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A mid-century relic of Rosslyn’s pedestrian infrastructure, next to the church-gas station, is coming down this summer

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

(Updated at 3:55 p.m.) One of Rosslyn’s few remaining skywalks is set to come down as part of an effort to realize a walkable corridor from one end of the neighborhood to the other.

Arlington County will be demolishing a skywalk over N. Nash Street, near the Arlington Temple United Methodist Church building and Sunoco gas station dubbed “Our Lady of Exxon.” The county applied for a demolition permit for this project last month, permit records show.

“This is part of the Rosslyn Sector Plan’s 18th Street Corridor,” says Arlington Dept. of Environmental Services spokeswoman Katie O’Brien. “The removal of the skywalk will help refocus pedestrian activity at the street level by replacing the remainder of the skywalk system with the envisioned 18th Street Corridor over time.”

Envisioned in the 2015 Rosslyn Sector Plan, the 18th Street Corridor is envisioned as a walkable thoroughfare extending from Rosslyn’s western edge, N. Quinn Street, to its eastern edge, Arlington Ridge Road. The corridor is intended to make Rosslyn more pedestrian-friendly by removing the skywalks, breaking up long north-south blocks and improving access to the Rosslyn Metro station, per the sector plan.

Some skywalks have already been removed as part of redevelopment projects changing Rosslyn’s skyline. Most recently, one that connected the now-demolished RCA building to the Rosslyn Gateway building was removed as part of plans to replace the building with apartments. Another over N. Lynn Street was removed in 2014 for the Central Place redevelopment that replaced a McDonalds.

The county is still working on the plans and obtaining necessary easements, O’Brien said. Demolition is expected to start this summer and take upwards of two months.

The demolition permit does not apply to the redevelopment project from Arlington-based Snell Properties, approved in 2021, to replace the Ames Center office building, formerly occupied by the Art Institute of Washington with two residential towers on the same block.

One tower would abut the Hyatt Centric hotel and another would surround the church and gas station, which will be completely rebuilt, according to a 2021 press release.

The new façade of Arlington Temple United Methodist Church at 1820 N. Fort Myer Drive (via Arlington County)

In advance of this project, Arlington Temple United Methodist Church has relocated to 1701 N. Bryan Street, just north of Courthouse, according to Rev. Martha “Marti” Ringenbach.

As for progress on this development, Snell did demolish 1820 Fort Myer Drive in October but a construction start date has not been determined, a spokeswoman for the developer tells ARLnow. She noted Snell was not aware of this demolition permit.

Once underway, the redevelopment will also advance the 18th Street Corridor by building up a segment from Fort Myer Drive to N. Nash Street, the 2021 release said.

In proposing a corridor that is partially inaccessible to cars, the sector plan admits that the 1960s-era skywalks were a bit of a failed experiment.

These skywalks were “designed to connect blocks, buildings and uses efficiently while keeping pedestrians separated from vehicular traffic,” the plan says. “The execution of the skywalk concept fell short of expectations in some cases, which combined with a renewed focus on directing pedestrian activity to the street level, has led to an incremental deconstruction of the system over the past 15 years.”

Rosslyn’s skywalks were declassé even before the new millenium, according to a scathing write-up in a 1999 study of Rosslyn.

“To the planners of the early 50’s and 60’s, presumably it seemed orderly and logical to separate the pedestrian flow with its erratic, unpredictable movements, from the fast-moving steel machines of the road,” a consulting firm wrote in the report. “Buried in the back of the planners’ minds perhaps lingered images of the piazza at San Marco in Venice or those of Rome. If so, in the instance of Rosslyn, something was lost in translation.”

Apartment building proposed for old Red Lion hotel site nears finish line

By Jo DeVoe
1/7

A redevelopment project near Rosslyn is teed up for Arlington County Board approval this weekend.

Reston-based Orr Partners proposes to build an 8-story apartment building with up to 446 units on a 2.2-acre site in the Radnor-Fort Myer Heights neighborhood.

The site at 1501 Arlington Blvd is currently home to the Red Lion Hotel, formerly the Best Western Iwo Jima hotel, which opened in 1958, as well as the Ellis Arms and Williamsburg apartments, which were built in 1954. It is bounded by Fairfax Drive to the south and the Parc Rosslyn Apartments and Belvedere Condominiums to the north.

