An uptick in childcare centers in Arlington has made a dent in the local care shortage, according to new county data.
Since 2017, the number of childcare center slots increased by 47%, or 1,690 slots. That may be good news for tackling low availability in Arlington — which stands out among Northern Virginia neighbors for how few slots it has — but one shortage remains.
The county tells ARLnow that too few providers today accept state subsidies, affecting how many low-income families can access high-quality childcare.
“Although the county has seen a substantial increase in child care center slots and a slight increase in the number of family day care home slots in Arlington since December 2017, there has only been a modest increase in the number of child care providers accepting the Virginia Child Care Subsidy,” county spokesman Ryan Hudson said in a statement.
“This modest increase has most definitely not kept pace with the increase in the number of Virginia Child Care Subsidy Program participants during the same timeframe,” he continued.
Arlington County partially attributes the uptick in daycare centers to zoning code and review process reforms to make it easier to approve private child-care services. Those improvements, used by all county planners today, “have helped child care providers and increased child care availability in Arlington,” the county says.
But the uptick in slots pales in comparison to the number of families participating in a state subsidy program, who are vying for a small pool of slots, as not all providers accept such subsidies. Those that do typically reserve few slots for participating families.
This is not a new problem for Arlington or Virginia, which recently ranked in the bottom half of American states and territories for the number of providers that accept subsidies.
Seven years ago, the county found that providers could serve half of Arlingtonians under 5 years old, with childcare centers making up half of Arlington’s overall capacity. Subsidized slots made up 2-23% of that capacity, varying by provider, compared to the 33% subsidy acceptance rate on average for home-based daycares.
That discrepancy is still true today and the providers cite several reasons for not participating.
These include “the complicated nature of reimbursement and reporting requirements, the cost of child care being much greater than the Virginia Child Care Subsidy Program’s Maximum Reimbursement Rates, and the fact that there is no operational need to accept the Virginia Child Care Subsidy when child care programs are already full and operating with waitlists,” Hudson said.
Arlington County is looking to help alleviate these concerns with a new program backed by $5 million in local funding. In December, it issued a “Notice of Funding Availability,” or NOFA, advertising $4.5 million available to applicants who bring forward “capital-oriented proposals that expand access to affordable, quality child care on a sustainable, multi-year basis.”
“Proposals should increase affordability in exchange for assistance with capital costs such as facility acquisition or expansion, buy-down of rent or mortgage costs, or investment in furniture, fixtures, or equipment,” the county said, noting the remaining half-million will provide smaller-scale assistance to providers in the future.
The application window closes at the end of this month and the county expects to select applicants in April.
The Staples store in Virginia Square is closing next month.
A sign posted on the entrance to the office supply store at 3804 Wilson Blvd says the location is closing on Feb. 23.
“We’re still here for you,” the sign says, listing locations in Bailey’s Crossroads, Falls Church and Alexandria.
It will not be long before a new business moves in. The replacement for Staples is a franchise location of the national Spanish immersion, STEM-focused preschool and daycare called Tierra Encantada.
Franchise co-owner Mustafa Durrani says he is still in the permit review phase but construction could start sometime in April. He anticipates the work will take four months and the school could open one month after that.
“It depends on the permitting process, really,” he told ARLnow. “Once that happens, our construction team is ready, everything is ready, and we’re excited for the Arlington location.”
Once open, the preschool would operate Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and serve up to 150 children. One highlight of the preschool, for Durrani, is the organic food it will serve to students.
“I believe we’re one of the only schools in the area offering organic food,” he said.
Durrani has already opened a Tierra Encantada franchise location in Alexandria. He is working to open one in Falls Church around the same time that the Arlington location opens.
The Arlington County Board approved a use permit for Tierra Encantada this July. A county report at the time noted nearby civic associations had concerns about traffic and noise.
Durrani said traffic engineers were enlisted to help come to traffic solutions, while a fence will be built to reduce noise.
“As far as traffic is concerned, we’re going to have a lot more parking than currently exists,” he said. “We’re also going to have off-site parking where we’ll be leasing from a local garage, so that should alleviate some of the things.”
