Robust community feedback reaches a consensus on the design for the new Lubber Run Community Center. The “embedded” concept emerges, connecting the building to its landscape and exemplifying the ideals of sustainable design.
Arlington County continues to implement its energy management practices within the Town’s buildings and offices. Residents can join the movement towards climate action by signing up for Local Greenest – our 100% renewable electricity option.
Community Centers
The City’s five community centers enhance local amenities and public spaces by hosting activities that include open gym, tot-time, library programs, adult fitness, the Createch Studio teen center, and more. Community members and their guests can use the facilities, and rent the space for parties and events. The centers are also a hub for local businesses and residents seeking a central location to meet.
The community centers serve a variety of needs from children and teens to adults and seniors, providing activities that bring together Arlingtonians. In addition to the recreation and community meeting rooms, some feature kitchens and a full range of office equipment. The community centers also provide a number of spaces for businesses to hold meetings and seminars.
A new community center for Upper Arlington is set to replace the existing Eunice Activity Center, which has served the area for more than 30 years. The new facility will be located at Kingsdale Shopping Center on Tremont Road.
The community center will include a library, fitness and exercise rooms, a dance/theater studio, a multipurpose room, a youth/family program space, and a senior activity area. The project will also feature a large, outdoor pool and a new water play area.
When the community center is completed, it will be the first in the region to achieve net zero energy. In its quest to reach this milestone, the team worked closely with a wide range of stakeholders to ensure that all desired elements were included in the design. The result is a highly sustainable building that is woven into the landscape, with parking and some of the interior programming located underground to expand the available outdoor amenities at ground level.
Throughout the construction process, a robust community engagement program was implemented. The public was invited to participate in the design of the new community center through numerous meetings, online feedback and site visits. The process culminated in a final public presentation.
VMDO was excited to celebrate the completion of the new community center with Arlingtonians during the Halloween Party at the Central School building. The event featured a costume contest, games, food and drinks.
Public Spaces
For Arlington residents, the city’s public spaces offer a sense of place that connects neighborhoods and communities. These areas are home to outdoor activities, cultural attractions and restaurants that make up the fabric of the city. The city also boasts a robust parks system and the acclaimed National Park Service River & Trails System.
A variety of community-focused projects have been implemented to enhance local amenities, public spaces and overall quality of life. This includes the ongoing transformation of Downtown Arlington, which has experienced nothing short of a renaissance in the last 15 years. It has seen the student population at University of Arlington double, and new high-profile businesses and development have sprung up across the city’s central corridor.
As a result of these initiatives, Downtown Arlington is now recognized as one of the best-connected and most walkable neighborhoods in the region. It is also a top choice for young families with children, due to its proximity to great schools. In fact, Nottingham Elementary and Yorktown High School have both received the highest rating of “Excellent” from the Texas Education Agency.
The city’s parks and trails systems are also a big draw for visitors. The town’s parks are ranked fourth in the country by ParkScore. The city has a number of conservation initiatives to help protect the natural environment including the preservation of lands such as Cooke’s Hollow.
Another important initiative is the City’s Public Space Master Plan (PSMP), which sets a vision and policies to manage the County’s diverse open space assets. This planning document is critical for ensuring the City has the resources needed to maintain and enhance its award-winning parks, trails and open spaces system.
The City has a number of programs to help homeowners and renters conserve energy and water as well as promote green practices in the built environment. These include the Green Building Density program, which incentivizes implementation of green roofs and habitat restoration on buildings, and the Tree Replacement guidelines that have helped maintain the City’s tree canopy at 41%.
The City also supports a number of community-driven placemaking projects, like the reimagining of the Mill Brook corridor. The corridor is an important part of the city’s history and identity, and its restoration and enhancement will provide a platform for the future.
Grants for Quality of Life
The City of Arlington offers a plethora of programs to help enhance local amenities, public spaces and the overall quality of life in our community. From a thriving restaurant scene and vibrant arts community to history, recreation and more, Arlington has something for everyone. Plus, its convenient transit options make getting around the metro region quick and easy.