The proposed building would add 418 net new units while still coming 62 feet under the height maximum allowed in this area, county planner Adam Watson told the Planning Commission last week. Its construction would eliminate surface parking lots and result in underground utility lines, new streetscapes and accessibility improvements.

Orr took over never-realized plans to build a 10-story condo tower and a 12-story hotel on the site, which the County Board approved in 2019.

After going through the county’s public review process, Orr changed the building’s form and design in response to staff and commissioner comments, says Watson. The developer made changes to the building at the corner of N. Pierce Street and Fairfax Drive to improve circulation on the sidewalk below, near a planned bicycle storage room.

It also added visual interest to gates along Fairfax Drive at the pedestrian level, intended to screen transformers from view and made design changes to give the lobby more prominence, he said.

Orr will replace existing market-rate affordable units with 24 on-site committed affordable units set aside for households earning up to 60% of the area median income. The units — seven 1-bedroom, 16 2-bedroom and one 3-bedroom — add up to 42 bedrooms, the same as currently exists.

Members of the Planning Commission urged the developer to consider trading some of the proposed 1-bedroom units for 3-bedroom ones.

“This would be a really great opportunity, as we rarely see 3-bedroom held market-rate affordable units that come before us,” said commission Chair Sara Steinberger last week. “You found one [3-bedroom unit]: I’m asking you guys to see what you can do to find one or two more. I do see some consensus in this body that that’s something that we would appreciate.”

Ryan Orr, the senior vice president of development, said his company is “happy to explore adding more 3-bedrooms in lieu of one or twos,” noting this would require “a holistic look” at the floor plans.

Representatives from the nearby Belvedere Condominiums owners association and the Radnor-Fort Myer Heights Civic Association expressed concern that the project will displace existing tenants of the market-rate affordable units.

Company chairman David Orr said he has heard these concerns from these neighbors since the kickoff of the project review process.

“We took that to heart. My son has met with every resident there — two didn’t open their doors — and we talked to them about their plans,” he said. “Some have had personal issues. Some are delinquent. We are not enforcing the leases and we are working with them in every way to bring them back to community.”

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County seeks public input as Gulf Branch restoration project design nears completion

By Jo DeVoe
1/6

In 2025, Arlington County will embark on a major project to rehabilitate the Gulf Branch stream.

Planning for the project began in 2019. The project was paused during the pandemic due to budget constraints but remained in focus due to the stream’s poor conditions today.

“Gulf Branch is a high-priority stream resilience project because of active erosion, infrastructure concerns and habitat degradation,” the county said.

After a two-year pause, Arlington resumed design work and had 60% complete designs by last October. Now, the county’s Dept. of Environmental Services is seeking feedback on the designs.

Final design work, permit acquisition and procurement are all expected to happen this this year. Construction would then start in 2025.

Arlington County aims to combat future erosion and ensure the stream can handle surges of water during storms. The extent of erosion today can be seen in a county video, below, walking through the most recent project updates.

As part of the project, the stream corridor will be replanted and stone and log structures and step pools will be added behind the Glebe Park tennis courts and near Broyhill Forest Park and the Gulf Branch Nature Center.

Also near Broyhill Forest Park and the nature center, stream beds will be raised to bury exposed sanitary sewer pipes. This is intended to prevent sewage from seeping into the stream and stave off emergency repairs, according to a project webpage.

Excess sediment will be reduced to meet regulatory requirements for what flows into the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay, the website said. The work also includes habitat enhancements for the local wildlife and increased public access to the stream.

During earlier feedback periods, some community members urged DES to take a more proactive approach to tackling erosion, according to an online survey. In response, the county says it expanded the project scope to include a dry stream bed that is west of the Nature Center, running the width of Glebe Road Park.

Additionally, residents were concerned about noise and equipment traffic during construction. To limit these impacts, the county decided to create separate temporary construction entrances to the main stem of Gulf Branch — from Broyhill Forest Park and Military Road — according to DES spokeswoman Katie O’Brien.

DES says it also heard from several people concerned about runoff closer to the stream’s source. In response, it proposed four “green street” rain garden projects in the watershed, downstream of Military Road.

