Reply to Arlington Missing Middle Housing Q&A

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Missing Middle is the ultimate pro-developer policy. I wasn't aware that wanting to line the pockets of developers was a policy stance of Democrats?[/quote]

How is missing middle more pro-developer than current policy? Isn’t the ability to tear down an old home and construct a mcmansion also pro-developer? [/quote]

If you can build at about the same cost, but sell 3 units at $1m each instead of 1 at $2m, which makes a better profit? Remember that you as the developer do not have to incur any costs related to overcrowded schools, lack of park and recreation space, or additional vehicles parked on the street. [/quote]

But we can agree that both current policy and MMH benefit developers, yes? If MMH opponents are anti-developer then why aren’t they arguing against all tear downs? Or arguing in favor of increasing setbacks? It’s like you’re pro-developer in some cases and anti-developer in others, but the reality is you don’t actually care about developers or affordable housing or the tree canopy. You care about your property value and now that you’ve got yours, exclusion is your priority.[/quote]

Proponents of MMH keep telling us that MMH will increase property values, which I believe. I also believe it will result in gentrification. So PO’s  argument that opponents of MMH are “pro-developer in some cases and anti-developer in others, but the reality is you don’t actually care about developers or affordable housing or the tree canopy. You care about your property value and now that you’ve got yours, exclusion is your priority.” DOESN’T make any sense. [/quote]

This is the typical YIMBY argument of "you got yours and I want what you have but I can't afford it."  The YIMBYs think everyone in North Arlington lives in a swanky McMansion with a three car garage and a 7,000 square foot home.  The reality is that most of the housing throughout Arlington was built primarily between the 1930s and the 1980s.  A smaller version of McMansion began to be built in Arlington in the 1990s, and the McMansion building increased in 2010.  The reason McMansions are being built is market demand.    The YIMBYs and those of there ilk are such minimalists/purists/aesthetes that they cannot imagine someone wanting more than an 800 square foot apartment with 2 bedrooms and 1 bath to house a family of four and their cargo bike.   I watched a meeting of the YIMBYs the other night, and it was as if all of them have ADHD.   But their progressive philosophies are so frightening to the ACB board that they will get their way with Missing Middle Housing  It is like the brattiest kid gets the parents attention because they have to be mollified for peace.

I have a basic colonial in Arlington that we were going to expand until the pandemic hit and we realized that Arlington schools were for either high achievers or low achievers.  We place our children in private schools and will use the addition money to educate them.   The pandemic also showed me some major flaws in the APS schools.  A number of late teen to early 20 kids returned to our neighborhood because their schools were closed or they were laid off from jobs.    It was surprising to me that many of their parents had Ivy League or top state university educations but they were going to mediocre schools and not even doing well.  The ones that managed to get through some college had jobs that were fairly dead end, like restaurant servers or low level office jobs.   The parents paid a lot of money to live in Arlington for schools, but the schools didn't deliver for these kids.  Many of them are still at home, and the only one I think survived well was one girl who dropped out of college and started a lawn service.  She found some laid off construction workers and started with them cutting  lawns. Then when they were called back to work, she had their cousins, brothers, friends continue the work and added things like tree and shrubbery trimming, and gutter cleaning.   My DH set up her books for her because she had no concept of how to run a business.  Her mom -- a retired Fed lawyer -- is now her bookkeeper.

Bottom line for me is that Arlington is not providing what we thought it would.  We are here for the proximity to DC jobs only and now the commute to our kids' school.

We will do only basic maintenance on our house and get out as soon as we can.   It is not just the MM but also the sense of entitlement in traffic, at grocery stores, gas stations, and any place where basic courtesy should exist but just doesn't. This is not the Arlington we moved to 21 years ago.   [/quote]

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