Arlington County police are seeking more victims of a teen identified as a suspect after a string of groping incidents.
The incidents happened in and around the Courthouse area this past fall and involved women being grabbed from behind in a sexual manner by an unknown suspect. One involved a woman walking her dog in Courthouse on Nov. 28 and another involved a woman walking or running on the Arlington Blvd Trail on Dec. 7.
(Updated at 12:20 p.m.) Some 200 speakers and seven hours of public comment later, the Arlington County Board will decide whether to authorize hearings on a proposal to allow “Missing Middle” housing later today (Wednesday).
The request to authorize hearings on the zoning proposal was originally placed on the agenda for the Board’s Saturday meeting. After a marathon hearing on Saturday, public comment on the item carried over into the Board’s Tuesday meeting. Rather than make a decision last night, Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey said members will take an extra day.
Scholarships in Braylon Meade’s Memory — “With such a wide-reaching legacy, Braylon’s parents wanted the fund to be just as dynamic. So instead of creating one scholarship in Braylon’s name, they created three. ‘By establishing three scholarships, we hope to touch several different aspects of Braylon’s life,’ Kris explains.” [Press Release]
Missing Middle Roils Nextdoor — “The debates on Nextdoor in Arlington have been particularly intense over the past year, both Harrell and Bodine say, because the missing middle rezoning proposal came out in April and has been going through the county review process. For his part, Harrell suspects he’s posted hundreds of comments in the last year on the missing middle issue alone. Bodine accused the moderators of her neighborhood forum of being biased in favor of missing middle and inappropriately suspending some of the people who agree with her.” [Vice]
VHC Health could break ground on a new mental health and rehabilitation facility at its old urgent care facility on S. Carlin Springs Road as soon as this year.
Arlington County and VHC Health — the new name of Virginia Hospital Center — announced a joint agreement this afternoon to expand behavioral health and rehab services through the proposed project at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road.
Urban farms and breweries could be coming to a vacant office near you.
Over the weekend, the Arlington County Board approved a series of zoning changes aimed at tackling the stubborn office vacancy rate. They would allow the following tenants to move into offices by right:
Arlington County is preparing to make street improvements at the busy intersection of Wilson Blvd and 10th Street N.
The project will widen public sidewalks on both sides of Wilson Blvd and 10th Street N., between the Clarendon and Virginia Square Metro stations, and put existing utilities underground so that the sidewalks can be more accessible for people with disabilities.
Local Restaurant Group Gets Juiced — “The Arlington hospitality group behind Copperwood Tavern and The Pinemoor is getting into the juice business… An affiliate of Wooden Nickel Bar Co. recently acquired Greenheart Juice Shop for an undisclosed price, Wooden Nickel plans to focus first on the company’s home delivery business, and to make Greenheart products available at its various restaurants. With the aid of Asadoorian Retail Solutions, it’s also planning to open new physical Greenheart locations, including one in the works in Ballston.” [Washington Business Journal]
Pedestrian Struck Last Night — “Police and medics on scene of a pedestrian struck at or near the intersection of Route 1 and 23rd Street S. in Crystal City. The pedestrian is reportedly being evaluated for a head injury.” [Twitter]
Update at 5:25 p.m. — Metrorail service has been restored on the Orange and Silver lines after a power outage in Ballston that lasted around half an hour. Riders should expect residual delays, Metro said.
Earlier: Metrorail service on the Orange and Silver lines has been suspended due to a power outage.
Two 30-story apartment towers proposed for Crystal City received a green light from the Arlington County Board on Saturday.
The proposal from JBG Smith will redevelop a block at the intersection of 23rd Street S. and Crystal Drive that is currently home to a vacant office building from the 1960s and, until demolition started earlier this year, a strip of one-story retail that included the restaurant Jaleo.
A man was stabbed inside his apartment in the Arlington Mill neighborhood early this morning.
The stabbing happened after what police described as a dispute between two people who knew each other. A 24-year-old Arlington man was subsequently arrested, charged with Malicious Wounding and held without bond.
Missing Middle Debate at Board Meeting — “More than 150 residents spoke Saturday at an Arlington County Board meeting on the Missing Middle housing zoning proposal… Several hours later, after hearing comments from the long list of speakers, Arlington County Board Chair Christian Dorsey announced that further consideration of the proposal would be held Tuesday night.” [Patch, WJLA]
More on Missing Middle — “Will missing middle housing units be affordable? It depends on what you mean by ‘affordable.’ When housing policy experts refer to ‘affordable housing’ or ‘committed affordable housing,’ they usually mean housing units that have received some kind of government subsidy in the development process to keep prices down… Missing middle units, in contrast, would be market-rate.” [DCist]
Drivers have been blocking a new PBL in search of the perfect PSL.
Last November, as part of a 2022 Complete Streets project, Arlington’s Dept. of Environmental Services replaced two parking spots with a protected bike lane, or “PBL,” on the east side of Clarendon Blvd. It also added new free, 15-minute parking spots at N. Danville Street, to accommodate those who would have used the two former spots when picking up their coffee order from the nearby Starbucks.
