An already urban environment in Rosslyn could get even more urban-y if a proposed zoning change wins approval from the Arlington County Board.
That body on April 20 is set to advertise for a public hearing later in the year for a zoning change that would give elected leaders the power to permit development of properties in the Rosslyn area with a floor-area-ratio (FAR) of greater than 10.
FAR is the mathematical formula that takes the total square footage of a building and divides it by the square footage of the lot. A five-story building that sits on half of its lot would have an FAR of 2.5; a 10-story building occupying one quarter of the parcel’s land would look very different, but have the same FAR of 2.5.
(The Empire State Building in New York City, as an example, has a total floor area of about 2.8 million square feet sitting on a lot of about 91,300 square feet, for an FAR of about 31.)
Since the county government created what it calls the “C-O Rosslyn” zoning district in 1996, the maximum FAR has been set at 10, and unlike some other zoning districts, County Board members cannot permit more density except in very limited circumstances.
But as part of a deal to bring CoStar Group’s headquarters from the District of Columbia to Central Place Tower in Rosslyn, that company paid the county government nearly $14 million and in return will receive exclusive use of what until now has been an open-to-the-public observation deck. Including that deck space, which had not been used to calculate floor-area ratio when the building’s construction was approved, would now push total FAR of the building to more than 10 and be in violation of zoning rules.
That quick fix may be the impetus for considering the change, but in a report to County Board members, county staff are suggesting it might be used elsewhere in the vicinity to permit bulkier development.
“While work on the potential [zoning] amendment is being initiated in response to CoStar Group’s move to Arlington, staff expects such an amendment would apply in other instances, bolstering Arlington’s future commercial resiliency,” Nick Rogers of the county government’s Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development, wrote in the staff report.
The action slated for approval at the April 20 County Board meeting would set public hearings before the Planning Commission and County Board no earlier than July but does not require hearings be held that month.
