Crystal City sector plan approved

The county board in Arlington, Virginia, unanimously approved a new "sector plan" that will enable Crystal City to continue to grow.

Crystal City, located across the Potomac River from the core of the nation's capital, is a key urban center in Arlington County, Virginia. Initially developed starting in the early 1960s, Crystal City has evolved into a residential, business, and transportation hub.

Under the prior land-use plans and zoning, Crystal City reached its full build-out capacity, and opportunities for improvement and replacement of aging buildings and infrastructure were limited. Additionally, in 2005, BRAC (Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission) recommended the relocation of Defense Department office space leased in Crystal City to sites outside of Arlington. In response, Arlington established a BRAC Transition Task Force with the specific task of recommending planning initiatives to address the impending loss of jobs and revenue. One of their recommendations was for the County to develop a long-term master plan for future development in Crystal City.

Arlington County initiated a master planning process for Crystal City in 2006. Torti Gallas and Partners of Silver Spring, Maryland, was hired to create a vision that would transform an existing urban center — struggling to recover from obsolete urban design concepts — into a place of vibrant neighborhoods, active streets, public open spaces, and rich urban character. The planners reached out to the community. The Crystal City Planning Task Force — a panel of prominent property owners, office tenants, various County Commissioners, and residents, all appointed by the County Board — was charged with reviewing development of  the master plan.

Although the county's original intent was to adopt the product of this effort as a non-binding "vision plan," after three years of land-use and policy decisions that had been developed in the process, the county formally adopt the document as a "sector plan," the official guiding document for county policy on land-use, zoning, housing, and many other issues affecting Crystal City. The plan includes design guidelines developed by Torti Gallas to shape the urban form of all future development, with a clear set of implementation procedures. The streetcar system proposed in the plan was enthusiastically adopted, with design and funding implementation slated to begin in January 2011.

The Crystal City Sector Plan is the largest and most complex sector plan undertaken by Arlington County to date. Drafts of the Sector Plan can be viewed at the Crystal City Redevelopment web site.