Plans to redevelop the Goodwill near Route 50 — with affordable housing, childcare and a new store and donation center — have received a relatively warm reception, per a recent survey.
Goodwill and AHC Inc. propose to replace the existing Goodwill Retail and Donation Center in the Alcova Heights neighborhood with a 6-story apartment building with 128 units of affordable housing, a new store and donation center and a 3,300-square-foot childcare facility.
The redevelopment at 10 S. Glebe Road would have 168 total parking spaces, including 50 for customers and four for childcare.
The plans are early in the Arlington County approval process. Now that the recent feedback opportunity is complete, there will be two site plan review committee meetings, not yet scheduled, followed by Planning Commission and Arlington County Board hearings.
A majority of respondents, including community members, planning commissioners and other county commission members, welcome the addition of childcare and affordable housing to the site. Most of the 167 respondents said the density and land use “appropriate,” with several suggesting even more units could be added.
“I love this!” wrote one. “The more childcare facilities and housing the better!”
Another noted that about three-quarters of the units would be family-sized 2- and 3-bedroom units, which are in short supply in Arlington.
“Likewise, Arlington is in desperate need of additional childcare facilities like this,” the person continued. “The playground and green space proposed would benefit the entire neighborhood. This corner abuts office, commercial, and multifamily site, so additional density here should not be a problem.”
Not everyone is pleased with the increased density, however. Some objected to locating housing and childcare so close to busy Arlington Blvd, predicting even more congestion.
“The building is much [too] close to Route 50 and the residents are not connected to the surrounding community,” wrote one commenter. “They will be isolated. For all its progressive bona fides, it looks like Arlington is opting for the warehousing of the poor.”
“I question whether this site can handle this sort of expansive growth,” said another. “Traffic in this area is already horrendous and has been getting worse. This new site use will only increase that.”
For self-identified county commissioners who responded to the survey, the devil will be in the details, with concerns about insufficient landscaping, greenspace and traffic.
“Installing Right- as well as Left-turn traffic lights for South- and North-bound traffic across S. Glebe Rd. at the entrance to and exit from the proposed building site would make it more convenient and safer for motorists and pedestrians who will use S. Glebe Rd. close to its intersection with Arlington Boulevard,” recommended one.
The county says the developer conducted a traffic analysis that looked at three signalized and three stop-controlled intersections around the site. It found that the overall operations are and will be “at an acceptable Level of Service” if the development moves forward, per a staff report.
As for donation traffic, donors would enter and exit a drive-thru line from S. Glebe Road, similar to the configuration used today. The difference is that the new one would take drivers inside the building and up a level.
The current line sees backups onto S. Glebe Road during busy donation seasons, according to some commenters and a county report. The report did not indicate whether the plans would address this, noting that traffic volumes were manageable most of the year.
The designs received several compliments, including that it was “genius” and “light years better than the existing circulation plan.”
A new development with affordable apartments, a church and childcare, across from the Ballston Metro station, is set to debut early next year.
Nearly two years ago, Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing broke ground on the long-delayed, $84 million project to replace the old Central United Methodist Church building at 4201 Fairfax Drive with an 8-story building with 144 committed affordable units.
Dubbed Ballston Station, the project received $19 million from the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund and $9 million from an Amazon-funded state housing grant. Approved in 2017, APAH took over in 2019 and received a construction extension until it could get started.
As of now, construction is 88% complete, APAH Senior Project Manager Ryan Nash tells ARLnow. The project is on schedule and on track to finish next January.
Work has turned to the final finishes within each unit, such as flooring, but other site work — such as sidewalks — remains as well, he said.
“We’ll open right after we’re done and right after we get our certificate of occupancy,” he said.
The project had to weather increasing construction costs — including sky-rocketing lumber prices — as well as high interest rates, Nash said.
“It was day-to-day watching lumber prices,” he says. “Other supply chain issues remain: a big thing these days is electrical switchgear and appliances, but we timed it well and got things procured and ordered in time so it wouldn’t impact our schedule.”
APAH has a list of prospective residents who could move in as soon as the occupancy certificate is inked, said Nash, projecting the building could be fully leased by June.
