The October 2022 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Visions of Our Community
By Scott Sklar, President, AHCA 

Arlington County and our communities are a great place to live due to the actions and hard work or many Ashton Heights and Lyon Park residents, who are still active members of our associations. We had visionaries in Arlington County who supported an approach called “The Arlington Way” which was an attempt to create full participatory governance process which is still represented on the many Commissions, planning committees, and processes today.

The Arlington Way has served us very well. The county lobbied for the metro and created wise zoning that allowed tall buildings along the metro lines and mid-level buildings stepping down up to our residential communities, which became a national model.

Aside from Metro, Arlington pushed multi-modal transportation including a network of bicycle paths/lanes, walkable communities with bumping in corners into intersections for pedestrian-friendly walkways, a bikeshare network, scooters, for awhile, hourly Zip cars, now Ubers, cabs and finally personal transportation with community parking zones around metro stops so neighborhoods can have access to their streets for parking.

Arlington has an extensive network of parks that are well kept, a tree canopy program that actually disperses trees to residents and a rather aggressive water management program at a time our climate is changing and our downpours are more frequent and heavier. Arlington has adopted a County Energy Plan (CEP), of whose commission energy committee I sit, which has been unanimously adopted by the County Board in two successive renditions addressing reducing greenhouse gas emissions and accelerating adoption of energy efficiency, renewable energy, electric transportation, etc.

All these goals, policies and programs, have made our county and neighborhood a most wonderful place to live.

As Arlington has become urbanized and dense, our housing and rental prices have soared, as have the region’s. These realities force middle and low income people who work in Arlington in service industries (teachers, police and fire, etc.), to move farther and farther out and away from Arlington.

There has been a push to address this issue, and our Arlington County Board has embarked on a Missing Middle Housing study and a set of proposals on zoning changes to allow duplexes, triplexes, quadraplexes, and higher on residential-zoned lots in traditional single family neighborhoods. 

The study said these structures would cut Arlington tree canopy in half, and there are no zoning or code requirements to ensure Arlington’s stormwater management or building energy efficiency along with greenhouse gas reduction would be addressed.

Aside from undercutting key Arlington proposals, the push back has focused that the housing values, in fact, would not go down, but just allow developers and builders to extract much higher values out of existing residential lots. And as a by-product much higher street parking congestion, beyond the tree canopy and stormwater stresses mentioned above.

This has galvanized seven civic associations to have weekly meetings, as well as Zoom meetings with the County Board on every aspect of the proposals. Many of the civic association presidents have questioned why other initiatives are not used in Arlington, but used throughout the United States on Missing Middle Housing, such as the use of land trusts (used to preserve forests and wetlands). These can be utilized to aggregate tear-downs (older, smaller houses) to be upgraded and sold to middle income to address rising housing prices but also foster home ownership, as an example.

So far, aside from one board member, no one on the Arlington County Board seems interested in other, more proven programs. 

The Wednesday, October 19th Ashton Heights Civic Association meeting will feature a structured dialogue on Missing Middle Housing (MMH). As at our joint AHCA/LPCA September Candidates night, where questions were submitted and bundled for candidates, we will solicit questions, and package them to the pro and con speakers who will present on MMH. Please submit your questions directly to me at: solarsklar@aol.com.

The goal here is to develop a consensus that addresses the issues, without the downsides, into a more effective approach as we continue our dialogue with the County Board.

We have had a great dialogue on the AHCA listserv, and I am hoping to have a web survey as well so we can see where our AHCA membership leans and what sub-issues are important to all Ashton Heights residents. As always, thank you for your interest and involvement in making our community an even better place to live.

The September 2022 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Back in the Saddle – AHCA on the Move
by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

Welcome back! Autumn will be here soon, humidity will decrease, mosquitoes will decline, schools/colleges are open and “in person”, and the issues ACHA addresses will continue to accelerate.

As we ramp up, I want to thank a host of people within AHCA that donate their time to make our community stronger.

First, Amy Miller, our esteemed newsletter editor and Betsy Lyon, our listserv moderator who are critical in allowing us to receive and share information. Second, our new VP of Programs David Schutz, who lines up speakers for our monthly meetings.

Third, Ann Felker, who puts together our “Kids Inc.” column. The kids will be at our September meeting offering to do work of all kinds for all of us in this great community.

