High-Rises Approved That Would Dwarf D.C.

In addition, the developer has pledged $5.4 million toward the city's affordable housing fund. The project also features a ground-level plaza with cafes and restaurants.

The renderings submitted by the developer's architect depict sleek silver towers sheathed in glass, with an observation deck that resembles a glowing spaceship.

The project's scope and obtrusiveness on the skyline alarms Thomas Luebke, secretary of the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, which reviews local federal design projects but does not have the authority to block them.

"It remains to be seen how much this creates a new element in the skyline of Washington's monumental landscape," Luebke said. "It could affect the whole composition of the national capital as we experience it now. Perhaps it will be okay from the Capitol, but at the base of the Washington Monument it might be different. We won't know until it starts to get framed up."

National Park Service representative David Murphy testified at the hearing that federal park officials fear Arlington is embarking on "what amounts to a rebuilding of the Rosslyn skyline," a problematic precedent given the area's location on what he called "a prominent point on the river."

"You need to consider the region as a community," Murphy said.

But almost a dozen Arlington residents testified in support of the new project, saying Rosslyn is overdue for a makeover. Roa Lynn of Rosslyn said she recently had lunch outside in Shirlington, "alfresco," she noted, and her neighborhood looked bleak in contrast.

"I was struck by how harsh and unpleasant the Rosslyn streetscape is," Lynn said. "I beg you please to approve this project today. Make my neighborhood as nice as the other neighborhoods in Arlington."