To the editor:
Since the Arlington County Board was formed in 1932, the residents of Arlington have relied on the County Board to serve and protect them. Board members have a duty to act with transparency and integrity, to comply with laws and regulations, and to honor the very policies they have enacted.
By supporting the Missing Middle proposal, the current County Board has misled its citizens; violated its own policies and procedures; failed to act in the county’s best interests; and turned a blind eye to Arlington’s community, core values and future. Board members Christian Dorsey, Libby Garvey, Takis Karantonis, Matt de Ferranti and Katie Cristol have betrayed the trust of the very people who elected them into office.
The Missing Middle proposal had once been about affordable housing. In 2019, proponents publicized it as a way to solve the need for true affordable housing and to promote first-time home-ownership for lower-income residents. Then, without explanation, the county government suddenly changed course.
In 2019, county officials promised that Missing Middle would not be “an across-the board rezoning of all single-family areas” or “a process to eliminate single-family zoning.” But nothing could be further from the truth.
By calling for high-density development across every corner of Arlington, the Missing Middle proposal also violates the county’s General Land Use Plan, which supports the preservation of single-family neighborhoods, limits development to transit corridors and seeks to preserve lower-density residential areas.
But it doesn’t end there.
The County Board has completely ignored the county manager’s 2019 report, which recommended that numerous studies be conducted in connection with the Missing Middle proposal to assess the economic feasibility of new housing types, analyze proximity to transit, evaluate environmental impact, and identify strategies to mitigate stormwater and tree loss.
Numerous Virginia Freedom of Information Act requests were submitted to the county government to obtain these studies. As it turned out, studies don’t exist. The county government hasn’t conducted even one study on the effects of the Missing Middle proposal – studies that would have been prudent and reasonable in light of the drastic changes that the County Board proposed.
By failing to conduct these studies, the County Board has ignored the actual effects of these drastic zoning changes: higher housing prices, gentrification, huge profits for developers, loss of lower-income residents, loss of diversity and, ultimately, destruction of our own sustainability.
The County Board no longer speaks in terms of “first-time home-ownership for lower-income citizens and people of color.”
Instead, the county has renamed its proposal “Expanded Housing Opportunities” and promotes the development of less expensive (not affordable) housing that will, by the county government’s own admission, most likely consist of investor-owned rental units.
The County Board has turned its back on the very people it promised to help – teachers, first-responders and government employees – the people who deserve true affordable housing here in Arlington.
Although the County Board asked for community input on the Missing Middle proposal, all recommendations have fallen on deaf ears.
We all agree that we need more affordable housing. We all agree that fewer cars, public transportation, shorter commutes and lower carbon emissions are a good thing. But the County Board cannot answer the seminal question: Why does achieving these goals require eradication of single-family zoning across all of Arlington? These goals are not mutually exclusive. Why can’t we achieve these goals without a permanent, sweeping amendment to Arlington’s zoning ordinance, changes that will never be reversed?
Either the County Board is hiding something, or it has lost sight of its true mission.
Marcia Nordgren, Arlington
