Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Streetcar versus housing and food assistance funding, other issues come up at Tuesday night's public hearing.
Affordable housing. Programs for people with intellectual disabilities. County child care regulations. Traffic calming. Invasive plants. Senior center parking fees. Between what's in Arlington County's proposed $1.1 billion budget and what's not, residents had a lot to talk about Tuesday night. A few hundred people showed up and more than 100 of them spoke at a public hearing — delivering well over three hours of testimony before the Arlington County Board. At times, there was an undercurrent of frustration, perhaps best summed up well past 10 p.m. by frequent board critic Robert Atikins. Atkins cited needs — some with relatively minor costs associated with them — for child care, nurses, housing and food assistance and said any one of them…
Tuesday, March 26, 2013
Arlington County Board will answer questions, take comments from both sides regarding the proposed Columbia Pike streetcar system from 6:46 to 9 p.m. Wednesday at Kenmore Middle School.
Arlington County expects "hundreds" of people to show up to voice their support or opposition to the planned streetcar for Columbia Pike during a town hall on Wednesday, according to a county spokeswoman. The Arlington County Board will answer questions about the controversial project following a brief presentation at Kenmore Middle School, 200 S. Carlin Springs Road. "They'll answer any question related to the streetcar," spokeswoman Mary Curtius told Patch. "Anybody's free to ask a question." The county will set up space in the hallway outside of the school's auditorium for groups that want to set up displays or hand out literature, Curtius said. The county is asking attendees be succinct and courteous so that as many people can ask …
Monday, March 25, 2013
Compensation — including salaries, benefits and retirement — are among major costs factored into Arlington County's proposed $1.1 billion budget.
Good workers cost money. It's a fact of life that most successful organizations in Northern Virginia have accepted, if not embraced. In Arlington County, compensation is projected to account for about 56 percent of county operating expenses for the next spending cycle, which begins July 1. Compensation is more than take-home pay; it also includes tax dollars the county spends on retirement, health insurance, worker's compensation and other areas — including about $2.5 million on commuting and transportation costs. But salaries account for the lion's share of compensation. As the Arlington County Board hashes out its $1.1 billion budget for the upcoming fiscal year, compensation is one of the priority areas officials have under the …
Friday, March 22, 2013
Arlington Public Schools has requested about $3 million in additional revenue.
Arlington Public Schools has formally requested an extra half-cent of tax revenue from Arlington County, about $3 million in potential revenue, School Board Chairwoman Emma Violand-Sanchez said Thursday. The school board is in the process of reviewing and refining a $520.4 million spending plan proposed by Superintendent Pat Murphy that consolidates several programs but maintains class sizes. Murphy has proposed a series of cuts to address an anticipated budget gap of up to $25 million. And while the school system will add about 30 positions overall, about 62 would be eliminated — including teachers for gifted services at all three high schools and about 14 jobs in the teen parenting program. "We are concerned about the extent the budget …
Monday, March 18, 2013
County will establish a neighborhood advisory council and designate a homeless service center liaison in an effort to minimize its impact on the surrounding community.
A year-round homeless service center on two floors of the seven-story office building at 2020 14th St. N. in the Courthouse community has received final approval from the Arlington County Board. For advocates of ending homelessness, it was a victory a long time in the making. It advances Arlington's goal of providing the services needed to move more of the area's homeless into permanent housing. And it concentrates those services in a single place that's open all year as opposed to the current emergency winter shelter, about a block away, that's open only during the winter. For some residents of Woodbury Heights, the condominium building next door to the planned center, it was the latest move by Arlington County to balance the good of the …
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Arlington Police Chief Doug Scott: Residents, civic associations 'worried' about potential cuts.
Arlington's community policing roster could grow shorter if the county board accepts certain reductions in the proposed $1.1 billion budget currently being hashed out. Doing so would mean fewer officers available to attend community, civic and business events, fewer available to give safety presentations and fewer to focus on quality of life issues of a single community, according to a departmental email. Police Chief Doug Scott told Patch on Tuesday that he's begun to hear from residents and civic associations about the matter. "So far, they're worried about it," Scott said. "They realize that in many ways they are connected to the police department through our district teams. And they're apprehensive of changing that model." Community …
Friday, March 8, 2013
The Arlington County Board will vote on whether to allow a year-round homeless service center in Courthouse later this month.
Residents of the Woodbury Heights condominiums in the Courthouse community began mobilizing in November 2011 to oppose Arlington County's plan to acquire a seven-story office building and convert two floors to a year-round homeless service center. They showed up at meeting after meeting, voicing concerns over security and, in some cases, the potential effect on their property values. Elected officials assured them that all they were doing at that point was voting on whether to pursue the acquisition of the Thomas Building at 2020 14th St. N. They would have time to voice their concerns about the homeless center during a permitting process later on. They recall the county saying it looked forward to public discussion — after all, that's …
Monday, February 25, 2013
The 11-story building will feature a rooftop pool and other amenities.
The vacant Crystal City Post Office will be replaced by an 11-story apartment building with rooftop pool. The Arlington County Board approved the necessary requests from a McLean developer this weekend to pave the way for the U-shaped new tower. The developer, Kettler, has spent much of the last three months negotiating with the county so that the pool and the associated bathrooms and lifeguard room satisfy Arlington's building height requirements. The residential building will be 208,899 square feet and hold 198 studio, one- and two-bedroom units, a slight decrease from the 203 units originally proposed. The project, at 1720 S. Eads St., is the first residential building to be approved since the county adopted the 40-year Crystal City …
The Arlington County Board unanimously approved changes to avoid 'excessive' parking at some facilities.
The Arlington County Board this weekend reduced the parking requirements for elementary and middle schools and gave itself the power to modify such requirements for all new public and private schools and certain recreational facilities. The action stems directly from the ongoing planning processes for a new elementary school in Williamsburg, the expansion of Ashlawn Elementary School and a new aquatics facility at Long Bridge Park. Previously, Arlington's zoning ordinance required what county staff considered "excessive" parking spaces for such facilities — that is, the number of spaces were dictated by formulas that gave elected officials little flexibility and did not reflect the actual demand for parking. "With (Arlington Public Schools…
Sunday, February 24, 2013
Board set the tax increase ceiling Saturday for 2013-14 budget. If the max increase is adopted, the average Arlington homeowner would pay $356 in taxes annually.
The Arlington County Board on Saturday voted 4-0 to advertise a 5-cent tax increase ceiling for the spending cycle that begins July 1. That means elected officials, as they shape the fiscal 2014 budget over the next few months, can opt to raise real estate property tax up to 5 cents per $100 assessed value, but no more than that. A 5-cent tax increase would cost the average Arlington homeowner an additional $356 annually. In other words, the owner of a $524,700 home would owe $7,082 in taxes and fees for the year. The ceiling agreed upon Saturday was noticeably higher than the 3.2-cent tax increase Arlington County Manager Barbara Donnellan recommended in her proposed $1.1 billion budget last week. Donnellan's budget would cost the average…
Janet
9:19 pm on Thursday, March 28, 2013
Don't Fairfax Arlington? LOL! Arlington's County Manager, Economic Development Director, and CPHD Director all live in Fairfax County! more ›