Future tenants, who mostly reside in Arlington right now, range from those in affordable housing to those leaving “rapidly disappearing” market-rate affordable units, he said.
“Because it’s so close to Ballston Metro, and has a low parking ratio, it will be catered toward residents who would have a car-free diet,” he said.
Ballston Station will have a mix of one- and two-bedroom units. There will be 15 units for people earning up to 30% of the area median income (AMI), with 60 units for those earning 50% AMI or less and 69 at 60% AMI.
The church, meanwhile, will have a series of celebration events starting with Easter on March 31, says Rev. Sarah Harrison-McQueen.
“In the weeks after Easter, we’ll have a variety of open houses and mission events to culminate with a building dedication worship service,” she told ARLnow.
The CUMC congregation currently meets at a church in the Arlington Forest neighborhood. When it returns to Ballston, it will have a revamped church space with a dedicated commercial kitchen to support its food distribution ministry, providing hot breakfast, lunch and groceries, medical care and referrals to more than 200 people.
The childcare provider, Kinhaven School, is set to open next spring with capacity for 115 children — a significant increase from the 67 permitted in the original building, says Director Amy Hitchcock.
Kinhaven School was co-located with CUMC for nearly 50 years until 2017, when construction on the new development was initially expected to start.
It relocated to St. George’s Episcopal Church in Virginia Square and the school now plans to keep that location for a half-day preschool serving 2- to 5-year old children. The Ballston Station location will enroll infants through school-aged children.
“The Ballston Station project is exciting as each of the three partners contributes to Arlington’s vitality: APAH and its stellar approach to housing; CUMC’s commitment to addressing food insecurity as a lived mission of their faith; and Kinhaven’s pledge to participate in the Virginia Child Care Subsidy program and offer non-traditional hours to support working families,” Hitchcock said.
A Staples in Virginia Square could become a Spanish immersion daycare and preschool for more than 100 children.
The proposed change in use for the 62-year-old, one-story commercial building has area residents and civic associations on edge about hours, traffic and noise.
Two Northern Virginia businessmen have chosen the location for a franchise of Tierra Encantada, a national preschool provider offering Spanish immersion, hands-on education and from-scratch meals and snacks. It would operate Monday through Friday from 6:30 a.m. to 7 p.m. and serve up to 150 children.
A use permit associated with their proposal is set for a discussion by the Arlington County Board for today (Tuesday), after being pulled from its consent agenda — intended for non-controversial items — on Saturday.
A county report notes that the Staples will close in the near future after a long search for a replacement tenant.
“The property owner has been searching for a new tenant for the property for some time and seeks to lease the space to the childcare center,” the report said.
An employee at Staples said he was unaware of the potential closure and an attorney handling the proposal did not return a request for a clearer closing time frame before this article’s deadline.
Ahead of the Board’s vote today, residents and nearby civic associations sent letters to the county raising their objections and requesting relief if the permit is approved.
“The hours, size, and traffic flow of Staples are an excellent fit for our residential area. We believe the current proposed number of students for Tierra Encantada will cause too much traffic and noise for the awkward location and poor access of the Staples site,” a letter from several Ashton Heights residents said.
“We would prefer to not have a daycare center at the site (especially of that size), but if the center is approved, we want to make sure that steps are taken to mitigate the potential impact on neighbors. Including: ensuring that traffic flows properly, parents cannot park on neighborhood streets, and the playground is constructed to mitigate noise,” the letter continued.
Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association members noted that they have observed speeding and “other dangerous vehicle behavior” on N. Oakland Street, related to the traffic signal at Wilson Blvd, according to joint letter from this civic association and the Ashton Heights Civic Association.
“We share these concerns that parents rushing to drop off/pick up the projected capacity of 148 children at the new child care center could well exacerbate these existing problems,” the letter said.
In response to these concerns, franchisees Mustafa Durrani and Zargham Amid have agreed to build a 6-foot fence, which will provide privacy and sound mitigation when children are playing outside.
County staff say they understand the use change will be an adjustment but argue other tenants could generate more traffic and noise.
When a contractor for Arlington County embarked on work to renovate a county-owned childcare building near Courthouse, it ran into some costly problems.
