Members of an Arlington advisory panel are expressing concerns that feedback on the county’s proposed Climate Action Plan doesn’t fully represent the broader community.
Jason Schwartz, representing the Housing Commission on the county’s Climate Action Plan Advisory Group, raised concerns about the underrepresentation of renters and those living in multifamily properties in an online survey being used as a planning tool by staff.
“It’s really biased, with homeowners and single-family homeowners completely out of proportion,” said Schwartz at the advisory group’s July 30 meeting.
The county’s goal is to have a final climate plan set for approval by early 2028, expanding on the county’s 2019 Community Energy Plan.
Data from the survey confirm Schwartz’s position:
- Residents of single-family detached homes represented 61% of online respondents but comprise only 29% of county residents
- More than 80% of respondents were homeowners, compared to 36% of the countywide adult population
Noting that the county’s growth has been concentrated in multifamily housing, Schwartz said:
“A plan guided by responses and feedback from single-family homeowners I don’t think is going to yield the outcomes for a sustainable and low-carbon future. I don’t think [the responses were] really inclusive of our total community and region as a whole.”
Another member of the advisory group, EcoAction Arlington representative Joan McIntyre, voiced concern that the responses also skewed far older than Arlington as a whole.
In the online survey, 67% of respondents were older than 50 and 27% older than 70. Only 20% were younger than 40.
McIntyre urged staff to “think about ways you might conduct some additional forums, focus-group meetings, that really bring in younger generations in order to get their ideas and inputs.”
A member of the advisory group, speaking to ARLnow after the meeting and seeking anonymity in order to speak frankly, offered thoughts on the disparity in participation by age:
“I suspect that the younger generations are much more concerned about climate change and want to see action, but are too busy to participate and may think that this kind of plan usually doesn’t make any difference anyway. I hope that much more focused research is done, because I think younger generations want to do something about climate change but want something that will really work, not just PR.”
Though not touched on at the meeting, racial and ethnic representation in the online survey also deviated from the county as a whole.
White residents were overrepresented — being 83% of respondents yet just 58% of the county’s population — while all other major racial/ethnic groups were underrepresented.
County staff responded to the concerns, saying survey results were only one part of a broader effort to gather information in developing the Climate Action Plan.
Staff will take all the “different buckets” of feedback and “boil them down,” said Jennifer Fioretti, the county government’s assistant county manager for climate policy.
Rich Dooley, director of climate policy for the county government, said the overall engagement effort, running from Feb. 26 to June 26, was more broad-based than the online demographics suggested.
“We touched all parts of our wonderful county,” he said.
The July 30 meeting was the fourth for the advisory group convened by the county government. Membership is drawn from:
- Arlington Chamber of Commerce
- Arlington Public Schools
- Arlington Regional Master Naturalists
- Arlington’s Food Security Coalition
- Civic Federation
- Climate Change, Energy and Environment Commission
- EcoAction Arlington
- Economic Development Commission
- Energy Committee
- Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions
- Forestry and Natural Resources Commission
- Housing Commission
- Arlington NAACP
- Penzance
- Planning Commission
- Sierra Club
- Transportation Commission
- Tree Stewards
- Virginia Clinicians for Climate Action
At the July 30 meeting, staff unveiled a draft vision statement for the future climate plan: “We envision a sustainable, climate resilient Arlington that embraces a low-carbon future, where collective action builds a green, healthy, safe and equitable community, now and for generations to come.”
During a flash survey taken of members at the meeting, one respondent described the proposed wording as “extremely inspiring,” six as “very inspiring” and five as “moderately inspiring.” There were no votes for the “slightly inspiring” and “not inspiring” options.
Despite the general support, a variety of suggested improvements were made.
Paul Kaplowitz, a task force member, said a one-word change could make a significant difference.
“‘Resilient’ needs to be in there,” he said. “I agree it’s hard to get everything in there, but maybe [replacing] ‘safe’ with ‘resilient’ would get that message across.”
Another task force member, Faizan Qureshi, wanted the wording pared down.
“It’s trying to encompass too much, and it’s too wordy,” said Qureshi, representing developer Penzance on the panel. “When you’re trying to say too much, you’re not saying anything at all.”
The panel next meets on Aug. 31.
