Housing Committee

Housing Committee Annual Report 2004-05 The Housing Committee of the Arlington County Civic Federation (ACCF) met several times this year to clarify our goals and objectives: to promote the availability of the full continuum of affordable housing through the preservation of existing properties and development of new properties which would include home ownership for Arlington public and private employees. We discussed two possible ACCF issues for the General Assembly: 1) the restoration of the Virginia Housing Partnership Fund; 2) legislation relating to the provision of affordable housing in site plan projects and other new development. We discussed questions we sent to the Arlington County Board about affordable housing possibilities.. We followed the lawsuit against the Board's 10% dedicated affordable units for bonus density. We invited the Planning and Zoning Committee to join us in discussion of a proposed resolution on form-based code and arrived at a consensus not to recommend it to the Federation.

We brought two resolutions to the Federation and were successful in having both adopted. Our March 1 resolution supported the County Board's February 15 resolution which in turn affirmed the County's goal of devoting 10% of the floor area of site plan buildings to on-site affordable housing and also directed the County Manager to clarify language in the General Land Use Plan regarding limits on maximum density. On May 3 the Federation supported our resolution as amended which called for the involvement of the Civic Federation in any County process that would amend the General Land Use Plan and changes to the Zoning Ordinance.

The County Roundtable on Affordable Housing held its first meeting on May 31 and is representing the ACCF.

Housing Committee member Joe Wholey has drafted a proposal for a Live Near Your Work/Workforce Housing Coalition to involve Arlington and other Northern Virginia employers, developers, land owners, financial institutions, residents, and other stakeholders in efforts to increase the supply of housing that is affordable to a broad range of employees who work in Arlington, Alexandria, Falls Church, and Fairfax County - public servants, employees of nonprofit organizations, and employees of private firms. The Housing Committee will ask for the Civic Federation's support of the Live Near Your Work/Workforce Housing Coalition.

Finally, three members of the Housing Committee have been active in an ad hoc planning committee for a July 16 Forum on Development and Affordable Housing. We urge the delegates and of the Civic Federation to attend. The working title of the Forum is "10 Big Ideas for Arlington". It is scheduled for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association (NRECA,) 4301 Wilson Blvd, from 9 to 1 on Saturday, July 16. As soon as details are final, additional information will be available on the Civic Federation website.

Kathryn Scruggs Chair
Housing Committee

Schools Committee

The committee recommended to the Federation support for the November school bonds, while voicing concern about the impact of the growing debt service on the operating fund. We prepared topics/questions for the School Board's December visit to the Civic Federation. We monitored the North Arlington elementary boundary process, after concerns were raised about possible bias in the process. We reviewed the Superintendent's proposed FY06 budget and made recommendations concerning it to the Federation.

In June, the committee will follow the school system's capital programs process, which will be dealing with escalating construction costs for Washington-Lee and other projects. Various members of the committee have attended numerous School Board meetings and their work sessions.

Effective June 1, 2005, long-time co-chairs Roger Meyer and Terri Prell resigned their leadership positions. Beth Wolffe was appointed as the new chairwoman. Roger Meyer will continue to serve on the committee. Terri Prell will continue as the Civic Federation's representative to the school system's Arlington Committee on Instruction, and Roger Meyer will continue to serve as alternate delegate. The committee gratefully honors Roger and Terri for their outstanding leadership and continued work in the schools community.

Committee membership:

William Barker
Barbara DePauw
John DePauw
Herschel Kanter
Roye Lowry
Roger Meyer
Terri Prell
Jim Schroeder
Tim Wise
Beth Wolffe

This page was last revised on: June 10, 2005.