Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of public policy issues and headlines from around the Northern Virginia Region, the Commonwealth, and Capitol Hill.
by Danielle Finley, Associate Director of Political Engagement
Welcome to FIVE FOR FRIDAY: A weekly roundup of Public Policy Issues and Headlines. In this Issue: 1. NAR Responds to Administration's Rent Control Plan 2. Arlington debates ‘missing middle’ again — this time in court 3. Loudoun board lashes out at plan to combine data centers, affordable housing 4. Fairfax County board delays vote on data center regulations after lengthy public hearing 5. Fairfax Co. offering partial reimbursement for flood mitigation projects.
National Association of Realtors® President Kevin Sears issued the following statement in response to the Biden Administration’s rent control plan: "NAR opposes misguided attempts to cap or control rental rates. Price controls may seem appealing, but they have backfired on local governments and harmed the people we need to help the most.”
By MARGARET BARTHEL, WAMU-FM
Trial arguments in the lawsuit over Arlington’s ‘missing middle’ zoning ordinance ended on Monday after a week of legal wrangling and dueling expert testimony. The zoning reform, passed by the county board in March 2023, permits duplexes, townhomes, and buildings of up to six units on most residential lots, making Arlington the first jurisdiction in Virginia and one of the first in the country to end single-family-only zoning. Nine residents who own homes in Arlington brought the challenge shortly after the board’s decision.
By DAN BRENDEL, Washington Business Journal
Loudoun County supervisors have all but guaranteed they will deny a unique mixed-used data center and affordable housing development proposal in Sterling, saying they’d rather hold out for denser transit-oriented development, even if it takes much longer to achieve.
The future of data center development in Fairfax County remains in limbo after the Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to delay their decision on a contentious zoning amendment another two weeks. The supervisors said they needed more time to consider the input provided by 65 residents, attorneys, environmental activists and other community members during a public hearing that lasted nearly five hours.
It hasn’t rained much across the D.C. region recently, but Fairfax County in Virginia is offering to reimburse residents and renters for flood mitigation projects. The county’s Flood Mitigation Assistance Program (FMAP) launched earlier this month as part of a plan to incentivize renters and property owners to be proactive in making sure their properties are able to handle flooding. . . . The idea for the reimbursement program has been considered for a while, but Schwartz said demand for such projects is increasing because “areas and neighborhoods of the county that didn’t use to really flood in the past are now seeing nuisance flooding, flash flooding.”