40 Years of Transit Oriented

Development
Arlington County’s Experience with Transit Oriented
Development in the Rosslyn-Ballston Metro Corridor

A Presentation to the Reston Land Use Task

Force by the Robert Brosnan
5-15-10
PRESENTATION OVERVIEW

„ Review of Arlington’s
efforts to use transit to
both redevelop an older
commercial corridor and
ensure future riders for
the system
„ How we planned and
some of the tools we
used
„ Identify some of the
successes and lessons
learned
SETTING THE STAGE

„ Arlington is a 26 square
mile, urban county which
was a part of the original
District of Columbia
„ Population 209,300
„ Jobs 206,800
„ Housing units 103,824
„ Located in the core of a
rapidly growing
Washington region (over
5 million residents, 3
million jobs and 1,200
sq. miles of urbanized
area)
SETTING THE STAGE

„ 1960 - 7.5 million sq. Ft.

Office
„ Declining retail corridors
„ Emerging market for
government office space
„ Strong single family
neighborhoods
„ Large number of garden
apartments, some of
which were beginning to
decline
„ 97,505 jobs
„ 71,230 housing units
ROSSLYN THEN
COURT HOUSE THEN
CLARENDON 1980s
CLARENDON - ARLINGTON’S OLD
DOWNTOWN
VIRGINIA SQUARE 70s
VIRGINIA SQUARE – 1970s
PARKINGTON - THEN
SETTING THE STAGE

„ Beginning of the planning

for a regional transit
system
„ Embarked on an
ambitious community
planning effort
„ Had already debated the
impacts of development
vs the benefits of growth
and decided we wanted
to encourage growth as
well as encourage riders
PROPOSED ROUTE

• Arlington lobbied strongly for an underground route along the old commercial
corridor vs along the median of future highway

Proposed
Route

Approved
Route
Development Concepts

„ 5 stations closely spaced

„ Concentrate high and mid-
density redevelopment around
transit stations (highly
targeted) and taper down to
existing neighborhoods
„ Mix of uses with strong
residential emphasis
„ Preserve and reinvest in
established residential
neighborhoods
„ Preserve and reinvest in
established garden apartment
neighborhoods
 SECTOR PLANS

„ Adopted a corridor-wide GLUP based on agreed-to

development goals
„ Then focused on developing sector plans to
create distinctive “urban villages”
„ Overall vision for each station area
„ Desired public improvements
„ Location for retail
„ Urban design standards
SECTOR PLANS

Office
Center

New
Downtown

Urban Government
Village Center

Residential,
Cultural and
Education
Center
KEY TO SUCCESS

When the planning started for metro:

„ 89% of county planned low residential, garden
apartment/TH or retail

„ 11 % of county (2 rail corridors) were re-planned to

encourage mixed-use, high density development

„ Zoning in the 89 % was primarily low density so little

unplanned development can happen
HOW WE DID IT

„ Incentive Zoning - GLUP for metro

corridors indicated the county’s
willingness to rezone for higher density
but land remained zoned for fairly low
density
„ In response to development proposals,
county would rezone for higher density
use shown on GLUP
„ A special exception, site plan is used to
approve the development – requires
County Board approval
HOW WE DID IT

„ The site plan allows significantly

higher density & height than
underlying zoning
By-right Site Plan
1.5 FAR 3.8 – 10 FAR
35-45 FT 100-300 FT
4 spaces 2 spaces per
per 1,000 SF per 1,000 SF
HOW WE DID IT

„ Some of the zoning tools we’ve created include

Mixed use
- C-0-A: 50/50 res/off mix up to 6.0
FAR can be 100 % residential
- R-C: 1.24 FAR office, 2.0 FAR
residential - residential
must proceed first or concurrent with office
Redevelopment
- C-O Rosslyn: 10.0 FAR
Transitions
- R15-30T: 30 units per acre townhouse
ROSSLYN TODAY
C-O Rosslyn
Development: 10 FAR
office or residential
ROSSLYN TODAY
ROSSLYN TODAY
ROSSLYN TOMORROW
AERIAL - COURTHOUSE TODAY

Rosslyn

Arlington County
Offices
COURTHOUSE TODAY
3.8 FAR off
4.8 FAR res

4.8 FAR res

3.24 FAR
res

40 du/acre
CLARENDON TODAY
CLARENDON TODAY

1.5 FAR
72 du/acre

3.0 FAR office

4.0 FAR residential
CLARENDON TODAY
VIRGINIA SQUARE TODAY

Densities
4.8 FAR residential
3.8 FAR office
3.24 FAR office/residential
VIRGINIA SQUARE TODAY
BALLSTON TODAY
BALLSTON TODAY
 Ballston in 1980

Station
Entrance

Station
Entrance
3.24 FAR
2.0 FAR res
1.24 FAR off

6.0 FAR
3.0 FAR res
3.0 FAR off
View of Rosslyn-Ballston Metro
Corridor Development Patterns
R-B CORRIDOR
 MEASURING SUCCESS
R-B CORRIDOR

