family home neighborhoods.

Proposed changes to the Cherrydale Revitalization District Boundaries (via Arlington County)

Since the revitalization plan was adopted in 1994, several properties in Cherrydale have redeveloped, becoming townhouses, for instance, but leaving a collection of single-family homes nearby.

When the Missing Middle ordinances were adopted, county staff recommended studying the Cherrydale Revitalization District boundaries as part of Plan Langston Blvd, which outlines how the county can leverage private development to turn car-centric Langston Blvd into a leafy, walkable corridor with more housing, retail and open space.

Notably, Cherrydale had been left out of Plan Langston Blvd because its redevelopment plan had yet to be fully realized. Still, with this recommendation, staff sought to find homes unlikely to be assembled for larger-scale redevelopment and free them up for EHO development.

The map shows other blocks with a few single-family homes are still included in district, meaning the county still has high hopes developers could assemble these properties for larger-scale developments.

An aerial view of a car dealership and restaurant, and single-family homes nearby, that could be assembled for larger redevelopment projects (image by ARLnow via Google Maps)

The Planning Commission adopted the changes this month after a month-long delay.

In November, the County Board decided to postpone hearings on the map until December because a copy of the map “was inadvertently omitted” from meeting materials in October, when the Board heard staff’s request to advertise hearings, the report said.

The item is now teed up to go before the County Board on Saturday, Dec. 16.

Potential affordable housing development in Aurora Highlands nears initial milestone

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

(Updated at 4:30 p.m.) A land-use study teeing up an affordable housing redevelopment project in Aurora Highlands has generated significant interest as it nears completion.

Melwood, a D.C. area nonprofit that provides services to and employs people with disabilities, is looking to redevelop property it owns at 750 23rd Street S., two blocks west of “Restaurant Row” in Crystal City.

It has picked nonprofit developer Wesley Housing to replace its aging building — from which it offers job training and placement, among other services, to people with disabilities — with 104 units of affordable housing.

Many units would be for households earning around 60% of the area median income. Some units would be set aside for very low-income households and up to 30 units could be set aside for people with disabilities. Melwood would continue using the site to provide services to people with disabilities.

“This collaboration with Wesley Housing has the power to transform the lives of people with disabilities and support Arlington’s continued leadership in building an inclusive community,” Melwood President and CEO Larysa Kautz said in a statement. “We appreciate their support in helping people with disabilities find a place to call home.”

Should everything go to plan, work could be underway in about two years.

“While we’re still very early in the planning process, we hope to seek tax credit financing in 2025 and to break ground shortly thereafter,” a spokeswoman for Melwood told ARLnow.

First, Melwood needs the site’s land use designation changed from “public” use to a low-density residential use, for up to 36 housing units per acre. It can request this change through a Special General Land Use Plan (GLUP) Study process.

This May, the county’s Long-Range Planning Committee recommended studying this change because the county has no planning guidance for the site, and its “public” use is at odds with its private ownership and commercial zoning status. Still, members had concerns about building heights and transitions, density and how the project could impact adjacent Nelly Custis Park.

This fall, county staff studied the site, its potential 4- or 5-story buildings, and other topics, including transportation. Last week, staff briefed the Long Range Planning Committee on its findings as well as the results of a recent online survey.

Staff said a 4-story building would be slightly taller than existing churches nearby and would provide more space for programming. A 5-story building would allow for more open space and a better transition to Nelly Custis Park. It determined the existing transportation system could handle the influx of residents but more study would be needed.

As for the survey, 240 people participated, mostly nearby homeowners. Some 38-42% of respondents said building tall was fine — given the mix of buildings and Metro station nearby — and expressed enthusiasm for more affordable housing.

Many were concerned the development is too big and would introduce too much density. One respondent who lives across the street said the county “has not done its due diligence in studying impacts to traffic, pedestrian safety, or ecosystem impacts” and the building “is not consistent with the sector plan or neighborhood.”

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County to solicit more feedback on potential deer management strategies next year

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

Arlington County will kick off the New Year with the next phase of engagement on its forthcoming plan to manage its deer population.

A study found two years ago that Arlington’s deer population exceeds healthy levels, with the county’s forested areas home to about 20 and 39 deer per square. About 1.5 years ago, the Dept. of Parks and Recreation began considering a management plan in response.