Fourth, our AHCA Development Committee Jack Spilsbury and his new Co-chair Alexander Tuneski and the hardworking committee members dealing with key issues.

Fifth, a tag team of myself, Ken Matzkin, Brooke Alexander and Jack Spilsbury, working with our five sister civic associations on Missing Middle Housing (MMH), that is now before the County Board and will have huge impacts on our community.

Sixth, our other AHCA Committee Chairs: Safety and Security (Christina Schultz), Housing (Matt Hall, Christina Schultz), Open Spaces – Parks, Playgrounds, Neighbor Conservation (Chris Horvath), Tree Canopy and Native Plants (Brooke Alexander), Schools (Greg Morse, Caroline Rogus) and Transportation/Parking (Patrick Lueb).

And finally, the AHCA Executive Committee (ExCom) who work year round in coordinating our programs, policies, and key issues – Scott Sklar, (President), Dave Schutz, (VP Programs), Jim O’Brien (Treasurer) , Chris Armstrong (Secretary), Doug Williams (Treasurer), and At-Large – Jim Feaster, Ken Matzkin, David Philips and Jim Richardson.

I have many more to thank (next column) – but the point is we have many neighbors working together to make Ashton Heights a better place to live.

And this brings me to the hot upcoming issues we need everyone to pay attention to this September.

1. MMH – the county is holding hearings this month on a plan to allow duplexes, triplexes or quadplexes on residential lots to theoretically attract middle income buyers. The civic associations are working towards limiting the size of these buildings to the same height and footprint of housing now allowed, protect tree canopy, and potentially try other approaches that might be more successful in allowing middle income to own where they live in Arlington.
2. Development on our borders – four buildings and hopefully one park – AHCA is fighting for a park on the County-owned block and atop the fire station, while we are aggressively addressing design, tree canopy, set-backs, tapering, MMH, underground parking, among other issues on the four buildings in the process of County approval.
3. Neighborhood parking rules and issues – there are problems with neighborhood parking rules and equity. We are working with residents and the county to work out the kinks.

These issues will determine our community’s future – the way we look, live, and interact. And we need you all to be knowledgeable, interface with appropriate AHCA committees and the ExCom, and share input to the county at county meetings, and via the web site.

These are busy times, and now more than ever, we need to band together to navigate these issues, to make our community and neighborhoods as livable and enjoyable as possible. I look forward to working with everyone in our community towards this goal.

The May 2022 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

President’s Column by Scott Sklar

This April, I was asked by the Arlington “Committee of 100” to make a presentation on Clarendon Development with a vision from a high level. I decided to wind some other issues into that vision because several issues need to be addressed in tandem.

The Arlington Way “Adrift”
Many of our long-time AHCA members have been actively involved in Arlington planning processes such as Long Term Planning, GLUP (general end use plan), and Sector Plans, taking many months and in some cases years. We are witnessing many of these efforts substantially changed at the very end with little input. Now obviously some issues change, I ask, “Why spend years on a deliberative process if it can be “end gamed” in the last few months?”

Arlington County, to its credit, surveys resident’s attitudes, but these community input surveys inadvertently limits views and expressions. As Joan Fitzgerald has highlighted to the AHCA Development Committee, polling has been changed from the affected area of the County to the entire County. County polling needs to be divided into two polls: 1) all Arlington residents, and 2) affected neighborhoods. Those areas of the County most affected by a particular plan need to have their own input.

Arlington is not Keeping up with Densification
As your Civic Association president, I get called with problems daily. Some examples follow. Clarendon businesses have approached me extremely concerned that parking between Northside Social and the Church will be removed – where are people out of Clarendon going to park?
• not everyone is going to Metro or Uber
• beyond the bar crowd, those in the suburbs or commuting thru Arlington before they go home need access to underground paid parking in EVERY building.

Good news: The Red Top construction which is building #3 of free-standing buildings with a total of 580 residential units and nearly 3,500 square feet of ground-floor retail space on the site, has 468 underground parking spaces, according to a county news release. (The Red Top Parking Lot construction now underway is the third of these three originally approved in 2015) but with another eight buildings being built, we will need more.

Rooftop restaurant and bar noise has increased from three calls per month to fifteen calls per month – residents being awakened from sleep in the middle of the night CONTINUOUSLY, where police have been responsive but are being constantly called to remediate noise – this is unsustainable. Our county manager has rebuffed the AHCA request to better empower police and code officials “on site” in evenings and hopefully issue fines – and the County is soliciting public input from all public sectors in May.

