Controversy is heating up around a proposed six-unit development near the East Falls Church Metro station.
The Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA) is scheduled to vote tomorrow (Wednesday) on whether to uphold a decision to approve an Expanded Housing Option permit for the property, located at 2315 N. Tuckahoe Street.
Much criticism of the proposed three-story development with 7,995 square feet of floor area focuses on cars and parking.
Current plans for the property, which is just off of Langston Blvd and about half a mile from the Metro station, call for only three parking spaces. Opponents argue that this is insufficient given N. Tuckahoe Street’s dimensions and location.
“Parking on this street will make an already narrow street even more narrow,” Todd Newman, who lives near the site, said at a BZA meeting last week. “This puts pedestrians, particularly school children going to Tuckahoe Elementary School, at danger. A crowded, narrow, busy street without any sidewalks and more parked cars puts our children in peril.”
Pointing out that that the closest grocery store to the property is more than a mile away, neighbor Andrew Soles argued that “the county cannot in good faith expect that residents in the new development will be able to live car-free.”
“People will not give up their cars because they don’t have adequate off-street parking, they’ll just park them on the streets and only give them up when they absolutely can’t find a parking space within a few blocks of their home,” he wrote in a letter. “Please don’t let Arlington become a parking disaster like other cities around the world.”
The appeal that the BZA is considering doesn’t directly relate to parking concerns, however.
Instead, the complaint filed by nearby resident Hunter Schloss asserts that the property should never have received an EHO permit because of alleged issues related to tree coverage, fencing and proximity to two planning districts.
For instance, Schloss argues that the landscape plan for the property should have included eight trees instead of the seven currently included in the plan.
County staff and the site’s owner have disputed these claims and recommend that the BZA should uphold the Zoning Administrator’s original decision to issue the permit in April.
An EHO permit is just one of several permissions needed to develop the site. Other required documents include building permits, certificates of occupancy and certificates of appropriateness.
The dispute over the future of 2315 N. Tuckahoe Street is the latest in a line of controversies involving attempts to redevelop single-family homes in Arlington with multifamily buildings.
In January, the BZA rejected a similar appeal, which argued that EHO permits for two proposed six-plexes in Alcova Heights were improperly issued.
However, a dispute over a proposed duplex in Tara-Leeway Heights ended last August with the developer agreeing to build a single-family home instead.
The county has approved dozens of EHO permits since the Arlington County Board approved Missing Middle zoning changes last March, according to a county dashboard.
The outcome of a recent civil trial over the legality of the County Board’s decision is still pending.