Today, the department is considering three ways to lower the population, including sharp-shooting, citizen hunting and sterilization. Another option, fencing off trees, would focus on tackling a purported effect of “overbrowsing,” when large deer populations eat too much of the forest understory.

Some naturalists welcomed the culling options presented. The Animal Welfare League of Arlington, which provides animal control services for the county, meanwhile, champions non-lethal options and has criticized the process so far as “one-sided.”

Early next year, the parks department will host a virtual information session to introduce a second round of community engagement on potential deer management strategies, according to a new timeline it published today (Monday).

Deer management outreach timeline (via Arlington Dept. of Parks and Recreation)

Residents can also expect a new feedback form and have the chance to participate in more community meetings before DPR crafts draft recommendations, the timeline says.

These recommendations will be the subject of a third round of public engagement — including another feedback form — before DPR drafts and releases final recommendations.

At some future point yet to be determined, County Manager Mark Schwartz will take action on the final recommendations, per the timeline.

Although this work continues well into 2024, some local environmentalists say the county should have strengthened its discussion of deer management in a forthcoming county master plan governing stewardship of trees and natural resources.

“The role of high white-tailed deer numbers and invasive plants should be more clearly articulated in the environmental degradation of Arlington’s forested areas and included in the plan’s priorities,” Climate Change, Energy and Environment Commission Chair Joan McIntyre wrote in a letter to the Arlington County Board this fall.

“Reducing deer numbers and treating invasive plants are both critical to restoration of our natural areas,” she continued.

The Forestry and Natural Resources Commission expressed its concern that the plan did not treat overbrowsing specifically as a forestry management priority.

“Independent scientific research has ‘noted that tree regeneration failure is widespread and that without active deer management, ecological health of Arlington County’s natural areas will likely continue to degrade,'” writes commission chair Phil Klingelhofer.

The Planning Commission is set to review and vote on the final draft of the Forestry and Natural Resources plan tonight (Monday), teeing up the County Board for a vote on Dec. 16.

The Board authorized this month’s hearings in October. At the time, Board member Takis Karantonis noted he would spend the next two months talking about deer, among other topics.

“There is no question… we are out of balance, we have species that are abundant because we have killed or eliminated factors that balance their population,” he said at the time.

Of deer, the draft plan says “many” Arlingtonians note that expanding deer populations are having “harmful impacts.”

“General sentiment favors striking a balance between managing negative impacts of wildlife while also protecting habitats that benefit Arlington’s ecosystem,” the plan says.

It resolves to inform management with surveys on existing and emerging pests and “high-impact organisms.” By way of example, the plan highlights the 2021 deer count that determined Arlington County had unhealthy deer population levels.

Going forward, “such surveys will be critical to identifying threats early, informing management efforts and can tie into education campaigns,” the plan says.

Fire department charts a new course with first-ever strategic plan

By James Jarvis
1/3

In a bid to improve accountability, the Arlington County Fire Department is looking to put its mission and priorities in writing with its first-ever strategic plan.

The plan is designed to help the department identify its values and strengths and determine where to channel its resources over the next five years.

“The core values that someone wrote or prescribed in years past don’t necessarily reflect what [community members and fire personnel] believe in and feel represent them today,” ACFD Assistant Fire Chief Jason Jenkins told ARLnow. “This is our opportunity to rebrand our mission, reimagine our core values to again focus on our future.”

Although a strategic plan is not mandatory, Jenkins — who spent 26 years at Fairfax County Fire and Rescue before coming to Arlington — said he believes it would provide clarity where there is “a lot of uncertainty” around the department’s goals.

“And without a clear focus, or clarity around the organizational goals, then it leaves folks wonder wondering where are we going, and how do we plan to get there,” he said.

The focus on core values comes as amid internal changes made in response to allegations of harassment of female employees and hazing of recruits.

Jenkins also the strategic plan could also inform how firefighters, and other resources, are allocated from station to station. The fire department got a boost last year when the Arlington County Board greenlit the hiring of 40 more firefighters and instituted a Kelly Day, which cut the average workweek from 56 to 50 hours.

As ACFD begins to recover from several years of understaffing, which led to a troubling reliance on overtime, it is also having to evolve to respond to new public safety threats and more medical emergencies.

