Midway through comments to the County Board, Jennifer Denney conducted an ad hoc poll. Turning to her audience in the County Board Room Saturday afternoon, Denney asked, “Who here supports affordable housing? Raise your hand.”
Every one sitting in the room raised their hand, and speaker after speaker reiterated their support for affordable housing, apartments and homes for low-income families.
At their Feb. 21 meeting, Board members were set to consider revised affordable housing guidelines for site plans — voluntary guidelines, letting developers who want to build bigger projects in the county know what the Board and county staff will want in return. Ultimately, Board members voted unanimously to defer a final decision on the guidelines until April 24.
But more than 40 speakers still turned out to lobby the County Board over their decision. The discussion moved away from the specific provisions under consideration, and became a debate on continuing development in Arlington, an echo of debates taking place across the Washington region, in Montgomery County, in Loudoun County and in Fairfax.
Both sides in the debate accused the other of just using affordable housing as a pawn, a tool to advance their own ends. Developers said that some advocates used affordable housing as a way to hold back development. Neighborhood and affordable housing advocates said developers were just looking out for their wallets, and wanted rules that would let them build bigger and bigger.
“Everybody’s got agendas,” said John Antonelli, a member of the county’s affordable housing advisory commission. “They’re telling the truth, but they’re not telling everything.”
<b>DEVELOPERS TOOK ISSUE</b> with a provision of the new guidelines that would increase how much of a building is considered in asking builders to donate affordable housing.
Virginia law gives landowners the right to build up to a certain point without seeking approval from local authorities, based solely on zoning. In the past, the county has asked developers to donate money, or affordable housing units, based on 30 percent of the space above the by-right limit.
Under the new guidelines, developers who want to add square footage to a project would have to contribute money or affordable housing units, based on 10 percent of the total square footage in the project.
The result, developers said, would be to drive more builders not to seek additional space, thereby cutting down on the affordable housing available in the county.
That proposal, and others in the guidelines, “lack one critical element: reality,” said Randy Anderson, a senior manager for Virginia Commerce Bank in Arlington. “They put the burden solely on the developer community. That kind of one-sided solution is doomed to fail.”
<b>NOT ALL BUILDERS</b> would flee such costs, said Alvin Smuzynski, from Alexandria-based Wesley Housing Development Corporation. “I believe the 10 percent proposal is a good one.”
The real choice developers face would not be whether or not to flee Arlington, he said. “What we’re talking about for developers is either a spectacular profit, or merely a thrilling profit.”
There’s little chance that developers would abandon Arlington under the new policies, said Kristin Carbone, executive director of Buyers’ and Renters’ Arlington Voice (BRAVO). With its Metro corridors and the proximity to the District, “Arlington is a highly desirable place to develop,” Carbone said, and none of the guidelines would change that.
<b>THERE’S A FAULTY</b> assumption at the base of the proposals, said Andrew Viola, vice president and regional manager for Bush Construction Corporation. “This is all being done on the premise that the developer is making too much money,” he told the board. “Will the proposed guidelines slow development in Arlington? Undoubtedly.”
That’s the point to some proponents, Viola said later. “They want to stonewall development. It’s not the housing advocates. I think they’re absolutely well-intended.”
Instead, he said, the people who invoke affordable housing are neighbors of a new building, who merely use affordable housing as a way to stop developers.
<b>“IF DEVELOPMENT SLOWED</b> slightly, it’s not the end of the world,” said Carbone, after the board’s vote. But she wasn’t working to slow development. “Ninety percent are not here to stop development,” she said. “There is a desire to work with the developers.”
The two-month delay in adopting the guidelines could provide that opportunity, she said. Neighborhood advocates agreed. “I hope the developers are involved” in a review process leading up to April 24, said Peter Owen, former president of the Clarendon-Courthouse Civic Association. “They have a lot of information to offer, in terms of how to get the most affordable housing.”
Owen found agreement from David DeCamp, with developers Highland Associates LLC. “The development community, in concert with the non-profit community, can create opportunities for affordable housing that are really exciting,” said DeCamp.
<b>BOARD MEMBERS LOOKED</B> for those opportunities on Saturday.
In her motion deferring final discussion of the guidelines until April, Board Chair Barbara Favola looked for a way to formalize the meetings between affordable housing advocates, non-profit corporations working to preserve and renovate affordable housing and a group of developers interested in providing input on the proposal.
“Nobody will be 100 percent satisfied,” Favola said. “A friend of mine said, if all your constituents are angry at you, you’re probably doing your job.”
Antonelli foresaw a struggle in discussions between neighbors, affordable housing advocates and developers. “There’s huge ulterior motives here. Look at civic associations, look at their record, and they want to stop development,” he said. “Developers don’t want to build affordable housing, because it means a lower rate of return on their investment. If they tell you anything else, it’s a bunch of crap.”