(Updated 2/19) Advocates are calling for Arlington County to invest $2 million in additional programs to stop students from dying of drug overdoses.
The mother of an Arlington ninth grader who died of an apparent fentanyl overdose in September joined over 250 others on Wednesday to demand additional funding for free after-school programs. Organizers say a scarcity of accessible, interesting programming makes students more likely to fall into drug addiction.
“We as parents and members of this community ask you to invest in after-school programs,” organizer Janeth Valenzuela, co-founder of the Arlington Schools Hispanic Parents Association (ASHPA), told officials in attendance at Kenmore Middle School. “It is an investment in life, in a better future, in a different destiny for our children. We know from experience that affordable programs at the schools will help.”
Luz Rodríguez, the mother of Jorge Rodríguez, pleaded with Arlington County Board Vice-Chair Takis Karantonis and member Maureen Coffey, who were in attendance, to work to ensure that her son is the last child in Arlington to die from drugs.
“We must all work together to stop this terrible disease that is killing our children,” Rodríguez said in Spanish, which was translated for English speakers.
Karantonis pledged to enter this year’s budget negotiations “with a $2 million mindset.”
“If the price is $2 million, this is the funding that’s needed? Then let’s do it,” said the Board member, who in November carried a motion to increase funding for programs combating teen substance abuse.
Coffey begged off on pledging a specific amount but said she would “fight for significant and ongoing funding.”
School Board members Mary Kadera and Bethany Sutton were also present at the event.
The County Board voted 3-2 in November to set aside $750,000 to build up initiatives relating to drug use among young people. So far, the county has used this money to expand teen programming on the weekends, enhance juvenile case management and increase outreach about existing programs.
Last month, County Manager Mark Schwartz said the Department of Human Services had also hired two additional counselors, one at Washington-Liberty High School and one at Wakefield High School. Jorge Rodríguez attended Wakefield and was the second student at that school to die last year.
Two additional counselors were being onboarded in January to work at Yorktown High School and the Arlington Career Center.
Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) hosted listening sessions with hundreds Arlington high school students and parents, most of whom were people of color, before making its $2 million recommendation, per a media packet. The funds would allow 200 young people in underserved communities to attend three hours of free programming every day after school.
Students and parents expressed interest in soccer options beyond recreation, travel and school teams. Other areas of interest included art, cooking, tennis, film, photography and podcasting.
Schwartz said in January that the county was “working on” an expanded soccer program, which he expected to go live by late February, in addition to a newly expanded basketball program.
VOICE, alongside ASHPA and the Arlington branch of the NAACP, says it supports more substance abuse education and access to behavioral health professionals. Its media packet says Arlington lacks widespread, relevant education initiatives on this topic, while many students said that accessing counselors and behavioral health professionals is difficult.
For a Wakefield senior named Marina, the need for a better response to the opioid crisis is personal.
Two new candidates for Arlington County Board have emerged — one is new to the ballot, while another is returning.
Last night (Wednesday), first-time candidate and current Planning Commissioner Tenley Peterson and second-time candidate J.D. Spain, Sr. announced their bids for the seat Chair Libby Garvey will vacate at the end of the year.
They will go up against Natalie Roy — who had Garvey’s support during the last Board race — as well as first-time candidate Julie Farnam and former State Senate candidate James DeVita in the Democratic primary on June 18.
Garvey has spoken highly of Peterson but tells ARLnow she is withholding endorsements this early in the campaign.
“There is so much to love about Arlington but our region is changing,” Peterson, a substitute teacher in Arlington Public Schools and consultant for nonprofits, said during the Arlington Democrats meeting at Lubber Run Community Center last night.
“We must be intentional about how we grow and adapt, ensuring it works for all Arlingtonians,” she continued.
Peterson outlined her priorities, including tackling housing shortages, climate change and educational disparities, while improving Arlington’s social safety net. She said she supported the Missing Middle/Expanded Housing Options zoning ordinance changes but still wants to see more transit-oriented development, too.
A self-described progressive Democrat and with experience on budget and planning issues, Peterson spent eight years reviewing budgets on the Fiscal Affairs Advisory Commission, including four as chair.
She joined the Planning Commission in 2019 and chaired community engagement for Amazon’s HQ2 project, supporting contributions to affordable housing, a new community park and a home for Arlington Community High School.
“I know how Arlington works,” she says on her website. “I’m a consensus builder who listens, brings people to the table, and finds solutions that work. I want to find common ground, so Arlington can continue to move forward and function as a place we can be proud of.”