The strategic plan could ensure ACFD has “the right type apparatus in the right places as well as an effective number of specially trained firefighters on duty to mitigate any multitude of hazards,” Brian Lynch, president of the firefighters union, Local 2800, tells ARLnow.

“This is even more important now as Arlington continues to grow and threats, such as climate change, increase the risks we need to protect the community from,” he said.

Lynch commended Jenkins for his “energy” in helping spearhead the strategic plan.

“We are optimistic that by listening to the people who make the department work, as well as the people we serve, combined with the assistance of outside experts, will help guide the efforts to make a safer Arlington for all,” Lynch said.

Work on the strategic plan kicked off earlier this month with an in-person feedback session at the Long Bridge Aquatic Center.

About 20 community stakeholders, including county government representatives, civic association members and local business owners, filled out surveys about the department’s strengths and areas in need of improvement.

They also rated which programs — including fire code enforcement and prevention, fire suppression, and emergency medical services — they believe the department should prioritize.

The feedback will be published as part of a final draft of the strategic plan, which Jenkins says should be ready by Feb. 1, 2024.

Arlington to move forward with pickleball courts at Walter Reed after mulling a pause

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Arlington County will continue with plans to build dedicated pickleball courts at the Walter Reed Community Center.

The county had mulled pausing the project, putting the question to community members in a survey this spring.

“Respondents were slightly more in favor of continuing the project, though it should be noted that respondents who identified as players are more in favor of continuing and those self-identifying as neighbors were more in favor of pausing,” Dept. of Parks and Recreation planning director Erik Beach told the Board on Tuesday.

DPR will forge ahead because the sport has health benefits and the center needs renovations either way, he said.

“The county firmly believes in the benefits of providing places for its residents to receive the physical and mental health benefits of being outside, recreating and socializing,” Beach said. “DPR has observed in real-time and validated through professional literature the opportunity provided by pickleball to be a catalyst for those physical and mental benefits.”

The county has selected designs that would:

  • increase the distance between future courts near 16th Street S. and residential homes to a distance of about 170 feet
  • add acoustic fencing to both sets of courts and landscaping in between
  • add a deck to protect a large existing tree and provide respite space
  • improve circulation for people with disabilities
  • increase parking spaces by four
  • resurface the basketball courts

An online survey about the proposal is open now through Dec. 8 and could inform tweaks DPR makes before selecting a contractor by the third quarter of 2024.

Columbia Heights Civic Association President Ron Haddox, meanwhile, is skeptical of the most recent survey. In a letter to the Board, he said the survey circulated in pro-pickleball online forums nationally and internationally, attaching screenshots.

He says pickleballers recommended people submit responses multiple times across platforms and identify as county or 22204 residents, “even if they were not.”

“This obviously concerns us and calls into question the genuineness of at least some portion of the feedback received,” he said.

Beach told the Board that DPR tried to improve the quality of the data by removing several hundred comments from people at least 10 miles away from the community center. In the age of virtual private networks, Haddox says, this may not have done much.

“The use of DPR’s anonymous survey methodology and subsequent efforts to enhance its usefulness have very likely resulted in skewed results that have limited usefulness other than to let the county know that nearly EVERYONE on BOTH sides of this issue is against the idea of permanent courts at WRCC,” he said in a letter to the County Board.

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County Board passes Plan Langston Blvd with several tweaks intended to respond to community concerns

By Jo DeVoe
Arlington County Board on Nov. 11, 2023 during their discussion of the Plan Langston Blvd document (via Arlington County)

(Updated at 4:55 p.m.) A plan guiding the future of Langston Blvd was approved on Saturday.

After hearing from some three dozen speakers, the Arlington County Board passed the plan — with some broad wording changes and neighborhood-specific tweaks that respond to months of public comments, including those made in the days leading up to the vote.

The county said in a press release that the newly adopted plan will help turn the 4.5-mile-long, car-oriented commercial and residential corridor into a “green, mixed-use main street that provides safe and multimodal access and is rooted in environmental resiliency, economic sustainability, and equity.”

“I am proud of the new vision for a resilient and equitable Langston Boulevard that was developed through years of work with the community,” Board Chair Christian Dorsey said in a statement after the vote.