1970
2009
22,000 jobs
98,500 jobs
5.5 million sf
office 21.7 million
sf office
7,000 housing
units 28,643
housing
units
MEASURING SUCCESS
METRO RIDERSHIP (Average daily entries and exits)
1991 2008
ROSSLYN ROSSLYN
„ 13,637 „ 34,223
COURT HOUSE COURT HOUSE
„ 5,561 „ 14,400
CLARENDON CLARENDON
„ 2,964 „ 8,879
BALLSTON BALLSTON
„ 9,482 „ 25,452
MEASURING SUCCESS
BALANCED DEVELOPMENT =
BALANCED RIDERSHIP
Arlington Metrorail Stations
Ridership by Time Period
35
30
25
Passengers
Thousands

20 Entries
15 Exits

10
5
0
AM Peak AM Off PM Peak PM Off
Time Periods
PEDESTRIAN ACCESS
73% WALK TO STATION

5 R-B Corridor Stations

2.0%
12.9% 1.0%
Walk
3.6%
Metrobus

7.5%
Other
Bus/Vanpool
Auto (incl. Drop-
off)
Other

No Response
73.0%
Metrorail Access at 4 Suburban Orange
Line Stations

12.0%
14.6%
1.7% Walk

Metrobus

9.3%
Other Bus/Vanpool

Auto (incl. drop-off)

4.8%
Other

No
Response/Unknown
57.6%
(Courtesy of Dennis Leach)
Public Transportation for Commuting
(2005)

60% 55%

50%
38%
40% 32%
33%
29%
30% 24% 25%

20% 10%
% Transit
10% Use for
commuting
0%
o

Y
C

SF
on

on
s

LA
ag

N
D
or
gt

st
id

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Bo
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Ch
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MEASURING SUCCESS
R-B CORRIDOR DEVELOPMENT:
1970 2009
OFFICE OFFICE
„ 5,568,600 SF „ 21,757,594 SF

RESIDENTIAL RESIDENTIAL
„ 7,000 UNITS „ 28,643 UNITS

RETAIL RETAIL
„ 865,507 „ 2,842,169
DENSITIES WITHIN ¼ MILE

Office Residential

Rosslyn 4,415,000 sf 2,500 units

Courthouse 3,486,000 sf 4,600 units

Clarendon 937,000 sf 2,200 units

Virginia Square 809,000 sf 3,400 units

Ballston 4,581,000 sf 3,100 units

DENSITIES WITHIN 1/2 MILE

Office Residential

Rosslyn 8,775,000 sf 9,100 units

Courthouse 3,802,000 sf 9,700 units

Clarendon 2,164,000 sf 5,600 units

Virginia Square 5,432,000 sf 9,000 units

Ballston 6,972,000 sf 10,500 units

MEASURING SUCCESS

„ Car ownership (vehicles per household)

„ Nationally, almost 90% have a car;
55% have 2 or more
„ In Fairfax, 96% have at least one;
two-thirds have 2 or more
„ Arlington: 12% have zero cars;
less than 40% have 2 or more
Source – 2000 Census
MEASURING SUCCESS

„ Numbers are more dramatic in Arlington’s

Metro corridors
„ Car ownership: 17.9% have zero cars,
while less than 25% have 2 or more
„ Getting to work: Less than half drive
„ 39.3% use transit
„ 10.5% walk or bike
„ 2.3 work at home
 Non-Work Travel Mode

“Drive-alone” 33%
trips are less than 14%
Walk
half. CP/VP

Drive alone
One-third are 6%
made by walking,
5%
and one in eight 2%
4%
are made by 45%
riding or driving
with another Drive alone Walk CP/VP Train Bus Bike Other
person.
Q J-7, J-8, J-13 What type or types of transportation did you use for <these trips>?
 MEASURING SUCCESS

„ Getting to work – transit use

„ National avg: 4.7 %
„ Fairfax County: 7.3 %
„ Arlington: 23.3%

And, those who walk to work are double the national

avg, 5 times Fairfax
Source- 2000 Census
MEASURING SUCCESS
MEASURING SUCCESS

Traffic Trends on Arterial Streets

Street Street Type 1996 2001 2006 % Change
Segment 1996-2006

Lee Hwy - EW 6-lane 37,770 33,632 32,428 -14.1%

Rosslyn arterial

Wash. Blvd – EW 4-lane 20,469 19,478 18,069 -11.8%

VA Sq. arterial

Clarendon EW 2-lane 1- 13,980 14,199 14,539 4%

Blvd. way arterial

Wilson Blvd. - EW 2-lane 1- 16,368 16,265 13,797 -15.8%

Clarendon way arterial

Arlington Blvd. EW 6-lane 55,865 63,272 60,223 7.8%

arterial

Glebe Road - NS 6-lane 35,230 39,409 35,900 1.2%

Ballston arterial

G. Mason Drive NS 4-lane 20,002 22,578 23,386 16.9%

– west of arterial
Ballston
MEASURING SUCCESS

„ Traffic Trends on Arterial Streets

„ Wilson Blvd & Troy St
2002 2009
12,950 11,580
„ Clarendon Blvd & Rhodes
2002 2009
11,560 10,144
MEASURING SUCCESS

