Arlington County Board Wrap-up for October 2024 Meetings

Published on October 28, 2024

The Arlington County Board considered and acted on many items at its October 2024 Board meetings. These include the following:

Saturday, October 20, 2024 – Regular County Board Meeting
Recovery Residences – Item 30
The County Board approved a Zoning Ordinance amendment to modify existing provisions for residential uses related to recovery residences. This amendment defines the term “recovery residence” in the County’s Zoning Ordinance. It allows as a residential use, by-right, for eight or fewer unrelated persons in single-family detached dwellings. Recovery residences will be subject to use permit approval by the County Board for more than eight residents.

Recovery residences provide alcohol- and illicit drug-free housing for independent living and support to people in recovery from substance abuse disorders including co-occurring mental illnesses. Typically, recovery residences are located in rental dwellings in residential neighborhoods. Oxford House, Inc. is a certified recovery residence with a Charter obliging the residents to follow the Oxford House system, which features a zero-tolerance policy regarding resident alcohol and/or illicit drug use, whether occurring on premise or off-site. Residents violating this prohibition are immediately expelled from the recovery residence.

These amendments were in response to a reasonable accommodation request made by Oxford House under the Federal Fair Housing Act that was submitted to the Zoning Administrator in 2023.

Chapter 46 re the County’s Retirement System (ACERS) – Item 31
The County Board also approved amendments to Chapter 46 of the County Code relating to Arlington County’s Employees’ Supplemental Retirement System—II). These amendments will provide a total compensation package that is attractive to the next generation of workers while ensuring a comprehensive retirement benefit package and maintaining the health of the County’s pension plan. 

Specific amendments included:

• Providing a different pension benefit formula and employee contribution for non-collectively bargained General employees hired after January 11, 2025, replacing the current 1.7% multiplier with 1.0% in the benefit formula and the current required employee contribution of creditable compensation of 4% with 2.5%;
  
  
• Closing an option created in 2012 that allows newly hired employees in the Management Accountability Program to opt out of the ACERS pension plan in exchange for a higher County contribution to a stand-alone defined contribution plan; and
  
  
• Correcting language submitted in May 2023 during contract negotiations with the Arlington Professional Firefighters and Paramedics Association, IAFF Local 2800. The May 2023 amendment regarding the definition of “personal injury” and under what circumstances and from whom the Retirement Board would hear appeals was not the final agreed-upon language. This item corrects that.
  
  

RTA re Towing Ordinance – Item 32
The Board also approved advertising a public hearing on proposed amendments to the County’s towing ordinance (Chapter 14.3 of Arlington County Code). The County Manager’s recommendations include:

• Increasing the maximum base towing fee to $150.00;
• Adding an additional $20.00 fuel surcharge to each tow with an expiration date of July 1, 2025;
• Increasing the “Drop Fee” from $10 to $20;
• Implementing a permitting system with an appeal process;
• Requiring 48 hours' notice to vehicle owners before removal from a multifamily lot based on an expired registration or inspection sticker;
• Requiring written authorization of the owner of the property from which the vehicle is towed or his agent at the time of vehicle removal, in addition to having a contract in place with the owner, operator or lessee of property from which the vehicle is towed;
• Implementing regulations for truck signage, smart payment transactions and timing of load securement;
• Requiring towing operator to provide police with the information surrounding the individual who authorized the tow; and
• Clarifying requirements around vehicle release, receipt production and photographs and other documentary evidence substantiating the reason a vehicle is being towed.

The adopted changes to the ordinance reflect the changes to Virginia law effective July 1, 2025.

RTA re Firearm Use for Deer Management – Item 33
The Board also approved advertising a public hearing on November 16, 2024, on proposed amendments to the County’s Firearms ordinance (Chapter 13) and Miscellaneous Offenses and Provisions (Chapter 17) of the Arlington County Code, to permit the discharge of firearms for county-supervised professional sharpshooting as a method of deer management.

The proposed recommendations result from the Deer Management Program, which began in Spring 2021 to investigate and address the potential need for active deer management in County-owned natural land parks. Based on expert recommendations from the project consultant, community feedback, regional benchmarking, peer-reviewed research, and local data, the County Manager is recommending a hybrid approach centered around professional sharpshooting to immediately reduce that population in County-owned natural land parks.

The following is an overview of what professional sharpshooting is and why the County Manager is recommending it:

• Professional sharpshooting is a lethal technique employing professional sharpshooters using firearms to reduce deer populations;

• Professional sharpshooting has been shown in peer reviewed literature, as well as operations regionally, such as those on National Park Service properties and Fairfax County, to reduce deer populations sufficiently to support forest regeneration.

• Professional sharpshooters fire downward at short range, using sound suppressors to mitigate noise and special ammunition that breaks apart upon contact with vegetation;

• The Deer Management Program analysis found no reported cases of injury to bystanders in professional sharpshooting operations nationwide; 

• Professional sharpshooting operations will be carried out when parks are closed, under the supervision of Arlington County Police Department and Department of Parks and Recreation staff and with careful communication to nearby neighborhoods; and

• Venison from sharpshooting operations will be donated to those facing food insecurity when feasible.

Tuesday, October 22, 2024 – Recessed County Board Meeting

1031 N. Vermont Street request to Permit Encroachment – Item 34
The Board also approved a request by 1031 Vermont Street Apartments LLC, to enact an Ordinance to permit the encroachment of an underground transformer vault and surface level transformer lids into an easement for public sidewalk and utilities purposes along North Vermont Street to facilitate completion of the new 1031 Vermont Street Apartments under Site Plan (SP #447) approved on February 24, 2018, and amended on June 13, 2020.  

Registering to Speak at future Public Hearings
Registration to speak on an item with a scheduled public hearing opens approximately a week before the meeting, and members of the public can either register online or call in at 703-228-3130. Those wanting to participate in these hearings can do so in person, virtually, or by phone and will receive instructions on these options once they have completed their registration. Members of the public wanting to speak on a Consent Agenda item may do so by notifying the County Board Office before 9 AM at Regular Meetings to request the item be pulled from the agenda. Members of the public may then register to speak on pulled agenda items at the upcoming Tuesday Recessed meeting. Agendas will note which consent agenda items are subject to public hearing requirements and which require Board member consent to be removed.

Members of the public are also strongly encouraged to subscribe to the County Board's News and Updates service to be alerted when meeting agendas are posted. Board meeting and agenda information can be accessed on the County Board's webpage.

Visit 2024 County Board Meeting and Procedures on the County website to Learn More.