Arlington has tons of parks and trails for you to explore, from larger parklands in the northern part of town like Potomac Overlook Park and Glebe Road Park to dozens of neighborhood parks throughout the city. It’s also a health-conscious community with plenty of opportunities to cycle and explore new workout experiences at businesses like Bash Boxing – Arlington and Onelife Fitness.
In 2021, Arlington scored near the top of all cities in the nation in the ParkScore index based on investment, amenities and acreage, but below average on accessibility. To address this gap, the City is working to improve the distribution of park opportunity across neighborhoods and communities.
The City of Arlington provides funding to assist low-to moderate income residents in Arlington with a variety of needs through the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), HOME Investment Partnership Grant and Emergency Solutions Grant (ESG) programs. These grants support a wide range of activities including Arlington construction – neighborhood infrastructure improvements, housing rehabilitation, childcare, education, economic development and homelessness services.
The City of Arlington has been focused on incorporating sustainability principles into every aspect of the City and its services for years. But, the concepts of Smart Growth and sustainable practices can be complex and abstract for citizens to understand. The Library, as both a department of the City and a community hub for education and connection, is uniquely positioned to demystify and translate these initiatives into a familiar language for residents to relate to. Through efforts like Fresh AIRE, Arlington Reads Green and the Energy Efficiency Library Collection, Arlington libraries are making sustainability more relatable to citizens.
Transit-Oriented Development
The County’s focus on transit-oriented development (TOD) is a major reason Arlington has escaped many of the traffic problems that beset many suburban cities. In the last two decades, Arlington has added thousands of new apartments and millions of square feet of office space, largely along densely-developed Metro corridors and stations. Despite this growth, traffic in most of the corridors has remained steady or even declined, with Wilson Boulevard (Arlington’s busiest commercial corridor) and Clarendon’s main street each seeing 23 percent declines in motor vehicle use from 1996 to 2012.
TOD is generally defined as development within a 1/4 mile radius of a transit station, providing access to jobs and services without relying on automobiles for mobility. To be successful, TOD requires adequate density to support transit ridership, as well as high-quality pedestrian and bicycle facilities, and active street life to attract shoppers and workers.
To encourage TOD, the County provides incentives in the form of density bonuses for developments that provide a variety of housing types and sizes and offer on-site parking at below market rates. In addition, the County’s land-use and transportation policies encourage the growth of TOD around high-volume bus routes that serve a large segment of the population.
These strategies have worked: research indicates that average car ownership, travel and expenditures decrease with increasing residential densities and proximity to transit, while the proportion of regional trip travel by rail transit increases. In addition, TOD locations tend to attract high-quality tenants and to generate a strong local economic development impact.
In the District, meanwhile, the vast majority of new apartments have been built within walking distance of Metro stations in formerly industrial neighborhoods, including Navy Yard and NoMA. In the years since the financial crisis, the District has permitted thousands of apartments each year, a high rate compared to peer cities. In many cases, these projects have been located on sites that previously housed industrial or low-value commercial uses where there are few homeowners to oppose upzoning.
Historically, the earliest forms of urban transit, such as streetcars and railway lines, were developed jointly with housing and other development, with developers paying for the new service by dedicating land near the route. This approach is still the model for some urban rail transit, including the Washington Metrorail system.
In conclusion, construction projects in Arlington have certainly had a positive impact on the surrounding neighborhoods. Through the developments that have been built, citizens now have tremendou options when it comes to homes. While this revitalization of the area can only be seen as a success story, it is clear that construction is still happening and developing this city even further. If you are looking for builders who can help with any of your own development objectives, then look no farther than Paramount Construction. With all of these local projects currently underway, there is potential for anyone to benefit from their visions and bring more life to this active community. Make sure to enlist reputable support to get your project up and running and start building better communities in the Arlington area today!
