Dear Friends,
Thank you again to all who sent me such kind notes after my announcement that I would not run again for re-election. It truly is an honor and privilege to serve our community. I appreciate all the support that has allowed me to do that. This work is not always easy, but no work is. And, it has felt like a calling to me. I am very lucky to have been able to follow my calling for 28 years.
Red Lion Site
Our January agenda was light. We approved a number of changes so a residential project at 1501 Arlington Blvd, the Red Lion Inn site, could move forward. This project had unanimous approval from our Planning, Housing, and Transportation commissions. The developer worked closely with our commissions and everyone agreed the project was much better because of it. It will add 446 units and 22 committed affordable units including 16 two-bedroom units and 2 larger three-bedroom units for families. Wires will be underground, including under Arlington Blvd. There is landscaping with native plants and a planted canopy over the front entrance. It will be a big improvement to the site and we lose no market-rate affordable units from the current number.
ART Buses
We also reviewed the use permit that allows Arlington to park ART buses at 1425 North Quincy St. A number of neighbors came to express opposition to the parking and our use of the land there, including sections not part of the use permit review. I believe our staff have done a lot to mitigate any problems caused by the bus parking and our use of the property, which was explained at the meeting. The buses will be there for about another year while the bus facility is completed in Shirlington (see rendering below). We have very limited space in our little County to accommodate needs like bus parking. It is good that site abuts I-66, so we try to put the buses nearest to that thoroughfare and away from homes.
Ballston Quarter & National Landing
At our Tuesday meeting, we became the Ballston Quarter Community Development Authority in order to approve some CDA bonds for Ballston Quarter. We also approved a small pilot grant program to provide technical assistance to support small legacy businesses in National Landing.
Ranked Choice Voting
Probably the two most noteworthy items were my announcement and our discussion of Ranked Choice Voting (RCV), which will come to us at our February meeting for a vote. We decided in December to approve RCV for Arlington in primary elections for County Board. In February we will be deciding whether to approve RCV for general elections. There are various ways we might do this: (1) approve for this year’s general election only, (2) and/or approve RCV only for single-seat elections, or (3) for both single-seat and multiple-seat elections. I am leaning towards approving RCV for either this year only or for all years, but only if it is when there is a single seat up.
Arlington 2050
Finally, I am excited about our kick-off to Arlington 2050 on Monday, February 5 at 5:00 pm. Arlington 2050 is a visioning process we’ve started so Arlington can decide more intentionally where we want to be in 2050 … and then take steps to get there. I will be moderating a great panel. You can watch it live-streamed or online later. Or … if you’d like to attend, it would be great to have you there in the room.
Link to RSVP: https://www.arlingtonva.us/Government/Departments/County-Board/Arlington-2050
As always I hope this has been helpful. Thank you again for the kind comments regarding my announcement.
Best,
Libby
