March 2026 Arlington County Board Wrap-Up

 March 2026 Arlington County Board Wrap-Up

The Arlington County Board considered and acted on dozens of agenda items at its March 2026 Regular and Recessed County Board Meetings.  These include the following:

Saturday, March 14, 2026 – Regular County Board Meeting  

Item 32 – Strategic Amendments to County Sign Regulations
The Arlington County Board adopted amendments to the Arlington County Zoning Ordinance (Article 13, Signs) and the Arlington County Code (Chapter 17, Miscellaneous).

Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative
On a vote, 5-0, the amendments associated with Arlington County Zoning Ordinance (Article 13, Signs) represent the second phase of strategic updates to sign regulations under the Commercial Market Resiliency Initiative (CMRI). Effective immediately upon the Board’s adoption, these changes seek to modernize Arlington’s regulatory framework to respond to economic shifts and support Arlington’s placemaking, and include: 

• Greater flexibility for types, size, and number of signs allowed in RA districts;
• Allowance for signs and/or sign types within Public districts and on publicly owned property and that may include automatic changeable copy and off-premise advertising (i.e., advertising for businesses not immediately on the premises), in specified locations;
• Changes to size and timing standards for certain automatic changeable copy signs; and
• Associated technical edits for consistency, organization, and readability.

Temporary Signs in the Public Right-of-Way
On a 4-1 vote (Vice-Chair Coffey voting nay), the Board adopted amendments, effective May 1, 2026, that were less restrictive than the original recommendation from the County Manager, which was to ban all signs, regardless of their content, from County-owned public rights-of-way (ROW).

Instead of a full ban, the Board restricted temporary signs in public ROWs by:

• Limiting only one sign per any commercial activity, candidate, political issue or ticket or other entity in any landscape and utility or median strip at any street intersection in any public ROW; and
• Modifying the placement of signs to no sooner than 45 days, instead of 31, consecutive days before the final day of scheduled in-person voting for an election or party nominating caucus.

Item 33 – Ranked Choice Voting for Upcoming General Elections

Arlington's County Board has 5 at-large members, who each serve staggered 4-year terms. One (1) seat is up for election every year, with two (2) seats up for election every fourth year. Prior to 2023, the Board exclusively used a winner-take-all voting method in both its primary and general elections. Under this method, voters vote for the number of open seats that year, and the candidate(s) must receive a majority or plurality of votes to win.

Ranked choice voting (RCV) is a voting method in which voters rank candidates in order of preference. All 1st choice votes are counted. If no candidates receive the required number of votes to win, the candidate with the fewest votes is eliminated and ballots for that candidate are transferred to the voter's next choice. This process continues until candidates have enough votes to win. In one-seat elections, the threshold to win is 50 percent and one vote. In two-seat elections, candidates must secure 33 percent and one vote to win in an election determined by RCV. 

The Arlington County Board has incrementally expanded its use of RCV in its Board elections since 2022. RCV was first piloted in the June 2023 County Board primary and then adopted in December 2023 as the method for all future County Board primary elections. Since 2024, the County Board has piloted RCV in its general elections. 

On August 15, 2025, the Arlington County Board awarded grants to two non-profits organizations, Challenging Racism and FairVote (in partnership with Ranked Choice Virginia), for voter education and outreach efforts related to Ranked Choice Voting leading up to the November 2025 County Board General Election. At the Arlington County Board's February 2026 Recessed County Board meeting, Challenging Racism and Ranked Choice Virginia presented their reports to the Board publicly on this effort. The Board will consider this information as it continues to make decisions on the use of Ranked Choice Voting in upcoming County Board elections.

Read the reports: Challenging Racism's Report on its Outreach and Education Efforts; Ranked Choice Virginia's Report on its Surveying and Evaluation Efforts. 

Tuesday, March 17, 2026 – Recessed County Board Meeting

Item 34 – Arlington View Neighborhood Plan Update
The Board adopted a resolution to accept an update to the Arlington View Neighborhood Plan (AVNP). This plan contains 21 recommendations categorized into the following subject areas: Our Location, Our People, and Our History, Zoning, Land Use and Development, Infrastructure and Growth-Related Concerns, Traffic and Transportation Concerns, Public Facilities, and Public Services. With the acceptance of the plan, these recommendations will be considered by the County Manager in decision-making that affect the Arlington View neighborhood based on available funding and resources. 

Through a community led process, the Arlington View Civic Association began their planning efforts in 2022 to update the AVNP (established in 1965). 

Their efforts included: 

Holding several community conversations to gather feedback and then formed a planning committee to write and update their neighborhood plan;

Conducting outreach at community events, hosting listening sessions and gathering feedback from representatives of the multifamily complexes in the neighborhood and additional neighborhood groups; 

Hand-delivering fliers to every home in the neighborhood with a QR code linked to the survey, as well as an option for anyone who wanted to request a paper copy; 

Promoting survey participation in weekly emails; and

Working with Arlington Neighborhoods Program staff to complete and review this plan. 

The Board also voted to extend the current Ranked Choice Voting pilot by an additional two years, allowing for the continued monitoring of implementation and public reception on the voting method.  

The Civic Association adopted this plan in June 2025. The Arlington Neighborhoods Advisory Committee reviewed the plan on January 15, 2026, and recommended it be forwarded to the Planning Commission and County Board for acceptance, subject to comments at the end of report. Notably, Arlington View Civic Association members provided the presentation on this item. 

Arlington View is a small residential neighborhood located south of Columbia Pike in the southeastern portion of Arlington County, Virginia. It is home to just over 1,000 people living in 452 households and is one of Arlington’s historically Black neighborhoods.

Item 35 – RTA on Joining the Northern Virginia Cigarette Tax Board

The Board approved a request to advertise a public hearing to consider joining the Northern Virginia Cigarette Tax Board and to advertise a revised ordinance related to cigarette tax enforcement. This item was originally included in the February 21, 2026, budget-related advertisement package, but minor technical revisions were later made to the ordinance. The item will be heard at the March 26, 2026, budget hearing, with final consideration and adoption scheduled for April.

Registering to Speak at Future Public Hearings  

Registration to speak on an item with a scheduled public hearing opens approximately a week before the meeting, and members of the public can either register online or call in at 703-228-3130.

Those wanting to participate in these hearings can do so in person, virtually, or by phone and will receive instructions on these options once they have completed their registration. Members of the public wanting to speak on a Consent Agenda item may do so by notifying the County Board Office before 10 AM at Regular Meetings to request the item be pulled from the agenda. Members of the public may then register to speak on pulled agenda items at the upcoming Tuesday Recessed meeting. Agendas will note which consent agenda items are subject to public hearing requirements and which require Board member consent to be removed.  

Members of the public are also strongly encouraged to subscribe to the County Board's News and Updates service to be alerted when meeting agendas are posted. Board meeting and agenda information can be accessed on the County Board's webpage. Visit 2026 County Board Meeting and Procedures on the County website to learn more. 

 

View this release in our newsroom

Manage Subscriptions  |  Help

This email was sent to NPkvdejmf6@niepodam.pl on behalf of Arlington County.