County Board | ARLnow.com

Major Clarendon Redevelopment Heading to County Board Next Week

Published October 13, 2015 at 5:25PM

A 2015 rendering of the first phase of the Red Top Cab redevelopment (Photo via Arlington County)

The Arlington County Board next Tuesday will consider a major redevelopment of the western end of the Clarendon neighborhood.

Arlington-based developer The Shooshan Company is proposing to build three residential buildings with up to 580 units of housing and 3,477 square feet of retail space. The apartments or condos will be built on what is now mostly parking lots and offices for Red Top Cab, along Washington Blvd and 13th Street N. Two other aging, low-rise commercial buildings are also slated for demolition.

News

Outdoor Berlin Wall Exhibit in Rosslyn to Become Children’s Play Area

By ARLnow.com

Published October 13, 2015 at 11:30AM

What is now a peculiar outdoor tribute to the fall of the Berlin Wall is slated to become a play area for children.

The Arlington County Board on Saturday will consider a site plan amendment that would allow the Rosslyn Children’s Center, a childcare facility at 1401 Wilson Blvd, to move down the street to the office building at 1101 Wilson Blvd. The Board will also consider a lease agreement that would lease a small parcel at the rear of the building, facing N. Kent Street, to the center.

News

County Looking to Replace Lee Highway Streetlights

By Heather Mongilio

Published October 12, 2015 at 5:00PM

County staff is recommending that the County Board approve a contract of over $2 million for replacing the aging lighting along Lee Highway during its meeting this coming Saturday.

“This existing infrastructure is failing and cannot be economically repaired and maintained to provide adequate and reliable lighting for all travelers in this corridor,”county staff wrote in their proposal.

News

County Board to Consider New Glebe Road Development

By Heather Mongilio

Published October 12, 2015 at 4:05PM

Via Arlington County

(Updated at 4:05 p.m.) A new six-story residential building may be coming to Ballston.

The County Board is scheduled to vote Saturday on a proposal by developer Penrose Group to turn a parking lot, used car lot and Exxon gas station into a six-story mixed-use building. County staff is recommending that the Board approve the request.

News

County Board to Vote on Artisphere Lease Termination

By ARLnow.com

Published October 12, 2015 at 10:30AM

Arlington County leased the 62,000 square foot former Newseum space at 1101 Wilson Blvd in November 2008. It opened Artisphere on Oct. 10, 2010.

Intractable financial losses at Artisphere — contrary to rosy projections made prior to the center’s opening — combined with a lack of local community participation to doom it. An effort to have the Artisphere space used for a tech incubator and conference center apparently fell through, leading to the lease termination recommendation from county staff.

News

County Board Candidates Split Over Affordable Housing, Vow to Fix ‘Arlington Way’

By Heather Mongilio

Published October 5, 2015 at 12:40PM

The County Board candidates all announced varying degrees of support for increasing affordable housing in Arlington, but disagreed on the best way to implement it during a candidate forum held by Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement Sunday evening.

“Everyone’s in favor of everything, and that’s the balancing act in this community,” said independent candidate Mike McMenamin.

News

County Board Narrowly Votes Against Kicking Out Courthouse Dentist Office

By ARLnow.com

Published October 5, 2015 at 10:20AM | Updated October 5, 2015 at 11:01AM

The little-noticed item came at the end of a long County Board meeting on Monday, Sept. 21.

At issue during the 40 minute discussion of the item: whether the dentist’s office — Courthouse Art of Dentistry — should be allowed to stay in the Courthouse Plaza shopping center at 2250 Clarendon Blvd as part of a regularly-scheduled Site Plan Amendment review.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published September 29, 2015 at 10:45AM | Updated September 29, 2015 at 12:32PM

Board Candidates Debate, Find Agreement — Updated at 12:30 p.m. — The four candidates for Arlington County Board participated in a candidates forum organized by the Arlington Forest Civic Association last night. The candidates found agreement on two notable issue: affordable housing shouldn’t be built on parkland — or, at least, certain parkland — and county property taxes shouldn’t be raised at this time. [Washington Post]

JPod Meeting on the Pike — The man behind a proposal to bring a monorail-like pod transportation system to Columbia Pike made his case to residents and to County Board Vice Chairman Walter Tejada at the Walter Reed Community Center last night. There are still several potential deal-breaking questions about the feasibility of the proposal. [InsideNova]

News

County Board to Create Task Force For Fire Station 8 Location

By Heather Mongilio

Published September 25, 2015 at 10:30AM

Residents against the relocation of Fire Station 8 have won a small victory.

The County Board on Thursday accepted the county manager’s recommendation to create a community task force to examine possible locations for the new Fire Station 8, which includes the site it currently sits on.

News

Morning Notes

By ARLnow.com

Published September 25, 2015 at 9:15AM

Board Approves Hospital Land Swap Option — The Arlington County Board has taken a first step to completing a deal to swap land with Virginia Hospital Center. The Board unanimously approved a non-binding Letter of Intent giving the hospital an option to purchase five acres of county-owned property adjacent to it. [Arlington County]

Apple iPhone Launch Day — A man has been camped out in front of the Clarendon Apple Store since Wednesday, in anticipation of today’s launch of the iPhone 6S and 6S Plus. The man, whose name is Joe, said it was his fourth year camping out for a new iPhone. [WJLA]

News

County Board Approves Pentagon Centre Redevelopment Plan

By ARLnow.com

Published September 22, 2015 at 10:10PM | Updated September 22, 2015 at 11:46PM

The Arlington County Board on Monday unanimously approved a redevelopment plan for the Pentagon Centre shopping center in Pentagon City.

Developer Kimco’s initial plans for the 17-acre site that includes the Costco, Best Buy and Nordstrom Rack in Pentagon City were approved in 2008, but those called for constructing the six-structure complex’s office buildings first. As approved, the amended plan will result in the construction of 693 residential units in two buildings during the project’s first phase.

Schools

Abingdon Elementary to Be Expanded, Renovated

By Eleanor Greene

Published September 22, 2015 at 3:45PM

The addition includes 12 classrooms, as well as a new gymnasium, entrance plaza and outdoor instructional area. With this, the total building capacity will be brought from 589 to 725 students. The school’s enrollment is currently 630 students, with some of the excess student population served by four classroom trailers, according to a press release.

There will be a new bus loop and changes to the site’s existing parking configuration. The Board approved also approved a use permit that will allow school staff to park at the nearby Farlington Villages Community Center.