Arlington Missing Middle Housing Q&A

[Anonymous]

OMG you people are really sad. Have you never heard of infill building? It's all over the NOVA area. This is basically what the missing middle will be doing. It's been going on for decades. There are examples in South Arlington. Take note, the world did not explode when it happened! LOL

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There needs to be some consideration of the capacity of the neighborhood to take all these extra people and cars. We're in Cherrydale/Waverly Hills and the roads and sidewalks are narrow. Only one car can pass at a time, so oncoming traffic has to pull into an unused parking spot to let the other car pass. Sidewalks can't fit people walking past each other unless single file and you can't pass a stroller without walking in the street. Houses dont have garages or only one car garages so street parking is already heavily used. In short, it works for SFHs, but none of the infrastructure is sized for multi family housing.

Yet we have 6 lots on just our short block that would be redeveloped into duplexes or 4-plexes. The lots are deep and narrow, so only one curb cut per lot + 1-2 street spots. If you do two curb cuts, then there will be no street spots. There won't be enough parking. The roads will be backed up with no spots to pull over to let cars pass. The sidewalks will be crowded. It just doesn't work. I'd be totally okay with 1-2 multifamily units on a block, but six? That's city density and this 1940s era neighborhood lacks the infrastructure to support that number of people.

They will tear out the sidewalks and build more lanes.

They can't tear out sidewalks. In many places there is only a sidewalk on one side of the street already and kids in the neighborhood all walk to school. It's a safety issue.

They could get rid of parking on one side of the street, but when where would all these new cars that come with multifamily housing park?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OMG you people are really sad. Have you never heard of infill building? It's all over the NOVA area. This is basically what the missing middle will be doing. It's been going on for decades. There are examples in South Arlington. Take note, the world did not explode when it happened! LOL

Not to be a jerk but I walk through South Arlington pretty frequently and I've never thought "man, I hope my neighborhood starts to look more like this".

If I thought this change would solve the affordable housing crisis and be a major boon for the area I could swallow the changes, but as far as I can tell this will be radically reshape some neighborhoods while doing very little to actually change anything for the better. Why not take a more nuanced approach and allow more density further into neighborhoods on commercial corridors? Why does it have to be a blanket "anything goes anywhere" approach?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it's more likely that the 1 per unit requirement for parking will be reduced to 1/2 per unit and developers will only be required to provide off-street parking for four cars in an 8-plex.

Which means, in addition to squeezing an 8-plex onto a 12,000-15,000sf lot, you'll have a driveway big enough for four cars and another 10-12 additional cars parking on the street.

Is the 6-plex and 8-plex just a bargaining position? And then the county walks it back to duplex and triplex only? because to me there's a huge difference between letting people build a duplex or triplex and letting people build a 6 or 8-plex.

It’s not a bargaining position. The duplexes and townhouses will be luxury units. The 6-8 plexes will sell at a price point that allows the Arlington Democrats to say “Look we did something for the missing middle!” with a somewhat straight face.

[Anonymous]

me turning into a republican like

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:me turning into a republican like

Do you think republicans support restrictive zoning?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:me turning into a republican like

You don’t have to be a Republican, you just have to be willing to vote for people like Vihstadt who ask questions and have an independent point of view. The ACDC candidates are restricted with what they can say/do/think. Just like anyone who is party of any political party. That’s why it’s better to not have one-party rule. This isn’t rocket science. I guarantee 95% of the people complaining about this voted Democrat and never read the platforms every. Single. Time.

[Anonymous]

I'm in favor of relaxing the zoning rules. I think people are mostly freaking out over the thought of an 8-plex, which seems like a huge jump in both people and cars that would occupy that lot and the street.

Perhaps if they allowed, at max, a 3-plex or 4-plex, this wouldn't cause such a visceral reaction?

-SFH owner in 22207

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG you people are really sad. Have you never heard of infill building? It's all over the NOVA area. This is basically what the missing middle will be doing. It's been going on for decades. There are examples in South Arlington. Take note, the world did not explode when it happened! LOL

Not to be a jerk but I walk through South Arlington pretty frequently and I've never thought "man, I hope my neighborhood starts to look more like this".

If I thought this change would solve the affordable housing crisis and be a major boon for the area I could swallow the changes, but as far as I can tell this will be radically reshape some neighborhoods while doing very little to actually change anything for the better. Why not take a more nuanced approach and allow more density further into neighborhoods on commercial corridors? Why does it have to be a blanket "anything goes anywhere" approach?

I agree with this. There needs to be more thought as to what is appropriate for different neighborhoods. Where is there enough infrastructure to support more people? How many cars will come with additional units in different neighborhoods? (It certainly isn't uniform across Arlington.) How many additional kids will come with units of different sizes, locations and types?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm in favor of relaxing the zoning rules. I think people are mostly freaking out over the thought of an 8-plex, which seems like a huge jump in both people and cars that would occupy that lot and the street.

