Dear Friends,
I hope this finds everyone enjoying the summer, despite the heat. This month’s County Board meetings were packed causing this rather longer than usual newsletter. For more on meeting topics, see: https://www.arlingtonva.us/About-Arlington/Newsroom/Articles/2024/Arlington-County-Board-Wrap-Up-for-July-2024-Meeting
FY’25-34 Capital Improvement Program (CIP)
The major item for July was adoption of our $5.2 billion FY’25-34 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) which is adopted every 2 years and sets out our plans for community facilities, environmental resiliency, parks, transportation, stormwater management, utilities, school projects, and more. In short, it entails pretty much everything other than people that keeps our county functioning. We also adopted the bond request we will take to our voters this November to fund the next two years of planned projects. I think the CIP is a good balance of maintaining what we have and planning for new needs, including climate resiliency.
Virginia Hospital Center
We approved a site plan amendment for Virginia Hospital Center to allow them a small expansion on top of part of their building. This became an opportunity for neighbors to express frustration with VHC as a neighbor because of a number of issues including parking, loud HVAC units on the roof, unnecessarily bright nighttime lighting, and a feeling of not being considered or respected by VHC. The issues are long-standing, but VHC committed to a number of mitigation strategies that I hope will make the situation and relations with neighbors better.
Barcroft Apartments
We approved a number of items that will support the redevelopment, renovation and preservation of Barcroft Apartments. The Jair Lynch development company continues to be an excellent partner as they update the Barcroft complex and build a community for the people who live there. I think this project will be recognized as a national model. No affordable units were lost. All are being upgraded over time. Jair Lynch is committed to no displacement of original residents. Rent increases are limited. Design work is being done to enhance the natural landscaping. New units will be built over time.
CoStar Group We also took the actions necessary to turn over exclusive use of Central Place Tower’s public observation deck to CoStar Group, which has moved their headquarters to Rosslyn. The decision to do this was not easy, but it became clear to me that Arlington would benefit much more from CoStar’s presence with 650 new full-time, high-paying jobs in Rosslyn and the almost $14M they are paying for control of the observation deck. That money will expedite the much-needed full reconstruction of Gateway Park. Many more people use Gateway Park than were visiting the observation deck. I am pleased that CoStar has already made arrangements with the civic association for occasional use of the observation deck area and expressed willingness to do much more to provide access at times to others. I am hopeful that CoStar will prove an excellent corporate citizen. Finally, there are a number of future projects that could provide excellent observation spaces in Rosslyn which could be better in the future than the former observation deck.
Reeves Farmhouse
One of the more satisfying items we approved was conveying the historic Reeves Farmhouse to Habitat for Humanity of Washington DC and Northern Virginia which will preserve and rehabilitate the home to convert it to a shared living home for individuals with developmental disabilities. L’Arche of Greater Washington DC will act as the long-term operator of the group home. Finding a way to preserve the Reeves Farmhouse that benefitted our community was not easy. It was already an issue when I joined the Board in 2012. This project is a unique combination of preserving an historic building in a park while providing a much-needed home for adults with developmental disabilities. I think we can all be proud of this endeavor.
Finally, I don’t usually comment on issues outside of Arlington, but for anyone following national politics….what a wild few weeks it has been! As great a president as Joe Biden has been (made even greater by his decision to step aside), I am delighted that Kamala is now our candidate. I think most of us are loving her energy and the joy she is projecting. I think many of us are feeling a hope that we have not for a long time.
The Board will take a bit of a break in August and not have a regular meeting until September. Townley and I will take a break from this newsletter as well. I’m planning to use the next few weeks to catch up on some things, including making sure I’m ready for the uncertainty of this fall. With climate change and political unrest, it’s good to be prepared to handle possible power outages and/or supply chain disruptions. I think of it as preparing for a 2-week camping trip at home…. with a battery-operated radio to stay informed in case my internet devices are not working. Hopefully, nothing much will happen this fall, but it’s always a good idea to be prepared.
As always, I hope this has been helpful, and welcome comments.
Happy summer!
Libby
