May County Board Meeting Agenda Highlights
Published on May 09, 2020
The Arlington County Board will hold its May Regular Meeting on Saturday, May 16, 2020, and its Recessed Meeting on Tuesday, May 19.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, the County Board is holding virtual meetings, as allowed under Virginia law. Board members, staff, applicants, and the public will all participate remotely. Members of the public who wish to speak at public comment at the start of the Saturday, May 16 Regular Meeting, or who wish to speak on an agenda item, should visit the
County Board website for information on how to register online to comment virtually.
Watch it Live
County Board meetings are live-streamed on the
County website, and broadcast live on Arlington TV, the County's cable channel, with live captioning, on Comcast 25 & 1085 (HD), and Verizon FiOS 39 & 40. The meetings also are live-streamed on ATV's
YouTube channel, with closed captioning. Videos of Board meetings are archived on the County website (with captioning and staff reports) and on YouTube.
Saturday, May 16 — Regular County Board Meeting
The meeting will begin at 8:30 a.m. with public comment.
View the agenda and read the staff reports. (Note: Some reports are posted closer to the meeting date.) Highlights include:
Loan payment waivers to support COVID-related emergency needs at properties with committed affordable units — In an effort to address rent and vacancy losses and support emergency needs at properties with Committed Affordable Units (CAFs), the Board will consider waiving certain payments due on County affordable housing loans through December 31, 2020. Participating borrowers may not charge late-payment fees nor evict tenants from their properties for COVID-related non-payment of rent through December 31, 2020, which will prevent low-to-moderate income tenants, who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from losing their homes.
If approved, the program would waive an estimated $2.3 million in County loan payments through December 31, 2020, which could support rent payments for approximately 1,600 households facing hardship and/or other emergency needs at these properties. Participating loans would continue to accrue interest and would still comply with all requirements of their agreements including repayment. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 39 on the agenda.
Appropriation of BID Funds to Small Business GRANT Program — The Board will consider accepting and appropriating a total of $200,000 from the Crystal City and Rosslyn Business Improvement Districts ($100,000 from each BID) for the County's Small Business Emergency GRANT program.
The program helps Arlington small businesses and nonprofits that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. If the Board appropriates these funds, total available funding for immediate emergency relief through the program would rise to $1.2 million. The program provides grants of up to $10,000 to businesses and non-profits with fewer than 50 employees. The grants may be used to pay employee salaries and benefits and for other business capital and operating expenses directly related to COVID-19.
Applications are open now. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 28 on the agenda.
Proposed changes to the approved redevelopment plan for 11th Street and Vermont Street — The Board will hold a public hearing and consider a requested amendment to the site plan for an approved residential multifamily and townhouse development in North Ballston. If approved, the changes would include adding 4,289 square feet of space to the building by removing an on-site alley and would make other changes to the building architecture, massing, siting, circulation, and location of building services. To read the staff report, scroll to Item 41 on the agenda.
More parking for Alice West Fleet Elementary School -- The Board will consider allowing Arlington Public Schools to add parking to Allice West Fleet Elementary School, 2770 S. Taylor Street, by opening an existing 23-space parking lot on the southwest corner of the school site. The County will still conduct a parking utilization study for the school, to determine whether the parking lot will be landscaped or remain a parking lot. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 16 on the agenda.
June public hearings on Zoning changes to allow nonconforming two-family homes to be expanded -- The Board will consider advertising public hearings in June on proposed changes to the Zoning Ordinance that would allow owners of nonconforming two-family homes in Arlington's RA zoning districts to make exterior expansions and additions by-right. Currently, single-family homes can make such changes by-right in six R districts, but two-family homes are limited to the R2-7 district. If approved, the changes would help preserve additional two-family home properties by permitting reinvestment. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 37 on the agenda.
ConnectArlington dark fiber for Arlington Free Clinic -- The Board will consider an agreement with the Arlington Free Clinic that if approved, would aid health equity during the COVID-19 pandemic by providing the clinic with two strands of dark fiber. The fiber would allow the clinic, serving low-income patients, to connect with Virginia Hospital Center and better serve patients. The dark fiber would support the clinic's telehealth services, including access to medical record systems. The County's costs would be a $110,460 grant in equipment, implementation, Smartnet, 10 years of maintenance and equipment refresh at year five, and $102,561 to provide the fiber lateral construction from Connect Arlington to the Free Clinic. VHC will pay for its lateral connection. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No. 21 on the agenda.
ConnectArlington dark fiber for higher education -- The Board will consider approving an agreement that would allow universities to connect to the County's dark fiber network, ConnectArlington. If approved, the agreement would allow the creation of an advanced regional innovation platform to support research and education. If approved, the agreement would allow universities, at no cost to them, to license up to four strands of dark fiber for 10 years. To read the staff report, scroll to Item No 22 on the agenda.
State grants to help adolescents, young adults and LGBTQIA+ persons of all ages -- The Board will consider accepting two grants Virginia Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, the first for $33,000 to support a six-month pilot program for adolescents and young adults with serious emotional disturbance and serious mental illness in the County and the second, for $6,412, provide training to the County's Human Services Staff to provide support to individuals who identify as LGBTQIA+. To view the staff reports, scroll to Item No. 32 (Mental Health Block Grant in support of young adults) and No. 33 (Behavioral Health Equity Mini-Grant).
Tuesday, April 21 -- Recessed Meeting
View the agenda for this meeting.
3 p.m. — Board and County Manager reports, awards and recognitions
No earlier than 6:30 p.m. the Board will hold a public hearing on any item pulled from the Saturday Consent Agenda. Again, public comment on any pulled agenda item will be made virtually.
There are no Regular Public Hearings scheduled for this meeting.
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