Spain, a veteran and former president of the Arlington branch of the NAACP, announced his bid in an email newsletter to supporters, shared with ARLnow.
“I am running for public office because I believe in the fundamental principles of democracy, equality, and justice. I am running to be your representative and your champion in the pursuit of a safe, healthy, prosperous, and sustainable Arlington for all,” he said in the newsletter.
His said his top campaign issue is “ensuring the well-being and safety of our community.”
“As your representative, I will prioritize policies and planning initiatives to strengthen our public health infrastructure, expand access to healthcare services, and address the underlying social drivers of health,” he said, emphasizing investments in mental health and substance use education among students.
He is also campaigning on tackling rising economic security — by promoting job creation, supporting small businesses and taking on housing initiatives. Spain also spoke of the need to address climate change locally.
(Updated at 11 a.m.) The McDonald’s on N. Glebe Road in the Buckingham neighborhood is on track to get a second drive-thru lane.
The fast food restaurant at 40 N. Glebe Road plans to add another queuing lane leading up to the existing drive-thru window, increasing how many customers can place orders at the same time. The change is expected to bring shorter lines, cutting down on the amount of cars that back up onto the road, according to a county report.
The Arlington County Board last week signed off on a site plan amendment making this project possible.
“These modifications will alleviate a common occurrence of vehicles queueing in the single drive-through lane and backing up onto North Glebe Road,” the report says.
The change will involve removing four parking spaces and relocating a dumpster. Between 60 and 80 vehicles will be able to move through the drive-thru each hour.
The Board unanimously approved the expansion as a consent calendar item, usually reserved for non-controversial actions.
The Arlington Heights Civic Association and Buckingham Community Civic Association expressed support for the proposal, the county report says. The changes will affect only the drive-thru lanes and will have no impact on the building or the existing drive-thru window.
By contrast, the McDonald’s location at 4834 Langston Blvd faced opposition from county officials in 2020 over its initial plan to add a second drive-thru ordering lane and a recirculation lane. A revised plan, minus the recirculation lane, was approved by the County Board last year. Construction has yet to start on that project.
Photo via Google Maps
The Arlington County Police Department has ramped up efforts to curb public intoxication and other illegal behavior near a Green Valley elementary school.
Despite these efforts, however, some of that behavior persists, according to some community members and ARLnow’s observations.
Police, true to their word, have increased foot patrols and community engagement in Drew Park and John Robinson, Jr. Town Square after the neighborhood heard shots fired and witnessed a shooting over one week in December, among other 2023 incidents.
During an Arlington County Board meeting last Tuesday, County Manager Mark Schwartz said that authorities have “seen a difference in some of the behaviors,” including drinking in public, in the area near Dr. Charles R. Drew Elementary School, and announced other forthcoming measures to curb this activity.
County Board member Matt de Ferranti applauded police on three arrests in connection with the incidents, along with outreach such as conducting security surveys and hosting a visit from Santa and Mrs. Claus.
“The residents who have sat there and said, ‘We want results’ — you have pulled through and so has ACPD,” de Ferranti said.
Around 1 p.m. Friday, however, at least one person on a sidewalk within eyesight of Drew Elementary was visibly drunk. He had an empty beer bottle in his hand and was dancing energetically to music.
From reiterating demands for public restrooms to calling for more investment in area businesses, some community members said Green Valley has a long way to go.
“I will say, the county has been very empathetic to the situation,” said Yordanos Woldai, co-founder of the public safety advocacy group Green Valley Matters. “But I want to judge by the action.”
Striking the right enforcement balance
Among the complexities of intervening in Green Valley is how to do so while being sensitive to the area’s strong hangout culture. The drunk person was dancing next to several other people who sat in lawn chairs outside The Shelton, an affordable housing building.
A middle-aged woman enjoying the warm weather was dismissive when asked whether she has seen any changes in how the county approaches her neighborhood.
“Nope,” she said. “I’m keeping it real with you right now. All they do is talk.”
The woman, who declined to give her name, called the town square’s lack of restrooms, shade and functional water fountains “disrespectful” and scoffed at the suggestion that police have redoubled efforts to keep her community safe.
“If it wasn’t for these older guys that they complain about out here? They look out for us,” she said.
