Competing visions for the future of development in Arlington are facing off as the county gets closer to rewriting a core planning document.
As a feedback form on planned changes to the Comprehensive Plan is set to close on Sunday, slow-growth advocates are vying with a broad coalition of pro-housing groups to shape some of the county’s foundational goals.
Housing advocates see the refresh, which is on track to reach the County Board in 2026, as an opportunity to refocus the 65-year-old document on densification: removing language about limiting “intense development,” while setting the county’s sights on “a vision of growth and the ability to welcome new residents.”
“The only way to preserve the Arlington that we love is to allow more housing,” prominent pro-housing organizations — including YIMBYs of Northern Virginia, the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance (NVAHA) and Virginians Organized for Interfaith Action (VOICE) — wrote in a letter to the County Board this summer.
“The update to the Comprehensive Plan is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to set the groundwork for responsible and sustainable growth with the fundamental belief that people are what make Arlington great, and a welcoming, diverse community must allow for and encourage diverse and abundant housing to meet the needs of all Arlingtonians, and those who have yet to come,” they continued.
By contrast, the advocacy group Arlingtonians for our Sustainable Future called for preserving Arlington’s current balance of high-, medium- and low-density land use and keep heavy development focused on the county’s four main transit corridors.
The organization argued that changes to the Comprehensive Plan will do little to help low-income residents, while laying the groundwork for future densification that critics believe could pose major infrastructure challenges.
“The Comp Plan effort is the most strategically significant densification effort in years; it is bad news for good planning,” Arlingtonians for our Sustainable Future wrote in a Monday email to supporters.
How the Comprehensive Plan could change
County staff are preparing to write a new introductory chapter to the Comprehensive Plan.
This will include revised “guiding principles that reflect people’s lived experiences and align with community needs and values,” and an overview of how various elements of the plan will support the county’s goals.
Current “general principles” in the Comprehensive Plan, adopted in 1960, call for “retention of the predominantly residential character of the county, and limitation of intense development to limited and defined areas.”
The principles also outline services that the county will provide to residents, including government facilities, stormwater management, sewage disposal and “an adequate system of traffic routes.”
The county is currently seeking input on how a revised Comprehensive Plan can support goals such as a “livable built environment,” “harmony with nature,” “interwoven equity” and a “resilient economy.”
“A comprehensive plan is a long-range plan for livability and what the community wants to look like in the future,” the feedback form says. “Arlington’s Comprehensive Plan highlights values and priorities and guides the County Board’s decision making as the community grows.”
Following focus group meetings and another online feedback opportunity this spring and summer, county staff have been conducting a series of community meetings on the Comprehensive Plan in recent weeks. They plan to draft a new introductory chapter for County Board action this winter, followed by discussion of next steps sometime in the new year.
Depending on how that goes, more specific changes could come via revisions to the General Land Use Plan, another central planning document.
What pro-housing groups want
Pro-housing organizations outlined the following goals in their letter to the County Board.
- Include a vision of growth and the ability to welcome new residents as a foundational goal.
- Remove language about “Retention of the predominantly residential character of the county, and limitation of intense development to limited and defined areas;”
- Find a place for authentic and equitable public engagement within a system that prioritizes outcomes that enhance our entire community.
- Enable people who have been zoned out/excluded from single-family areas to weigh in on changes throughout the County that can provide more opportunities for them.
- Allow for growth along transit-served arterial roads (i.e. connector roads like Wilson Blvd., Glebe, Washington Blvd, George Mason, Rt. 50, Four Mile Run, Yorktown Blvd., Carlyn Springs).
- Expand the definition of “walkable” to Metro from ¼ mile to ½ or even one mile, and allow more growth within this range.
- Eliminate the “bullseye” concept that requires tapering of height between Metro stations, and increase housing, commercial, retail, and hotel uses along the entire Metro corridor.
- Advance a planning study to bring additional density and height to the neighborhoods surrounding the East Falls Church Metro Station.
They argued that a focus on further densification will advance other goals like improving affordability, limiting pollution, reducing sprawl and promoting diverse communities.
“We reject the politics of scarcity — that, when you win, I lose — practiced by persistent naysayers opposed to any change to their current reality and instead embrace the politics of abundance — that more housing meeting more residents’ needs benefits the whole community,” the groups wrote. “And we believe that, with the updated Comprehensive Plan and General Land Use Plan as guides, the County can add housing responsibly.”
Jane Green, regional lead and co-founder of YIMBYs of NoVA, told ARLnow that she views the current Comprehensive Plan as out of step with current realities, taking it as given “that growth is not good and we have to confine it to certain places and keep it from spreading.” She argued that a new plan needs a new focus.
“I think the long-term future of Arlington will be continued growth … and we should see that as good, and operate from that assumption,” she said.
What slow-growth advocates want
Arlingtonians for our Sustainable Future, by contrast, called on supporters to help “prevent ‘urban-only Arlington.'”
Arguing that changes to the Comprehensive Plan could, indeed, lay the groundwork for many items on the pro-housing groups’ wishlist, the group raised concerns about densification efforts placing strain on infrastructure, ultimately requiring higher taxes or bonds in the future. The organization specifically raised red flags about any shift toward high-density development in parts of Arlington besides Columbia Pike, Richmond Highway, Langston Blvd and the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor.
“In the most important initiative we’ve seen in years, Arlington is planning some very bad things for your neighborhood, whether you live in high- or low-density areas,” it warned supporters.
Arlingtonians for our Sustainable Future listed the following goals.
- Preserve current density diversity (i.e. current balance of high, medium and low density land use)
- Fully fund infrastructure and services for any new density going forward
- Limit medium and high-density zoning to current transit corridors;
- Consider new tools for needs-based housing and affordability.
The group called on supporters to complete the ongoing survey on the Comprehensive Plan and attend a 7 p.m. meeting of the Long Range Planning Committee tonight (Wednesday).
