A number of new plans and funding approvals are scheduled for the Arlington County Board’s upcoming July 18 meeting. If approved by the County Board, the Courthouse Sector Plan will move into the public hearing phase. In addition to a series of new building development sites, the plan also calls for the conversion of the square’s surface parking lot into a park space. The County Board will also vote to adopt the new Arlington Retail Plan. The plan primarily focuses on limiting retail to “strategic locations.”
“In early planning efforts, less attention was paid to ground floor design and use,” said the staff report on the Arlington Retail Plan. “These policies and practices resulted in ground floor environments that did not always provide a level of activity, interest and transparency typically associated with good urban design.”
At the meeting, the board will also consider $215,810 in art grants to 17 Arlington-based arts organizations. The largest grant recipient is the Synetic Theater, which could receive $32,529 in county grant funding. The board will also consider $215,000 in transportation funding to match a $286,000 federal grant to install Capital Bikeshare Stations along the George Washington Memorial Parkway.