Sometime later this summer, Arlington County is expected to release its Preliminary Concept Plan (“PCP”) for the Langston Boulevard Area Plan (“Plan Langston”). The long percolating plan has gone through one name change; obtained a host of community feedback initiatives with residents, developers, business owners, property owners, and many other interested parties; and received guidance from the County Planning Staff, the Langston Boulevard Alliance, and others. The County intends for the Plan Langston to guide future development along Langston Boulevard into the 2050’s.
Considering the PCP’s expected late summer release, many developers and investors are waiting to see whether the PCP’s proposed boundaries, skylines, community benefits, and infrastructure reflect the community’s input as expressed in multiple meetings and input from other sources.
It seems that Arlington County well understands that the key to guiding future development is changing the entitlement processes from by‑right development to a guiding plan requiring special exception/site plan/use permit approvals. The homebuilder community and mixed‑use developers would pay their fair share of more walkable streetscapes; additional parks; and updated infrastructure, including new stormwater management facilities, in exchange for more potential density and diversity of uses for their projects.
A trailblazer in urban planning, Arlington County successfully transformed targeted communities into ideal areas to live, work, and play by implementing smart growth strategies and fiscally sustainable financing structures. Some interested parties still advocate that Arlington County should bear the financial burden for Plan Langston by self‑funding new infrastructure and other planned improvements instead of establishing a more public/private approach for the revitalization that would pay for such improvements. The County will likely resolve to adhere to the smart growth and fiscally responsible approaches that have proven to be so successful over the years.
Please contact us if you have any questions concerning Plan Langston or for any other land use matters.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not contain or convey legal advice. Any views or opinions expressed herein are those of the authors and are not necessarily the views of the firm or any client of the firm.
