Final action on policies related to deer-culling, towing and residential-to-commercial conversions will be on the agenda when Arlington County Board members meet this Saturday (Nov. 16).
At the meeting, Board members are slated to take final action on zoning changes required to permit the use of sharpshooters to kill deer on public lands in the county.
Approval is expected. If it occurs, county officials early next year will begin work on selecting a contractor to do the job. The first culling would begin a little over a year from now.
County Board members also will consider changes to the county’s towing ordinance, including whether to impose a live-time “second signature” requirement on property owners having vehicles removed from their properties.
Both the deer and towing issues engendered passionate comments in October, when the Board held requisite public hearings before placing them on the agenda for action this month.
Also on the agenda a number of proposals related to supporting property owners who want to convert older existing commercial properties to residential units.
Some of those properties currently sit half-empty or vacant, part of Arlington’s office-vacancy rate of approximately 23%. Leaders across Northern Virginia have embraced the idea of giving property owners an easier bureaucratic path to turning them into multi-family residential buildings.
The Arlington Planning Commission recently voted 8-0 to support the package that is now before Board members.
Comcast Operating Agreement Update to Be Deferred Again: Board members on Nov. 16 will be asked to again extend the operating agreement that allows Comcast to offer cable service in Arlington.
The most recently approved franchise agreement ran from 2016-21. Since then, it has been extended multiple times under existing terms, as the county government and Comcast continue to negotiate new terms.
Without Board action, the contract would lapse on Dec. 9. But sides have agreed to extend it for another year.
Comcast is one of two franchise-holders offering cable service to Arlington residents. Verizon is the other.
Arts Grants Slated for Approval: Board members on Nov. 16 are slated to approve $365,810 in annual arts grants.
Three individual artists and 14 organizations will share in the funding. The Commission for the Arts recommended the recipients after receiving 27 applications, including 10 from individual artists and 17 from arts groups.
Funding will range from about $1,800 to nearly $78,000.
The arts-grants program has been in place since 1990.
Hearings to Be Set on EV Charging, Child Care: Board members on Nov. 16 will be asked to set Dec. 14 public hearings on a number of issues, including setting new rates for using county-government-owned electric-charging stations and making changes to ordinances related to child-care facilities.
Election Result Lowers Possibility of Board Departure: The election of Donald Trump brings to a close one of the political parlor games being played in Arlington over the past few months.
Insiders were speculating whether, if Democrat Kamala Harris ascended to the presidency, any County Board members might end up with jobs in the new administration.
If so, a special election would be necessary to fill the seat, or seats, left vacant.
The last time a local official left to serve a president was in February 1999, when then-Board member Al Eisenberg resigned to accept a post in the Clinton administration.
In the special election that followed in April 1999, Republican Mike Lane was tapped by voters to fill Eisenberg’s seat. He held it until the end of the year, having been defeated in the 1999 general election by Democrat Charles Monroe.
