Arlington County Board members last week acquiesced to a proposal by the owner of a Rosslyn office building to give the county government about $14 million in cash in exchange for removing public access to the 360-degree observation spot atop a skyscraper in the neighborhood.
County staff have pushed hard for the deal, wanting to use the cash for improvements to nearby Gateway Park and wanting to send a signal to prospective future corporate arrivals that the county government was willing to play ball. But earlier in the month, the Arlington Planning Commission pushed back, recommending rejection of the plan.
Opponents noted, correctly, that public access to the scenic overlook some 300 feet in the sky was part of a carefully crafted package of community benefits when the project received the requisite zoning approvals needed to move forward with the building. (For those with long culinary memories, it sits where Tom Sarris’s prime-rib emporium once did.)
This is not the first time county staff have unilaterally decided to renege on such a community benefit. County Manager Mark Schwartz a few years back shafted the arts community, eliminating plans for a black-box theater near Central Library that had been part of a development deal. Schwartz opted to take cash instead.
We’re not reflexively opposed to after-the-fact changes like this taking place. And there were valid reasons, for both the public and economic development, that this might have made sense. But we believe the bar needs to be set very, very high. After all, county staff and the County Board work for the community, right? Sometimes, one is left to wonder.
