Case Study

Arlington County,Virginia

Key Facts
Total Population: 227,146
Incorporated Area: 26 Square Miles
Population Density: 8,309 per Sq Mile
Form of Government: "Council-Manager"
DC Metro Area Population: 5,860,342
DC Metro Area Density: 963 per Sq Mile

Finding the Language to Discuss

Land Use and Transportation Policy
Board Member Made Planning, Policy Debate Accessible
to Citizens and Advanced Walkable Urbanism

In the late 1990s, Arlington County, VA Board Member Chris Zimmerman

became aware of inconsistencies in the County's approach to planning and
development. "I realized there was an inherent conflict between our landuse plan based on transit-oriented development, and our outdated street
policies which were following suburban-rural standards," he said, "But the
big challenge was to articulate this conflict in a way that enabled community
members to get involved in the conversation and express their opinions."
County Board Member
Then, one day, Zimmerman was studying an Institute of Traffic Engineers
journal, when he came across the relatively new (in the United States)
concept of traffic calming. "When I saw the words, traffic calming, I knew
this had to be introduced into the vocabulary of our discussion," he recalls.
Soon thereafter, Arlington formed a "Task Force on Traffic Calming," and
launched a vigorous public debate that was open to everyone.
While the County's "old-school" engineers contended that streets should be
designed to move traffic from A to B as quickly as possible, the majority of citizens
testifying before the Task Force wanted complete sidewalks, slower traffic, and
safer neighborhoods for themselves and their children. The result was that the
street design standards were updated.
PO Box 10581
Portland, OR
(503) 757-8342 americawalks.org
@americawalks

Chris Zimmerman

Elected: 1996, 1998, 2002, 2006,

2010
Key Projects: "Urban Village
Forums," series of public
engagement seminars; "Walk
Arlington," outreach program
Philosophy: "I'm a neighborhood
activist at heart. I believe
government should be
representative and responsive. It
takes lots of hard work on both
sides to elevate public engagement
to the level at which we are really
designing communities that work
well for all of us."

Case Study
Arlington County, Virginia

Chris Zimmerman developed his thinking

about how public places should be designed by
examining his own instinctive likes and dislikes.
"For family vacations, I had always been drawn
to walkable places," he said, "Over time, I
came to realize this was true for the majority my
neighbors, as well."

As a result, he became involved in grass-roots

efforts to address the problems of speeding,
cut-through traffic, and inadequate sidewalks in
neighborhoods. His interest in ensuring walking
in Arlington was a safe and enjoyable experience led him to volunteer for the Parks and Planning
Commissions, and then to run for election to the County Board.
Chris Zimmerman served on the Arlington County Board for 18 years, including four terms as Chair.
During that time, Arlington - located across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. - became
a celebrated example of a walkable, transit-oriented urban place, and Zimmerman was involved
in several of the specific initiatives. For example, he led efforts to start a safe routes to school
program, adopt a "complete streets" policy, eliminate "free right turns" (where vehicles cruise around
a shallow curve at high speed), and develop the Walk Arlington community outreach program. He
also ended the long-standing practice of property owners paying for sidewalks to be installed in front
of their homes, saying, "Homeowners are not expected to pay for the street in front of their house;
why should they be responsible for the pedestrian infrastructure?"
A theme of Zimmerman's public service was the
time and trouble he took to discuss policy issues
with his constituents. "I think government should be
representative and responsive. It takes lots of hard
work on both sides to elevate public engagement
to the level at which we are really designing
communities that work well for all of us."
In January, 2014, Chris Zimmerman stepped down
from the Arlington County Board to accept the
position of Vice President for Economic Development
with Smart Growth America, and bring his efforts
for greater walkability to communities around the
country .

PO Box 10581
Portland, OR
(503) 757-8342 americawalks.org @americawalks