The county contracted with Landivar & Associates in December to oversee plans to update the Arlington Children’s Center (1915 N. Uhle Street), which has housed a childcare facility for county employees for several decades. It will be updating the building to meet current daycare standards, comply with the Americans with Disability Act and provide an interior refresh.
Work began this April, but with just 10% of work done, the contractor has already blown through half of its allotted contingency funding — nearly $264,000 — “to repair unforeseen structural damages revealed during interior demolition,” per a county report.
Over the weekend, the Arlington County Board approved a $100,000 contract increase to “address additional unforeseen conditions that are likely to be revealed during the remaining 90% of the project,” the report continued.
Now, the total contract is worth $1.2 million, up from $1.1 million.
Although work began this spring, the building closed nearly two years ago. At the time, the county and the childcare service provider — which had been in the building for 17 years — could not reach an agreement over a contract extension with the renovation work pending.
This stressed some parents who found themselves scrambling to find daycare amid a shortage of options.
Arlington County expects the renovation work to wrap up and the facility to reopen in early 2024, according to a project webpage. The county already has a contract with a provider — the nonprofit Easterseals — which the Board approved this January.
“Enrollment preference will be given to children whose parent or guardian work for the County, followed by children whose parent or guardian work or live in Arlington County,” the webpage said.
Goodwill of Greater Washington and AHC Inc. are teaming up to build affordable housing above a new second-hand store and donation center on S. Glebe Road.
DC Urban Turf first reported the news.
The national nonprofit has not embarked on something like this before, writes land-use attorney Andrew Painter, in application materials filed with Arlington County.
“The proposed redevelopment would be the first such project for the organization as it seeks to further its nonprofit mission and values,” Painter said. “The proposal will also deliver a modern and efficient retail store and donation processing center for a successful nonprofit organization that provides important services and benefits to Arlington County’s disenfranchised populations.”
The nonprofit proposes to demolish the existing store at 10 S. Glebe Road in the Alcova Heights neighborhood and build a five-story, mixed-use building. There will be a Goodwill retail store and child care center on the ground floor, a donation processing center on the second floor and 128 apartments above that.
All of the units will be offered to households earning between 30-60% of the area median income for a period of 30 years, though the exact unit mix will be finalized during the financing process. About three-quarters of the affordable apartments consist of 2-3 bedroom units.
The units units will be available for a single person earning up to $63,300 and a family of four earning up to $90,420, according to the county.
AHC, which Painter says is Arlington County’s largest non-profit affordable housing developer, is its joint development partner and will oversee the apartment side of the building’s operations once construction is done. AHC will also choose the operator for the child care center.
“AHC hopes to replicate the success we’ve had in other communities,” AHC spokeswoman Jennifer Smith tells ARLnow. “That means bringing a mission-aligned childcare partner to the new Goodwill site, with priority enrollment for onsite residents and Goodwill Greater Washington employees, then availability to the larger community.”
Parking for residents, childcare, employee and overflow customer parking will be located in a 152-space underground garage. Retail, visitor and future resident parking will be in a 16-spot surface parking lot.
In preparation for the temporary closure of the S. Glebe site, Goodwill is currently negotiating a lease for an alternate donation drop-off location close by. That is expected to open in 2024.
Meanwhile, Painter says, Goodwill encourages its customers to shop or donate at its 20 other area locations, including a store on Columbia Pike.
A local preschool operating in North Arlington church will soon shut its doors — but another childcare center is already lined up to replace it.
Overlee Preschool, a cooperative, parent-led school out of the Church of the Covenant (2666 Military Road) will close next month. Children’s Weekday Program — currently operating out of Redeemer Church of Arlington in the Alcova Heights neighborhood — will take over.
Founded in the 1940s by a group of mothers, Overlee Preschool is closing after reduced enrollment complicated by Covid. The school weathered the pandemic by moving fully outdoors.
“We are very sad to be closing the doors of an organization that has played such a significant role in the lives of many, many Arlington families,” school president Melissa Farrar told ARLnow.
“The times, however, have changed, and the fully cooperative model — which requires every family to spend time in the classroom and have a school ‘job’ — has been more difficult to market to local families, who have a multitude of competing pressures on their time,” she continued.
