Plans for a behavioral health facility on S. Carlin Springs Road are raising questions about the future of a nearby county-owned parcel.
Forestry and Natural Resources Commission member Alex Sanders took a moment at a July 23 meeting to ask about the county’s plan for a 4.5-acre site near VHC Health’s proposed behavioral health and rehabilitation center.
After a Pride-themed block party was canceled for logistical reasons, an organizer is asking Arlington’s LGBTQIA+ Advisory Committee for support next year.
At a July 28 committee meeting, Equality Arlington president Kellen MacBeth asked committee members to take the lead in planning a signature event next June as part of Pride Month.
Arlington is a county, not a city — a technicality that surprises plenty of newcomers who assume a place this dense and urban must be one.
Whether it should stay that way is now an open question. As part of a broader review of its form of government, some advocates have floated dropping the county label and becoming Virginia’s newest independent city.
In Virginia, independent cities aren’t part of any county — they run their own courts, schools, roads and tax collection. Arlington already does nearly all of that. It maintains its own streets (one of the few Virginia counties that does), runs its own buses and provides a full slate of urban services, so the practical differences may be smaller than the label suggests.
There are catches. County Attorney Ryan Samuel cautioned the County Board that Arlington’s county manager plan — a form of government unique to Arlington, in place since 1932 — grants it powers other localities don’t have, and that some could be lost in a switch to a city or another structure. His 33-page report flagged both seen and hidden risks in making the leap.
There’s also a timing problem: a longstanding state moratorium on creating new Virginia cities runs through at least 2032, so the switch couldn’t happen before then even if Arlington wanted it.
Cityhood is only one option on the table. The governance review is also weighing changes like expanding the five-member County Board, electing its chair separately, adding district-based seats and ending Arlington’s practice of electing a board member every year. A preliminary report is due by the end of October — and the debate has surfaced before, including a near-overhaul back in 1970.
Despite the moratorium — and with any real change years off regardless — it’s a question that seems to resonate with locals, as one of last week’s most-read stories. So today we’re asking: should Arlington become a city?
Owners of electric vehicles may have to pay more for a charge at Arlington County facilities starting later this year.
The County Board has directed staff to prepare an ordinance to increase charging rates from the current 17.46 cents per kilowatt-hour (kWh) to 30 cents per kWh.
Following resistance in the General Assembly this year, a new working group has been appointed to study possible changes to Arlington’s Affordable Housing Ordinance.
County Board members on Tuesday chartered the eight-member, limited-term working group, which will spend the next four months developing proposed revisions. The current Affordable Housing Ordinance outlines ways for developers to gain additional density for projects by building affordable units or contributing to the Affordable Housing Investment Fund.
Despite economic challenges, Arlington’s new director of economic development believes the county is poised to enter a positive era.
“We are in a transformational moment,” Anna Nissinen said during the July 14 meeting of the Economic Development Commission.
Future neighbors of a planned behavioral-health and rehabilitation compound on S. Carlin Springs Road are pressing for more details about management and oversight.
Representatives of VHC Health and Lifepoint Behavioral Health met with local residents during a July 16 meeting convened by the Glencarlyn Civic Association to discuss the proposed 146-bed facility.
County staff say work is ongoing to make the government’s “report-a-problem” online portal more user-friendly and responsive.
“I hear your frustration,” said Nicole Jackson, a business systems analyst for the county government, during the July 8 joint meeting of the county’s Bicycle Advisory Committee (BAC) and Pedestrian Advisory Committee (PAC).
The Arlington Park and Recreation Commission is seeking more funding to combat invasive species, arguing it will provide long-term cost savings.
“Invasives do not stop growing in lean budget years,” commission chair William Way said at a July 9 County Board work session on the proposed capital improvement plan (CIP).
Despite receiving most of what it wanted, Arlington came up short in winning regional funding for some key transportation projects.
Three of the county’s 13 submissions for the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority’s FY2026-31 Six-Year Program failed to be funded. A final vote was taken at the authority’s July 9 board meeting.
Arlington leaders are laying the groundwork for a 2027 referendum asking voters to increase the local sales tax from 6% to 7%.
“Arlington is very seriously considering it,” County Board member Maureen Coffey said at the July 2 meeting of the Northern Virginia Transportation Commission (NVTC) board of directors.
The Arlington NAACP is being urged to stay engaged as proposals to revamp Arlington’s governance further percolate over the coming year.
“Everyone has ideas,” County Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., said at the civil-rights organization’s Monday (June 29) meeting.
