November County Board Meeting Agenda Highlights

Published on November 09, 2018

The Arlington County Board will consider dozens of items at its November 2018 meeting. The Regular Meeting is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 17. Due to the Thanksgiving Holiday, the Recessed Meeting will be held Tuesday, Nov. 27. The County Board meeting is held on the third floor at the Ellen M. Bozman Government Center, 2100 Clarendon Blvd., and is open to the public. Visit the County website for information on speaking at a Regular County Board Meeting.

Watch it Live

All County Board meetings are live-streamed on the County website, and broadcast live on the County's cable channel, ATV, with live captioning. You can watch the Board Meetings on Comcast 25 & 1085 (HD), and Verizon FiOS 39 & 40, or live-streamed on YouTube. Videos of Board meetings are archived on the County website (with captions and reports) and on YouTube.

Saturday, Nov. 17 — County Board Regular Meeting

(Note: The meeting starts at 8:30 a.m. with public comment. Some reports will be posted closer to the meeting date.)

View the agenda and staff reports. Highlights include: 

New Elementary School at Reed site: The Board will hold a public hearing and consider a proposal to renovate and expand the Reed School/Westover Library building to create a new neighborhood elementary school. The new school would serve up to 732 students.

Arlington Public Schools is seeking an amendment to a use permit approved in 2007. The Reed School/Westover Library building currently serves as an interim facility for the Stratford Program.

A joint review of the proposed project by the Public Facilities Review Committee and Building Level Planning Committee began in October 2017. During an extensive public engagement process, several County advisory commissions reviewed the proposed project, and the Arlington Public School Board has approved the schematic design. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 27 on the agenda.

Four Mile Run Valley Area Plan: The Board will hold a public hearing and consider adopting the draft Four Mile Run Valley Area Plan, focused around the Four Mile Run stream and floodplain. The plan, together with the Four Mile Run Valley Parks Master Plan and Design Guidelines adopted by the Board in September 2018, offers a comprehensive vision, policy framework and specific strategies that will guide future development in the area bounded by Interstate 395 to the east, Arlington Mill Drive to the south, Barcroft Park to the west and Four Mile Run Drive to the north. Four Mile Run Valley is one of the only remaining contiguous areas planned and zoned for industrial uses in Arlington and is home to 23 acres of parks. The Four Mile Run Valley planning process was initiated in 2016 as a comprehensive planning effort. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 26 on the agenda.

[caption id="attachment_867" align="alignright" width="92"] County Seal[/caption]

2019 General Assembly Legislative Package: The Board will hold a public hearing on the draft 2019 General Assembly Legislative Package, before voting on it at its December 15, 2018 meeting. The 2019 General Assembly session will begin on January 9, 2019. 

Priorities in the draft package include fully funding K-12 education; ensuring dedicated transportation funding that is stable and predictable for both capital projects and transit operations; re-examining assumptions that led to reduced funds for Community Services Boards in Fiscal Year 2019 and Fiscal Year 2020, and if reimbursements for new Medicaid enrollments do not equal the reductions, restore the difference in current and future funding.

Other priorities include reconciling federal tax changes and court decisions by adopting statutory changes that will enable Virginia to collect sales and use taxes from internet sales and ensuring extra revenue coming to Virginia from the Federal Tax Cut and Jobs Act is used to meet state and local priorities. To read the staff report and view the legislative package, scroll to Item No. 28 on the agenda.

To comment on the legislative package, email the County Board at: CountyBoard@arlingtonva.us, or speak at the public hearing.

The Board will take all public comments into consideration before voting on the draft package in December, and will hold a work session with the Arlington General Assembly delegation. County staff worked with the County's boards and commissions, departmental staff, the public and County Board members through the summer and fall to develop the draft package.

Neighborhood Conservation Funding: The Board will consider approving $2.92 million in Neighborhood Conservation bond funds for two Neighborhood Conservation projects. The projects, recommended by the Neighborhood Conservation Advisory Committee, would use the last funding from the 2016 Neighborhood Conservation Bond approved by Arlington voters. One project would make street improvements and install streetlights on N. Monroe Street, from 17^th Street N to 3612 19^th Street N, in Cherrydale and the other would improve Edison Park on N. Edison Street in Arlington Forest. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 17 on the agenda.

Tuesday, Nov. 27 — County Board Recessed Meeting

View the agenda and staff reports.

3 p.m. — Board and County Manager Reports, Awards and Recognitions

No sooner than 6:30 p.m. — The Board will hold public hearings on, and consider, any items pulled from Saturday's Consent Agenda. Regular Hearing Items will be considered no earlier than 6:45 p.m.

Virginia Hospital Center Expansion Plan/VHC Grant for Youth Crisis Stabilization services: The Board will consider Virginia Hospital Center's proposed expansion onto the adjacent, County-owned North Edison site on N. George Mason Drive.

At its September Meeting, the Board held an hours-long public hearing on the proposed expansion, then issued guidance to the hospital to work out specific details of the proposed design with neighbors. The public hearing on this item is closed, and the matter will be before the Board for a final decision at the November meeting. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 33 on the agenda. (The staff report for this item will be posted the week of November 12 through 27).

In a separate, related action, the Board will consider accepting a grant from Virginia Hospital Center to fund a licensed clinician for five years to provide adolescent behavioral health crisis stabilization services. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 34 on the agenda. (The staff report for this item will be posted the week of November 12 through 16).

FY 2020 Budget Guidance/FY 2018 Close-Out: The Board will hold public hearings on its budget guidance for Fiscal Year 2020 and the proposed use of FY 2018 close-out funds.  The County Manager has noted that the projected increase in revenues for FY 2020 is not keeping pace with budget pressures in expenditures, creating an expected budget gap of $20 million to $35 million for the fiscal year that may be closed through a combination of revenue increases and/or service reductions. To read the staff reports, scroll to Items No. 30 and 31 on the agenda. (The staff reports for these items will be posted the week of November 12 through 16). 

$3 Million CDBG funds loan to renovate The Carlin, a senior housing project: The Board will consider approving a $3 million federal Community Development Block Grant fund loan to renovate The Carlin, a senior housing project at 4435 N. Pershing Drive. Most of the residents of the 162-unit, 10-story building in the Ballston Metro corridor are low-income retirees who are 60 years old or older. Sixty percent live on less than $20,000 a year. The loan would be made to the Retirement Housing Foundation, one of the nation's largest non-profit developers and managers of housing and services for older adults, persons with disabilities and low-income families.

Under the proposed agreement, the County will require that 161 of the 162 units be committed affordable for 60 years (one will be a management office). Fifty-nine units will be restricted to seniors earning at or below 50 percent the Area Median Income (AMI), an increase of 26 very-low-income units in the building. The remaining 102 units will be restricted at or below 60 percent of AMI. Residents will be housed on-site in "swing" apartments during renovations planned to be phased over 18 months.

To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 32 on the agenda. (The staff report for this item will be posted the week of November 12 through 16).