Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Land Use And Environment topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Arlington Board charges staff to study limits on impervious surfaces in low-density neighborhoods
Summary
The County Board directed staff to study adding maximum impervious area standards to the zoning ordinance, aiming to protect tree canopy and improve stormwater management in lower‑density residential neighborhoods. Staff will return with a detailed scope and timeline in May.
The Arlington County Board on Feb. 25 directed county staff to conduct a study that would analyze and recommend limits on maximum allowable impervious area on individual residential lots in lower‑density neighborhoods.
Board chair Tax Carantones framed the board’s goal as improving stormwater outcomes and preserving tree canopy in neighborhoods where single‑family and other low‑density housing predominate. The charge asks staff to test approaches that would either add an impervious area limit to the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance or pair new impervious limits with existing lot‑coverage rules.
The study will examine possible ordinance amendments and related tools such as minimum contiguous plantable areas, revisions to placement and yard setbacks to preserve canopy, and whether to establish impervious limits by lot size or zoning district. County planning staff said the study would consider impacts on property owners, equity across older versus newer houses, and administration and enforcement needs.
Anthony Fusarelli, Planning Division, told the board the county can use recently developed stormwater data for a countywide, parcel‑level analysis of impervious surface — a dataset he said is stronger than the county’s historical lot‑coverage data. "We do not have an equal or comparable data set when it comes to lot coverage on a parcel, parcel level countywide information set that we just do not have that," Fusarelli told members during the meeting.
Board members emphasized the study should be incremental and interdisciplinary — involving Planning, the Department of Environmental Services and Parks and Recreation — and should return to the board with a detailed scope, timeline and public engagement plan in May 2025. Staff said the analysis and public engagement could identify the degree to which changes would create nonconforming lots and the enforcement and permitting changes that would be required.
The board did not adopt an ordinance at the Feb. 25 meeting; it provided a charge for the study and directed staff to return with a proposed scope and public engagement plan in May.
The study’s focus on impervious area was presented to the board as a practical path to address stormwater and tree‑canopy loss by leveraging an available stormwater dataset and by allowing staff to develop implementable, equitable regulatory options.
