Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative

Removing regulatory barriers to achieve market solutions.

The Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative is a strategy to modernize Arlington’s regulations, practices, and processes to ensure a more nimble response to economic shifts. By removing regulatory barriers and constraints, the County seeks to enable market-based solutions to address the commercial building supply, specifically repositioning and converting obsolete inventory.

Since 2022, the County has established new and shifting uses for commercial spaces to increase opportunities for businesses. See the chart below for details.

The second phase of this initiative, known as CMRI 2.0, will focus on five strategic areas: office conversion, repositioning, redevelopment, tenant support, and placemaking. The County has identified specific workstreams for staff, so they can act quickly to address all strategic areas simultaneously. The County will engage with the community as appropriate for each area to solicit input and feedback on how we are approaching this important issue. 

Frequently Asked Questions      CMRI Fact Sheet

October 1, 2024 Update: Adaptive Reuse
Below is a preliminary draft. If significant changes are made based on further County analysis and public engagement, County staff will highlight them in future versions of the draft. Drafted policy statements do not represent final findings or recommendations from the County Manager, nor do they indicate any predetermined decisions by the County Board on these items.
Draft County Board Policy on the Transformation of Commercial Office Buildings in Arlington    
Proposed Zoning Ordinance Amendment

CMRI 2.0

Proposed Update to Practice/Policy

Proposed Changes to the ACZO

Submit a Comment or Question

Review Status

Adaptive reuse  
  • Create a more efficient process in which adaptive reuse of existing office buildings can be realized.

Lead Staff: Marc McCauley

Submit Comment or Question 

Shared parking for commercial uses

  • Expand existing shared parking and off-site parking regulations for by-right development.
  • Expanded shared parking regulations can be an effective measure to address on-site parking requirements within Arlington’s neighborhood shopping centers.

Lead Staff: Val Weiner

Submit Comment or Question 

Parking for athletic/health clubs and compact space flexibility

  • Updates to Sections §14.3.7.A, specifically pertaining to the minimum required
  • parking ratio for the Athletic and health club use, and § 14.3.3.F, pertaining to prohibitions on compact car spaces.

Lead Staff: Val Weiner

Submit Comment or Question

Outdoor visual entertainment

  • Regulations for outdoor visual entertainment in the form of building-mounted, digital
  • screens as a permitted amenity in large retail developments. Use
  • standards would minimize brightness and clarify hours of operation for the use of outdoor visual entertainment.

Lead Staff: Jill Hunger

Submit Comment or Question

Sign flexibility

  • Provide greater flexibility when considering signs above 40’ including, but not limited to, placement and height due to architectural elements or site elevation (topography), the size of signs and the number of total signs; and an updated definition of monument signs.

Lead Staff: Marc McCauley

Submit Comment or Question

  • County Board Meeting – Request to Advertise (4/20/24)
  • Initially advertised with County Board consideration no earlier than September 2024.
  • County Board action now not anticipated until 2025 as staff completes its analysis and engages the community. 
Self-service storage and live/work units   
  • Continuation of CMRI 1.0. Expanding and/or amending the use category of self-service storage and introduce live/work units as an allowable use in commercial, office, and mixed-use buildings, and also to investigate how any proposed amendments would affect home occupation accessory uses. 
 Lead Staff: Val Weiner
  • County Board Meeting – Request to Advertise (5/18/2024) 
  • Initially advertised with County Board consideration no earlier than September 2024.  
  • County Board action now not anticipated until late 2024/early 2025 as staff completes its analysis and engages the community.