For Schwartz, the focus on Green Valley goes beyond the public nuisance crimes to more serious offenses. The neighborhood is among the “top three or four” in Arlington for firearms offenses and is in the top 12 neighborhoods for a category of offenses that includes weapon law violations, theft, assault and homicide, he noted.
“I’m not going to sit here and tell you that all civic associations are created equal. Some are in more urban areas; some are in less urban areas,” Schwartz said. “But the reason we’re focusing on Green Valley has to do with firearms crimes.”
One approach will be to improve tracking and public reporting of crimes at the neighborhood level. Schwartz announced last week that a new dashboard displaying crime numbers, broken down by civic association, should go live in the near future.
Several measures designed to combat Arlington’s persistently high office vacancy rate are slated for discussion next month.
On the table are expanded opportunities for shared and offsite parking, as well as more lenient parking requirements for fitness centers. Officials are also set to consider whether to allow large media screens for outdoor entertainment in some business districts.
The Arlington County Board is scheduled to vote next month on whether to advertise requests to amend Arlington’s zoning ordinance to make these changes. County Manager Mark Schwartz told the Board last week he hopes that these and other ordinance changes can make it easier for Arlington businesses to get started and grow.
“Very often you’ll have a business that, if it could take advantage of parking very near to it, would be able to move ahead,” he said on Tuesday.
Schwartz noted that fitness centers have particularly strict parking requirements.
Large media screens, meanwhile, could assist with “placemaking” in certain commercial business districts. Currently, it’s an exceptionally arduous process to get large outdoor displays approved.
The county also plans to pursue bigger-picture ordinance changes, Schwartz said. Later this year, the Board is expected to discuss guidance on office-to-apartment conversions as well as potentially simplifying the major and minor site plan amendment process, which landowners must navigate when repurposing or renovating large development projects.
Within the next six months, Board members are also expected to consider plans to facilitate change of use within existing buildings and adopt a more flexible ordinance around signage.
Other possible ordinance changes concern storage uses at office buildings as well as the process for converting underutilized parking spaces.
“We promised we’d be coming to you with sort of a regular rhythm of items, and starting next month we will do that,” Schwartz told officials.
Arlington’s office vacancy rate is currently just over 22%, the county manager said — up from 21.5% in October. Arlington Economic Development predicted in October that this number would continue to rise, as about a quarter of Arlington office space is at risk of sustained vacancies.
The county has scrambled to find uses for its office buildings since the pandemic, passing several zoning changes on a compressed community engagement timeline. Recent adjustments allow urban farms, breweries and podcast studios to move into older office buildings without seeking special permissions.
Despite these efforts, a shrinking commercial base has left Arlington residents shouldering a growing portion of the county’s budget. Historically, the commercial and residential tax base split the budget 50-50 but in recent years, this has shifted to a 55-45 split.
Board member Matt de Ferranti last week called office vacancies “a huge challenge” and praised ongoing efforts by county staff.
“I think it is important to reiterate strong support for the direction we are going in,” he said.
Photo via Google Maps
The cost to park in many of Arlington’s busiest neighborhoods could change March 1.
The most popular places to park along the Rosslyn-Ballston and Route 1 corridors could ultimately cost up to $5 per hour, according to a county report. Less popular spots, meanwhile, could become less expensive than the current rate.
These changes are part of a state-funded “performance parking” pilot project that seeks to make it easier to find a parking spot in Arlington by incentivizing drivers to park in underused areas.
Arlington County kicked off the project earlier this year, installing sensors to collect data on parking behavior and determine what streets and neighborhoods should see higher and lower prices.
“These goals relate to improving the experience with parking at the curb, as well as reducing the negative impacts associated with inefficient or unsuccessful search for parking,” the report says.
On Saturday, the Arlington County Board voted to hold a public hearing about a proposed ordinance on Feb. 24. If it is approved next month, the pilot program would last until March 2026.
Parking rates could change up to once every three months but large, sudden changes are unlikely, according to the report.
Although costs could vary based on the time of day and length of stay, the project would not involve surge pricing or an across-the-board rate hike. Instead, each rate change would probably bring a roughly $1 increase to parking rates at some spots and a $0.25 decrease to other spots.
Arlington’s parking rates are currently capped at $1.75 per hour at short-term meters and $1.50 per hour at long-term meters.
While county staff would set the rates, they could never charge more than $5 per hour without the County Board’s approval, per the proposed ordinance.
The pilot program would follow in the footsteps of similar initiatives in major cities including D.C., Boston and San Francisco.