The Future of Clarendon
Nine new buildings – two are being built now and seven will be built, will totally remake Clarendon. The transformation will be huge. AHCA believes that Affordable Housing is necessary, but not in one singular building but rather within EACH of these nine buildings (Note: the one being built on the corner of Washington Blvd and Kirkwood St. has some). Every new building should have a floor (or more) dedicated to making Arlington livable for a wide array of incomes.

Arlington is not keeping up with other advanced municipalities. Interlacing within the bulls eye density – open space is needed for: community (or rooftop) gardens, larger social events, picnics, and recreation and a real community center. Alternative suggestions by staff and Board that sites on North Quincy, Maury Park or Hayes Park suffice (which are 15 minutes) away is sheer nonsense and misses the point. For the first time ALL five civic associations in-and-around Clarendon have united on the Clarendon Sector Plan for a 40,000 sq ft park “on and around” the fire station on the 10th Street North block which is the epicenter of these large soon to-be-built buildings. We need to all thank the AHCA Development Committee and especially its Chair Jack Spilsbury for enlisting our four sister civic associations.

It would be inexcusable to endorse more tons of cement within the Clarendon vortex (nine large buildings) and actually believe this is advanced development without this signature open space – it is not.

The April 2022 newsletter is linked below. If you have any comments or questions, email editor@ashtonheights.org.

Red Lines in the Sand by Scott Sklar, President, AHCA

The Ashton Heights Civic Association (AHCA) has been one of the leaders in looking towards the future. Our association leaders in the 1960’s and 1970’s fought to ensure tapered zoning from the metro stations to the residential neighborhoods, tree canopy expansion, and open spaces as Arlington became an inner suburb.

It was wise then, and it is wiser now.

Joining four other civic associations, we have drawn a line in the sand on the block where the fire station sits, to have it a mixed-use park, including the roof of the new firehouse other than development. We have rejected that the spot of land where a tiny used car lot and some Arlington-owned houses and an area of no-parking area between the Northside Social coffee shop and the church suffices for mixed use in the future. There is a difference between some open space, and some community picnic, playground, and other activities in a large space in what will be a high concentration urbanized setting in the near future.

We have also rejected the idea that this site become another giant building of which some will be dedicated to Affordable Housing. To be clear, AHCA supports affordable housing – and we are strongly prodding the Arlington Board to include it in the other five giant buildings being reviewed now to be built in the Clarendon area within the next two years. But the park on the 10th Street North site is as important to those in affordable housing as it is to our five neighborhoods represented by the five civic Associations. AHCA is standing our ground.

AHCA has also been working with those in our community affected by roof-top noise from various bars and restaurants in Clarendon and along Wilson Blvd. The Arlington County Police have worked with us pro-actively on Don Titos and other restaurants. But institutionally, the Arlington code enforcement staff are the ones that need to be given extra hours with pay, rather than police, to visit these sites at night when the complaints are filed. These issues are not really police matters, but code enforcement matters – and again AHCA is making clear that as we urbanize even more, these issues will get worse, not better. So we need an expansion of enforcement with pay, for those who can ensure commercial behavior fits the guidelines and those within our community can sleep at night. Another line in the sand.

On a personal note, many of you may know I sit on Arlington County’s C2E2 Commission’s Energy Committee, and many of us are pushing for an Arlington County Climate Coordinator to be appointed to ensure that the myriad of Arlington agencies and programs row in the same direction of the unanimously approved (twice) Arlington County Community Energy Plan (CEP). Again, drawing a line in the sand for our Arlington’s resilient future.

There has been some pushback on all the above by Arlington’s various commissions and committees. I have gotten many calls. But these issues are too important to “just go along for the ride”. It affects our quality of life, and frankly, some personal control of our local environs. So, we’re hanging tough. But not just to be tough, to be vigilant – it’s our community, and if we don’t fight for it – Clarendon can transform into the cement, shaded, lack-of green of Ballston (just walk along North 9th Street in the cement wind tunnel to experience the effect).

I want to thank AHCA’a Development Committee and the AHCA Committee Chairs and CoChairs of our other Committees who have all been important leaders in directing and protecting our community’s future. And I look forward to hearing your ideas, and having you work within our AHCA Committees as your time allows.