Three options have emerged as county leaders attempt to determine the future of the newly unoccupied Lee Community Center.
The county could upgrade the building, expand the facility or demolish it and construct something entirely new.
A proposal to designate an Arlington Mill garden-apartment complex as a local historic district will not move forward following opposition from the property owner and neighborhood civic association.
Members of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) voted Oct. 15 not to embark on a staff study of the historical significance of the 1940s-era Haven Columbia Pike apartments. The vote concluded a three-year gestation period after the proposal was submitted by local activist Bernie Berne.
A home that could be Arlington’s next local historic district comes with ghost stories attached.
“It has had, over the years, a reputation of having paranormal activity,” said Pierre Yves Cossard, who has owned “Happinest” since 1980.
A County Board member has pledged that neither elected officials nor staff will try an end-around to raze the existing Melwood site for redevelopment until the historic-preservation process plays itself out.
“We have already implemented measures to ensure that no [demolition or use] permits are issued” before any decision by the County Board takes place, County Board member Julius “JD” Spain, Sr., said at the July 16 meeting of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
A decision on whether there’s any historic value in a former schoolhouse bound for redevelopment in Aurora Highlands is unlikely until next year.
Historic-preservation staff will begin a study of the Melwood property “by the end of the year at the latest — like the December time frame,” said Mical Tawney, a historic-preservation specialist, in response to a question at the June 18 meeting of the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB).
Street upgrades in Bluemont, Claremont and Shirlington, plus a loan for renovating 73 affordable housing units, are scheduled for County Board consideration this weekend.
Board members have a total 52 items on their consent agenda this month, but no regular hearing items. All items pulled for further consideration will be heard at the Board’s recessed meeting, set for Wednesday, June 18.
Arlington’s Democratic candidates for County Board are critical of the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown but acknowledge limits to how local governments can take him on.
Both incumbent County Board Chair Takis Karantonis, who immigrated to the United States from Greece, and challenger James DeVita, an attorney whose practice includes immigration law, offered similar thoughts at a recent Arlington NAACP forum.
The exterior of a chapel in a North Arlington local historic district will receive a deep cleaning and restoration work over the summer.
The county’s Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) voted 13-0 last week to allow Walker Chapel United Methodist Church to use PVC materials to replace rotted wood in some areas. In other places, wood will still be required.
Del. Patrick Hope and one of his challengers in the Democratic primary are at odds over how new legislation on historic preservation will impact housing.
Arjoon Srikanth, who is facing Hope (D-1) in the June 17 primary, argued that legislation enacted last year will hold up development plans designed to meet housing goals.
An Arlington review board focused on historic significance has unanimously voted against supporting a redevelopment proposal at the Inn of Rosslyn site.
Noting a lack of architectural resemblance to what currently stands there, the Historical Affairs and Landmark Review Board (HALRB) voted 13-0 last week against a planned project at 1601 Fairfax Drive.
A possible beer garden at the Arlington County Fair and a proposed protected bike lane on Army Navy Drive are up for County Board consideration this weekend.
Other topics scheduled for consideration this Saturday include traffic signal upgrades on S. Carlin Springs Road and Richmond Highway, a pair of sports courts in Crystal City and $100,000 in arts grants.
New interpretive panels have been installed honoring the Rouse estate, a historic home torn down in 2021 to the dismay of many preservationists.
The new signs, a collaborative effort between the Dominion Hills Civic Association, Toll Brothers and county government, highlight the Dominion Hills community and the building also known as the Febrey-Lothrop House. Funding came through the county’s Historic Preservation Fund.