Farrar thanked the teachers, particularly Louisa Stetekluh, who taught for more than 20 years and is “the beating heart” of the school.
“Her charisma, depth of experience, and gentle and respectful connection with our children has drawn family after family to Overlee,” she said. “It is impossible to speak of Overlee’s successes and what makes us special without mentioning her in the same breath.”
If there is a silver lining here, she says, it is that another preschool will replace Overlee.
“While our story is coming to an end, we will be glad to still hear the laughter of children on the playground as we walk by, and we wish the incoming tenant every success and growth in the coming years,” Farrar said.
Children’s Weekday Program intends to more than double the number of children for whom it can care. It has applied for a use permit to serve up to 71 children — a 136% increase over the 30 children Overlee Preschool was permitted to serve. The Arlington County Board is scheduled to approve the permit during its meeting this Saturday.
“We are really excited about the new space and look forward to moving into the building in August,” Children’s Weekday Program announced on its website. “CWP’s doors will open in September 2023 for Meet the Teacher events prior to the first day of school.”
Registration is ongoing for new and returning families, per the website.
County staff says the site can accommodate this proposed capacity increase with two indoor and outdoor play areas, divided up based on age, and a proposed staffing level of 16 employees. The program will operate on weekdays from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.
The report says approval is recommended because the new school will not have negative impacts on the neighborhood, and the local civic associations either support it or have expressed no issue with it.
Arlington has long had a childcare shortage problem and the tight demand helped childcare programs survive the pandemic. The county has tried to encourage more daycare centers by loosening zoning regulations and helping people find options via a website and provider map.
Arlington County has accepted a site plan application for a senior living facility proposed to replace a church in the Alcova Heights neighborhood.
Sunrise Senior Living, a McLean-based senior living provider, proposes to demolish a church building at 716 S. Glebe Road to build a four-story, 60-foot-tall building with 108 assisted living units, 55 parking spaces, common and service areas, a covered porch and an outdoor garden.
Kedrick Whitmore, the land use attorney representing Sunrise Senior Living, says the development would add sorely needed assisted living facilities in Arlington County.
“This facility would provide or coordinate personal and health care services, 24-hour supervision, and assistance (scheduled and unscheduled) for the protection general supervision and oversight of the physical and mental well-being of aged, infirm, or disabled adults,” he said. “The current supply of such facilities in Arlington County is insufficient to meet the current demand.”
So far, the applicant isn’t looking to go beyond base density, and proposed community benefits include streetscape and sidewalk improvements, utility and affordable housing contributions and sustainable design, per application documents.
As the change in use would displace two child care programs, county planning staff are urging Sunrise to incorporate child care into the development.
“The County has a need for child care services,” county planner Leon Vignes said. “Please consider the possibility of collocating a child care use with this development to maintain an existing use.”
There are two programs operating inside the church, Children’s Weekday Program and Rainbow Road Preschool. County staff said one of the programs in operation there does not have the necessary approvals to do so, but did not specify which.
“A previously approved use permit for childcare uses affiliated with the existing Methodist church was discontinued with the operator noting the potential to resume operation,” associate planner Anika Chowdhury said in staff comments on the application. “A revelation confirmed by the applicant was that an existing daycare is currently operating at the existing church. There is no valid use permit approval on file for this operating use and a use permit is required for child care use(s) per the ACZO.”
If Sunrise were to consider incorporating a child care center, it would have to request changes to how the property is zoned, Chowdhury says.
County planner Matthew Pfeiffer, meanwhile, urged the applicant to increase the number of trees it will plant and make the architecture appear more historic.
“Recommend altering architectural style to match existing historic properties, such as Colonial Revival,” Pfeiffer said. “The most important site design aspect will be ensuring that there is a strong vegetated buffer on the western property line to screen The Alcova,” a historic property next door.
The building’s owner, Arlington United Methodist Church, sold the property to Sunrise last year, leaving a different Christian congregation that meets there, the Redeemer Church of Arlington, the child care programs and a clothing bank in search of a new home.
Sunrise has two other senior living centers in Arlington, in the Glebewood and Boulevard Manor neighborhoods.