The locations are as follows:

  • The N. Piedmont Street cul-de-sac
  • The corner of 36th Road N. and N. Nelson Street
  • The corner of N. Nelson Street and N. Oakland Street
  • 36th Road N. near the stairs to the Gulf Branch trail

The county began meeting with people neighboring the proposed green street projects in the fall of 2022 and has since continued that engagement as well as design work.

Construction on the green street projects is expected to begin in mid-2024.

County to pay $1M for Gravelly Point upgrades as part of planned DCA pedestrian bridge

By Jo DeVoe
1/5

 

Arlington County will be setting aside $1.6 million for improvement projects on national parkland in the crosshairs of a future pedestrian bridge between Crystal City and National Airport.

The long-discussed bridge, dubbed CC2DCA, is about to clear a major milestone: completion of a federally mandated review of its adverse impacts to the environment and historic properties.

While environmental effects were deemed minimal, several National Park Service-controlled historic resources were flagged for impacts, according to a county report, including the George Washington Memorial Parkway and the Mount Vernon Trail.

The parks service and the county have settled on three improvement projects to mitigate this predicted impact. Once a design contract for the project is awarded, the county will transfer money to NPS for the work. Funding will come from the Crystal City Tax Increment Financing fund, which pays for infrastructure improvements that revitalize Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard.

The biggest chunk, $1 million, will go toward planning and implementing improvements at Gravelly Point, as this public area could see more users traveling to and from the CC2DCA bridge via the Mount Vernon Trail.

The site could see a new parking lot, a rehabilitated boat launch — complete with an accessible canoe and kayak launch — relocated public restrooms and improved aesthetics of public-use areas.

“The Gravelly Point site is the closest major Mount Vernon Trail hub to the project area; the new CC2DCA bridge is less than a mile from Gravelly Point,” it continued. “The site rehabilitation will benefit trail users by improving the public amenities and repair deteriorated infrastructure that is in danger of further deterioration with the additional usage generated by CC2DCA.”

Next, $500,000 will fund maintenance activities by the Friends of the Mount Vernon Trail over five years, including edging the trail, replacing boardwalk bridge components like decking, cutting back vegetation overgrowth, grinding out asphalt root heaves and power washing scum from bridge decks.

Lastly, $150,000 to fund planning work to add interpretive signage to the GW Parkway highlighting underrepresented stories from Abingdon Plantation and Arlington House.

These projects are outlined in an agreement between the county and NPS, which the Arlington County Board approved during its Saturday, Dec. 16 meeting.

This agreement also requires the county to give NPS opportunities to review and give input as CC2DCA designs take shape and holds Arlington to executing a plan to protect and restore vegetation along the GW Parkway. The impact on scenic views for drivers, as well as vegetation removal, is expected to be relatively minimal, with about 146 trees removed.

The Board also approved an agreement with the county, NPS, the Federal Highway Administration, the Virginia Dept. of Transportation and the Virginia Historic Preservation Officer. This agreement is one of the final steps in the federally mandated environmental assessment study.

Originally proposed in 2017, CC2DCA was one of the transportation projects identified after Amazon announced plans to build its second headquarters in Arlington.

The last four years have been spent on design work, public engagement and the environmental study. Arlington and VDOT reviewed 16 possible bridge alignments and whittled them down to one that was picked earlier this year.

“Throughout the NEPA study, there has been overwhelming support for a direct multimodal connection between Crystal City and DCA,” the county report said. “During each public engagement period, the vast majority of individuals surveyed indicated they would use a CC2DCA connection if constructed.”

If CC2DCA comes to fruition, construction is expected to begin in late 2027 and last for two years, working around separate plans from the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to redo roadways and add more parking, new car rental facility and office space at DCA.

The ’12 Days of Christmas’ gets a remake focused on Arlington land-use debates

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

It won’t ever beat “All I Want for Christmas is You” on the charts but a new Arlington-specific Christmas song is out, recorded by the group that was on the opposition side of several land-use flashpoints this year.

Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future, a neighborhood group that has advocated against everything from Missing Middle to a new planning document for Langston Blvd, dropped an alternative “12 Days of Christmas” this week.

