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It took nearly 40 years to get there, but it looks like the Arlington County government and the Virginia Department of Transportation are close to signing an agreement defining the parameters of Gateway Park in Rosslyn.

Since the 1980s, the county government has maintained the park – located on a plaque above Interstate 66 between North Nash and North Lynn streets. But despite a 99-year deal between the two sides that was proposed in the 1980s, no formal document has ever been inked. The Arlington government nonetheless kept the park unopposed from the VDOT.

The proposal that will be presented to members of the county’s board of directors on December 11 would be a 50-year agreement in which the state government would retain ownership of the park, but Arlington would have the formal authority to provide “significant future investments.” In its maintenance and upgrading.

(Perhaps signaling that the county government wishes to sell the naming rights to the parcel, the deal allows the park to be renamed by Arlington officials, with the consent of VDOT.)

In order to comply with a 2015 advisory opinion from the state attorney general’s office, the VDOT cannot simply lease park space to the county, but rather must issue a land use permit, which is part of the agreement between the two parties. Arlington will not be billed by the state government for the privilege of using the park.