What are the biggest challenges for members of the Arlington County Board? 

In 1975 the answer to that question was a short statement by a former County Board member: “Schools and Zoning”. In 2025, one might shorten the response about biggest challenges to just one word: Zoning. 

In recent years, the Missing Middle zoning ordinance, and the Langston Boulevard Area Plan, were contentious and challenging matters for the County Board. Now, in 2025, a number of new high-profile land use matters will be in the spotlight. 

One upcoming challenge likely will involve the site plan filed for the Walgreens site on Langston Boulevard, across from Lyon Village Shopping Center. 

This 1.68-acre site is currently developed with a Walgreens Pharmacy building constructed in 1998.The applicant, Rooney Properties, LLC, has submitted an application to rezone the property to a mixed-use zoning district, and has filed a site plan to construct a 12-story mixed-use building with 296 residential units and ground floor retail space. 

The Site Plan Review Committee established for this project will have meetings in February and March as part of their review work. Eventually the site plan application will move on to hearings before the Planning Commission, and then the County Board. 

The rezoning and site plan process brings to mind a number of adjectives: byzantine, convoluted, and opaque, to name a few. Where does a Site Plan Review Committee fit into all of this? Well, a little history might help. 

The concept of a Site Plan Review Committee (SPRC) for complex site plans became a reality in 1972, aided by the good work of a dedicated civic activist, John McCracken, who was the first Chairman of the committee. McCracken spearheaded efforts to create this subcommittee of the Planning Commission in order to resolve as many issues as possible early in the process, and thereby reduce the number of deferrals and the extraordinarily lengthy discussions at the public hearings. 

For the Walgreens Site Plan, this Site Plan Review Committee consists of 38 people, starting with the 11 members of the Planning Commission. Then you add sixteen members of ten different County commissions, including the Housing Commission, the Transportation Commission, and the Pedestrian Advisory Commission. Finally, you complete the committee by adding eleven people from four different civic associations in the area. 

One might be tempted to refer to this cumbersome committee as being part of the Arlington Way. While some people would prefer to retire that phrase, the history of the SPRC perhaps reveals the foundation of the Arlington Way. Maybe it begins with all those citizen volunteers on all these committees and commissions. 

To that end, I would like to raise up the example of John McCracken, that first chairman of the SPRC in 1972. McCracken, who passed away in 2003, was a dedicated civic activist in many different parts of Arlington civic life. 

McCracken was instrumental in organizing youth soccer teams in the 1970’s for boys and girls, and he served as president of the Arlington Soccer Association in those early years. McCracken also was a driving force in the creation of the Arlington in Retirement Learning Institute in the early 2000’s, which is now known as Encore Learning. 

McCracken was chair of numerous civic groups, including the Arlington Planning Commission, the Arlington Economic Development Commission, and the Arlington Committee of 100. He was one of the first recipients of the Spirit of Community Award, given each year by the Arlington Community Foundation. 

Perhaps the Arlington Way is not something created by County officials but instead is a “way” of civic life by its citizens. Hats off to