Thermal Systems at Two Energy House Sites in Arlington
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Rich Abernathy of Air Cool & Heating Systems, Inc., installed geothermal systems at two Energy House sites in Arlington. ArlinArlingtonTheThe gton ConnectionConnection EnergyEnergy Sports page 12 ❖ EfficiencyEfficiency News,News, PagePage 1010 Classified, page 14 Classified, ❖ Patchwork of Approaches to Entertainment, page 8 Affordable Housing News, Page 3 How Will West Rosslyn Be Won? News, Page 2 W-L Boys’ Soccer Falls Short in State Final Sports, Page 12 Page 13 Photo by Louise Krafft/The Connection online at www.connectionnewspapers.com www.ConnectionNewspapers.comJune 18-24, 2014 Arlington Connection ❖ June 18-24, 2014 ❖ 1 News How Will West Rosslyn Be Won? while five more were waiting to play and three other Neighborhood finds young people watching the action. That count may be a little wrong because tots, itself at center of “when they are having fun, are hard to count,” said conflicting interests. Mulligan. “Please be mindful of the green space.” By Michael Lee Pope IN THE COMING months, Arlington County gov- The Connection ernment officials must find a way to be mindful of a dizzying array of conflicting interests and influences. eighbors want open space. A developer At issue is six acres known as the Western Rosslyn wants density. Arlington County wants Area Planning Study area, where a working group Na new fire station. School officials want has already been meeting for more than a year to a new facility. And nonprofit leaders help draft a conceptual plan to guide development. want affordable housing. And all this will happen “This is a rare opportunity to meet community on about six acres of highly prized land hugging the goals in a dense part of the county with little avail- of Arlington Co Courtesy western edge of Rosslyn, an increasingly urban part able land,” said Arlington County Manager Barbara of the county that some have taken to calling “Man- Donnellan in a written statement last year. “I am hattan on the Potomac.” excited about the prospects of the possibilities of fu- “We all know this is a prime piece of land,” said ture public/private development and look forward County Board Chairman Jay Fisette. “It’s also a lim- to working with the community over the next year.” ited and bounded property.” Now county leaders are on the verge of making Neighborhood residents say they are concerned some difficult choices as they hear from competing about the community use of the area, which includes interests in the neighborhood. One is the Washing- a park, basketball court and playground next to a ton-based Penzance Group, a developer hoping to unty Government property Arlington County Public Schools wants to score enough density in the zoning process to finance redevelop. Rosslyn resident Paul Mulligan appeared a deal. Then there’s the county government, which before County Board members last weekend to de- wants to demolish Fire Station 10 and build a new tail the heavy use the area receives. On one recent facility. The area is also home to the old Wilson afternoon, Mulligan told elected officials, 18 chil- School, built in 1910. School officials initially wanted dren and parents were on the playground while 10 young people were engaged in a game on the court See At Center, Page 4 Property ownership. 2 ❖ Arlington Connection ❖ June 18-24, 2014 www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Arlington Connection Editor Steven Mauren News 703-778-9415 or [email protected] Patchwork of Approaches to Affordable Housing Northern Virginia jurisdictions use a variety of strategies to prevent homelessness. By Michael Lee Pope Alexandria has increased its stock of afford- The Connection able housing units by only 7 percent over the last decade. That represents about 6 drian Pineda is worried. percent of households in the city. Although Scribbling on an empty Fairfax County has increased its housing Asheet of paper with an or- stock more than 30 percent over the last ange crayon, the first grade decade, the county’s dedicated affordable student at William Ramsay Elemen- housing units represents less than 4 percent tary School said he does not want to of households in the county. lose all his friends. He’s lived in Alex- “Fairfax County does have both their af- andria all his life, and he doesn’t want fordable dwelling unit ordinance and what’s to move. But his parents have warned called their workforce policy ordinance, him over and over again that they may which says that if you are redeveloping not be able to afford to stay in Alex- there’s a requirement that you develop andria, where the city government housing for the workforce,” said Michelle recently approved a zoning change Krocker, executive director