“These pilots have generally shown measurable changes in drivers’ parking behavior, reductions in negative impacts, and more efficient use of available space,” the report notes.
County staff would track this project’s effectiveness using some 4,500 sensors installed in parking spaces in the Rosslyn-Ballston and Route 1 corridors. The county has already begun investigating where and when parking is most readily available in these areas — along with how often drivers pay for parking.
A recent analysis found that on average, only a third of vehicles parked at meters in these areas had actually paid to be there, which will inform how the county uses its limited cadre of parking meter enforcers.
Although similar programs have tended to increase revenue, the report says this project is primarily designed to improve parking conditions for drivers — not to extract more money from them.
“Intentionally, there is no project goal regarding revenue impact,” the report says. “This is because the project goals are about curb space performance from the community and customer perspective.”
A new bill in the Virginia General Assembly would give the Arlington County Board the authority to change its structure without seeking further approval from state lawmakers.
Del. Patrick Hope’s HB 1225 would allow the Board to decide if it should retain its 5-member, at-large form of government or consider altering the size, to between three and 11 members, and changing to a district-based representation model. It would also allow the County Board Chair to be elected by popular vote for a 4-year term where currently, the practice is to rotate the chairship among members yearly.
Hope tells ARLnow he wants the County Board to have the same powers currently enjoyed by governing bodies of neighboring jurisdiction. As Virginia is a Dillon Rule state, local governments only have the powers conferred on them by the state legislature.
“The Arlington County Board is one of the weakest localities in Virginia. It is certainly the weakest of a locality of our size,” he said. “If the Board, this year, or the Board five years from now, wants to make these changes, they shouldn’t have to go to General Assembly and figure out who’s in control. They should have the power to make the decision how they want to run their government.”
The Board is not yet on board, however.
Members directed legislators last fall to “oppose any efforts that make changes to Arlington County’s form of government without the County Board’s explicit policy support.” Now, the Board is looking to punt on it until these questions can be put to the community as part of the year-long 2050 Visioning Process — where community members can envision what Arlington should look like in 26 years.
The visioning process is set to launch on Feb. 5.
“We are hopeful those who support such changes will engage more fully with the community during this process,” Board Chair Libby Garvey said in a statement. “Board members have connected with Delegate Hope to discuss our visioning process and the opportunities it offers to engage more fully with the community on H.B. 1225, to consider its implications, what it proposes to solve, and what the community thinks about it.”
“We believe continuing this bill to 2025 will provide the time needed to do that, and we offer the Arlington 2050 Initiative to help create the space for that discussion,” Garvey added.
Some of suggested changes in the bill are not new. Longtime former Arlington County Board member Jay Fisette said in 2017 that Arlington County should have an elected mayor and city council. Before that, in 2010, an attempt to enact district-based representation failed to gather enough valid petition signatures.
More recently, the Arlington County Civic Federation recommended making the Board bigger, among other changes, to improve diversity and competition.
Hope said the impetus now was the unexpected outcome of a 2022 bill, vetoed by Gov. Glenn Youngkin, that would have allowed the County Board to hire an independent policing auditor to oversee Arlington’s police oversight board — something other jurisdictions could have done without going to the state.
Arlington’s independent policing auditor now reports to County Manager Mark Schwartz, who also oversees the Arlington County Police Department. Hope and the Arlington branch of the NAACP, concerned about conflicts of interest, chafed at this decision.
“It’s not the Governor’s business, nor the House or the Senate, who Arlington County hires,” said Hope. He previously championed a 2015 bill, which passed, allowing the County Board to hire an independent auditor tasked with conducting performance reviews and finding inefficiencies in county government.
There is a new twist in the stand-off between Arlington County and neighbors over bus parking on a county site in North Arlington.
Arlington County recently dropped litigation against three neighbors and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, who tried to use the Board of Zoning Appeals process to block the county from parking 29 Arlington Transit (ART) buses on a county lot near Washington-Liberty High School.
The parking is a temporary arrangement while a new ART bus facility is built in Green Valley. The Arlington County Board allowed this when it approved a special exception use permit in the spring of 2022.
Nearly two years ago, the county zoning administrator determined the Dept. of Environmental Services could park the buses on the site — a requisite step for obtaining a use permit. One resident appealed the decision but a county staff member rejected it. A week later, the county sued him, his wife, a third resident and the Ballston-Virginia Square Civic Association, alleging he used the BZA process improperly to block the parking use.
