THE FUTURE of ARLINGTON
IS THIS A COMMUNITY WHERE
YOU WANT TO LIVE?
Under Arlington County's Expanded Housing Option (EHO), the new zoning ordinance allows developers to tear down single-family homes and build six-plexes. In less than five years, multiplexes could be poppping up everywhere. Arlington County won't show you their density model because they never studied Missing Middle's impact.
THE LATEST
MISSING MIDDLE
permits ACCEPTED (again)
Arlington’s Missing Middle zoning ordinance that eliminates single-family nieghborhoods is back on the books – at least for the time being, following a ruling in the Virginia Court of Appeals. In the dramatic legal battle over the county’s Expanded Housing Option (EHO), three appeals court judges issued a ruling that reverses a circuit court decision that voided the zoning change.
STOP PERMITTING NOW
We are awaiting a decision by the Supreme Court of Virginia to hear the case and to immediately stop the County from issuing new permits. A few Missing Middle Housing projects were allowed to proceed including a duplex and six-plex. These "real" examples give a true indication of what's happening and the myth of affordability.
ARLINGTON's 1 EHO DUPLEX
Far from AFFORDABLE
st
Arlington County is ground zero in the Missing Middle Housing fight with the first duplex built on N. Troy Street. The single-family home sold for $862,500. Each side of the duplex is listed for $1,649,000. It's a developer's dream. Where's the affordability?
COMING TO
A NEIGHBORHOOD
NEAR YOU!
[Nearly 50 permits approved]
WHAT TO DO IF IT'S IN
YOUR BACKYARD
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Share information with your friends and neighbors
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Contact the Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA)
File a zoning appeal here
An appeal application must be filed within 30 days from the date that the decision, order, requirement, or determination in question was made. Applications submitted after that 30-day period will not be accepted.
Megan Ryan
mryan1@arlingtonva.us
703-228-0538
Zoning Administration
2100 Clarendon Blvd,10th Floor
Arlington, VA 22201
contactzoning@arlingtonva.us
703-228-3883
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Register for County Board "Open Door Mondays"
Visit a County Board Member: Register here
Public comments lasting no longer than :90 are heard at the beginning of each monthly County Board meeting at 9am Saturday. Note that only one person may speak per topic during this time.
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Speak at a County Board Meeting
OVERHEARD IN THE
NEIGHBORHOOD
Kelly – S. 7th St.
The developer in our neighborhood had two of the first permit applications with the county to build two six-plexes side-by-side on a lot that used to have one single-family home. It was going to be 20 bedrooms and 16 trash cans. So we came together as a neighborhood, and what we found was that the county staff was not following their own new zoning rules for Missing Middle. Those rules required a minimum lot size. The lots did not meet the minimum.
David – N. Edison St.
I wish it weren’t so, but Arlington has chosen self-inflicting zoning chaos. Recently, 38 previously voided EHO permits magically flipped from “voided” to “approved,” and the County is accepting new EHO applications. But the EHO zoning case – Nordgren v County Board – sits actively appealed to the Supreme Court of Virginia. Anyone that purchases an EHO property in the meantime will be without notice that at any moment the property can be in violation as a result of Court ruling. There is little to gain by rushing to resume an EHO process before a final court disposition.
N. VEITCH ST.
Amber – N. Veitch St.
Many residents do not want EHO to “go ahead as a test” so we can see later if it succeeded or failed. We want adequate planning and studies done first, so we are not stuck with negative repercussions that cannot be undone. Once a structure is built, there is no going back. You can remove a bus line or change a school boundary; you cannot “un-build” a 4- or 6-unit building on a small interior lot if the impacts turn out to be harmful.
Dave – N. 13th St.
I've lived here 30 years, and I was going to work one morning and a neighbor said, "Did you know that a Missing Middle application was approved behind you for a six-plex?" I said, "No." I had no idea, because there was no notice given. Then I tried to appeal to the Board of Zoning Appeals, and they said I hadn't submitted it properly within the 30-day time frame. That was the argument: Did I submit it in time or not? And I thought I did. But they never really heard my concerns.
Chris – N. Troy St.
Missing Middle has missed the mark. You see a house being sold for $800,000, and being replaced by a duplex – two homes – for $1.8 million each. That is proof enough that whoever winds up buying those two homes were not the targets of Missing Middle – teachers, police, firefighters – and I have a feeling that's going to be replicated across Arlington County. So, who benefits? Clearly, the developer benefits. And then, conveniently, the county wins. You take one taxpayer account on a home that sold for $800,000, now there's two taxpayer accounts on a purchase price of $1.8 million each. So it's a big win for a County that's facing a deficit and a lot of empty office space.
N. Vermont St.
Stephanie – N. Vermont St.
Thanks for alerting me to the EHO permit for 2352 N. Vermont. They were, of course, working under the radar. If it hadn't been for you, we wouldn't have found out and would have just been happy and complacent. We've since met with the lawyer and are hoping to move forward with a cease and desist letter served to the owner. Thanks so much again for your vigilance!