Arlington County and Alexandria are moving forward with actions that could potentially launch a new era of planning and development in their respective communities.
“Arlington and Alexandria are taking a hard look at single-family zoning” as housing prices rise in Northern Virginia, according to an article by Luca Gattoni-Celli for Greater Greater Washington.
In Arlington County, planners are building on the Missing Middle Housing Study (previous Planetizen coverage), “policy staff recently unveiled a proposal to permit multiplex housing with up to eight units in all single-family zones.,” reports Gattoni-Celli. “The County Board could adopt this new scheme by the fall.”
In Alexandria, “the City Council’s official 2022 budget and policy priorities include, ‘Provide Diverse Housing Opportunities,’ starting with reconsidering zoning,” adds Gattoni-Celli.
Deeper analysis of Arlington County’s framework for Missing Middle Housing and Alexandria’s history of using zoning to achieve exclusionary and discriminatory ends are included in the source article below.
FULL STORY: Zoning reform is looking viable in Northern Virginia
Missing Middle Housing Study Launches in Arlington County, Virginia
Missing Middle Housing, the kinds of additional density that can be added with limited construction on a footprint the size of traditional single-family homes, is gaining momentum in the D.C. region.
Court Blocks Arlington County Zoning Reform
The county’s zoning reform plan would have promoted ‘missing middle housing’ types of up to six units on lots previously zoned for single-family housing.
The End of Single-Family Zoning in Arlington County, Virginia
Arlington County is the latest jurisdiction in the country to effectively end single-family zoning.
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Eagle County Government
Harvard University Graduate School of Design
Nashville Planning Department
The Architects Foundation
University of Cincinnati Online
The Pocatello Development Authority
The Urban Renewal Agency of the City of Pocatello
Journal of the American Planning Association