It mocks the policy changes and projects Arlington County undertook this year — the same policies for which other local groups spent the past couple of years advocating.

The short song, brought to you by the same people who brought tombstones for the “Arlington Way” to the final Missing Middle hearing, reiterates criticism ASF raised regarding heights, environmental impacts, governance or displacement and other predicted outcomes of growth.

And the kicker? A tribute to the paused second phase of Amazon’s second headquarters in Pentagon City: PenPlace, best known for the proposed marquee glassy double-helix building.

The lyrics are below.

On the 12th day of Christmas, my true love gave to me:

12 story towers,
11 displaced tenants,
10 YIMBYs leaping,
Nine acres bulldozed,
Eight vacant buildings,
Seven cars a-swimming,
Six-plex a-zoning,
Five special GLUPs.
Four homeless birds,
Three lawsuits,
Two lame ducks,
and a PenPlace that never will be.

While this take on the “12 Days of Christmas” had a sardonic edge, the proverbial 10 YIMBYs leaping do see this year as one to celebrate, kicking off with the ratification of Arlington’s Missing Middle policies.

In late 2023, YIMBYs of Northern Virginia saw the fruits of their advocacy in the passage of similar zoning ordinances in Alexandria. In between, organization members were busy responding to engagement opportunities on development projects moving through Arlington County approval processes.

“We are proud to have joined with a diverse set of community advocates to end exclusionary zoning in Arlington and Alexandria, reduce burdensome parking mandates in Fairfax County, support new market-rate and committed affordable apartment buildings, and elect forward-looking leaders across the region who prioritize making their jurisdiction a more inclusive, sustainable, and affordable place to live,” the group said in a statement.

The group invited anyone who shares its “Yes in My Backyard” values to celebrate the New Year on Jan. 14, 2024 from 5-7 p.m. at Makers Union pub in Pentagon City.

County ratifies financing plan for Barcroft Apartments redevelopment despite push from advocates for deeper affordability

By Jo DeVoe
The Barcroft Apartments on Columbia Pike (via Arlington County)

Arlington County Board members and advocates were split this weekend on how many units at the Barcroft Apartments should be set aside for Arlington’s lowest-income earners.

Two years ago, the county and Amazon loaned $150 million and $160 million, respectively, to developer Jair Lynch Real Estate Partners to purchase the aging garden apartment complex, located on 60 acres near the corner of S. George Mason Drive and S. Four Mile Run Drive.

The purchase agreement stipulated all 1,335 units would be affordable to households earning up to 60% of the area median income, or AMI, for 99 years, in an effort to avoid displacing the 1,100 resident families who lived there.

After community members advocated for deeper affordability, Jair Lynch developed a financing plan that further commits the county and property owner to keep at least 134 units for households earning up to 30% AMI. This would be the county’s largest commitment of 30% AMI units to date, among the properties in its affordable housing stock, according to a county report.

Board members celebrated the plan, which outlines how Jair Lynch will refinance the county’s loan to cover various renovation and redevelopment phases and try to achieve savings for the county in the long run. During remarks when they approved the plan, members said it documents how this project can be financially viable, despite cripplingly high interest rates.

“There are so many good things that are happening here,” County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said. “The areas where people want improvements are absolutely doable because the partners involved are committed not only to making this a financially viable experience but a good experience.”

He said that Saturday’s discussion was not the time or place to add in a new affordability commitment.

Advocates wanted to see a total of 255 units set aside for 30% AMI households — a single person earning $31,65o or a family of four bringing in $45,210. That number reflects that 255 households at the Barcroft Apartments that reported earning up to 30% AMI in 2021, when Jair Lynch purchased the complex, according to the Arlington Community Foundation.

“Deeper affordability should not expire when the current residents move on,” Arlington Community Foundation Director of Grants and Initiatives Anne Vor der Bruegge said. “We acknowledge the sobering financial dynamics at play and the need to protect the viability of this deal, however, we believe that our goal can ultimately be accomplished using land use and other tools that have not yet been explored.”

Interim County Board member Tannia Talento was not so sure.