The defendants say the county sued them preemptively and that the bus activity would seriously undercut their property values and quality of life.
“This could and should become a case study in how not to run a county government and then considering your role you and not considering your unique role as owners of the site and how your actions may affect neighbors,” said Maurya Meiers during public comment on Saturday, when the Arlington County Board reviewed the special exception permit for the site.
A BZA appeal had been filed on Meiers’ behalf two years ago and she is named in the lawsuit, per meeting materials and court documents.
Some residents came to the defense of their neighbors and their legal plight.
“It’s a SLAPP [Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation] suit: a use of superior resources to haul citizens into court wear them down and demoralize them, perhaps even beggar them lest they become too vociferous and their concerns about pollution, noise and other avoidable nuisances, such as those which this permit enables,” said neighbor Thomas Viles. “So far your lawsuit has accomplished nothing expensive as it was it proved insufficient to shut these voters up.”
Indeed, Arlington County says it dropped its suit because the BZA is now set to hear the appeal case built by neighbors who live in homes overlooking the parking lot. The hearing will determine whether the county zoning administrator acted properly or if her decision runs afoul of zoning ordinances, a site plan and a 1985 deed of covenant.
Viles says the BZA agreed to take up the appeal after hearing about the suit in ARLnow.
“When they did learn, however, the BZA repudiated [county government] for having kept them in the dark,” he said.
This fracas is obliquely referenced in a resolution the BZA passed last September, directing the zoning administrator to avoid this situation again by sharing all appeals with members regardless of their merit.
“The BZA has never authorized any person to decline to accept an appeal on the BZA’s behalf,” the resolution says. “County staff did not consult the entire membership of the BZA before declining to accept any appeals of a zoning administrator determination, nor did County staff inform the BZA of its communications and actions in regards to any appeals filed between March 7, 2022 and the date of the adoption of this resolution.”
Arlington County Board Chair Libby Garvey is retiring at the end of her term in 2024.
She announced her decision near the top of a County Board meeting today (Tuesday).
“When my term ends in December, it will be 28 years of elected public service and about 17 primaries and general campaigns,” she said. “I’m loving this work. I love working with the staff, my colleagues and the residents. I mean, that’s the best part of this job, in many ways, but at this point, both my head and my heart are telling me it’s time I passed the baton.”
Garvey was first elected to the County Board in 2012, after previously serving on the Arlington School Board.
Continuing the relay analogy, Garvey says she intends “to sprint to the finish” and looks forward to accomplishing more for Arlington in the next 11 months, including leading the newly unveiled 2050 visioning process — a sweeping public engagement opportunity to envision what the county should look like in 26 years — and making Arlington more energy resilient.
“There will be time for more proper thank-yous and acknowledgments in the future,” she added in a statement to people who subscribe to her monthly newsletter, issued shortly after her announcement. “Please know that my friends and supporters have made it possible for me to do this work, which I love. And I look forward, as always, to your thoughts and suggestions as I continue to work for Arlington throughout this year.”
The acknowledgements have already started, however.
“We would like to thank Libby Garvey for her years of service on the County Board,” the Arlington County Democratic Committee said, in a statement posted on social media. “We know she’ll keep working for Arlington the rest of her term and beyond.”
So far, there are three candidates who have stepped up to fill her place, all vying to be the Democratic nominee selected in a primary this June.
Natalie Roy, who made her debut last election cycle on an anti-Missing Middle platform and received an endorsement from Garvey, is running for the second time. First-time candidate Julie Farnam, an Arlington Ridge Civic Association board member, is campaigning on improving public safety and taking what she calls a “smart” approach to planning and growth.
James DeVita, who ran for State Senate last election cycle, has also thrown his hat into the ring, according to Virginia Public Access Project.
Garvey’s decision follows that of fellow former County Board colleagues Christian Dorsey and Katie Cristol, who both announced last year they would not seek re-election. Cristol made her exit before her term ended while Dorsey saw out the end of his term.
A larger, more accessible bus loop may soon be coming to the East Falls Church Metro station.
The Arlington County Board on Saturday approved a $527,681 project-coordination agreement with the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority. This is part of a $12.7 million plan to provide the station with additional routes, expanded passenger capacity and improvements to parking and crosswalks.
The bus loop is set to get three more bus bays as the four current bays are at maximum capacity, per the report. Other proposed upgrades include improving the physical condition of the bus loop’s pavement and sidewalks and replacing the traffic signal at the N. Sycamore Street entrance.
