The Arlington County Board will consider and act on dozens of items at its Regular Board Meeting on Saturday, October 19, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. and its Recessed Meeting on Tuesday, October 22, 2024, at 3:00 p.m.
Virtual participation options are available to the public through Microsoft Teams. If you are sick or experiencing symptoms of COVID-19, please consider watching the meeting's live webcast or cable broadcast or participating virtually via Microsoft Teams. More information on how to participate or watch virtually is provided below.
If you wish to comment during the Public Comment period at the start of the Regular Hearing or on a Regular Public Hearing Item, register in advance on the County Board website, where you can also find more details on public participation in virtual Board Meetings, or call the Board Office at 703-228-3130 from 8 a.m.-5 p.m., Monday-Friday. Online Registration opens once the agenda for the meeting is posted, approximately one week before the meeting. In-person registration is also available on the day of the meetings.
Watch it Live
County Board meetings are live-streamed on the County website and on YouTube and broadcast live on Arlington TV, the County's cable channel, with live captioning on Comcast 25 & 1085 (HD) and Verizon FiOS 39 & 40. Videos of Board meetings are archived on the County website (with captions and staff reports) and on YouTube.
Recovery Residences – Item 30
The County Board will consider a Zoning Ordinance amendment to modify existing provisions for residential uses related to recovery residences. If adopted, this would define the term “recovery residence” in the County’s Zoning Ordinance, and allow as a residential use, by-right, for eight or fewer unrelated persons in single-family detached dwellings. Recovery residences would 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 are 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 will also consider amendments to Chapter 46 of the County Code relating to Arlington County’s Employees’ Supplemental Retirement System—II. These amendments are being considered with the intent to 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 include:
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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%;
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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 would correct that.
RTA re Towing Ordinance – Item 32
The Board will also consider 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:
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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;
The proposed 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 will also consider 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 Arlington’s 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, 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 Project 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
• Venison from sharpshooting operations will be donated to those facing food insecurity when feasible.
1031 N. Vermont Street request to Permit Encroachment – Item 34
The Board will also consider 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.