of the Northern that will open the door to a developer Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance. “The demolishing their apartment complex weakness I see in that is that these and replace it with high-end housing workforce units serve people from 80 per- his parents will not be able to afford. cent to 120 percent of area median income, “I don’t understand,” said Adrian, and that’s a high level of income to be serv- who is 7 years old. “Why do we have ing. We really need to be serving people at to move?” Photo by Michael Lee Pope/The Connection 60 percent of area median income.” Adrian Pineda, center, is a first-grade student at William Ramsay Elemen- Getting a dedicated unit is not easy, and tary School who is worried his parents may not be able to afford living in local governments are struggling to deal “The main answer is Alexandria when the apartment where his family lives is demolished. with increasing demand as low-income resi- dents find themselves living in an area money, but the money 30 percent of its income on housing costs, “When you look at the communities that where the cost of living is rising faster than flows from the priorities including rent or mortgage as well as taxes are getting pushed out, it’s the communi- their incomes. The lingering effects of the and utilities. Sometimes that’s a function ties of the most vulnerable,” said Ross Kane, recession also make it difficult for those at of the leadership and the of the free market, such as the rent paid by associate rector at St. Paul’s Episcopal the bottom end of the economic spectrum. the Pineda family. Other times, residents live Church in Alexandria, who is trying to or- In Fairfax County, for example, so many vision of the leaders.” in dedicated affordable housing units that ganize a faith-based response to the afford- people have applied for federal Housing — Michelle Krocker, executive local governments set aside for limited pe- able housing crisis in Northern Virginia. Choice vouchers administered by the pub- riods of time to help offset the displacement “That affects the most marginalized people lic housing authority that the waiting list director of the Northern Virginia created by gentrification and development. in society the most, and so to me that makes closed on March 1, 2007. It’s been closed Affordable Housing Alliance However affordable housing is calculated, it a moral issue from a Christian perspec- ever since, and more than 3,000 families it’s clearly been vanishing from the region tive.” are still waiting for help paying for hous- His father is a cook at a restaurant, for some time — leading to a growing con- ing. and his mother is a housekeeper. To- cern that the Northern Virginia is increas- ARLINGTON COUNTY has been the most “When an applicant’s name comes to the gether they earn about $34,000 a year ingly becoming an exclusive enclave for the successful in creating dedicated affordable top of the list, approved applicants receive in a city where the median household wealthy. The Northern Virginia Affordable housing units over the last decade, increas- a voucher which entitles them to look for income is $84,000. That’s about 40 Housing Alliance estimates that 25,000 ing the stock by 30 percent over the last housing in the private market,” said Tho- percent of the area median income, rental units are in areas slated for revital- decade. Arlington now has almost 7,000 mas Fleeetwood, associate director of the which means his family might be able ization, which puts more than 11,000 low- dedicated units, which represents 7 percent to qualify for one of the 800 units of cost units at risk. of the households in the county. By contrast, See Homelessness, Page 6 dedicated affordable housing mem- bers of the City Council included in the zoning change allowing the de- veloper to move forward. But be- cause the sprawling series of apart- ments that will be demolished have 2,500 market-rate affordable hous- ing units, his parents feel the elected officials sold them out. “They don’t care about us,” said Hector Pineda, a native of El Salva- dor who helped organize his neigh- bors in an unsuccessful effort to op- pose the zoning change in 2012. “We work hard, and we make money for this city. But they don’t care.” AFFORDABLE HOUSING means different things to different people at different times. For government officials, it’s a phrase that means that a family spends no more than www.ConnectionNewspapers.com Arlington Connection ❖ June 18-24, 2014 ❖ 3 News At Center of Conflicting Interests From Page 2 to sell the property to Penzance, but pulled back when they realized the county might not share all the profits. In April school officials and county leaders announced they would be working together to craft a new plan for the property.