On February 12, 2022, the Arlington County Board voted 5-0 to approve a new vision for the future of the rapidly developing Pentagon City neighborhood. Along with several other local groups, the Alliance for Housing Solutions recommended that the County adopt the Sector Plan.
The Sector Plan will add much-needed new housing in an area not currently prepared to handle the density expected from the arrival of Amazon’s HQ2. In an unprecedented move, the Plan requires at least 10% of net newly constructed rental units in Pentagon City to be affordable at up to 60% of Area Median Income (AMI) and 10% of owner units affordable up to 80% of AMI, all for a period of 30 years.AHS also applauds the Sector Plan’s eye toward sustainability, which thoughtfully considers public spaces and tree canopy as well as walkability and bikability.
AHS believes Pentagon City is an ideal location for increased density in Arlington due to its proximity to mass transit, a major airport, and employment opportunities. We will continue to provide updates as the process moves forward with specific site plans and opportunities for community engagement.
AHS’s full letter to the County reads:
February 9, 2022
Hon. Katie Cristol
2100 Clarendon Boulevard
Arlington, VA 22201
Dear Chair Cristol,
The Alliance for Housing Solutions is in full support of the draft Pentagon City Sector Plan that the County Board will be considering at its February 12, 2022, meeting. AHS would like to commend Arlington County Planning Division staff and the staff of several other departments who joined forces to produce this Sector Plan. The Pentagon City area is a rapidly developing segment of Arlington and yet it lacks a comprehensive planning document.
This Sector Plan process offered the Arlington community at large and the local neighbors, in particular, the opportunity to articulate our collective values regarding housing supply, green space, transportation, biking/walking, community services, and more. We thank the Livability 22202 coalition of adjacent civic associations, and other local groups, as well as County Planning Staff, for their efforts to gather and distill expressed needs and goals of the Pentagon City area from hundreds of Arlington participants.
Housing supply is at crisis levels throughout Arlington, and acutely so since Amazon arrived in Pentagon City, where average rents have been rising rapidly and the area is gentrifying quickly. Low-rent housing is disappearing and the area is not well planned to handle the expected density in the years to come.
By today’s standards, Pentagon City still has relatively low density, considering its adjacency to multiple forms of public transportation, business, retail, and a major airport. This Sector Plan includes important new expansions in planned density that will result in many new housing units on underutilized space, especially on surface parking lots at the River House complex, while proactively preserving green space and improving walkability and bikability across the area.
Currently, there are a total of 342 committed affordable housing units (CAFs) in the study area, of which 300 are age-restricted units located in the Claridge House building. There are 42 more CAFs being designated as part of previous site plans in the larger National Landing area, and 35 more CAFs in production, for a total of only 377 CAFs in the Pentagon City area. Arlington’s Affordable Housing Master Plan calls for 2,200 CAFs in the greater Pentagon City/Crystal City area. This Sector Plan will go a long way to adding much-needed housing supply, including affordable units.
In a bold and new way, this plan establishes a threshold of at least 10% of all net new residential density be designated for on-site affordable units. It should be stated that it is unprecedented to require a 10% minimum CAF count in a Sector Plan, and AHS applauds staff for including this important element among the community benefits it will require from developers.
That said, the County should further explore how these future CAF units could be retained after their 30-year period of affordability ends. What kind of creative and outside-the-box thinking can we bring to this challenge? It should also be noted that this is a minimum requirement in the Plan, meaning that as individual sites come for site plan review, the County will have an opportunity to further negotiate the required CAFs on a case-by-case basis, for example requesting more on-site units, or a higher percentage of family-sized CAFs, or that some CAF units be available at less than 60% AMI.
According to the draft Sector Plan, much of the new residential density will be located on the surface parking lots scattered on the River House site. This is a prudent use of space – to concentrate additional density near where it already exists, while permanently preserving the surrounding open space and protecting the lower-density residential areas found in the larger Pentagon City area. As per the language in this Plan, these scattered green spaces will be consolidated over time and secured as public green/open space – whereas today, they are privately controlled green spaces and, as such, they could be developed by-right at any time and would be lost as open space forever. The Plan will also require a minimum tree canopy be maintained or restored as sites are redeveloped, along with streetscape and bikability improvements.
In conclusion, the proposed Pentagon City Sector Plan reflects the current vision of the Pentagon City area, and it anticipates the needs of future residents in a planned, organized manner. By including on-site affordable units, along with the emphasis on a sustainable, walkable neighborhood, this Sector Plan will expand opportunity and housing choice and help Pentagon City evolve into an even more livable neighborhood for its current and future renters and owners of all income levels.
AHS encourages the County Board to adopt the draft Pentagon City Sector Plan.
Jenny Denney Lawson
Chair, Board of Directors
Martha Bozman
Interim Executive Director