The Arlington County Board made changes to bonus height and bonus density zoning policy at their November 16 meeting to allow for greater flexibility in developing affordable housing in certain areas of the County.
In Arlington County’s press release bonuses are described as “land use tool[s] that allow for additional density and height above the level indicated on the General Land Use Plan and applicable zoning district standards by County Board approval when the Board makes certain findings about the proposed development.”
The Board voted unanimously to amend the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance to remove the current cap of 25 percent above that allowed in the respective zoning district for residential projects (or an additional 0.25 FAR for office projects) in return for providing affordable housing and community facilities. This will allow developers to increase the amount of affordable housing they include in their projects in exchange for additional density.
However, in the same decision, the Board also removed their ability to approve bonus height in exchange for affordable housing. In the future, heights will be capped at the maximum of what is allowed in the zoning district or other approved plan for the area. In our letter to the Board (see below) we encouraged them to keep this tool to be used as needed.
The decision also allows greater flexibility in the definition of “affordable housing” in future bonus density proposals. Rather than limiting the definition to 60% of Area Median Income for rental and 80% of Area Median Income for home ownership, the Board will now have more leeway to approve a variety of income levels consistent with the County’s Affordable Housing Master Plan (AHMP). The AHMP was originally approved in 2015 and is scheduled to be updated in 2020.
For more information, see ArlNow’s recap of the meeting and the County staff’s report on the proposal.
The Alliance for Housing Solutions sent the following letter to the Arlington County Board prior to the November 16 meeting:
Dear Chair Dorsey and Members of the County Board:
We are writing on behalf of the AHS board of directors to express our support for revisions to the bonus density provision in the Arlington County Zoning Code. However, we have concerns about the related changes staff have proposed to eliminate the option to provide bonus height for affordable housing.
Arlington needs to ramp up its production of committed affordable units to meet its own goals as established in the 2015 Affordable Housing Master Plan (AHMP) as well as new regional expectations. The AHMP set a goal of making 17.7% of the County’s affordable housing stock affordable to renters below 60% of Area Median Income. Since the plan was passed, the annual production of affordable units has fallen well below the level needed to meet this goal and the actual share has dropped from 9.2% to 8.8%.
In September, the Washington Metropolitan Council of Governments (MWCOG) voted to approve its first ever regional housing targets. The COG Board of Directors – elected officials from throughout the Metro area, including Arlington – agreed that the entire region needs to build 320,000 homes over the next 10 years, which is 75,000 more than what is currently planned. COG also agreed that 75% of this new housing should be located in activity centers or near transit, and that 75% should be affordable to low and middle-income households.
Bonus Density
AHS strongly supports the staff recommendation to remove the current 25% cap on bonus density for affordable housing. This change will help create additional committed affordable units without the need for Affordable Housing Investment Fund (AHIF) allocations. This change will also place affordable housing on a more even footing relative to other community benefits such as open space and green building, for which bonus density is not subject to any caps.
Bonus Height
Staff also proposes to eliminate the ability that the County Board currently has to allow certain projects to achieve up to six stories of additional height in exchange for affordable housing. Given the significant needs for additional affordable units in Arlington, it does not seem wise to eliminate any option that is currently available. We strongly recommend that the County Board adopt the alternate language advertised in October that would allow maintaining this tool for future use.
We understand that staff is concerned about heights that would exceed levels in adopted County plans. In many cases where this proposed change would apply, these plans are in need of updating, but these updates would require longer studies and planning processes that would add to costs and delay bringing much-needed affordable units to the market. The current bonus height provision provides authority to the County Board to grant any additional height, so there is substantial ability for the County to control how and when this bonus will be applied.
We appreciate the County Board’s focus on meeting Arlington’s affordable housing needs, and we urge you to maintain as many tools as possible to help bring production to the levels required to meet our local and regional goals.
Sincerely,
Mary Margaret Whipple Chair, AHS
David Leibson President, AHS