Virginia appeals court says Arlington can end single-family-only zoning
An Arlington policy eliminating single-family-only zoning was effectively reinstated Tuesday by a Virginia panel of judges, who ruled that homeowners suing the county over that effort should have also included in their lawsuit the real estate developers who built projects under the zoning change.
Washington Post headline: Virginia appeals court says Arlington can end single-family-only zoning
Washington Post headline: Virginia appeals court says Arlington can end single-family-only zoning
By Teo Armus
A three-judge panel of the Court of Appeals of Virginia reinstated Arlington’s Missing Middle zoning on June 24, 2025. The panel did not rule on the homeowners’ arguments. Instead, it found the lawsuit should have included the developers who already held EHO permits, saying the plaintiffs “failed to join indispensable parties to the litigation.”
The judges sent the case back to Arlington Circuit Court, putting EHO permitting back on the books. They also said they “make no comment on whether the holders of the EHO permits are the only necessary parties that were not joined.”
The appeal came from developer Alex Wilson, whose permits were voided by the trial judge’s order in fall 2024. Wilson told the Post he bought a run-down Cape Cod in the Claremont neighborhood for $570,000, turned it into a duplex, and expects to sell each half for about $1.2 million.
The County said it “will consider its next steps and how to best resume the EHO permitting process.” Dan Creedon of Neighbors for Neighborhoods said the homeowners were weighing whether to appeal the ruling or petition the Supreme Court of Virginia to overturn it.