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:  

• 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 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:  

• 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 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.