Touted as one of the smartest growing communities in the United States, the skyline of Rosslyn is constantly changing with new buildings popping up and old ones being redeveloped into exciting new projects that aimed at attracting more Arlington home owners to the area. Now that skyline is coming into question as the Arlington County Civic Federation is pondering instituting a restriction on the heights of buildings in the area.
The restriction consideration comes on the heels of a possible change in safety regulations brought on by the Federal Aviation Administration. After studying the area and flight patterns of local aircraft in April, the FAA announced that it was considering changing regulations for the area in order to provide a better safeguard for aircraft that malfunction on takeoff.
These situations are referred to in the aviation industry as one engine, inoperative planes, and constitute aircraft that have engines fail on takeoff and cannot ascend fast enough to clear the city skyline. While no official ruling has yet been made on the proposed restrictions, some feel that this regulation could help to make Arlington airports and air navigation much safer.
Regulations Pose Problems To Rosslyn Condo Development
While the city is intent on becoming as safe as it possibly can be, whether residents are traveling on land, sea or air, the regulation in building size poses a bit of an issue with the economic development of Rosslyn. The neighborhood is one that has just recently hit its stride in development and has quickly become one of the hottest neighborhoods to live in throughout the Washington, DC metropolitan area.
Without the ability to build higher buildings for both office and residential use, Rosslyn could lose just a little bit of potential as a dense, urban oasis in Arlington. While much of DC is already under height restrictions for new developments, Rosslyn’s buildings could be zoned for development up to three times the height of DC buildings. As a result, development officials originally had the area slated as a densely populated economic hub, with taller buildings to accommodate more businesses, home owners and economic opportunities for the area.
Rosslyn has long been touted as a community that, under smart civic planning, has been able to thrive in giving its residents a variety of housing styles to choose from along with a diverse economic base that includes important local amenities. Given the shift in development that the aviation restrictions could impose on the area, local officials and home owners have found themselves in quite the conundrum.
“We share the FAA’s interest in ensuring that air navigation in and around airports is safe, with appropriate plans and procedures in place to account for emergency situations,” said County Manager Barbara Donnellan in a letter to the FAA.
“At the same time, Arlington is committed to our long-established smart growth and transit-oriented development policies, which includes creating mixed-use, high-density neighborhoods around investments in transit,” Donnellan continued. “Therefore, we share the view of other potentially-affected communities that the impacts be thoroughly evaluated through the formal rule-making process before any change is made.”
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http://www.thecondohub.com/blog/new-rosslyn-condo-developments-depend-aviation-ruling
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