Arlington Neighborhood Plans

Residents know their community best. In Arlington, they lead a grassroots-based process to develop Neighborhood Plans. Resident volunteers work with Arlington Neighborhoods Program staff to capture community members’ vision, ideas and needs, and recommend improvement projects.

Plans vary by neighborhood. They each address conditions and issues specific to the community and contain project recommendations on the following topics:

Land Use and Zoning
Street Conditions
Transportation/Traffic Management
Housing
Public Facilities and Services
Commercial/Business Areas
Historic Preservation
Urban Forestry
Other Challenges and Opportunities

What's the Process?

Neighborhood Plans typically serve a community for approximately 10 years. Each neighborhood decides if it wants to develop a plan and when it is ready to initiate a community-lead process for updating it. Neighborhoods must first become active in theArlington Neighborhoods Programand then work, typically, with their civic association to develop their plan.

Submit a Letter of Commitment to the ArNAC: A letter of commitment is the first step to becoming an active participant in the program. The letter identifies the boundaries of the neighborhood area and designates neighborhood representatives.
Prepare an Arlington Neighborhoods Plan: A neighborhood organization, typically the civic association, prepares the Neighborhoods Plan. Arlington Neighborhoods Program staff provides technical, clerical and design assistance. Community members conduct a neighborhood-wide survey and consider opportunities, problems and areas for improvement. Then it must take an inventory of its existing conditions from curbs and sidewalks to parks libraries. This information is used to write a draft plan that is submitted to County staff for comments and suggestions.
Submit the Plan for Acceptance: Neighborhoods Plans go through a review process before being accepted by the ArNAC. Upon approval by the ArNAC, the neighborhood presents its plan to the Planning Commission, and finally to the County Board for formal approval.
Implement the Plan: Once a Neighborhood Plan is accepted by the County Board, the neighborhood is eligible to seek funding for specific projects. Requests for curb, gutter, sidewalk and streetlight projects must also be accompanied by a petition from a specified percentage of residents on the block. Every six months, the ArNAC provides neighborhood project funding recommendations to the County Board. Once funding is approved by the County Board, projects are scheduled.