Perhaps if they allowed, at max, a 3-plex or 4-plex, this wouldn't cause such a visceral reaction?

-SFH owner in 22207

That would definitely reduce my visceral reaction to the proposal. An 8-plex in the middle of our neighborhood would be outlandish and I suspect we'll have more than one in a few years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OMG you people are really sad. Have you never heard of infill building? It's all over the NOVA area. This is basically what the missing middle will be doing. It's been going on for decades. There are examples in South Arlington. Take note, the world did not explode when it happened! LOL

Not to be a jerk but I walk through South Arlington pretty frequently and I've never thought "man, I hope my neighborhood starts to look more like this".

If I thought this change would solve the affordable housing crisis and be a major boon for the area I could swallow the changes, but as far as I can tell this will be radically reshape some neighborhoods while doing very little to actually change anything for the better. Why not take a more nuanced approach and allow more density further into neighborhoods on commercial corridors? Why does it have to be a blanket "anything goes anywhere" approach?

I agree with this. There needs to be more thought as to what is appropriate for different neighborhoods. Where is there enough infrastructure to support more people? How many cars will come with additional units in different neighborhoods? (It certainly isn't uniform across Arlington.) How many additional kids will come with units of different sizes, locations and types?

If they do that, then it looks like they are exempting the best off areas and foisting up zoning on everyone else

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If they do that, then it looks like they are exempting the best off areas and foisting up zoning on everyone else

Why not let civic associations vote on whether they want to upzone their neighborhood? or put it on the ballot for all of Arlington to vote on at the very least?

I imagine the people living in the neighborhoods that will be most affected are more than 50% opposed - and if that's the case maybe the board isn't making a compelling case for why this benefits their constituents. And if that's the case it seems odd to me that you're going to go against the wishes of current Arlingtonians to benefit potential future Arlingtonians who don't live here now.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they do that, then it looks like they are exempting the best off areas and foisting up zoning on everyone else

Why not let civic associations vote on whether they want to upzone their neighborhood? or put it on the ballot for all of Arlington to vote on at the very least?

I imagine the people living in the neighborhoods that will be most affected are more than 50% opposed - and if that's the case maybe the board isn't making a compelling case for why this benefits their constituents. And if that's the case it seems odd to me that you're going to go against the wishes of current Arlingtonians to benefit potential future Arlingtonians who don't live here now.

Because Arlington is so blue they could never lose an election. This is going to be the most progressive housing policy in the entire country when it passes. It will give ACDC and its County Board national attention/accolades when it passes. It has probably already been promised to Amazon and all the big companies that are relocating here. And all of the Board members have been very open every election about their housing priorities. Sorry, even 22207 isn’t getting a pass this time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If they do that, then it looks like they are exempting the best off areas and foisting up zoning on everyone else

Why not let civic associations vote on whether they want to upzone their neighborhood? or put it on the ballot for all of Arlington to vote on at the very least?

I imagine the people living in the neighborhoods that will be most affected are more than 50% opposed - and if that's the case maybe the board isn't making a compelling case for why this benefits their constituents. And if that's the case it seems odd to me that you're going to go against the wishes of current Arlingtonians to benefit potential future Arlingtonians who don't live here now.

Because Arlington is so blue they could never lose an election. This is going to be the most progressive housing policy in the entire country when it passes. It will give ACDC and its County Board national attention/accolades when it passes. It has probably already been promised to Amazon and all the big companies that are relocating here. And all of the Board members have been very open every election about their housing priorities. Sorry, even 22207 isn’t getting a pass this time.

I'm looking at the zoning changes in Portland and Minneapolis - two cities that no longer have single family zoning. Minneapolis allows duplexes and triplexes but that's it. And Portland allows 3 and 4-plexes but reduced the size allowed so that a 3-4plex can only be 3,500sf. You can build up to a 6,000sf 6-plex if part of it is low-income housing. It certainly does seem like Arlington is considering the most progressive housing policy in the country.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm going to turn this political but if you care, even if you're generally hard core blue, this is why we need to vote independent or R in the county board elections. One-party town ends up with a very cushy relationship between ACDC and the developers.

What I find interesting is that those in the community who push for missing middle are often baby boomers who bought their houses for less than $100K forty years ago. I asked one neighbor who keeps pushing if she would commit to selling her own house for not more than $400K when the time comes so that middle class families could afford it, even though houses in our neighborhood are upwards of $900K. You can imagine how that went.

Well yeah the wealthy have traditionally leaned republican but they’ve been able to put up inclusivity signs in their yards and virtue signal without putting their money where their mouth is.. not so happy to actually exercise inclusivity so back to the T part I guess! And I am a democrat.