Home | Newsletter | Advertise
loading...

Arlington County Approves Missing Middle Zoning

  • March 22nd 2023

by UrbanTurf Staff

✉️ Want to forward this article? Click here.

DC's Missing Middle: Figure 1
Graphic of the "Missing Middle", ©Opticos Design. Click to enlarge.

The Arlington County Board voted unanimously on Wednesday to approve allowing Missing Middle housing in neighborhoods where single-family homes were only previously allowed. 

The term “missing middle” was coined by architect Daniel Parolek to describe the dearth of housing types — somewhere between single-family homes and mid-rise multi-family buildings — that would accommodate the needs of a large swath of the middle class. The approval on Wednesday will make it easier to build townhouses, duplexes and 4-6 unit buildings.

The arrival of missing middle housing to traditionally single-family home areas of the county will be gradual. Beginning July 1, the county will issue just 58 permits annually; that cap will be lifted in five years. New structures with five to six units will need to be on lots of at least 6,000 square feet.

Arlington is the first jurisdiction in the DC region to widely approve missing middle housing; Minneapolis and Portland, Oregon approved similar measures in recent years. 

See other articles related to: missing middle, missing middle housing

This article originally published at https://dc.urbanturf.com/articles/blog/arlington_county_approves_missing_middle_zoning/20810.

DC Real Estate Guides

Short guides to navigating the DC-area real estate market

We've collected all our helpful guides for buying, selling and renting in and around Washington, DC in one place. Start browsing below!

First-Timer Primers

Intro guides for first-time home buyers

Red Flags Revealed During a Home Inspection Top 5 Tax Breaks For Homeowners Tax Relief for DC Homeowners
Condo Fee Tutorial What is a Rent Back? 10 Ways To Tell If a Home Renovation is Well Done
Obtaining a Basic Business License For Your Rental What is an Adjustable Rate Mortgage? The Splitting the Rent Formula
How Much Cash Do You Need to Buy a House? Is This Condo Building Financially Healthy? Interest Rates and Mortgage Points
The Scoop on Mortgage Insurance

Unique Spaces

Awesome and unusual real estate from across the DC Metro

The Most Intriguing Loft in DC The R Street Firehouse DC’s One-Room House
Dupont Circle’s Old Frat House To Become Alley Home Best Transition From a Garage To a Home The Roundhouse
Tilden Gardens Restaurant-Turned-Home Hits Market Next Week Logan Circle’s Most Intriguing Garage Frank Lloyd Wright Goes Green in Kensington
Sears Bungalow Gets a Modern Makeover Old Town General Store Becomes Three-Level Home Making the Most of a Skinny House
A Studio 27 Renovation on Capitol Hill Once a Carriage House, Now a Home The Bank that Became a Home
From Pie to Hooch to Heroin to Home The Live-Aboards of Gangplank Marina A Treehouse with Rock Creek Park As A Backyard
Modern Tranquility in Sperryville Saddle Up For Stable Living Throwing a Curve at 550 Square Feet
A Modern Hilltop Retreat Tilden Street Restaurant Becomes Spacious Home Focus on Design: A Vastu Unit at 22 West
The DC Area’s First Net Zero Home A Yankee Goes Green DC’s First Carbon Neutral Home
Eco-Friendly Alley House Off H Street The Gym, The Stables and The Firehouse