The Arlington County Board considered and acted on many items at its Saturday and Tuesday Board meetings. These include the following: 

Saturday, January 20, 2023 – Regular County Board Meeting 

Use Permit Amendment for Reeves Farmhouse – Item 10
The Arlington County Board approved a use permit amendment to the Reeves Farmhouse Unified Residential Development, allowing for historically sensitive renovations, in keeping with the intended purpose as a residential structure, and site improvements by the intended purchaser – Habitat for Humanity. These are not new modifications and since 2015 the County has been trying to secure a purchaser for the Reeves Farmhouse. Habitat for Humanity has been negotiating with the County since 2020 to acquire this property to operate a home for adults with developmental disabilities – a significant need in Arlington.   

As Habitat for Humanity does not currently own this property, the Board also gave its consent to consider this use permit amendment by the applicant as the intended purchaser of the property. This allows the applicant to initiate review of a land disturbance permit so that they may commence renovations as soon as they acquire ownership of the property and once County funds have been allocated to support this effort.   

Water Pollution Control Plant Upgrades – Item 16
The Board also approved the award of a contract between the Arlington County Board and PC Construction to provide design-build services for upgrades to the Solid Handling Facilities at the Water Pollution Control Plant. This plant treats wastewater generated in Arlington and in portions of surrounding jurisdictions and produces what’s known as a “biosolids” product—which is expensive to store and dispose of. Current county facilities that carry out this process are beyond their useful life and require replacing. In doing so, this process will yield a higher quality biosolids product, with more disposal options and even potential retail and residential use, and renewable natural gas—reducing the County’s dependence on fossil fuels.  

The Board’s approval of this contract is one of two funding approvals associated with this replacement project, with a guaranteed maximum price amendment for the main project’s construction coming to the Board in late 2025/early 2026.   

Red Lion Hotel Site Plan Amendments and Associated Items – Item 30
The Board also approved amendments and associated items that will allow the redevelopment of the existing Red Lion hotel located at 1501 Arlington Blvd. and the Ellis Arms and Williamsburg Apartments into an eight-story multifamily residential building. This building will have 446 dwelling units, and the overall project will advance the following key County Goals and objectives:  

• Affordable housing: Provides 22 on-site committed affordable units (CAFs), totaling 42 bedrooms, including four (4) one-bedroom, 16 two-bedroom, and two (2) three-bedroom units—furthering the goals of the Affordable Housing Master Plan;  

• Sustainable design: Makes LEED Gold certification, 20% energy optimization, and additional sustainability commitments in accordance with the Green Building Incentive Policy at the 0.35 FAR level. In addition, a portion of the existing parking garage will be reused, thereby reducing the amount of embodied carbon--furthering the goals of the Community Energy Plan;  

• New housing: Supports General Land Use Plan (GLUP) Development and Growth Goals through creation of 418 net new dwelling units in the transit-rich and multimodal transportation environment in the Rosslyn Station Area;  

• Urban design: Eliminates existing surface parking lots, significantly reduces curb cut widths, creates a continuous building face along Fairfax Drive, and undergrounds overhead power lines along the site frontages;   

• Streetscape and Multimodal Approach: Constructs new sidewalks, increasing the number of street trees along all frontages and new crosswalks and ADA improvements (accessible ramps) at the intersection of Fairfax Drive and North Piece Street as well as mid-block on Fairfax Drive between the proposed lobby and Arlington Boulevard Trail. In addition, the proposed building placement ensures adequate right-of-way remains for the new Arlington Boulevard Trail capital project, currently in preliminary engineering phase.