“When we look at other committed affordable properties in Arlington that are not able to maintain a good quality of maintenance for their buildings, I just cannot in good mind say, ‘Let’s deepen affordability and we’ll figure it out later,” she said. “I just can’t do it.”

Should market conditions improve or Jair Lynch finds other funding sources, the county and the developer will revisit this minimum commitment, which will hold if market conditions worsen instead, per the report.

“Part of the financing plan is utilizing these potential savings to pay down the County’s debt while still meeting County goals,” a report says. “These anticipated savings are important due to the significant increase in the cost of capital to the County because interest rates have jumped dramatically since the 2021 acquisition.”

Debt service on the county’s short-term line of credit is currently $9 million annually for interest alone — more than four times what was projected in 2021 for the 2023 fiscal year, the report says. The county says this puts a strain on its Affordable Housing Investment Fund, or AHIF, and its ability to take on new projects.

“That is an understatement, considering AHIFs total appropriation for FY 2024 is $20.5 million,” said former independent County Board candidate Audrey Clement, the lone speaker this weekend opposed to the project.

She also said the costs are too high for the first renovation phase.

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What the Capitals’ move to Potomac Yard could mean for its Ballston practice facility and an at-grade Route 1

By Jo DeVoe
1/8

Ballston might remain the place where the Washington Capitals practice if everything goes to plan and the hockey team begins playing games in a newly announced sports arena in Potomac Yard.

The new arena for the Caps and Washington Wizards, as well as a concert venue, could open as soon as 2028 in the Alexandria neighborhood already seeing heavy investment, including a new Metro station and Virginia Tech’s forthcoming Innovation Campus.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Monumental Sports & Entertainment owner Ted Leonsis, the city of Alexandria and developer JBG Smith officially confirmed the murmurings of a move today (Wednesday), to which county officials and business leaders reacted with excitement.

Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey called the news an “excellent opportunity for Arlington to continue to partner with Alexandria” and, in a statement, said that “it further cements our region among the world’s most innovative and dynamic places to live, play, and do business.”

But whether the Caps continue to practice at MedStar Capitals Iceplex, adjoining the Ballston Quarter mall, is just one of the moving pieces with impacts on Arlington, should the project move forward.

Another concern — top-of-mind for residents around Richmond Hwy (Route 1) — is what the new facility will mean for state plans to bring the key north-south artery to grade, which was part of a suite of transportation projects promised if Amazon settled in Pentagon City.

In today’s announcement, the expansion into Alexandria did not explicitly mention relocating the Capital’s practice facility from Ballston, though it was included in a map of the planned development.

Arlington County says Monumental has indicated it intends to negotiate a renewed lease in Ballston — even with the planned arena in Potomac Yard — as it prefers to separate practice facilities and administrative offices from their arena.

A Monumental spokesperson told ARLnow where the Caps practice is one of many details that still need to be finalized, emphasizing that the Iceplex in Ballston is a state-of-the-art facility. The spokesperson said Monumental might renovate the second-floor office space to serve as the front office and athlete space after the business staff move to Potomac Yard, but it is also exploring building a new practice facility at Potomac Yard.

Tina Leone, CEO of the Ballston Business Improvement District, is optimistic the team will stick around. She spoke highly of the Capitals, who she called great supporters of Ballston for the 17 years they have practiced there.

“We can’t help but draw parallels between the evolution of Ballston, the Capitals, and Monumental Sports & Entertainment; and while there are still moving pieces, we couldn’t be happier for the Leonsis family, the Capitals organization, and the MSE team,” she told ARLnow in a statement.

“When the Capitals were looking for an urban setting with access, an amenity-rich neighborhood, and a community their players and coaches wanted to call home, they chose Ballston. Nearly two decades later, we’re proud Ballston continues to be all those things and more,” she continued. “We’ve been fortunate to have such a globally recognized, highly visible organization contribute to Ballston’s growing identity and culture.”

Monumental is similarly keeping a foot in both camps, for now, in D.C. In a letter to fans, circulating on social media, Leonsis said he hopes Capital One Arena and downtown D.C. “remain an essential part of our future.”

He said the company plans to invest in the existing arena so it can continue hosting large-scale events, from concerts to WNBA games and college sports. In the hours leading up to today’s announcement, D.C. Mayor Muriel Bowser unveiled legislation to support a complete, $500 million renovation of the Capital One Arena, if the NHL and NBA team stay.

