County Board | ARLnow.com

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

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.

News

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]

News

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.

News

Board to Consider Tightening Restrictions on Historic District Requests

By Chris Teale

Published November 20, 2017 at 3:30PM

The Arlington County Board will hold a public hearing next month on a plan to tighten regulations governing the study of whether new historic districts should be created.

Currently, the process to request a study on whether an area should be designated as a historic district is relatively informal. Anyone can file a designation request for any number of properties, without any background materials or forms required.

News

Board Approves Reduced Parking Plan at New Buildings Near Metro Stations

By Chris Teale

Published November 20, 2017 at 9:45AM

The policy would affect new developments near Metro stations (via county presentation)

The Arlington County Board unanimously approved a plan to allow new apartment and condo buildings near Metro stations to potentially provide less off-street parking.

Developers can now substitute car parking spaces at certain new apartment and condo buildings built in the Rosslyn-Ballston and Crystal City-Pentagon City Metro corridors for bike and car-sharing. Any tweaks will still be subject to Board approval on a case-by-case basis, and do not affect parking at existing buildings.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published November 20, 2017 at 8:15AM

County HQ to Be Named After Bozman — “The Arlington County Board today voted unanimously to name the County Office Building at 2100 Clarendon Boulevard for Ellen M. Bozman, the six-time Board Chair who served on the Board through some of Arlington’s most transformative years, and who died in 2009.” [Arlington County]

Blue, Yellow Line Service Disruption — Metrorail service on the Blue and Yellow lines was suspended earlier this morning due to “fire department activity” at the Pentagon station. Arlington County Fire Department units investigated the incident and turned the scene back over to Metro around 6 a.m. Service has since been restored. [Twitter, Twitter, Fox 5]

Around Town

Podcast: Arlington County Board Member John Vihstadt

By ARLnow.com

Published November 17, 2017 at 7:00PM

For the latest 26 Square Miles podcast, we spoke with County Board member John Vihstadt about last week’s elections in Virginia, his reelection bid next year and various issues facing Arlington County, including budget pressures and development.

We also asked Vihstadt about the possibility of Arlington landing Amazon’s second corporate headquarters.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published November 14, 2017 at 8:00AM

Local Entrepreneur Scores on Shark Tank — “Sharmi Albrechtsen, founder and CEO of Arlington-based tech toy company SmartGurlz, landed an investment from FUBU founder Daymond John on Sunday’s “Shark Tank” episode: $200,000 for 25 percent of the business.” [Washington Business Journal]

New Year’s Meeting Nixed Again — For the second year in a row, what was once the traditional New Year’s Day organizational meeting of the Arlington County Board will not be held on Jan. 1. The meeting is instead expected to be held on Jan. 2, according to a draft 2018 County Board calendar. [InsideNova]

News

UPDATED: Democrats Celebrate Clean Sweep of Local, Statewide Elections

By Chris Teale

Published November 7, 2017 at 7:00PM | Updated November 8, 2017 at 4:32PM

Erik Gutshall after being elected in November 2017

(Updated 9:50 p.m.) Arlington Democrats celebrated a triumphant election night for its candidates for Arlington County Board and School Board, as well as all members of the state-level Democratic ticket.

With all precincts reporting, Democratic nominee Erik Gutshall won the race for County Board with 62.82 percent of the vote. Monique O’Grady, the Arlington County Democratic Committee’s endorsee for School Board, took 70.56 percent.

News

As Voting Continues, State Reports False Calls About Polling Place Changes

By Chris Teale

Published November 7, 2017 at 3:50PM

The Virginia Department of Emergency Management is warning that some voters are receiving calls falsely telling them their polling place has changed.

In a tweet this afternoon, VDEM said these calls are false, and that registered voters can confirm their polling place online.

News

Charles McCullough: Why You Should Vote For Me

By ARLnow.com

Published November 6, 2017 at 3:30PM

Last week we asked the three Arlington County Board candidates to write a sub-750 word essay on why our readers should vote for them in Tuesday’s election.

Here is the unedited response from independent candidate Charles McCullough:

News

Erik Gutshall: Why You Should Vote For Me

By ARLnow.com

Published November 6, 2017 at 3:00PM | Updated October 17, 2022 at 11:27AM

Here is the unedited response from Democratic candidate Erik Gutshall:

I’m Erik Gutshall, life-long Democrat, proud father of three wonderful girls, an award-winning small businessman, and the current chair of the Arlington County Planning Commission. I am focused on the future, and I am asking for your support to be the next member of the Arlington County Board.