“The plan’s land use framework and design guidelines will shape the new development in this corridor by helping expand the housing supply and its commercial base, improving its transit network and the connectivity of its public spaces, and strengthening the overall climate resiliency of the corridor by managing stormwater effectively, adding quality green spaces, and improving energy efficiency,” he continued.

Board members added and removed language in an attempt to firm up commitments to more aggressive affordable housing goals and county investments in better infrastructure. They added language intended to ensure privately owned public spaces — the bedrock of new green space envisioned on the boulevard — feel as accessible as their government-owned counterparts.

Some changes were tailored to specific neighborhoods and sites, made by individual community members and property owners. For instance, height transitions were lowered from five stories to four along 22nd Road N., a narrow road populated with single-family homes that abut commercial properties along Langston Blvd, including Moore’s Barber Shop.

Board members also lowered maximum heights from five stories to four, and transitional heights from four stories to three near the Calloway United Methodist Church in the historically Black neighborhood of Halls Hill/High View Park. For some supporting Board members, this vote was done with the neighborhood’s history in mind, as it was once segregated from a development for white residents by a wall.

Interim Board member Tannia Talento says lot size and street widths increase on the formerly “white” side of the segregation wall.

“What [the Halls Hill neighborhood is] asking for is not to feel locked in again,” she said. “Based on the history and recognizing and acknowledging mistakes made in the past, it’s important to hear the community, respect our history, respect what the request is, recognize that we have generational families who experienced that segregation.”

Board member Matt De Ferranti said he listened to John M. Langston Civic Association president Wilma Jones explain the rationale for her request in a recent ARLnow podcast. He said these concerns led him to support the amendment.

“Until I have next to me a 7-Eleven, I shouldn’t over-talk about [density],” he said.

Dorsey opposed the vote on the grounds it could create unintended consequences.

“We have made it more likely to develop by-right, providing no community benefits,” he said. “While I know you are all quite sincere to bring an equity lens and support historically Black communities, I don’t think they’re asking us at this point to deny them the opportunity to receive community benefits from redevelopment, which could be a consequence of this action.”

Board members also softened tree canopy requirements around the Lyon Village Shopping Center, which requested relief, saying the 35% canopy requirement would be impossible to meet if the property owners were to redevelop. They struck a recommendation to extend 25th Road N. west to connect with N. Harrison Street, instead adding language to suggest increasing pedestrian and bicycle connectivity between these two streets.

The Board also included a directive to the County Manager ensure that conversations move forward with the Virginia Dept. of Transportation and WMATA about redeveloping land these agencies own near the East Falls Church Metro station. De Ferranti says he would like to see staff directed to assess “re-zonings that lead to more affordable housing as fast as we can reasonably and appropriately do so.”

More about the plan’s passage, below, from a county press release.

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‘Plan Langston Blvd’ nears finish line, though some resident concerns linger

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Plan Langston Blvd — a sweeping document outlining the future development of the corridor — is teed up for a vote by the Arlington County Board on Saturday.

The vote would culminate years of grassroots activity, followed by a county planning process that included about a year of public engagement. Despite the long lead time, the plan was recently criticized during County Board campaigns and commission meetings for introducing too many last-minute changes, which the county maintains were largely technical.

Although these tweaks have had time to settle, longstanding concerns continue to arise, pertaining to affordable housing, retail, building heights and park space. The Planning Commission addressed some of these earlier this month when, after voting to recommend the Board adopt the plan, members added in a few recommended changes.

On affordable housing, the Planning Commission, residents and community groups asked the County Board and staff to push for more committed affordable units.

“We don’t ask enough of our developers,” Commissioner Elizabeth Gearin said, per meeting minutes. “I hope we’re looking at how to get more on-site units. We should identify tools to where the County doesn’t need to outlay money. We haven’t fully exhausted this issue.”

Plan Langston Blvd projects to create 2,500 committed affordable units along the corridor by 2075, while the county’s 2015 Affordable Housing Master Plan previously called for the creation of those units by 2040. A sticking point for affordable housing advocates, the breakdown is because the Affordable Housing Master Plan, or AHMP, “was a projection, not necessarily a goal,” county planner Natasha Alfonso-Ahmed said, per meeting minutes.