On Saturday, County Board member Susan Cunningham said she is particularly excited about upgrades to the station’s bus shelters. She encouraged her colleagues to remain attentive to the bottom line of improvement projects, however.
“We all need to keep an eye on how those projects go,” she said. “They’re often quite complex, and we want to make sure we’re doing everything we can to control costs going forward.”
County staff publicly presented their plans for the Metro station at the intersection of N. Sycamore Street and Washington Blvd during a community meeting in March 2022.
“Overall, public response indicated support for the proposed concept design,” a county report says. “Respondents generally found the presented plans to be safer for all modes of transportation when compared to existing locations.”
Also included in the initiative, which is part of the county’s 2023-2032 Capital Improvement Plan, are plans to enhance landscaping and stormwater management; upgrade accessible parking, crosswalks and curb ramps; and improve pedestrian access from the Metro park-and-ride lot.
The last major upgrade to the East Falls Church Metro station was the addition of a $2 million bike parking facility. The 92-spot facility made its debut in the middle of the pandemic, though it was set to open in 2015. The structure was delivered five years late and $1.1 million over budget due to miscommunication and a lack of oversight, among other problems.
The county had hoped to add a second entrance to the station but put those plans on the backburner for at least a decade back in 2018.
Photo via Google Maps
(Updated at 5:35 p.m.) A yearslong attempt to convert a historic Arlington property into a home for adults with developmental disabilities may be nearing the finish line.
The Arlington County Board is expected to consider agreements to transfer the Reeves Farmhouse into the hands of local nonprofits and allocate community development block grant funds later this year, according to a county report. In advance of this, the Board on Saturday took steps toward streamlining the efforts of Habitat for Humanity DC-NOVA, HomeAid National Capital Region and L’Arche of Greater Washington.
Officials voted to approve a use-permit amendment and accept permit applications for building and land disturbance activity — decisions that will make it simpler for nonprofits to renovate the property if they assume possession of it.
The county report argues that the nonprofits’ plans, which have been refined over extensive conversations with local agencies, are in keeping with the county’s vision for the 124-year-old Boulevard Manor structure.
“As proposed, the historic building will be renovated and expanded in a historically sensitive manner, to provide for the needs of the applicant and the intended residents of the building,” the report says.
Six years of planning and increasingly firm agreement on what to do with the farmhouse led up to this point.
The structure, which was built in 1900, sits on a property that was home to the last remaining dairy farm in Arlington County before it closed in 1955.
The county once considered transforming the farmhouse into a museum or learning center, but ultimately concluded these changes would be too expensive. The county entered talks about transferring possession of the property back in June 2018.
It took three years, but the county and nonprofits finally reached a non-binding letter of intent in February 2020 — just before the pandemic hit.
Talks about what to do with the building stalled for another three years. But they revived in April 2023 when Habitat for Humanity, HomeAid and L’Arche met with the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board to discuss the home’s future.
The review board gave its official stamp of approval to proposed renovation plans at a July meeting.
The nonprofit coalition hopes to build a two-story addition on the south side of the farmhouse and a one-story addition on the west side, giving the home a total of seven bedrooms. Housing fewer than eight people, per the county report, means the building would be legally classified as a dwelling and not a group home.
The prospective owners also intend to outfit the existing structure with the following features:
- New exterior guardrails and handrails
- A new front door
- New gutters and rain spouts
- New asphalt shingles
- Two windows in the new shed-roof dormer
The farmhouse would receive a new driveway allowing for “adequate emergency vehicle access,” along with four parking spaces, two of which would be handicap accessible. Plans additionally include stormwater management facilities and landscaping enhancements.
Other parts of the historic property, including a popular sledding hill — heavily utilized after the recent snowfall — will remain open to the public.
“The sledding hill has been a constant. Everybody wants to make sure we kept that sledding hill,” County Board Chair Libby Garvey said on Saturday.
The Board’s vote makes it possible for Habitat for Humanity, HomeAid and L’Arche to continue pursuing their plans. County staff argued that this decision is in keeping with the goals for the Reeves Farmhouse that the county adopted in 2015.
“Staff believes that the proposed renovations and site improvements to accommodate the applicant’s intention to own, renovate, and operate the Reeves Farmhouse as a residential dwelling providing care for adults with developmental disabilities [continue] to meet these criteria,” the report says.