Ronald Reagan was in the White House. “Dallas” was the top TV show in the country. Chuck Robb was Virginia’s governor. And Ellen Bozman, John Milliken, Walter Frankland Jr., Dorothy Grotos and Mary Margaret Whipple comprised the Arlington County Board.
It was November 1983, and those five board members had just approved allowing the owner of a Crystal City parcel zoned for high-rise residential to use it, instead, as a 70-space parking lot on a temporary basis.
Thirty-nine years later, the parking lot is still there – and still, 12 amendments to the original vote later, on a temporary basis.
Current County Board members on Saturday are being asked to address the matter a 14th time by affirming the current state of affairs, allowing owners of the parcel in the 2600 block of Crystal Drive to continue to use it for parking for several additional years.
The lot is located adjacent to the Airport Plaza mixed-use complex and the Hyatt Regency Crystal City, seemingly a prime locale for development.
“Over time, the applicant has monitored market conditions and development opportunities at the site without implementing the final approved building,” Emma Martin of the county government’s Department of Community Planning, Housing and Development wrote in a memo to County Board members.
The action being taken by board members will extend, to the end of 2025, authorization for the parcel to serve as parking rather than its intended use. It will follow on the initial action of 1983 and follow-up County Board votes in 1986, 1987, 1990, 1993, 1996, 1999, 2002, 2007, 2008, 2011, 2016 and 2020.