While some NHL teams opt to keep games and practices under one roof, others maintain separate facilities for games and practices. Sometimes, this is out of necessity, if the location for games cannot accommodate practices. Other teams, however, view practice spaces as a way to engage the community and, with the right amenities, to help lure free agents.

The Iceplex, for instance, holds open practices that fans can watch as well as youth clinics, and it has served as a springboard for Monumental, which has also sponsored community events and invested in local organizations.

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New pilot program could bring lower speeds, more space for pedestrians and cyclists to three sidewalk-less streets

By Jo DeVoe
1/3

Sometime next year, three residential streets in Arlington without sidewalks could get upgrades to allow for safer pedestrian and cyclist use.

To help address demonstrated safety and access issues on S. Lynn Street, N. Wakefield Street and 12th Street S., Arlington County’s Neighborhood Complete Streets Program is considering piloting “shared streets.”

On these streets, the county would slow down traffic and give cyclists and pedestrians more space through signs, barriers and other features, rather than building a sidewalk.

County staff picked these streets because they have incomplete sidewalks and characteristics “that make adding a sidewalk prohibitively difficult,” says Neighborhood Complete Streets Program Manager Michelle Stafford.

These characteristics include limited public right-of-way, difficult terrain and high parking demand. The streets also ranked above other streets nominated for the pilot program because of their crash histories as well as their proximity to schools, commercial corridors and transit.

“People currently drive, bike and walk in the street in these locations, but we can add features to the street to make that shared street conditions safer and more comfortable for all,” Stafford said in a recent presentation.

The identified streets in the Arlington Ridge, Douglas Park and Bluemont neighborhoods, and the challenges they pose for adding sidewalks, are as follows:

Shared streets can surmount these challenges, according to pilot project manager Brian Shelton.

“Shared streets can meet the desires of adjacent residents and function foremost as a public space for recreation, socializing and leisure,” Shelton said. “Many streets in Arlington already function as a shared street, however, we are missing some of the treatments which would enhance pedestrian comfort on these roadways.”

Shelton said staff have looked at recommended shared street tools from the National Association of City Transportation Officials, or NATCO, and opted to pursue a handful of strategies that make use of temporary materials and do not require significant construction.

These include midblock treatment options, such as chicanes — which narrow the road such that drivers are forced to slow down — and street entrance changes, including curb extensions.

Entrances to shared streets also typically have advisory signs and pavement markings to “eliminate the confusion of how the street is intended to be used,” Shelton said.

This fall, the county solicited feedback from residents on how the projects might change how they feel travelling these roads. This input will be used to refine designs, which are set to be finalized for funding hearings in early spring of next year.

Later this coming spring, the county expects to start implementing these shared streets. County staff will monitor these streets to ensure each corridor is functioning as intended, per the county website.

Problematic I-395 interchange ramps close for good as part of major VDOT project

By Jo DeVoe
1/4

A nearly $20 million project to make Boundary Channel Drive and the I-395 interchange near Crystal City and the Pentagon safer has resulted in significant traffic pattern changes.

Last week, the Virginia Dept. of Transportation permanently closed two ramps: the southbound I-395 ramp to eastbound Boundary Channel Drive and the eastbound Boundary Channel Drive ramp to southbound I-395.

The closures will allow VDOT to reconfigure the ramps between I-395, Boundary Channel Drive and Long Bridge Drive.

The traffic pattern changes are the next step in a multi-year project to upgrade this area for drivers and make pedestrian and cycling improvements nearby. After two years of design work, construction began in September 2022 and will continue through early 2024.

“The project aims to improve safety and operations on that stretch of southbound 395,” Mike Murphy, a spokesman for VDOT, told ARLnow. “One such way is closing those two ramps in order to eliminate and mitigate some of the weaving areas, or spots where you have vehicles trying to get on southbound 395 mixing with vehicles trying to get off.”

The ramp closures will require drivers to do the following:

  • Southbound I-395 drivers must now use Exit 10A to access both westbound and eastbound Boundary Channel Drive via the western roundabout.
  • Eastbound Boundary Channel Drive drivers must now use the western roundabout to access southbound I-395 via the same loop ramp used by westbound Boundary Channel Drive drivers to access southbound I-395.

