Efforts to create deeply affordable housing to meet the needs of Arlington’s lowest-earning residents face significant headwinds, according to a recent presentation to the Arlington Planning Commission.
Most current efforts around affordable housing focus on households with incomes of at least 60% of the area median income (AMI) — leaving out a large swath of people earning less.
The Goodwill on S. Glebe Road is closing this month to redevelop as a mixed-use affordable housing project.
The donation center, retail store and career center at 10 S. Glebe Road is set to close for about two years beginning on Monday, Oct. 27. Goodwill expects to begin demolition this winter, making way for a six-story building with 128 units of affordable housing, a 3,000-square-foot child care, and a modernized retail and donation center.
County Board candidates are split in their thoughts about a planned update to Arlington’s Comprehensive Plan.
While some fear it could be used as a back-door effort to build denser housing, incumbent Democrat Takis Karantonis argues that concerns are overblown, or at least premature.
County Board candidates largely expressed interest in efforts to convert aging office buildings to residential and hotel uses at a recent candidate forum.
“There are huge opportunities,” Board Chair Takis Karantonis said during the Sept. 30 event sponsored by Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future.
Candidates for Falls Church City Council seem to agree it’s time to pause and take stock of a recent spurt of new construction before moving forward on bigger projects.
The city’s skyline has changed dramatically over the past decade with the arrival of several new mixed-use projects. Contenders participating in a Sept. 25 forum said growth has brought both positives and negatives.
A longtime family-owned auto shop in Clarendon will close next month to make way for a redevelopment project.
After 85 years at 3211 10th Street N., Joyce Motors is closing for good on Friday, Oct. 10. The historic auto shop will host a farewell gathering at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Oct. 11, before shutting down to allow for a new mixed-use apartment building.
County Board members are paying tribute to Daniel Weir, who recently rotated off the Planning Commission after eight years of service.
“Being on the Planning Commission is not for the faint of heart,” Board member Maureen Coffey said at Tuesday’s meeting. “And over the past few years, it has ramped up in terms of a time commitment and a mental-space commitment.”
The Falls Church Planning Commission will soon change from being a final decision-maker to an advisor for some new development projects in the city.
The shift in responsibility comes in response to new state laws, which took effect July 1 and aim to speed up the creation of new housing across the commonwealth. Under the new rules, many localities must move from planning commission approval of projects to staff approval of development plans.
The Rosslyn Business Improvement District is seeking to bolster its neighborhood’s public amenities with a new pop-up park that opened yesterday (Wednesday).
NOW, which the Rosslyn BID installed, is a new half-acre public park located around a pair of offices at 1401 Wilson Blvd and 1400 Key Blvd. Slated for eventual redevelopment, the revamped site includes urban gardens, a terraced event space and “pet relief area.”
Falls Church officials hope that 2026 will be the year they start making decisions about the city’s portion of the 20-acre Gordon Road Triangle.
Much of the city’s portion of the industrial area is occupied by the Robert L. Goff Operations Yard on Gordon Road. It is likely the city would work to find private partners to fund on-site renovations to — and new facilities on — the well-worn facility, rather than try to cover all those costs itself.
A rewrite of the county’s current tenant-relocation guidelines aims to provide more privacy protections to impacted renters.
County staff have tweaked some proposed changes recommended by the Tenant-Landlord Commission, which had sought more specific information about people required to move out of apartments because of redevelopment.
Developers went 1-for-2 with County Board members on Saturday as one major redevelopment plan won approval and another went back to the drawing board.
It wasn’t everything they wanted, but County Board members got enough to unanimously approve the redevelopment of a key parcel in Clarendon.
