The proposed changes would increase the amount towing companies can charge and would require more detailed signs at businesses where towing is enforced.
County staffers are recommending the board increase the base towing fee from $115 to $125, the maximum rate allowed by Virginia law. The rate would apply to vehicles under 7,500 lbs., according to Brian Stout, who handles towing issues for the county. Stout says the increase is consistent with the rates charged by neighboring communities.
Fitness First, which operates a club in the Verizon building in Courthouse, is asking the county board to approve the conversion of unoccupied office and retail space for health club use at 2450 Crystal Drive.
The building, which houses DeVry University and recently became the home of a new Pizza Autentica restaurant, sits between 23rd Street and the ramp from Reagan National Airport. If its site plan amendment is approved, Fitness First would occupy the last available ground floor retail space in the building.
“I think we have a great program,” Arlington Economic Development Director Terry Holzheimer said at a board work session this afternoon. “The program has value.”
“This board has been put in a very difficult position,” said board member Jay Fisette, adding that he hope to “come up with some way to share” the cost of tourism promotion with local hotels to save money from the already-stretched county budget.
Last week a bill that would have renewed the county’s 0.25 percent tax surcharge on hotel rooms — a tax that had the support of the local hotel industry — failed in the House of Delegates. The defeat was attributed to Republicans retaliating against Arlington’s HOT lanes lawsuit.
The tax surcharge brings in nearly $1 million each year, which is used to promote Arlington’s $1 billion tourism industry. The surcharge will expire at the end of the year.
County staff notified residents that they intended to restrict parking to one side Edgewood Street between 1st Road and 2nd Road after finding that some fire trucks are too wide to fit down the narrow street with cars parked on both sides. As we reported after the Feb. 12 board meeting, members of the board seemed sympathetic to the association’s request that the restrictions to be put on hold until the county and neighbors could come to a mutually agreeable solution.
In a letter to County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman, LPCA President Natalie Roy makes it clear that the association views the parking question as an issue of county-wide importance. Roy says the group is worried about how the county plans to implement restrictions on other narrow streets.
A bill that would have renewed Arlington’s 0.25 percent hotel tax surcharge failed in the Virginia House of Delegates yesterday. The bill, which was approved by the state Senate, did not get the necessary two-thirds vote to pass.
An earlier House version of the bill failed to get out of committee after it was blocked by Del. Tim Hugo. The Fairfax County Republican cited Arlington’s lawsuit against high occupancy toll lanes on I-395 as his reason for blocking the bill.
Residents and businesses will not be “required” by the county to do much of anything under the plan, which is now being finalized by the county’s Community Energy and Sustainability Task Force. Most of the savings are expected to come in the form of voluntary gains in building efficiency and from new federal and state mandates.
The plan calls for homes and commercial buildings undergoing “major renovation” past 2015 to be 30 and 50 percent more efficient, respectively, than current structures. By 2050, the efficiency standards will increase to 50 percent for homes and 70 percent for commercial buildings, compared to current averages.
The county’s streets bureau, responding to a complaint from a trash collector, determined that a curvy, two-block stretch of North Edgewood Street is too narrow. With cars parked on either side, firefighters brought in to test the width did not have enough room to open the bins on either side of their fire engine.
Acting upon the results of the test, the streets bureau sent notice to residents that they were planning on restricting parking to one side of the street. But residents fought back and, this weekend, seemed to get some cover from the county board.
Why, then, did three self-identified teachers have to stand up before the county board last night to say that the affordable housing project the board was considering would result in them being forced from their already-affordable apartments? And why did the board unanimously approve a $6.38 million loan for the project anyway?
The answer is complex, but the practical implication is that because as single teachers they make just above the income limit for affordable housing, the board’s vote last night will most likely result in them being forced to move — perhaps even out of the county.
The board will now be able to set the FY 2012 property tax rate at or below 96.8 cents per $100 in assessed value. The current rate — the rate that Donnellan recommended in her proposed budget — is 95.8 cents per $100.
Last year, when the board set the property tax rate at 1.6 cents above Donnellan’s recommended figure, the advertised rate was 96.5 cents.
This time, Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli is taking a few pointed shots at the county for its lawsuit against High Occupancy Toll lanes on I-395.
Forget the fact that the county has agreed to withdraw the lawsuit and the state has, for now, decided not to move forward with the I-395 portion of the HOT lanes project. In a statement, Cuccinelli piled on and called the lawsuit “dirty,” “legal thuggery” and “wildly unfounded.”
The plan focuses on making sure that Arlington’s streets are safe and accommodating to a number of modes of transportation, including walking, biking, transit and driving.
“Arlington’s goal is to create ‘streets for people,'” County Board Chairman Chris Zimmerman said in a statement. “Today’s action is the culmination of years of work by citizens and staff to craft County policies that will achieve our vision for ‘complete streets,’ streets that will support sustainable development and encourage healthier lifestyles.”
