Competing visions of housing and development in Arlington underpinned a County Board candidate forum Wednesday night.
In particular focus at the Arlington Committee of 100 event were divided stances on Missing Middle. Supporting the rezoning policy, which the Board unanimously approved last year, are Democrats Tenley Peterson and JD Spain.
Peterson was among the members of the Arlington Planning Commission to recommend allowing for the construction of smaller-scale multi-family homes in previously single-family only neighborhoods. She believes next steps for driving down housing costs should focus on high-density development.
“I want to focus on where we’re going to get the most bang for our buck when adding density, and that’s getting back to our historic success with smart growth,” she said. “I think it makes a lot of sense to build vertical density along the public transit corridors, along the Metro corridor.”
Spain, for his part, said he would “always fight to diversify our housing and always make sure it’s equitable across all of Arlington,” but called for more conversation with community members on the issue.
“I understand that we want to be close to Metro corridors. We want to be building vertically — but Arlington is growing. It’s not the same Arlington of when I moved here 15 years ago,” he said.
Criticism of Missing Middle, meanwhile, came from Democratic opponents Natalie Roy and James DeVita as well as independent candidate Audrey Clement.
“We are at a crossroads,” said Roy. “The County Board is jamming development-driven density without guardrails throughout Arlington, and marketing it as social justice to paint opponents in a bad way.”
Repeating one of his campaign slogans, “save the suburbs,” DeVita argued that “mindless density is just not what we should be striving for.” Clement said she would like to create a task force to study alternatives to Missing Middle.
Democratic candidate Julie Farnam also criticized the zoning change, but focused more of her attention to issues around public safety. She listed carjackings in South Arlington, juvenile overdoses and safety concerns in the Arlington County jail among her top priorities.
Other issues mentioned included Arlington’s tree canopy — a talking point for Roy, Peterson and Spain — as well as Arlington’s extensive office vacancies.
Farnam, Clement and DeVita voiced support for office-to-apartment conversions, while Spain called for more incentives for businesses and Peterson pointed to steps the county is already taking to make Arlington more appealing for potential commercial tenants.