“We’ve done extensive analysis of development capacity, and at the end of the day, the building envelope is set,” she said. “The result based on the recommended building envelopes is somewhat less than the AHMP projection.”

Planning commissioners approved a motion articulating their support for a countywide effort to “identify new tools and strategies to preserve and achieve more affordable housing related to a review of the Affordable Housing Master Plan,” according to the minutes.

Rev. Ashley Goff and Pat Findikoglu, representing VOICE — Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement — wrote that the Board has a vested interest in doing this.

“You have consistently shown your support for housing affordability for Arlingtonians across the income spectrum in many other areas of the County,” they said in a letter to the Board. “Now you have a chance to make clear that the North Arlington Langston Boulevard corridor, like all the other areas, also has a significant role to play in ensuring future housing opportunities for a broad range of residents.”

Attachment to the Lee Heights Shops — a one-story retail strip that includes an independent wine store, a salon, restaurants and a toy store with distinct colored awnings — also generated buzz.

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Plans stewarding Arlington’s natural and cultural resources teed up for hearings later this year

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

Two significant county plans — one governing stewardship of trees and natural resources and the other historic preservation — are reaching the finish line.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board set hearings for both plans. Members will vote on adopting the plans at the hearings.

First up will be the Historic and Cultural Resources Plan, set for a Planning Commission hearing on Monday, Oct. 30 and a County Board hearing on Saturday, Nov. 11. The hearings on the plan were approved without further discussion at the start of the meeting over the weekend.

“This is an element of our comprehensive plan but we haven’t updated it since 2006,” Board Chair Christian Dorsey said. “We have been engaged in a multi-year planning process that has resulted in five recommended focus areas: community engagements… incentives, partnerships, regulations, technology, information and tools. This will provide a framework for us to advance the mission and the effectiveness of the county’s Historic Preservation program.”

Next up will be a Planning Commission hearing on Dec. 4, followed by a County Board hearing on Dec. 16, when the Board will consider the new Forestry and Natural Resources Plan.

It “emphasizes equity, a community-wide approach based on education and volunteerism and a focus on reconnecting nature to daily life,” says Dept. of Parks and Recreation Principal Planner Ryan Delaney.

For the first time, he said, Arlington will have a document that views all natural resources “as an interconnected system that covers not only public natural areas and parks but the built environment and private property as well.”

The plan updates and replaces a 2004 plan for urban forests and a 2010 natural resources management plan. It makes several notable recommendations, including the following goals to:

  • reestablish and maintain at least 40% tree canopy
  • ensure 70% of trees are regionally native by 2034
  • direct resources to neighborhoods underserved by tree canopy
  • move from “reactive” to “proactive” maintenance
  • enhance development standards to retain or replace more trees, natural vegetation, permeable surfaces and biophilic elements

The county studied current practices, innovative programs and lessons learned by Fairfax, Albemarle and Prince William counties in Virginia, Montgomery County in Maryland, and Seattle and Richmond, among others, Delaney said.

There is general support for the plan, the DPR planner continued, noting lingering concerns from some about whether the plan treats climate change and tree canopy decline with enough urgency.

Arlington Tree Action Group representative Mary Glass is one such critic. She was the last forestry plan speaker standing after four others did not outlast the lengthy Plan Langston Blvd discussion.

She says the county could “restore trust” with the community if it used newer data on tree canopy levels and adopted more aggressive tree canopy policies.

Glass says the forthcoming plan references a 2016 assessment that found tree canopy levels were at 40%, when a citizen-commissioned study from this year, using 2021 data, found the rate is lower, at 33%, and the situation more dire.

“The important takeaway is, based on these new numbers, which are very accurate, between 2008 and 2021, we lost nearly a quarter of our tree canopy,” Glass said. “It’s a bigger problem than how it may appear reading the plan.”

Caroline Haynes, a member of the Arlington County Forestry and Natural Resources Commission, said people can argue for more tweaks but a plan has to be adopted sometime soon.

“We’ve spent a lot of time developing these policy guidelines and we can always quibble about is it perfect or not but it’s time… we all feel it’s really urgent to get on with this and we really want to move forward on getting toward implementation,” she said.

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Arlington County Board sets hearings for next month on Langston Blvd plan

By Jo DeVoe
The Arlington County Board during its Saturday, Oct. 14, 2023 meeting (via Arlington County)

A document envisioning the long-term development of most of Langston Blvd is one step closer to adoption.

