Plan Langston Boulevard is a chance to make Arlington more inclusive

Langston Boulevard in Arlington County is like a lot of suburban strips in the DC area: five miles of big, fast road winding through leafy, affluent neighborhoods, occasionally punctuated by something bigger: a supermarket, an apartment complex, a school. Formerly called Lee Highway, today the road is known as a local foodie hub, with its unassuming strip malls hiding everything from Italian to Pakistani dishes. It looks much the same as it has for decades, and in 2013, local residents formed a group called the Langston Boulevard Alliance to advocate for a redesign.

The result is Plan Langston Boulevard, which Arlington County has worked with community members to craft for several years. It’s now out for people to review and give feedback. Among its recommendations: allowing buildings up to seven stories tall, with shops on the bottom and parking in back or underground; redesigning Langston Boulevard with wider sidewalks and protected bike lanes; and expanding the tree canopy and green infrastructure that can absorb stormwater and reduce flooding. Think of it as a smaller-scale version of Wilson Boulevard or Columbia Pike, the two other corridors where Arlington has focused development over the past several decades.

One Arlington resident who’s excited about the plan is Cody Finnegan, a high school junior who interviewed me and others about Plan Langston Boulevard for the Arlington Amp, a podcast from Arlington Independent Media’s Youth Journalism Initiative. In this program, Arlington high school students learn how to produce both podcasts and videos that tell stories about their community–from how local government works to how a food truck reveals the evolution of Arlington’s Black community.

Cody talks to residents who organized to make the plan happen, as well as those who still have questions about it. One big question is: can this plan, which covers some of the region’s wealthiest, most exclusive neighborhoods, make this part of Arlington County more inclusive? “It’s not just a question of what the [Langston Boulevard] corridor will look and feel like; it’s also a question of who and how many will have access to it,” he says.

One issue is what neighborhoods are included in Plan Langston Boulevard. The plan includes Hall’s Hill, one of the county’s few historically Black neighborhoods, once separated from surrounding white communities by a wall, and today a more diverse part of the Langston Boulevard corridor. But county officials removed other, historically whiter and more affluent neighborhoods like Cherrydale and East Falls Church, though they say they’ll come back and look at them later.

Another issue is how the plan treats affordable housing. Just a small portion of the county’s Committed Affordable Units (CAFs), homes permanently set aside for lower-income households, are located in the Langston Boulevard corridor. The draft plan Arlington County officials are reviewing includes recommendations for where, and how, to build affordable housing along Langston Boulevard, with a goal of making it happen by 2075.

You read that right: 2075! Trekkies will note that the year 2075 is twelve years after Earth makes first contact with aliens from another world. Unlike warp drive, we already have the technology to build affordable housing, and people can’t afford to wait another 50 years for it.

Advocates can and should demand more, and now’s your chance to do that as Arlington County will hold two public hearings on Plan Langston Boulevard this fall. First, the Planning Commission, which advises the County Board on planning and land use issues, will hold a public hearing on October 30. Then, the County Board itself will hold a hearing on November 11.

Below is our testimony for the County Board, which echoes recommendations from affordable housing advocates including the Alliance for Housing Solutions on how to ensure Plan Langston Boulevard can actually deliver a more affordable, inclusive community. Here’s where you can sign up to speak, and where you can send your own comments.

Dear Chair Dorsey and members of the Arlington County Board:

My name is Dan Reed, and I serve as the Regional Policy Director for Greater Greater Washington, a nonprofit that works to advance racial, economic, and environmental justice in land use, transportation, and housing throughout Greater Washington. GGWash supports the draft recommendations for Plan Langston Boulevard with the changes described below.

Plan Langston Boulevard is a forward-thinking document that reflects years of hard work and important conversations about the challenges and opportunities facing this corridor. The Langston Boulevard corridor is home to some of the county’s highest-resource neighborhoods, with sought-after schools, multiple parks, plentiful shopping options, and easy access to the job-rich Rosslyn-Ballston corridor. It’s also largely off-limits to the county’s most vulnerable residents, due to the high cost of housing and lack of affordable options.

Affordable housing in Arlington is so concentrated that nearly all of the CAFs (committed affordable units) in the county are located south of I-66, outside of the Plan Langston Boulevard study area. Since 2010, only 100 CAFs have been added to the Langston Boulevard corridor, and according to the draft plan, as of August 2023 there are just 263 CAFs in the corridor available to households making under 60% AMI (area median income). While there are some market-rate affordable units along Langston Boulevard, there is no guarantee they’ll remain that way in the future.

This plan is a once-in-a-generation chance to change this, as it recommends upzoning along the Langston Boulevard corridor, unlocking underutilized properties like strip malls for higher-intensity development, including thousands of new homes. The plan will guide decision-makers on how and where to place affordable housing for decades, meaning it must clearly express the county’s commitment to creating more affordable homes and addressing a legacy of racial and socioeconomic segregation.

With this in mind, we recommend the following changes:

• Include a commitment to expand existing housing programs to support households earning 30% AMI salaries.

• Identify ways to achieve the 2,500 CAFs along the Langston Boulevard corridor promised in the Affordable Housing Master Plan by 2040, not the current goal of 2075, which is not a serious solution for people who need affordable housing now.

• Include a firm commitment to an immediate review and update of the East Falls Church and Cherrydale area plans in order to provide more CAFs towards our goal of 2,500 units along Langston Boulevard.

• Include a commitment to increasing Affordable Housing Investment Fund (AHIF) loans and other supports to preserve MARKs (market-rate affordable units) and build as many new CAFs as possible.

• Include a commitment to the timely development of a “Creative Toolkit” for increasing affordable housing production, including an acquisition fund for CAFs, bonus density provisions or incentives for affordable units along the entire corridor, and co-locating affordable homes on County/APS land.

Thank you for considering our comments. We’re excited to see Arlington County work towards a more inclusive future for the Langston Boulevard corridor, and we look forward to working with the County Board to make it a reality.

Sincerely,

Dan Reed

Regional Policy Director

Greater Greater Washington