Development report data tracks Arlington’s growth

Despite its landlocked borders, the City of Arlington continues to grow, as evidenced by its newly released annual development profile.

For example, as of the end of 2023, the city had 156,016 residential units, an increase of 2.26% from 2022. The total number of residential units includes both single-family homes and multi-family homes, and by comparison, in 2000, the city had 132,203 residential units.

The annual development profile, which has been produced since 2003, provides an overview of changes in the city’s development over the previous year. Measure Arlington’s development through statistics related to housing, construction, zoning, zoning, and land use.

“We want to make this information available to the city manager’s office, economic development, and our own internal use,” said Patricia Sinel, the city’s long-term planning manager. “Then we will also share information with utilities and work with the transportation department to see where the growth trends are and if future transportation plans need to be changed.”

Shinel said the report will help pinpoint where large growth areas in the city are.

“Our developer has been talking to us about this as well as our real estate agent,” she said. “We’re making it public, so anyone interested in planning and permitting data in Arlington will be our primary user.”

Other data in the report includes new construction permits for homes in single-family developments, 43.37% of which are at the Viridian development in North Arlington. The number of new non-residential construction permits increased by 24.3%. The city had 3,320 acres of developable vacant land at the end of 2023, according to the report.

The 2,000-acre Viridian development has been a positive contributor to growth and is on the verge of expansion, Sinel said.

She said the largest portion of undeveloped and underutilized land is in south Arlington, where development will occur in the future.

“These trends in South Arlington, especially in the Southwest Arlington area, will likely continue. There is land available there,” Sinel said.

“While we don’t believe the trends we’re seeing in Viridian will continue, in North Arlington, the Red Hills Country Club redevelopment will bring more than 200 new single-family units to the market when they finally get on the ground. will be added to,” she said. she said.

Shinel said multifamily housing will be a major driver of housing unit growth from 2022 to 2023.

“When you look at the overall growth from single-family homes, the increase is generally less than 1 percent each year,” Sinel said. “However, the biggest driver of housing unit change from 2022 to 2023 was multi-family housing, increasing by 5.63%.”

The city’s nonresidential new construction permits increased by 24.3% in 2023, according to the report.

Mr. Sinel again quoted Mr. Viridian.

“We’re talking about Viridian. We recognize new non-residential, whether it’s commercial, institutional, industrial, any of those classifications,” she said. “Viridian has its own commercial element.”

Shinel said much of the non-residential activity is in north Arlington in the Cooper and Collins neighborhoods, as well as along Abram. She said there are many redevelopment and reclamation projects taking place across the city.

The report found construction permits fell by nearly 15% in 2023, which Shinel said is a reflection of the economy and interest rates.

“Most of our building permits are residential-related,” she said. “The permit itself is not only for the construction of the main house, but also permits for the construction of fences, carports, and garages.”

In the city, the trend in plated numbers has continued for six years, with plated plots decreasing by 62.9% and plated area decreasing by 62.1% from 2022 to 2023.

This trend “may indicate that the community is stabilizing, but we are getting closer to building,” Sinel said.

Sinel pointed out that single-family homes make up the largest land use sector, with parks and open space the next largest land use.

“Right now, parks and open spaces are at almost 10%, more than multifamily, commercial and retail,” Sinel said.

He noted that regulations for single-family home development include requirements for open space and community amenities in new single-family subdivisions.

“They’re also requesting it as part of our apartment complex,” she said. “This shows that the requirements of the Uniform Development Code are working and we are seeing an increase in proportions in parks and open spaces.”

Taylor Oldroyd, president and CEO of the Arlington Board of Realtors, said he doesn’t think most real estate agents know about the City of Arlington’s annual profile, but it can be very informative. He said he felt that way.

One thing he learned, he said, was the fact that “at a time when we need more housing, the number of permits is going in the opposite direction.” We need more housing…and we need housing of all kinds…but plating and new home building permitting activity has decreased significantly. ”

Oldroyd said the city’s regulations and its comprehensive plan are critical to how we grow and develop as a community.

That’s why real estate groups “continue to advocate for a more transparent and predictable development application process and continue to advocate for infill development standards,” he said.

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