Neighborhood leaders have mixed reviews of the county’s stepped-up code-enforcement efforts in the Clarendon area.
On the positive side, the effort “has really made things a whole lot better for the neighborhood,” said Andy Rude, president of the Lyon Village Citizens Association.
Several Arlington County programs may be canceled or significantly reduced as officials face a restricted budget this year.
The budget calls for rolling back an eviction prevention program, cutting positions in the county’s planning department and canceling a preschool program and a traveling art truck.
Arlington officials are moving forward on promised efforts to address Clarendon’s nightlife issues on a real-time basis.
The county government has authorized overtime so members of the code-enforcement staff and fire marshal’s office can join police in nighttime and weekend coverage addressing issues related to bars and restaurants in the corridor.
A Clarendon nightlife spot has been declared unfit for occupancy over safety issues.
Notices prohibiting activity at Coco B’s and the B Live site — formerly home to the longtime local bar Whitlow’s — were posted last week at 2854 Wilson Blvd.
Arlington County staff say they have removed hundreds of improperly placed signs so far this general election cycle.
Between Oct. 1 and Oct. 24, staff members uprooted 298 unlawful signs, county spokesperson Elise Cleva told ARLnow.
Live entertainment is coming to two new additions to Clarendon’s bar and restaurant scene, despite some resident concerns about code enforcement in the neighborhood.
The Arlington County Board voted 4-0 on Tuesday to accept use permit applications at Láylí Mediterranean and Mister Days, with several Board members expressing enthusiasm about Láylí’s arrival and Mister Days’ return.
Plans to redevelop a Columbia Pike retail strip as a 247-unit apartment building have fallen through.
Following a year and a half of delays and recent issues with vermin and vandalism, the would-be developer has filed to abandon former ambitions and return the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center to its former status as a strip mall.
Gardens with abundant native species could soon have an official definition in county code: “managed natural landscape.”
This definition would protect Arlingtonians who grow the kinds of native grasses, wildflowers and shrubs that make them prone to complaints from neighbors and visits from code enforcement.
(Updated at 8:45 a.m. on 7/4/23) Arlington County says it is enforcing some wayward fencing and gates in a public alley abutting Advanced Towing and American Service Center.
It all started because of complaints about tow trucks for the Ballston company parking in front of “the most famous fire hydrant in Arlington County,” so named by public safety watchdog Dave Statter.
Growing community concerns and a visit from county code enforcement have prompted a local property manager to clean and secure its vacant storefronts on Columbia Pike.
Some retail bays at the Fillmore Gardens Shopping Center, on the 2600 block of the Pike, have stood empty for a year as the strip mall awaited redevelopment. That includes the former spaces of Atilla’s restaurant, apparel store Legends Kicks and the Black Heritage Museum of Arlington.
One person’s weed is another’s protected native species.
Arlington naturalists argue that local ordinances do not distinguish the two, leaving neighbors who have certain native species that can be mistaken for weeds in their gardens prone to visits from the county’s code enforcement division.
Arlington is poised to take a proverbial weed whacker to commercial properties with overgrown lawns and all properties with obstructive vegetation.
Last month, a proposal to change the ordinance pertaining to the condition of private properties was added to the Arlington County Board’s agenda but was subsequently removed because the proposal needed additional technical work, says Dept. of Community Planning, Housing and Development spokeswoman Erika Moore.
