Development

Would you rather see...

1500 sq/ft. single-family home

or

5000 sq/ft. McMansion, no trees

Arlingtonians need to understand and address consequences of uncontrolled growth and density.  Before approving more density or changing zoning, the County should:  

 

  • Adopt a flooding and land use plan utilizing an accepted floodplain management tool, based on understanding of root flooding causes, their relationship to development, our watershed’s carrying capacity in the face of climate change and what we must do to prevent flooding.

 

  • Adopt available community planning tools (such as the TischlerBise fiscal impact tool) to assess both costs and benefits of different development scenarios, including assessing fiscal impacts on our capital and operating budgets and infrastructure impacts (such as to storm water management).

 

  • Create a ten-year projected county operating budget for different population and revenue scenarios. 

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In a study completed in September 2020, Dr. Jon Huntley of Arlington Analytics has found the net cost to taxpayers of the 400-unit Merion Pike West project -- if built as proposed at S. Greenbrier St. -- to be approximately $20 million through 2031.  The builder is seeking a Special Exception Form-Based Code Use Permit due to the project size.

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RESOURCES

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Single family mega-clump, no canopy

Megacondos at Ballston, no setback, no greenspace

By-right zoning shrinks permeable surface, takes all mature trees

Changing the character of long established neighborhoods

Must all new dwellings be so huge?