County Board Approves Fort Myer Heights North Plan

By a 5-0 vote, the Arlington County Board on Tuesday night approved the Fort Myer Heights North Plan. The Fort Myer Heights North Plan covers a dipper-shaped area from across Rt. 50 from the Westmoreland Condos, up to Clarendon Blvd., and out to N. Courthouse Rd. below the Courthouse metro stop. RAFOM, Arlington County staff, and other interested parties worked for five years with the follow goal:

Develop a plan with recommendations that articulate community goals for this neighborhood and identify potential strategies and tools for conservation, reinvestment and/or redevelopment.

Everything you could want to know about that neighborhood is contained in the impressive plan document. Did you know that the oldest building there is a house built in 1900? To find out exactly where it is, check out the Historic Inventory Summary and the associated map.

Stan Karson, President of RAFOM, spoke about the plan and RAFOM's work on it. Video coverage below. County Board member Chris Zimmerman asked about plans for the bike path in the Fort Myer Heights North area along Arlington Blvd. County officials explained that they are studying how to improve it. A useful improvement would be to connect it better to another bike path at its N. Courthouse Rd. end.



In related action, the County Board amended the General Land Use Plan to encourage public open spaces at locations in the Fort Myer Heights North area and revised the General Land Use Plan to reflect the adoption of the Fort Myer Heights North Plan. Consideration of the Zoning Ordinance associated with the Plan was deferred to the Oct. 18, 2008, County Board meeting in accordance with the recommendation of the County Manager.