Is the Arlington County government’s plan to urbanize the Langston Boulevard corridor a giveaway bonanza to developers that benefits upper-class white residents (and insulates them from negative effects) but does little to promote diversity or address some pressing needs?
That’s one interpretation based on a new critique of the proposal from Arlingtonians for Our Sustainable Future, an advocacy group that often voices concern about what it sees as urbanization efforts moving too far, too fast, in the community.
Some of the facets of the organization’s recent “reality check” on the Langston Boulevard effort, which is moving into full swing:
• The county government was pushed by residents of East Falls Church and Cherrydale to leave those communities out of the plan, even though they represent about 40 percent of the overall study area.
(“Imagine, decades ago, leaving Ballston and Clarendon out of the initial Metro plans,” the organization said.)
• The plan calls for a “massive density giveaway” that will benefit developers but still will not meet affordable-housing targets until decades into the future.
• The plan aims to benefit bicycle-commuters – a group the advocacy organization says in Arlington are not just minimual in number, but overwhelmingly white and average $275,000 a year in household income – to the detriment of the far more diverse group of residents that uses cars and buses to travel the corridor.
• No comprehensive plan for addressing stormwater issues is part of the plan; “it instead relies heavily on developers to fix [the issue] via piecemeal projects,” the sustainability group said.
• The proposal is another in Arlington’s ready-fire-aim approach to planning. “Despite strong public pushback, Arlington County staffers say they will not conduct any more significant analysis – expect the County Board to vote this fall unless you speak out now,” the organization noted.
(Full details of its analysis and concerns can be found at https://www.asf-virginia.org. The county government’s proposal in its entirety can be found at bit.ly/3PHHmxl.)
The county government formally unveiled the Langston Boulevard plan in late June after years of preparatory work. The five-mile stretch that makes up the study area in North Arlington runs from Rosslyn in the east to East Falls Church in the west.
Today, more than 70 percent of the snake-like catchment area consists of low-intensity residential development. The proposal calls for urbanization in many parts of the study area, designed to unleash the economic potential of the corridor that will, one presumes, help pay for other upgrades sought by county staff.