On Saturday, the Arlington County Board set public hearings by the Planning Commission on Monday, Oct. 30 and the Board on Saturday, Nov. 11, when members will hear from the community and deliberate the document, dubbed Plan Langston Blvd. The Board will ultimately decide whether to adopt it.

Board members unanimously approved the request to advertise hearings next month after nearly 50 people spoke and the Board asked questions for about an hour and a half.

Renderings of Cherry Hill Road in front of the Lee Heights Shops in the draft Plan Langston Blvd document (via Arlington County)

Board member Matt de Ferranti proposed and received majority support for two revisions before the final document was passed. One is intended to hasten a review of planning for the East Falls Church and Cherrydale neighborhoods and the other removes language calling for the consolidation of community centers.

East Falls Church and Cherrydale were excluded from Plan Langston Blvd because they already have neighborhood plans that have yet to be fully realized. Since this decision was made, however, some community members, Planning Commissioners and County Board members have stressed these communities need a second look — sooner rather than later — as they can help the plan meet its own affordable housing goals.

“This is a burning priority for me and so, this almost rises to level of office vacancy rate for me,” de Ferranti said, acknowledging that in the case of East Falls Church the county will have to keep applying pressure to VDOT and Metro while relying on private developers, too.

“What you see here is an attempt to signal to the community that these two parts of the plan should be considered sooner,” de Ferranti said.

County Manager Mark Schwartz said he will “never say no to the Board” on a request like this but it will require them to reconsider how county staffers prioritize their work.

“I’m working right now on [a budget]… that’s going to have cuts in it. I’m not going to have additional resources available. The team available here, once they finish up with this, they have two to three things to turn their attention to,” he said. “If you want to find additional resources, absolutely, we will move it higher up on the list, but that means something has to move lower on the list.”

The plan’s most recent iteration said community centers should be consolidated to better address the needs of a growing population, a goal espoused in the county’s Public Spaces Master Plan.

De Ferranti, however, argued that the goal is not in the county’s best interest because of the expected population increase. The lone dissenter to de Ferranti’s motion, Board Chair Christian Dorsey, countered that consolidation will not mean a reduction in services.

Much of the Board’s discussion this weekend, like previous discussions by the Board and the Planning Commission, as well as some community advocacy, centered on affordable housing.

The corridor currently has 1,936 market-rate and committed affordable units, said county planner Natasha Alfonso-Ahmed. That includes 1,088 that are affordable to people earning 80% of the area median income (AMI) and 900 are affordable at 60% AMI.

The plan aims to increase the number of affordable units to 3,200-3,800 units by 2075, focusing especially on units affordable up to 60% AMI. Some argue the county does not have the tools to get there nor does this plan consider people who earn 30% AMI or less.

“Many of these low-income residents provide our community with essential services — child and health care, restaurants and retail, maintenance and construction and more,” wrote Anne Vor der Bruegge, the director of grants and initiatives at the nonprofit Arlington Community Foundation, which has also advocated for deeper affordable housing elsewhere in the county.

“If we want to create a truly equitable Langston Boulevard corridor for the future, we need to proactively support creating and preserving homes that serve the lowest income residents,” she said.

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Arlington awards new grants to help community members to take on historic preservation work

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

A dozen historical preservation projects across Arlington, from historically accurate home renovations to community-based projects and research, have received county funding through a new program.

The county doled out roughly $256,000 to 12 of the 19 applicants for the inaugural round of the Arlington County Historic Preservation Fund.

This is part of a new effort to give incentives to residents, property owners, developers and community organizations to take on historic preservation work — rather than leaving these efforts and advocacy to the county, the Arlington Historical Society and two citizen commissions.

These entities either have limited ability or few, bureaucratic tools to stem the tide of redevelopment, casualties of which include the historic Febrey-Lothrop house and Fellows-McGrath House.

“From big picture storytelling and research projects to individual building preservation, this inaugural group of Historic Preservation Fund recipients demonstrates the breadth of Arlington’s unique history and many ways we can preserve our story for generations to come,” County Manager Mark Schwartz said in a statement.

