Just a few months into the county’s “Housing Arlington” initiative, Arlington’s Housing Director is retiring.
David Cristeal is stepping down after 15 years with the county, including six as Housing Director. Cristeal was elevated to the position in 2013 after a nationwide search.
Williamson, who served as interim director since March following the departure of Steven Cover, has been with the department for 20 years. He served as Comprehensive Planning Supervisor for more than 11 years, and has experience in planning, management and civic engagement.
Becoming CPHD director is “a unique opportunity to lead a very talented and creative group of professionals to deliver the highest quality products and services,” Williamson said in a statement. “These efforts are necessary to achieve our community-based vision for an Arlington that is inclusive, diverse, safe, and urban, with economically strong commercial centers and stable residential neighborhoods.”
Claude Williamson, who has been with the department for 20 years, will lead it on an interim basis as the acting planning director. Last week County Manager Mark Schwartz said that a search would be starting soon for a permanent replacement for Cover.
Williamson’s long tenure at CPHD contrasts with Cover’s attempts to shake up the department and streamline its processes, which have been the subject of grumbles from the business community. Cover was named CPHD director in 2015.
Steven Cover joined Arlington County as director of Community Planning, Housing and Development in March 2015. He won the respect of many in Arlington’s business community by trying to streamline processes in CPHD, which has gained a reputation for a heavy-handed, intransigent approach to enforcing county regulations, sources tell ARLnow.com.
The City of Sarasota announced Cover’s hiring yesterday.
“Bob Duffy has a long and varied career in local government planning and leadership positions,” said Robert E. Brosnan, director of Arlington’s Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development. “He is exactly what the Planning Department needs right now as we move into implementation for some of our major planning projects to create more affordable housing and continue our smart growth, transit-oriented development.”
Duffy was most recently a planning supervisor with the Prince George’s County Planning Department. Previously, he was Director of Planning and Community Development for the Town of Brookline, Massachusetts; Assistant Director of the Louisville Development Authority and Downtown Development Corporation; Town Planning and Development Administrator for the Town of Southampton, New York; and the Director of Planning for the City of Sanibel, Florida.
In terms of population, Arlington’s Community Planning, Housing and Development (CPHD) department estimates that there are 99,900 total household in the county. Arlington’s population, meanwhile, will exceed a quarter of a million by 2040, according to CPHD forecasts.
Government was the top job sector in Arlington, based on 2012 estimates.
Katz resigned yesterday, effective immediately, according to Arlington County Director of Communications Diana Sun. The resignation was first reported by the Arlington Mercury.
In a prepared written statement, Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development Director Robert Brosnan suggested the resignation followed a realization that Katz was not the right person for the job.
Katz hails from southwest Florida, where he served as director of Smart Growth/Urban Planning for Sarasota County. He’s taking over the position after former planning director Bob Brosnan succeeded the retiring Susan Bell as director of the county’s Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development.
“Peter brings to this critical position a deep knowledge of the planning principles that Arlington is all about,” Brosnan said in a press release. “He understands and appreciates the robust community engagement that is a hallmark of planning in Arlington. We expect Peter to provide strong leadership and vision as we continue the work of building a sustainable community.”
The “PenPlace” site, as it’s called, is a 12-acre parcel owned by Vornado/Charles E. Smith. Its only inhabitants over the past decade have been a Marriott Residence Inn, Nell’s Carryout and the occasional traveling circus. Once considered as a possible location for the new Nationals stadium or an “Arlington County Conference Center,” the site has laid fallow for years.
Last month the LRPC considered a number of possible uses for the site (all of which preserve the existing Marriott hotel and add new streets to break up the large “superblock”):
Just before adjourning for the summer, the County Board quickly and unanimously passed an item that did not appear on the board agenda. The item, a request to advertise public hearings, is the first step to passing a zoning amendment that would effectively prevent Walmart, Target and other large-format retailers (including certain supermarkets) from building stores without the Board’s prior approval.
The proposed zoning amendment advertised Tuesday night specifies that any building in a “C-1” or “C-2” commercial zone, with a “gross floor area of 50,000 square feet or more on any level” would be subject to prior approval by the County Board under a Special Exception Use Permit. The exception would also apply to buildings with 200 or more parking spaces. Under the current zoning ordinance, Walmart would be able to build a store on the Shirlington site “by right” — without Board approval — a source with knowledge of zoning issues tells us.
In 2010, developers began construction on more than 600,000 square feet of retail and office space, while construction wrapped up construction on another 600,000 square feet of space. Construction started on 477 multifamily (apartment and condo) units, while 1,438 units were completed.
A majority – 68 percent – of on-going commercial construction last year took place in Ballston. A similar majority of the multifamily construction – 67 percent – took place on Columbia Pike.
Susan Bell, director of the county’s Community Planning, Housing and Development department, will be leaving her post in June, county spokeswoman Mary Curtius said. Her departure comes as the county is in the midst of revamping its zoning ordinance.
Bell has worked for Arlington since 1983.