A private secondary school in Ballston is looking to move to Rosslyn.
The Sycamore School, which has operated at 4600 Fairfax Drive since it began in 2017, will soon lose its home to a residential redevelopment. So it is asking Arlington County for permission to relocate to 1550 Wilson Blvd, near Fire Station 10, offices, apartments and an Arlington Public Schools building
The Sycamore School proposes operating a private school for up to 140 students grades five through 12, along with 40 staff members and teachers, according to a county report. Its campus would comprise 14,000 square feet on the third floor, divided into seven classrooms, a canteen, an art studio, an exercise room and other administrative rooms and amenities.
“The Applicant provides a valuable educational service to the County’s residents by serving a diverse cross-section of students,” writes land use attorney Andrew Painter. “As part of its personalized learning approach, The Sycamore School offers small class sizes at a ratio of one teacher to six students, and provides individualized instruction with self-paced learning and a focus on student choice.”
The Sycamore School’s proposed opening hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., with classes occurring Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Occasional school-related and community-based events may occur in the evenings, and are required to conclude by 11 p.m.
Meanwhile, the County Board approved a new childcare tenant in a nearby office building last month. The Gardner School will set up in the ground-floor retail space of an office building at the corner of Clarendon Blvd and N. Quinn Street (1776 Wilson Blvd).
The Gardner School has locations in seven states, the closest being in Herndon, Virginia.
The child care center will take up about 17,670 square feet, divided into 13 classrooms for preschoolers, toddlers and infants, playrooms and 400 square feet of outdoor play area. There will be up to 28 staff and up to 186 enrolled children.
But with two schools moving into an area with offices, apartment buildings, Arlington Public Schools’ H-B Woodlawn Secondary Program and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver Program, and Fire Station 10, the Rosslyn Business Improvement District expressed some concerns about transportation management.
The Rosslyn BID encouraged the county to “take a holistic approach” to evaluating APS’s transportation management plans for its two programs against those of the new daycare and private school.
Doing so, the BID said, could “help mitigate potential logistical and safety impacts, particularly during pick-up/drop-off hours,” per the report.
Driver Crashes into Trooper’s Cruiser — A Virginia State Police trooper was radioing in a license plate during a traffic stop on I-395 near Shirlington when his cruiser was rear-ended. The trooper finished giving the tag number before telling the dispatcher about the crash. [Twitter]
Circulator Strike Continues — “The first day’s negotiations between a bus drivers union and the operator of D.C. Circulator since workers began striking were unsuccessful through Wednesday evening, increasing the prospects of a potentially lengthy outage of the city’s only public bus service.” [Washington Post]
Marymount Planning Child Care Center — “Marymount University is setting up a new child care center on campus in a renovation project that it said is designed to fill a critical, and deepening, local workforce need as those with young children return to the office. The Marymount Early Learning Academy for children aged 3 to 5 will open in the summer or fall of 2023, reviving the idea of an on-campus preschool that the university used to run in the 1990s before it closed down.” [Washington Business Journal]
Sexual Battery Incident in Pentagon City — “500 block of 12th Road S…. at approximately 11:40 p.m. on April 29th the male victim had entered into the elevator of a secure residential building when the unknown suspect followed behind him. The victim exited the elevator and walked down the hallway, during which the suspect grabbed his buttocks. The suspect then fled the scene.” [ACPD]
Air Force Colonel on Trial — “An official with the California National Guard charged with indecent exposure in Arlington in March is scheduled to go to trial in Arlington on July 18… the suspect entered the business and exposed himself to female victims, according to the ACPD.” [Patch]
Falls Church Lowers Property Tax Rate — “On Monday night, the Falls Church City Council approved a $112.8 million Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) that invests in public schools, core government services, walkability and traffic calming, environmental sustainability, and more, all while reducing the real estate tax rate by 9 cents… To mitigate the 11 percent overall increase in real estate assessments, the adopted budget includes a decrease in the real estate tax to $1.23 per $100 of assessed value.” [City of Falls Church]
It’s Cinco de Mayo — Mostly cloudy, with a high of 67 and low of 56. Sunrise at 6:07 am and sunset at 8:06 pm. [Weather.gov]
