Arlington Residents File Lawsuit To Block Implementation Of Missing Middle Housing Plan

ARLINGTON, VA — A group of Arlington residents filed a lawsuit on Thursday against the county over its adoption of the Missing Middle Housing plan, which will allow multifamily buildings in almost all parts of the county.

In the lawsuit, filed in Arlington Circuit Court, the 10 residents asked the court to stop the Arlington County Board from enforcing the new zoning and land use changes that were approved by the board on March 22. The zoning changes are scheduled to go into effect on July 1.

These “unlawful” and “rushed” zoning changes will have “far-reaching and long-consequences that the Board did not investigate and that Arlington County is ill-equipment to handle, including drastically increased density in formerly low-density-zoned neighborhoods,” the residents argued in the lawsuit.

The residents also stated that Arlington County did not follow “strict procedural and substantive requirements that must be complied with by the Board for any zoning enactment or amendment, much less one of the scope now before the Court.”

They pointed to a Virginia Supreme Court ruling on March 23 that voided the updated zoning ordinance adopted in neighboring Fairfax County in 2021. The court said the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors violated the state's open meeting law.

"Literally, the day after the Board enacted the densification and changes that are the focus of this suit, the Court reaffirmed the importance of statutory guardrails by invalidating Fairfax County's zoning overhaul on procedural grounds," the lawsuit says. "In so doing, the Court affirmed that compliance with Virginia Code's procedural requirements is not optional."

READ ALSO: Missing Middle Housing Proposal Approved By Arlington County Board

When contacted about the lawsuit, an Arlington County spokesman said the county "cannot comment on active ligation."

All 10 of the complainants in the lawsuit are property owners in Arlington. They want the court to prevent the county from taking any action under the new Missing Missing ordinance until it complies with state law.

The new housing zoning ordinance, now called expanded housing options by the county, includes a cap of 58 permits in one calendar year, with the cap scheduled to sunset at the end of 2028.

The board’s decision on March 22 was the culmination of a process that began in December 2019, when the county agreed to launch a Missing Middle Housing Study to look at different housing types that could help address the shortage of affordable of housing in the county. The study then evolved into a proposal that would allow multifamily dwellings in Arlington's single-family neighborhoods.

With the upcoming July 1 implementation date, Arlington County staff is preparing to provide educational materials to property owners and building industry professionals that explain the possibilities and requirements under the new zoning ordinance, ARLnow reported. County planners are encouraging developers to go over code requirements and their applications with staff before submitting them to the county when July 1 arrives.

The residents argued in the lawsuit that while the Arlington County Board initially touted its plan as creating family-sized, affordable housing units with opportunities for homeownership, the Missing Middle zoning ordinance not only fails to deliver on that promise, but also will exacerbate gentrification, incentivizing the construction of units that are not affordable.

In the lawsuit, the residents requested the Arlington Circuit Court prevent the county from issuing any expanded housing option permits starting July 1.

RELATED: Fairfax County Zoning Update Voided With VA Supreme Court Ruling