A few recipients and projects include:

  • The Green Valley Civic Association, which plans to highlight local landmarks that contribute to Arlington’s African-American culture with signs, tours and workshops. It will also be digitizing records and adding more educational resources to its website.
  • We Are Barcroft: A 60 Acre History of People & Place, by local artist Sushmita Mazumdar, who plans to chronicle the cultural heritage of the Barcroft Apartments.
  • An Arlington Historical Web & Mobile App, administered by Arlingtonian Peter Vaselopulos, where he will publish community histories by local authors, artists and community members.
  • The Dominion Hills Civic Association, which will create three historic markers near the former location of the Febrey-Lothrop Estate, or Rouse estate — demolished for new single family homes to the chagrin of local preservationists — so residents and visitors can learn about the site’s “forgotten history” spanning colonial America to the 20th century.

“The grantees represent a wide range of creative projects, several of which have a strong focus on cultural heritage, and we are excited about the opportunity to financially assist these recipients and further the County’s historic preservation goals,” said Historic Preservation Section Supervisor Cynthia Liccese-Torres in a statement.

A review committee selected these projects based on their quality, equity and inclusion, community impact and managerial competence, per a press release.

Most of the grants amounted to $20-25,000 but the two largest grants will help homeowners preserve their Cherrydale and Maywood homes, which are each more than 100 years old. The capital improvement grants will assist the homeowners in taking on what can be dollar- and time-intensive work.

“Historic district renovations often entail meeting specific design and preservation standards to ensure alterations are done in a sensitive manner,” says Rachel LaPiana, a communications specialist with the Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development.

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Langston Blvd plan criticized for last-minute edits and smaller-than-hoped affordable housing commitments

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

Plan Langston Blvd — a sweeping document envisioning a tree-lined, walkable Route 29 with apartments over retail — is gearing up for final discussions and eventual approval.

The newest draft landed last Thursday: two business days before a Planning Commission meeting on whether to advertise hearings on the plan. It contained a slew of changes county staff explain are policy clarifications, responding to recent feedback from citizen commissions, the Arlington County Board and residents.

In a 3-hour meeting Monday, some Planning Commissioners objected to the timing and moved to delay hearings one month, though this failed. They instead unanimously recommended hearings by the commission and the Arlington County Board in November. The deliberations echoed this stage of the Missing Middle hearings, last Thanksgiving, with commissioners noting this step simply sets what can be considered next month.

“I do think that it is an unfortunate timeline,” Planning Commission Vice-Chair Sara Steinberger said. “[This] document would be a struggle for most people to get through in that period of time. And I think that we should aim to do better because I think that’s important for the community to trust the process.”

Steinberger, who made the failed motion to delay hearings on Plan Langston Blvd, or PLB, had backing from Commissioner Nia Bagley.

“[Steinberger] was a little bit more polite than I probably would be,” Bagley said. “I hope we never do this again. I hope we give this more time in the future.”

Commission Chair Devanshi Patel said she understands the concerns of her colleagues but, sometimes, making real-time changes cannot be reconciled with giving ample time for people to review them.

“I think that staff did the best job that they could do by getting a comprehensive plan together with up-to-date information, reconciling the comments that they’ve been hearing from every single meeting of this body and other bodies, and being able to provide it in advance of this meeting as possible,” she said.

Agreeing with Patel, Commissioner Daniel Weir did say he and others have been “harping” on staff to return to the pre-pandemic days when meeting materials were published seven to 10 days before meetings.

But, he continued, “just because this form of the document wasn’t published before a certain day out, I don’t think it follows from that that there hasn’t been a full and robust public process… at least for the purposes of moving forward on the [request to advertise hearings].”

Recalling yet another controversial plan, the Pentagon City Sector Plan, Commissioner Jim Lantelme said changes were made “literally up to the final Board meeting.”

“If we’re not thrilled with something, it’s okay, because the idea is to get everything out there,” he said. “We can cut it back later. We can’t add to it, but we can cut it back later.”

County planner Natasha Alfonso-Ahmed assured commissioners that Monday’s decision still leaves time for them and other residents to review the changes.

That the draft came out on Thursday “doesn’t mean that there isn’t any time to process and to continue to review this draft that’s out before you,” she said. “We have another four weeks or five weeks before this goes to the again to you all for review.”

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