Detta Kissel, Arlington Resident

1/17/2023

Dear Members of the County Board:

I would like to voice my support for Missing Middle (MM). First, let me express appreciation to the County Board for tackling the important issue of housing and the need to create a range of housing options across the whole spectrum of our residents. I support MM for several reasons (not necessarily in order of importance).

Create Range of Housing

Growth around our major cities isn’t an option, it’s a given. People need to live and work in important cities, and our leaders need to plan for this growth. The April 2020 VA Tech study, The History of Residential Development, Planning, and Zoning in Arlington County, Virginia, documents the growth in Arlington’s population from 10,213 in 1910 to 231,803 in 2017, and the trend continues.

Arlington has accommodated this growth in many different ways, which is great. But these policies aren’t sufficient and our housing tends to be concentrated on the upper and lower levels of wealth and income. Many young adults, including my 2 sons, cannot afford to move back to their hometown of Arlington.

To build a healthy community, Arlington needs to accommodate the full range of our society, with housing options for young adults and other people of middle income. To achieve this, all options should be on the table, including 8-plexes where the land area can support them. Allowing more units per building will often mean that smaller, more affordable units will be available for our missing middle.

Support Diversity

It is essential for healthy communities, and healthy, well-rounded students, to be exposed to people that are not necessarily in the same socio-economic group. Lower and middle income should have the opportunity to rent or buy smaller homes in affluent areas. It is well-known that well-funded PTAs provide local schools with enrichment unavailable to other areas. To promote respect and understanding, groups need to get to know each other and their children need to have the opportunity of forming friendships across all socio-economic lines.

Eliminate Racially Based Provisions

It is well-documented that racially based housing patterns were reinforced by restrictive zoning. See, eg, the April 2020 VA Tech study. If there were no such restrictions, Arlington would have grown more organically and there would have been a mixture of housing available in all areas. And the restrictions worked all too well. It is time to eliminate all vestiges of racial discrimination in Arlington. Period.

Stay Calm

Arguments against the proposal border on fear-mongering, with a lot of disinformation and dire predictions. Arguments on behalf of the proposal can make negative assumptions. I hope that the rhetoric around this proposal on both sides can be toned down. While it may be that some people have racial or socio-economic concerns, I believe that arguments against the proposal can resonate among good people because people just don’t like change – and they don’t want to contemplate change in the form of density in their neighborhoods. I commend the County Board and staff for their fact-based discussions with the community and their leadership, which, I hope, will calm us all down. Arlington is not alone, in the DC area or in the nation, in contemplating the rather gentle move to accommodate more density in neighborhoods previously reserved for single family housing among the options to accommodate population growth.

Sincerely,

Detta Kissel