News | ARLnow.com

Morning Notes

Published November 29, 2017 at 8:15AM

Career Center Site May Expand — The Arlington County Board and School Board have created a joint working group to explore options for adding more high school seats at the Arlington Career Center Site near Columbia Pike. The working group will consider how the site “may be developed in phases to accommodate more high school capacity and new community amenities.” It will also “identify opportunities to expand the Career Center site by leasing space in adjacent buildings and/or through land acquisition.” [Arlington County]

ACPD Warns of Holiday Phone Scams — Arlington County Police are cautioning residents against automatically trusting phone calls claiming to be on behalf of charitable organizations around the holidays. Scammers falsely identifying themselves as charitable solicitors are trying to steal money and personal information. In particular, the police department says, calls claiming to be collecting money on behalf of ACPD are bogus. [Arlington County]

Survey: Residents Want to Bike More, Have More Protected Bike Lanes

By Chris Teale

Published November 28, 2017 at 4:45PM

A survey has found that Arlington County residents favor bicycling and support more separate bike lanes.

The survey, conducted by the county’s local transportation research group Mobility Lab and county bicycle education program BikeArlington, found that 89 percent of respondents said they would like to bike more often, and 62 percent said that more separated bikes lanes would help them do that.

County Board Votes to Encourage More Accessory Dwellings

By Chris Teale

Published November 28, 2017 at 3:45PM

"Backyard cottage" accessory dwelling

The Arlington County Board voted 4-1 at its Tuesday meeting to loosen the rules around homeowners adding “accessory dwelling units” to their properties.

The revisions adopted by the Board would, among other things:

Electric Car Charger Removed from Clarendon

By Chris Teale

Published November 28, 2017 at 2:45PM | Updated December 9, 2017 at 12:02AM

Drivers of electric cars now have one less place to charge their vehicles in Arlington County.

A tipster reported the car charging station in the parking lot of the former Walgreens Pharmacy at 2825 Wilson Blvd in Clarendon was removed last week.

Arlington’s Envirocab Service Now Closed

By Chris Teale

Published November 28, 2017 at 1:45PM | Updated November 28, 2017 at 2:34PM

A tipster reported calling the Columbia Pike-based company last week, but getting a message on the phone saying they were no longer in service.

Calls to the company this week yielded the same result, while its website is “Temporarily out of service.”

Board to Vote Next Month on Creating ‘Housing Conservation Districts’

By Chris Teale

Published November 28, 2017 at 11:00AM

Housing Conservation District proposals via county presentation

The Arlington County Board will vote in December on allowing the creation of “Housing Conservation Districts” to protect affordable housing and make it harder to demolish and build townhomes in some areas.

A proposal by staff would help create the districts within the county’s General Land Use Plan, the primary policy guide for new development that also establishes the character and extent of land uses. It would also add the districts to the county’s Affordable Housing Master Plan and the Zoning Ordinance.

Meanwhile in D.C.

By Rachel Sadon

Published November 28, 2017 at 9:00AM | Updated November 28, 2017 at 10:08AM

Photo by Jim Havard

Post reporters prove their mettle, Sixth and I gets profiled in the New York Times, another local Massage Envy victim speaks out, and other news of the day over in the District.

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published November 28, 2017 at 8:00AM

County Board Approves Affordable Housing Loan — At its meeting last night, the Arlington County Board approved a loan that will help preserve the 294-unit Park Shirlington Apartments as affordable housing. The $6 million loan from the county’s Affordable Housing Investment Fund will allow a pair of developers to buy the complex, rehabilitate it and preserve as much affordable housing as possible. [Arlington County]

Ten Die in Va. Thanksgiving Weekend Crashes — “With overall traffic fatalities already on the increase, the 2017 Thanksgiving holiday weekend proved to be a deadly one… on Virginia’s highways. During the holiday… traffic crashes claimed the lives of eight drivers, one passenger and a pedestrian.” [Virginia State Police]

Police Investigating Death in Pentagon City

By ARLnow.com

Published November 27, 2017 at 4:35PM

Arlington County Police are continuing to investigate a death in Pentagon City last night.

A person’s body was found in the street on the 700 block of 12th Street S., near the Metro station entrance and the Pentagon Centre shopping center and construction site, around 9 p.m. Sunday night, according to ACPD spokeswoman Ashley Savage.

Fake Kidnapping Claim Prompts Police Response

By ARLnow.com

Published November 27, 2017 at 2:30PM

File photo

According to police, an unknown man called the woman, saying he had kidnapped her daughter and would harm her unless he received a payment. The woman called police, but not before withdrawing money for a potential ransom payment. Officers located the woman’s daughter and confirmed that the kidnapping claim was a scam, stopping any potential payments to the scammer.

More from an Arlington County Police Department crime report:

Voting Underway in Fairlington on New I-395 Sound Walls

By Chris Teale

Published November 27, 2017 at 1:45PM

Voting is underway among some Fairlington residents on whether new sound walls should be added as part of the I-395 Express Lanes project.

Ballots have been mailed out to some neighborhood residents on whether sound barriers should be installed to mitigate the noise from the extended High Occupancy Toll lanes. The toll lanes will be extended for eight miles north from Turkeycock Run near Edsall Road to the vicinity of Eads Street in Arlington, near the Pentagon.

Manager Recommends Design for Long Bridge Park Aquatics Center

By Chris Teale

Published November 27, 2017 at 9:45AM

Image via Coakley Williams/Page

Arlington County Manager Mark Schwartz is recommending a “simple and efficient” design for the Long Bridge Park Aquatics Center.

Schwartz recommended late last week that the county hire Coakley & Williams Construction, Inc. for the project, one of four contenders for the design and construction of the revamped center at 475 Long Bridge Drive.