The Arlington County Board is scheduled to take up numerous items this month, including the financial impact of new public safety contracts, a proposed office-to-residential conversion project and closing out the fiscal year 2025 budget.
Potentially the most controversial item on the agenda could come during the Tuesday, Nov. 18 recess meeting, when Board members decide whether to move forward with a working group to consider changes to Arlington’s 93-year-old governance structure.
With election season in the rear-view mirror, Arlington’s civic and political leaders are again turning to potential changes in the county’s form of governance.
But while several local organizations have given the concept their blessing, a key state legislator who supported efforts in the 2025 legislative session has said she wants to hold off in 2026.
Nonprofits had many questions at a recent forum on new county funding to support placemaking initiatives in Green Valley.
The County Board set aside $80,000 in the fiscal year 2026 budget for the Green Valley Neighborhood Partnership Initiative. The deadline for applications from nonprofits seeking all or part of the funding is Nov. 14, with a final decision expected in January.
As Election Day approaches tomorrow (Tuesday), Arlington County Board candidates have been shoring up plans to meet voters at the polls before watching the results come in.
While the Arlington County Democratic Committee has been tying up a few loose ends over the past week, it expects to have all 54 precincts covered throughout the day on Tuesday.
A nine-story building in Courthouse could become the latest to convert from office to residential use.
A proposal by Quadrangle Development seeks to turn 365,000 square feet of commercial space at 1320 N. Courthouse Road into approximately 295 dwelling units, plus small amounts of office and retail space.
The 2026 General Assembly session could bring another political tug-of-war between some County Board members and a state legislator representing the local community.
The past two years saw debate over the appropriate sequence of events in tackling any major change to Arlington’s governance structure.
Organizers are considering future changes to the Green Valley farmers market after safety concerns brought an early end to the market’s first season.
Portia Clark, founder of the Community Association of Resources, Education, Enrichment & Economics (CARE), said that her nonprofit is considering alterations to the location, day of the week and time of the farmers market, which operated on Friday afternoons this year at John M. Robinson Jr. Town Square.
The tennis courts at Bluemont Park are getting a multimillion-dollar overhaul aimed at creating a regional showplace for the sport.
County Board members unanimously approved a $6.5 million construction contract on Tuesday for a project that began the planning phase in 2018 but was halted during the pandemic era before being restarted. While advocates spoke to the need for improvements to the crumbling facilities, the vote also earned flak from a local pickleball enthusiast.
County Board members have taken the first steps in considering changes to the community’s 93-year-old governance structure.
The action marks “the beginning of a long discussion, a very long path,” Board Chair Takis Karantonis said at a meeting yesterday (Tuesday).
The Arlington County Board has requested more study on possible increases to towing rates before making a decision.
Board members unanimously rejected a staff and advisory-panel recommendation to hold a November public hearing and potentially increase maximum towing rates from the current $155 ($135 plus $20 surcharge) to as much as $210.
Arlington officials have added online resources in support of county residents impacted by the ongoing federal shutdown.
The updates include links to local, state and federal supports for those impacted since Oct. 1 as either federal workers of contractors. Tens of thousands of federal workers live or work in Arlington, one of the highest concentrations in the D.C. area.
Getting towed in Arlington could soon get more expensive.
County Board members on Saturday (Oct. 18) are slated to consider advertising a November hearing on a proposal to amend trespass-tow rates across the county.
