Arlington taxpayers will be on the hook for fees ranging from $300 to $750 per hour under an agreement signed by the county government with a law firm that will support local leaders’ defense of Missing Middle housing and zoning policies.
Following a request under the Virginia Freedom of Information Act by Arlingtonianis for Our Sustainable Future, the Arlington government released correspondence conducted between Dec. 29 and Jan. 2 with the law firm Gentry Locke setting out terms of the agreement.
Well, setting out portions of the terms of the agreement – both the letter from the law firm to County Attorney MinhChou Corr and her response had several paragraphs blacked out.
It’s perhaps not a surprise that the county government is turning to outside counsel. To date, most of the government’s arguments in response to a lawsuit from residents on the new zoning policies have fallen flat with retired Fairfax County Circuit Court Judge David Schell, who is overseeing the case. The matter is set for trial in June.
Turning to outside counsel may be seen as a reasonable response, but at times it can be a bad public-relations move. As was the case in a hot-button issue nearly 15 years ago.
In 2009, the Arlington County government sued the federal and state governments, under the novel legal theory that imposition of high-occupancy-toll lanes on Interstates 95 and 395 from the outer suburbs into Arlington constituted a violation of federal civil-rights statute.
The County Board also hired outside counsel in that case; in the first six months, it received more than $1 million in taxpayer funds, according to media reports of the time.
That move by the County Board (none of whose 2009 members is still in office) so infuriated both Republicans and Democrats in Richmond, it took years for tempers to simmer down.
In that matter, the General Assembly cut transportation funding to Arlington, funneling it instead to cover the personal legal fees of one of the state officials sued by the county.
