Join Club

What’s Next: Infrastructure Based Growth

What’s Next with Nicole is a biweekly opinion column. The views expressed are solely the author’s.

There is somewhat of a false dichotomy in our community right now about growth. Are you pro-growth or not?

Plainly, an economy does not succeed without growth. It is my belief, too, that for long-run economic success and stability, growth must be built on sustainable infrastructure.

I would define infrastructure as anything that we issue a bond for. In the past decade that has included schools, transportation, parks, and miscellaneous for projects such as fire stations; in years prior it has also included utilities and government buildings. Bonds theoretically support assets that last ten years or longer.

TLDR: We need growth to provide housing and office space for our growing economy. This does not preclude us from proactively planning for that implication on our schools, parks, transportation, utilities and basic infrastructure needs.

How Do We Track Growth Impacts

I asked the County Board what steps are in the site plan review process for new development to measure the impact on infrastructure.

Christian Dorsey gave a nod to a useful tool, the quarterly development tracker, that shows every development by sector, units, and square foot.

Matt de Ferranti noted that in the site plan review process there is an accounting for estimated number of seats added to designated school districts from new housing development. In my research there is also typically a requirement for a developer to create a Transportation Management Plan that includes items such ongoing payments to Arlington County Commuter Services and loaded SmarTrip cards for new tenants.

All of this is intended to help various departments plan for the future. Unfortunately that information from the site plan review process is not included in the development tracker and doesn’t include future planning outside of schools.

There was an acknowledgement that we do not measure the long term fiscal impacts of development like other Northern Virginia jurisdictions, but that “smart growth” studies support the notion that we will receive net positive benefits.

To understand that process between the planning and budget departments, I asked the county’s Budget Director about the communication between their offices. He indicated that beginning this year they had more frequent and informal discussions about what projects are in the pipeline and how it would impact revenues. There was not a mention of how it would impact infrastructure or future expenditures.

 Growth Impact Varies

Growth’s impact on Arlington varies by development type. This seems to not be acknowledged in current planning processes.

For example, apartment buildings are taxed as commercial buildings, not residential buildings. How we assess taxes on commercial and residential buildings are different and the fact that over half of residential units in Arlington are rented means that the distinction of if a development is going to be condos or rentals has an impact.

Single family homes statistically produce more children than apartments. Urban areas have less green space and more people (and dogs that need to do some business). Significant multi-unit projects being built on a non-Metro corridors like Lee Highway or Columbia Pike would impact ART bus route planning and should change our capital project asks to WMATA.

There is no coordinated, public-facing, way currently that we look at these impacts.

It is my belief that we do need to build more to achieve stability in housing prices. It is also my, and I will emphasize this — theory — that market rate affordability is generally achieved by a building just getting old. The more units we have, the more of a chance that we will have some aging housing supply coming in the future. I will expand on this hopefully more fully in another piece.

What Can We Do to Plan

County Board (Members Garvey, Gutshall, Cristol, Dorsey, de Ferranti):

  • Create a system to quantify the infrastructure impact of every type of development and add this information to the site plan review process and quarterly development report.
  • Have a coordinated relationship between the planning and budget departments on both revenues and expenditure implications of development.

Legislature (Senators Ebbin, Favola, Howell, Delegates Hope, Levine, Lopez, and Sullivan),

  • Legislatively reform the 2016 Proffer Bill that tied Arlington County’s hands in their ability to have discussions or negotiations with developers on the fiscal impacts of development.

Nicole Merlene is an Arlington native and former candidate for Virginia State Senate. She has served as a leader in the community on the boards of the Arlington County Civic Federation and North Rosslyn Civic Association, as an Arlington Economic Development commissioner, in neighborhood transportation planning groups, and as a civic liaison to the Rosslyn Business Improvement District.

Recent Stories

ARLnow Daily Debrief for Sep 29, 2023

Good Friday evening, Arlington. Let’s take a look back at today’s stories and a look forward to tomorrow’s event calendar. 🕗 News recap The following articles were published earlier today…

A former ABC News producer whose Columbia Pike apartment was raided by the FBI last year has been sentenced. James Gordon Meek, 53, pleaded guilty in July to transportation and…

Metrorail service was suspended on the Blue and Yellow lines today after a train derailed.

Listing of the Day: 3616 N. Glebe Road

4 bedroom 3 bath 2 car garage 1/4 acre Jamestown Williamsburg Yorktown pyramid

At Generation Hope, we’re dedicated to supporting teen parents in college as they work toward earning their degrees. We are in need of caring child care volunteers for upcoming events on Saturday, October 21st (in Washington, DC), and Saturday, November 4th (in Arlington, VA). Join our growing volunteer community and support us at an event this fall!

At all of our events, we provide free onsite child care for the children of the teen parents we serve, creating a nurturing environment for the kiddos while their parents learn valuable life skills and build community.

If you enjoy working with children and are looking to make an immediate impact in your community, please visit https://www.generationhope.org/volunteer to learn more.

Submit your own Announcement here.

Join us for Arlington’s biggest civil rights & social justice event of the year. The banquet is back in person at the Arlington Campus of George Mason University.

Our keynote speaker this year is Symone Sanders from MSNBC and former Chief of Staff for Vice-President Kamala Harris.

The Master of Ceremonies is Joshua Cole, former state delegate, NAACP President, and local pastor.

Tickets/seating are limited. Purchase your ticket today! Sponsorship opportunities available.

Read More

Submit your own Announcement here.

Free Right-Sizing Workshop – How to Get Rid of Your…

Cody Chance and Dick Nathan of Long & Foster are hosting an online workshop on the topic of “down-sizing” Wednesday, October 4 from 5:30-7:00 p.m. Every great endeavor begins with a great plan. This workshop will give you the tools

Rosslyn Fall Fest

Join the Rosslyn BID for Fall Fest on Saturday, Oct. 14, from 1-6 p.m. at Gateway Park! Whether you’re in the mood for a refreshment at our hard cider tastings and cash bar, want a bite to eat from the

×

Subscribe to our mailing list