The Arlington Civic Federation has alerted us that the County is continuing to focus on proposed lot coverage restrictions. Although this issue is more pressing for other neighborhoods, I am including below for your information the latest advisory from the Federation's President, Patrick Smaldore.

Subject: New Proposed Lot Coverage Restrictions

Hello Everyone!!

The purpose of this email is to update you on what?s
happening with the new proposed Lot Coverage
restrictions and what the Civic Federation?s Planning
& Zoning Committee is doing.

Proposed Lot Coverage Restrictions Are Back Again
Three years ago, the the Civic Federation Planning
Commission?s Zoning Ordinance Review Committee (ZORC)
developed three proposed options for reducing lot
coverage, with the goal of preventing McMansions and
excessive infill. At the request of County Staff, the
Civic Federation held a forum at which proponents and
opponents presented the pros and cons of each option.
The Civic Federation?s Planning & Zoning Committee
prepared a survey to capture audience support and
found no consensus.

In September 2004 ZORC issued a new set of
recommendations which are on the County Web site
www.arlingtonva.us. (Search for ?ZORC Coverage Report
9-9-04? and click to download.) The new ZORC
recommendations would reduce the current lot coverage
of 56% for each of five zoning categories, as shown
below along with ZORC?s estimates of the percent of
homes that will be non conforming if the the new
standards are adopted.

- 45% for R-5 zoned properties (minimum lot size 5,000
square feet; 10% will be non conforming)
- 40% for R-6 zoned properties (6,000 square feet; 5%
will be non conforming)
- 35% for R-8 zoned properties (minimum lot size 8,000
square feet; 8% will be non conforming)
- 32% for R-10 zoned properties (minimum lot size
10,000 square feet; 10% will be non conforming)
- 20% for R-20 zoned properties (minimum lot size
20,000 square feet; 22% will be non conforming)

The ZORC recommendations also make a few changes to
what counts as ?coverage? ? it?s always been more than
the footprint of the house and garage ? and proposes
some bonuses for items like front porches and detached
garages.

Status of the ZORC Recommendations:
When the September version of the ZORC report was
released, it was anticipated that the County Manager
would advertise an ordinance change for lot coverage
and the County Board would vote on it sometime in
December. As of this writing, the County Manager is
not yet ready to advertise a change to the existing
ordinance. Like the initial ZORC options, the latest
recommendations have produced some opposition from
homeowners and developers. After talking with NCAC, a
civic association, and some concerned homeowners,
County staff has begun looking at alternatives that
would affect fewer existing properties.

This is not to say that the ZORC recommendations are
off the table: It?s possible that the County Manager
will eventually advertise the ZORC proposal and also
offer the County Board some less comprehensive
options, such as coverage restrictions on new houses
or teardowns.

What the Planning & Zoning Committee of the Civic
Federation Is Doing - Our committee is preparing to do
extensive work on the proposed lot coverage changes.
We are already researching possible unintended
consequences on insurance and refinancing for
properties that will be non-conforming if the
restrictions are enacted. If the County Manager
advertises the ZORC recommendations, we will hold a
Public Forum on the issue to gather input and
reaction.

County staff is developing a process to answer
questions about individual properties.

All of this will take time, therefore we have also
recommended that the County Board vote be scheduled to
give property owners several months to understand the
impact of the advertised proposals.

We invite all Civic Federation delegates to join the
Planning & Zoning Committee to consider the proposed
lot coverage ordinance changes. Delegates may
participate on this topic without expectation that
they must stay on the committee for other issues.

If you or a delegate would like to join this
committee, please email:

bill@civfed.org or martha@civfed.org.

Thank you.

Regards,

=====
Patrick A. Smaldore Jr.