Plan Lee Highway - Land Use Scenario Area 3 and Area 4

Waverly Hills does not support bringing traffic from Old Dominion (southbound) which presumably would be headed toward Old Lee Hwy down to 20th Rd and then dead-ending at Woodstock Park. While straightening the intersection of Lee & Old Dominion makes sense in order to make the the crossroads more pedestrian friendly, shunting traffic toward 20th Rd is a bad idea because it pulls vehicles into Waverly Hills without a real flow-through option.

As the Waverly Hills Community Forum rep, I am concerned about proposed building heights in Area 3. Given the natural elevation along that section of Lee Hwy (evidenced by the name Lee Heights), buildings with more than 7 stories will likely tower over the surrounding landscape.

Lee Highway between study Areas 4 and 5 is not bike or pedestrian friendly. What efforts will be made to better connect these two areas?

Lee Highway may not be "lovely" but these scenarios guarantee it will become soulless. Lot consolidations lead to loss of green space, architectural scale and setbacks for relaxed streetscapes. Consolidations ensure more runoff and flooding in areas that were severely impacted by 2019 flooding.

Lee Highway may not be "lovely" but these scenarios guarantee it will become soulless. Lot consolidations lead to loss of green space, architectural scale and setbacks for relaxed streetscapes. Consolidations ensure more runoff and flooding in areas that were severely impacted by 2019 flooding.

Scenario B has better greenspace plans.

These scenarios add significant new multi-family and two family zoning to the area which will impact tree canopy, runoff, stormwater/flooding. They will incentivize owners of current market-rate affordables to redevelop, likely removing these units and replacing them with far fewer, subsidized (and thus impermanent) affordables, resulting in displacment. The added number of residents will bring more traffic, place demands on parks, schools, etc. that have yet to be planned. This scenario puts the cart before the horse. It also sneaks missing middle housing into the mix, outside the scope of the missing middle debate the county is supposed to be discussing separately. It represents an extreme retooling that will end up with architectural massing, higher rents/mortgages, more traffic, and less diversity in this area.

These scenarios add significant new multi-family and two family zoning to the area which will impact tree canopy, runoff, stormwater/flooding. They will incentivizee owners of current market-rate affordables to redevelop, likely removing these units and replacing them with far fewer, subsidized (and thus impermanent) affordables, resulting in displacment. The added number of residents will bring more traffic, place demands on parks, schools, etc. that have yet to be planned. This scenario puts the cart before the horse. It also sneaks missing middle housing into the mix, outside the scope of the missing middle debate the county is supposed to be discussing separately. It represents an extreme retooling that will end up with architectural massing, higher rents/mortgages, more traffic, and less diversity in this area.

These heights will add significant population numbers, and do not appear to be related to any fiscal or other planning that should precede any upzoning

These heights will add significant population numbers, and do not appear to be related to any fiscal or other planning that should precede any upzoning

don't think there is any reason to bring old dominion below lee/langston unless it connects directly to glebe otherwise it would just put more traffic in lower density areas
option B has a better chance to connect to thru streets
stormwater should be a shared expense such as a tax district other totally unfair to some owners rather than others

The intersection of Glebe Road and Lee Highway is among the corridor's busiest. I support new development at this intersection. I would note, however, that it would be an especially important location for quality architecture that could become iconic or symbolic of the corridor's redevelopment.

The Horizons is already 10+ stories so this area is appropriate for additional height, perhaps as a density bonus for affordable housing.

I would like to focus this comment on the proposed green space at the intersection of Lee Highway and N. Albemarle Street. A thoughtfully constructed park at this location would help Plan Lee Highway meet its own stated goals, the goals of the community, and the needs of future businesses. The park could serve to educate residents on the important Civil Rights history of the location, provide a play area for children, and provide attractive outdoor spaces that future businesses could benefit from. Specifically:

Marking History
The Cultural Resources Survey conducted for Plan Lee Highway notes that the current CVS is on the location of the former People’s Drug, the site of a successfully sit-in in 1960. The Capital One Bank site across the street is the site of the former Howard Johnson’s, another location that had a sit-in in 1960. A park here could contain signage or other historical information to inform residents of these events.

Serving the Community
The Old Dominion Citizens Association lacks a county run park or playground within its boundaries. This could be corrected by including a play area for children in the part of the park furthest from Lee Highway. This play area could also serve as a “draw” to bring neighborhood residents to the park and then onward to local businesses closer to Lee Highway.

Serving Businesses
A well-executed park could break up the “super block” fronting Lee Highway between Old Dominion and Glebe. It would also provide an inviting area for customers of future businesses to congregate or provide a space for informal outdoor seating.

I favor Scenario A in the Glebewood area.

This is an example of where full consolidation (Scenario B) makes more sense especially if there is going to be a major revamping of the intersection in this area.

This area is bordering LH and yet no change is proposed. At a minimum it should be the same transition/missing middle as proposed in the yellow edge areas.

I'm concerned about requiring too much land/cost related to stormwater infrastructure for an affordable housing site given how hard it is to acquire property for affordable housing in Arlington.

