County Board members on Saturday approved one major redevelopment project in the Langston Boulevard corridor, but deferred action on a second.
Board members voted 5-0 in support of plans by Rooney Properties to raze the Walgreens site at 3130 Langston Blvd, replacing it with a mixed-use property rising 12 stories and containing up to 300 apartment units plus 7,200 square feet of ground-floor retail.
However, they deferred action on a 47-unit townhouse project at 2134 N. Taylor Street until at least next month.
Mixed-use building approved
The proposal at 3130 Langston Blvd represents “a truly well-rounded project,” Board member Maureen Coffey said as the final vote approached.
It will be the first major redevelopment project since the 2023 adoption of the Langston Boulevard Area Plan, which calls for increased density throughout much of the 5-mile east-west North Arlington corridor.
During a public hearing preceding the vote, concerns were raised about traffic and safety around the site, and that the proposal fell short of some aspects of the Langston Boulevard Area Plan.
“If it doesn’t [meet the plan], other following developers will also fail to meet all the requirements of the plan. You’re setting the plan on a path to failure,” said Andrew Rude, president of the Lyon Village Citizens’ Association.
Aaron Roberts, representing the North Highlands Citizens Association at the meeting, also voiced concerns about safety and walkability around the site.
“What is missing — what is scandalously missing — is a comprehensive plan for how to keep our residents, our friends, our neighbors out of the hospital,” he said.
Roberts asked Board members to follow recommendations of the Planning Commission and Transportation Commission and set up a study of transportation safety issues in the coming year, then “commit to funding the recommendations” that result.
Board members said they would keep an eye on transportation and safety issues as the project moves forward.
“Follow-up on transportation … is going to be key,” Board member Matt de Ferranti said.
He said civic leaders in the vicinity would “hold us accountable for the follow-up and follow-through” required.
Coffey said it was a challenge to simultaneously plan for corridor-wide growth while addressing individual development projects one at a time.
“You can’t solve every problem for the entire corridor from day one. We have to do this site-by-site, block-by-block,” she said. “Starting with [this] one is really important because it gets us going.”
Michael Foster, an architect and civic leader who has lived and worked in the corridor for more than three decades, praised county staff, local residents and the development team for working through complications on the project “thoughtfully and carefully” to make it better.
“Nothing’s perfect, but perfect is the enemy of the good,” said Foster, whose architectural firm is not involved in the project. He predicted the development would prove a success over time.
A total of 19 of the units will be designated as committed-affordable, and the developer will provide about $1.8 million to the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund. There also will be new publicly accessible open space on the southwest corner of the site.
A total of 361 parking spaces will be incorporated into above- and below-ground structured parking.
The development proposal had the support of county staff and the Planning Commission.
Townhouse project deferred
After approving the 3130 Langston Blvd project, Board members voted 5-0 to defer action until at least May on the second major development project considered at the meeting.
Cherry Hill Ridge Investment LLC seeks to build 47 townhouse units on a 2.8-acre parcel at 2134 N. Taylor Street just south of Langston Blvd in the Waverly Hills neighborhood.
The site is currently home to a number of unoccupied single-family residences. A previous plan, approved but never constructed, called for a six-story, 175-unit senior-living facility on the site.
County planning staff have recommended denial of the project, citing “numerous deviations” from the Langston Boulevard Area Plan. But the construction is supported by a number of county advisory panels and adjacent civic associations.
Located between Langston Blvd to the north and Cherry Hill Road to the south, the property at 2134 N. Taylor Street site is bordered by the Horizon Apartments to the north, Stoneridge Knoll Condominiums and Taylor Street Condominiums to the east, Yorktown Condominiums to the west, and townhomes and low-density commercial businesses to the south.
