Missing middle- Arlington
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Anonymous
I have several friends who have condos in Ballston who are in their 30s and 40s - not married, no kids. They have dogs and would prefer to live in a neighborhood with a small yard instead of the condo they bought in their 20s. Another market for small units in residential neighborhoods are divorced parents and grandparents. My parents don’t need a SFH, but if there was a 4 unit building in my neighborhood or nearby, they would love that - as would I so I can check on them daily as they get older. |
Anonymous
I'd be happy to have this kind of neighborhood too. I'm in Ashton Heights which has a bit of that with the duplexes on the east side. We're getting close to wanting to downsize to a townhome or condo but it needs to be something with at least a small fenced yard because we have a dog. I'd love to stay in my neighborhood but in a smaller place. |
Anonymous
Two six-plexes on seventh. I almost bought a cape on that street about 15 years ago. Glad I didn't. What a disaster. |
Anonymous
Nice to see restrictive covenants once again keeping out undesirables. The residents' hood wearing grandparents would be proud |
Anonymous
I think the issue is that they need to figure out how the restrictive covenants impact the zoning, if at all. To be fair, this was raised multiple times throughout the community engagement process. This should have already been addressed by now. It was very obvious that this was going to be an issue. |
Anonymous
This. The covenant in that neighborhood is ridiculous - and living nearby can confirm that it is a surprisingly non-diverse older skewing neighborhood intent on keeping large lots as they are. It would be much more appropriate for duplexes to be in this area - or townhouses - given how central it is. The lots are large and the houses are being torn down and huge SFH put up; the house in the corner of 15th and Harrison that the article refers to is on a huge lot - it’s a single plus two doubles and has n enormous yard. It would make sense to put a duplex there or even split the lot, but neighbors blocked it. I wish the county would have addressed that - if a covenant was put in place 100 years ago concurrently with racist restrictions, it seems reasonable they should no longer be applicable - when Tara was built it was farmland, not the center of Arlington |
Anonymous
| I live near that area and didn't fight the duplex but any house built over there should have its own garage. Harrison Street is basically a thoroughfare and that part of it regularly gets backed up due to drivers needing to pull over to one side or the other because street parkers narrow the thoroughfare down to one lane. Adding more parkers to the street there will only exacerbate that already existing issue. |
Anonymous
I was at a meeting where the possibility was raised of Habitat for Humanity building plexes in neighborhoods where there are now only single houses. The County board member did say that the plexes would be two bedrooms and good for families. Maybe they are thinking of the three plexes that are around Crystal City which have a basement apartment, a main level apartment, and an upstairs apartment. I lived in one when I worked for the Navy, and it was pretty spacious. It sounded like a non profit would acquire the land, Habitat would build the plex, and the feds or Arlington would subsidize the rents. |
Anonymous
Are you referring to Eleanor Roosevelt who came to the neighborhood to personally hand the keys to the first homeowner who used an FHA loan to buy a house? The neighborhood then had a racial covenant, a building restriction covenant, and FHA had a redlining program. Or are you talking about those fine white New Dealers who built the concrete block wall between Halls Hill and the Waycroft/Woodlawn neighborhood to keep out the Halls Hill blacks. The new fine white residents of Waycroft/Woodlawn won't tear down the wall because of its "historic" significance. Maybe they will do it as soon as Halls Hills is completely gentrified by Missing Middle housing. Look no further than the all white members of the liberal YIMBY group who want Missing Middle housing so that their children can go to the white schools in North Arlington rather than the diverse schools in North Arlington and South Arlington. As with everything liberals do, it has a negative effect on the people it is supposed to help. Missing Middle housing will benefit affluent whites who want a townhouse in the Discovery school district rather than the Long Branch district. |
Anonymous
Tara does not have the building covenants They are in Lacey Forest, Larchmont, and Wynnewood. |
Anonymous
Just noting again fwiw that to me fighting this duplex wasn't crazy. There are no sidewalks on this part of Harrison, and having cars parked on either side of the road here turns this into basically a one lane street. Drivers regularly need to pull over and make way for someone coming the other way to drive through. And this is Harrison, a pretty busy road that people use to get up to the grocery all the time etc. I walk by here a bunch and since there are no sidewalks have had issues with cars almost running into me. Making a situation where there is going to be more street parking on this stretch would not be great. IMHO any house built here should have its own garage for parking to keep cars off the street, or at least a driveway. House on 15th street is similar, it's adjacent to the traffic circle, which drivers regularly go the wrong way around wut is wrong with people? |
Anonymous
This is very common throughout Arlington- both the lack of sidewalks, and the fact that it’s a yield street. You could always ask your neighbors to park in their driveways if you’re concerned. |
Anonymous
These are not my neighbors, but I do live within a few blocks. I'm certainly not going to knock on their door and ask them to park in their driveways, let's get real. I'm just explaining why the true neighbors of this house probably would not have wanted additional parkers on the road, since it's already problematic even for an occasional walker like me. I think you're telling me "do something else about the problem besides hamper missing middle progress" but again, I didn't fight this duplex. And I personally would not be presumptuous enough to walk up to someone's house and "suggest" they park in their driveway rather than on the street, certainly not people who live a block or two away from me. I'm not sure I know anyone who WOULD do this besides total jerks tbh. |
Anonymous
No, I was just saying that this situation is so common in Arlington that nobody is going to care if it’s raised as a concern in the construction of a duplex. If people really feel the car situation is that unsafe, people will have to park in their driveways. Where I live, most people know each other and would be fine raising this. If these aren’t your close neighbors, I can understand why you wouldn’t. Sorry I struck a nerve! |
Anonymous
The homeowners on this street also could request the county restrict all parking. That would be the best solution based on their concerns. |