Arlington To Spend $1.5M To Buy House In Westover For Flood Mitigation

ARLINGTON, VA — Arlington County approved an agreement to pay a homeowner in Westover $1.5 million to purchase their home in order to tear it down and create more green space to help with stormwater management.

The home, the fourth of which Arlington has agreed to purchase to reduce flood risk, is located across the street from the Cardinal Elementary School Stormwater Vault, a major infrastructure project recently completed by Arlington County to address flooding in the Westover area.

The agreement, approved the Arlington County Board on July 15, marks the largest amount that Arlington has agreed to pay so far for a home under its voluntary property acquisition program to reduce flood risk.

With this latest contract, Arlington has agreed to pay a total of about $4.8 million on homes for flood mitigation purposes. For all four homes, Arlington will spend a total of about $1.4 million to demolish them.

The other three homes that the county previously agreed to purchase and tear down as part of the program were in the Waverly Hills neighborhood. Among those homes, the most expensive agreement was $1.3 million for a home at 4433 18th Street N.

The home in Westover, at 5840 18th Street N., is located next to the parking lot for the Westover post office and the Westover Shopping Center, which experienced major damage during a flash flood in July 2019.

In 2022, after determining which properties in the county’s Spout Run watershed would be of the most useful to the county in addressing flooding, several property owners were contacted by Arlington County staff about the potential voluntary acquisition of their property by the county.

The owner of the home in Westover responded, “indicating an interest in pursuing a sale to the county,” the county said.

The Westover home was built in 1999. Its most recent property tax assessment was $1,345,600, according to Arlington County tax records. The purchase price of the home is consistent with an appraisal of the property dated May 25 by an independent Virginia licensed appraiser, the county said.

Like the homes purchased in Waverly Hills for flood mitigation purposes, the county estimates that demolition of the Westover home will cost about $350,000.

Prior to demolishing the home, “viable components” will be “salvaged for repurposing, if possible,” the county said.

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