Traffic Trends – Regional & Local Facilities

200,000
175,000 „ Substantial growth in
150,000 traffic volumes on
125,000 1980
100,000 regional limited access
1990
75,000
1996
highways, with most of
50,000
25,000 2002 the growth between
0
GW Wash. Arl. I-66 I-395
1980 and 1990
Pkwy Blvd. Blvd „ Modest growth in traffic
50,000 on arterial and local
40,000 1980
streets which has
30,000 1991 flattened out in the last
20,000 1996 10 years (averaging less
10,000 Present
than ½% per year on
0 many streets)
Rt. 1 Lee Col. Pk. Carlin G.
Hwy Sp. Mason
MEASURING SUCCESS

„ $27.5 billion of a total $57.5 billion in assessed

land and improvements value in the county is in
the metro corridors which is 11% of total land
„ Tax base divided between 46% commercial and
54% residential
„ Today Arlington has more office space than
downtown
„ Dallas
„ Los Angeles
„ Denver
„ Boston
MID COURSE REVIEW
EARLY RESULTS
MID COURSE REVIEW

„ Worked with a group of Architects and

Urban Designers to evaluate efforts to
date
„ Led to development of corridor-wide
urban design concept
„ Raised awareness of design issues
„ First new Sector Plan was for Rosslyn
and then Clarendon using RTKL to assist
MID COURSE REVIEW

„ Going forward design and architecture

became much more important
„ Started us down the path which
culminated eventually with us using
Dover-Kohl to do the first urban Form
Based Code for Columbia Pike
„ While not as earth shattering as the
decision to run Metro underground rather
than along I-66 – very important in our
history
DENSITIES AND FORM

„ First critical lesson was that “it’s not about

the density”
„ “It’s about the form”
„ And what place we were trying to create
„ Previously all hung up on density and FAR
„ Form is more critical than either
„ Understand GFA is important for evaluating
traffic impacts etc. but should not drive
density discussion
 FORM VS DENSITY

3.24 FAR

3.77 FAR

4.69 FAR
 FORM VS DENSITY

72 du/acre

72 du/acre

115 du/acre
 FORM VS DENSITY

2.5 FAR

2.5 FAR

2.5 FAR
LESSONS LEARNED

„ Transit investments can be used as a

catalyst to reshape communities
„ Multimodal transportation strategies can
result in substantial benefits – allowing
continued growth with less reliance on
autos
LESSONS LEARNED

„ Establish the vision, design supportive

public policies/plans and tools and be
patient
„ Do the detailed planning at the sector
area to avoid the battles at development
review time
„ Build community consensus
„ Integrity of plan – be consistent
LESSONS LEARNED

„ Station areas must be able to satisfy the

daily needs of users if they are to really
to leave their cars behind (mixed use)
„ Reduce parking requirements
„ Ensure that transit is integrated with
development – not secondary
„ An attractive and functional pedestrian
environment is important
LESSONS LEARNED

„ Develop public-private partnerships to

continue consensus building and assist in
the implementation
„ Provide alternatives to cars
LESSONS LEARNED

„ While not all of what Arlington has done

is transferable to every place one
significant point is

„ If you build a place for cars all you

will get is cars
LESSONS LEARNED

„ What Arlington has shown is that if you

strive for something else it is possible
LESSONS LEARNED

„ How did we get 27 million sf

development and 30,000 housing units
and traffic actually go down
™ Investment in transit and ongoing investment
in expanding options
™ Balance between office and residential
™ Good planning and respecting that plan
™ Policies focusing on walkability and livability
versus accommodating cars
LESSONS LEARNED

„ How did we get 27 million sf development and

30,000 housing units and traffic actually go
down
™ Provide a robust menu of transportation options
™ Ability to meet daily needs within walking distance
™ Reduce parking requirements
™ TDM measures
™ Zip Cars
™ Transit Coordinators on site
™ Information kiosks
™ Transit subsidies
LESSONS LEARNED

„ How did we protect and preserve

adjacent single family neighborhoods?
„ I’d argue that they have even been enhanced
not just protected
„ $ for improvements
„ Traffic calming
„ Permit parking program
„ Walkability to jobs, transportation and the urban
activities in the corridors
LESSONS LEARNED

„ How did we protect and preserve

adjacent single family neighborhoods?
„ Consistency of plan - held the line on
development
„ Participation in planning and development
decisions
CONTACT INFORMATION

Robert Brosnan
Planning Director
Department of Community Planning and
Development
703-228-3516
[email protected]
www.arlingtonva.us
DENSITIES AND FORM

„ First critical lesson was that “it’s not

about the density”
„ “It’s about the form”
„ And what place we were trying to
create
„ Previously all hung up on density