The Glebewood community should be preserved as a conservation/historic area.

I'm agnostic about HOW to solve the problem of Old Dominion being an "offramp" to Lee Highway. I live on 24th St N, just south of O.D. so am on a skinny "island" of land between Glebe & O.D. that extends from Lee Highway to where Glebe & O.D. intersect, just west of 26th St N. To talk a walk off the island, I have to cross either Glebe or O.D. At least Glebe has a median so I don't have to wait for both directions of traffic to be clear. When crossing O.D. I can either cross at the crosswalk at 23rd St N, go all the way down to the light at 26th St N -- or take my chances. If it's easy to cross over at any given time, there's no guarantee that it will be easy to back to the island when I'm ready to return. I would love to have one more crosswalk somewhere between 23rd & 26th. I've observed that both Lorcom Lane and Washington (north of Westover) have a series of crosswalks and I think this area merits at least one more.

Thanks for reading and thanks for all you're doing to shape change in our area. I've lived in other cities who were not proactive about urban planning (much less asking residents for feedback) and I very much appreciate all Arlington county does to facilitate conversations and prepare for the future. Bravo!

The transition from tall buildings to single family homes between Old Lee Hwy and Woodstock park is too aggressive in Scenario B.

This is a very congested area of Lee Highway, and the north side of Lee Highway should not be targeted for more commercial development. The lots are small, and back on to single-family homes. Parking and traffic for the existing businesses already spills into the residential parking, along some very narrow streets. A better use of this strip would be a row of low-rise apartments or town-houses with underground parking.

My property is directly affected by the proposed "public-private" development penetrating up Columbus Street from Lee Highway. Neither my neighbors nor I have been consulted. We firmly oppose trying to extend 22nd St or 23rd St through or near our properties.

This is a misguided initiative. It is unfair to existing residents to use this heavy-handed approach to so fundamentally revamp the area and turn it into another Courthouse or Ballston. WE DON'T WANT CHANGE. We chose this area because we like the relaxed, low density "sleeper" feel of the area. We are HAPPY with the current mix of walkability around Lee Heights and the street arteries for easy vehicular access in all directions. We do NOT want more people living here - the schools are already bursting at the seems. But combining that approach with further limiting vehicular traffic is a doubling-down on a terrible idea.

In this neighborhood, APAH is the owner of the Leckey Gardens apartments, a 40-unit apartment complex bounded by 21st Street N, N Woodstock Street, 20th Road N, and N Woodrow Street. In the proposed scenarios, this site is currently designated as moderate-scale multifamily residential housing with height ranging from 5-10 stories. Elsewhere in the county, APAH has redeveloped its own sites into larger apartment communities to create even more affordable housing than currently exists. We are interested in potential of doing the same at Leckey Gardens, but only if the potential density gains outweigh the costs of temporarily displacing our current residents and demolition of the existing apartments. We envision the potential for greater heights on the north side of our parcel tapered down on the south end. Although our site lies next to single family homes to the south, we are also next to the Lee Heights shopping center to the north, which is considered by many to be the commercial and social hub of the area. Because of this, we feel that higher density uses, especially along the northern side of our site, aligns well with the proposed vision of the neighborhood. To maximize the community benefit of affordable housing from our site, we would envision stormwater management being handled in an underground vault in the lowest garage. If required to have more open space on the ground level, APAH would prefer Scenario B in order offset the loss of land area, tapering from 10 stories to 7 stories along the southern edge of the property. That may also be appropriate given the newly created separation between our new building and the neighbors to the south. However, we also believe that Scenario A, which tapers from 7 to 5 stories without open space requirement can yield approximately 270 affordable homes, and this would be an important contribution towards the area’s affordable housing goals. Therefore, we are supportive of both scenarios under the right conditions.
One key to feasibility in either scenario is the cost of the underground stormwater vault, which if increased in capacity to address the local needs of Area 3 in conjunction with the park improvements, would result in an additional $2.5M in hard costs burden on the project based on our cost estimator’s initial projection. As an affordable housing development, we would need to ensure sufficient AHIF and flexibility with the state’s cost per unit metrics to ensure the project can move forward with these costs.

This area along the north side of Lee Highway should not be a retail priority area, as it is a narrow strip that backs onto single family homes. Parking and traffic for the businesses already located there is overwhelming the adjacent streets to the north. A better use of this strip would be a row of townhomes with underground parking.

Applaud new focus on stormwater management & urge nature-based green infra. approaches (rain gardens, veg. retention areas, tree planters) that provide other social, econ, & environmental benefits. Urge attention to heavy noise pollution from !66 on Lee Hghwy neighbors in considering how to make LH more Main St, less expressway

Up to 10 stories at Lee Heights would extinguish much of the human scale the shops have. The added density could also be problematic for stormwater runoff to adjacent residential areas. Retail should be no higher than adjacent multifamily and allow for adequate sunlight/multi-purpose green space (SW retention, park/social gathering, trees/plants to soften& cool hardscape.