Ahead of the closure, public safety watchdog Dave Statter posted to social media a highlight video of the notorious section of highway.

Here, reckless drivers could be seen backing up, crossing multiple lanes of highway traffic and pulling other stunts to circumvent bollards and access the left-hand ramp to Route 1.

The video included several memorable moments over the last two years, including when an Oscar Mayer Wienermobile and a Metro bus both tried the maneuver.

Statter and his videos got a shout out from VDOT as part of the closure announcement.

Statter also observed that the Boundary Channel Drive onramp, set to close at 5 a.m. on Friday, made it through one more rush hour.

“Did the governor give a short reprieve on the death sentence for the Boundary Channel ramp to I-395S?” he said on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. “Besides @VaDOTNOVA crews, this bus and contractor’s van appear to be the last vehicles on the ramp just before 8:45 a.m.”

Murphy confirmed that the ramp from southbound I-395 to eastbound Boundary Channel Drive — the one with the green overhead sign saying “Exit 9 to Clark St” — closed around 4:30 a.m. on Friday. The ramp from eastbound Boundary Channel Drive to southbound I-395 closed around 8:45 a.m. Friday.

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County approves more Missing Middle projects after trial date set for lawsuit

By Jo DeVoe
An anti-Missing Middle sign in front of a house in Westover (staff photo by Jay Westcott)

Although Arlington County is set to go to court next summer over its Missing Middle zoning ordinances, it has not stopped approving these new housing projects.

Judge David Schell has scheduled a 5-day trial to begin on July 8, 2024 after ruling in October that the 10 residents suing Arlington over the ordinances had standing. Among other claims, they argue the county violated state law by not sufficiently considering the impacts of Missing Middle.

“The court found it ‘readily apparent’ that a homeowner whose land is rezoned could sue, adding that it would be difficult to understand how such a property owner would not have standing,” per a press release from Arlingtonians for Upzoning Transparency, or AfUT, a group that formed in opposition to the ordinances but is not a party to the case.

“Such a challenge, the Court stated, was a ‘quintessential use’ of the law,” it continues.

The county disagrees. Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey told AfUT in an email it “is wholly within the purview of the local legislative body, which has the constitutional authority to make countywide land use decisions, revisions, and repeals if necessary.”

“It is our position that the Judiciary should not substitute its judgment for decision-making expressly reserved for the local legislative body,” Dorsey continued.

Arlington County will attempt to appeal the judge’s standing decision in a hearing on Jan. 11. Should the judge grant the appeal, the Virginia Court of Appeals would decide whether to accept the case.

“The County’s hubris in claiming that the courts don’t have a role in reviewing EHO zoning is astonishing,” says Dan Creedon, speaking for Arlington Neighbors for Neighborhoods, the organization that is financially supporting the lawsuit. “But now that a trial date has been set, and maybe reality is setting in, the County is seeking an appeal that could delay the trial and add tremendous expense to the litigation.”

The residents, meanwhile, plan to appeal the judge’s decision to deny its claim the county violated Freedom of Information Act laws in how it disseminated information to the County Board and the broader community.

“They had argued that they asked the County clerk for all public comments and the clerk emailed a link to the County website that had only a few letters,” anti-Missing Middle group Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future said in a press release last week, after the trial date was set. “A FOIA request revealed, in fact, the County had far more.”

Twenty-one Missing Middle projects — about a third of the 58 permits currently allowed per calendar year — have been approved as of last week, according to the county’s permit tracker. Five are under their first or second review, eight had their first review rejected and one application was withdrawn.

None of the projects are located in the county’s zoning districts with the largest lot sizes, or 8,000 to 20,000 square feet.

Developers who spoke to ARLnow said their project’s status depends on how many of the required permits they have in hand.

Home builder Ned Malik, whose Bluemont neighborhood project has started demolition following county approval, says he is undeterred by the lawsuit.

“We’re hoping to get started on construction in the first quarter of 2024,” Malik says. “We are moving forward on it. We definitely would be a witness for the county [as to] why it’s a much-needed thing, smart thing to do.”

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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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