February 2025 County Board Meeting Agenda Highlights
Published on February 14, 2025
The Arlington County Board will consider and act on as many as 23 items at its Regular and Recessed County Board Meetings. The Regular meeting will be held on Saturday, February 22, 2025, at 9:30 a.m., and the Recessed Meeting on Tuesday, February 25, 2025, at 1:30 p.m.
The meetings, held in the County Board Room on the third floor of 2100 Clarendon Blvd., are open to the public. Please visit the County website for information on speaking at a County Board Meeting.
Virtual participation options are available to the public through Microsoft Teams. If you are sick, 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.
Comment on Agenda Items and Speak at the Meeting
Please send your written comments on agenda items to the County Board at CountyBoard@arlingtonva.us. All comments received by the Board are made part of the public record and are before the Board members as they consider items.
If you wish to comment during the Public Comment period at the start of the Regular Hearing or on a Regular Public Hearing Item, please 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
All 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 & 1073 (HD) and Verizon FiOS 39 & 40. Videos of Board meetings are archived on the County website (with captions and staff reports) and on YouTube.
Saturday, February 22, 2025 – Regular County Board Meeting
Item #19 – Climate Action Resolution
The County Board will consider adopting Climate Action Resolution that would guide the County and Board’s whole-of-community and whole-of-government approach to current, planned, and future climate and environmental-related policies and operations. This resolution offers 3 main areas of focus with key actions (detailed in the resolution):
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Incorporating a common framework to guide sustainability and climate decision making, including guiding questions around climate adaptation, mitigation, and resilience. to be included in the Fiscal Year 2027 Operating Budget and FY2027-2036 Capital Improvement Plan.
Climate change remains an existential threat to the planet and to humanity's wellbeing, as 2024 was the warmest year on record. Adoption of this resolution would be a continuation of the efforts centralize investments and resources to address the negative impacts of Climate Change in our community. The County has established the Climate Policy Office, and in FY2025, an Assistant County Manager was named to head this office - an elevated position that reflects the County’s commitment to ongoing climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience efforts.
Item #20 – Ranked Choice Voting
The Board will also consider extending the pilot use of Ranked Choice Voting (“RCV”) as the election method for the 2025 County Board general election. This extension would allow the Board to continue to monitor implementation and public reception to the voting method.
Generally speaking, RCV is an election method that allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference. Under Virginia state law, in years where only one seat is open, like the upcoming 2025 County Board general election, a threshold of 50 percent and 1 vote is used to determine a winner.
The County Board has incrementally expanded use of RCV as the election method in County Board elections since December 2022. RCV was first piloted in the June 2023 County Board primary and then adopted by the County Board in December of 2023 as the method for all future County Board primary elections. The County Board voted last February to pilot the use of RCV in the 2024 general election. The Board is now considering extending the pilot use of RCV in the general election for another year.
Item #21 – Melwood Site
The Board will also consider a set of applications for a General Land Use Plan (GLUP) amendment, rezoning, and new site plan (SPLN24-00002 aka SP #478) to facilitate development of a 5-story mixed-use building, located at 750 23rd Street South.
In May 2024, the County Board accepted the Melwood Special GLUP Study and authorized advertising a change in the GLUP designation from "Public" to "Low-Medium" Residential for the site (Parcel A aka RPC #36-039-015 only) if such request was made in association with a rezoning and appropriate site plan application to redevelop the site in conformance with the Melwood Special GLUP Study document guidance.
The applicant, 23rd Redevelopment Owner LLC, proposes the new 5-story mixed-use building consisting of multiple-family residential units (100% CAFs) and ground floor institutional space operating as a community service use for a nonprofit providing job training and support programs for people with disabilities. To facilitate this redevelopment, the applicant is requesting to change the GLUP designation from "Public" to "Low-Medium" Residential and a rezoning from "C-1" Local Commercial District and "R-6" One-Family Dwelling District to "RA8-18" Multiple-family Dwelling District. The proposed "RA8-18" zoning district corresponds with the proposed "Low-Medium" Residential GLUP designation.
Additionally, the Board will consider a use permit for a community service use to allow Melwood to continue its current job training and support programs for people with disabilities in the new building.
Item #22 – County Manager’s FY26 Proposed Operating Budget Presentation
The County Manager will present his proposed operating budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2026. A public hearing on the budget and associated tax rates will be held at the Tuesday recessed meeting on February 25, 2025.
Arlington’s annual operating budget outlines spending on County programs, services and administration for the coming fiscal year, which begins July 1. The County Manger and County Board are committed to engaging the Arlington community to approve a budget that reflects the Board’s guidance to the Manager approved in December 2024.
Tuesday, February 25, 2025 – Recessed County Board Meeting
The Recessed Meeting will begin at 1:30 p.m. with a closed session, followed by reports from the Board and County Manager no earlier than 3:30 p.m. Agenda items will be heard no earlier than 6 p.m.
Public Hearings
The Board will hold a public hearing no earlier than 6:00 p.m. and consider items pulled from the Saturday Consent Agenda. Regular public hearings will be held after carryover Consent Agenda items are considered.