October 12, 2026.
I’m Audrey Clement, Independent candidate for Arlington County Board on November 3. I’m a 22 year resident of Arlington County, past member of the Transportation Commission and current delegate to the Arlington Neighborhoods Advisory Committee and Arlington Civic Federation.
I’m running, because I’m concerned about the impacts of ill advised policies on County residents.
Last spring Arlington County advised Westover homeowners of plans to acquire and demolish 20 homes near the I-66 retaining wall for overland flood relief. Also planned is the construction of a massive flood wall along Longfellow Street to divert flood waters into culverts running under I-66 to Four Mile Run (4MR).
In a slide show presentation County staff explained that the demolitions are needed because the recently constructed massive, stormwater vault adjacent to Cardinal School in Westover is designed for a 10-year storm, not a 100-year storm. Staff also indicated that stormwater pipe upgrades planned for the area are insufficient. To date the County has acquired several homes, but some neighbors are reluctant to sell, because their properties have already been devalued.
My concerns about this project are twofold: cost allocation and environmental impact. At $1 million a pop, the County will pay $20 million to demolish the properties and an untold additional amount to construct the flood wall. The cost is being absorbed by County taxpayers. Yet it is well known that the cause of the flood risk this project is intended to mitigate is runoff from McMansions constructed upstream of Westover Village, whose owners are passing the cost of flood relief onto the rest of us.
Instead of recognizing the inequities of this situation, the County has actually refused to include the impact of reduced setbacks associated with McMansion construction in its ongoing Low Residential Study of impervious surfaces in single family neighborhoods. Instead the study is limited to runoff generated by driveways and swimming pools. This restriction makes no sense considering that the County itself reported that from FY 2009 to FY 2019:
Another issue is the impact of flood water on 4MR, which breached its banks all the way to Carlin Springs Road during the July, 2019 flood, even though stormwater from the other side of I-66 never reached 4MR due to inadequate stormwater infrastructure.
If elected I am going to expand the mandate of the County’s Low Residential Study to include flood risk caused by outsized McMansion construction and to study the impacts of proposed flood mitigation efforts on existing tributaries. I also pledge to:
- Stop Missing Middle up-zoning.
- Seek immediate tax relief for residents and businesses.
- Reduce the office vacancy rate by getting tax burdened New York City businesses to relocate here.
- Restore the local economy by getting the federal government to rehire its workforce.
If you share my agenda, then: