Tysons Towers apartment building owner seeks to add more parking

The available parking at the Tysons Towers apartments has proven inadequate, the property owner says.

Identified in Fairfax County property records as the Fairfax Education Association Retirement Housing Corporation, the owner is seeking to add 24 parking spaces at the apartment building, which exclusively houses seniors 62 and older and people with disabilities.

An application submitted to the county in late November asks to confirm that the changes can be made without violating the special permit first approved for the site at 8500 Tyspring Road in 1973.

“The property has been experiencing insufficient parking spaces for the tenants for many years,” William Prodo, a senior project manager for the engineering firm Walter L. Phillips Inc., wrote in a letter to the county’s Department of Planning and Zoning. “To rectify this problem, the owner would like to construct 24 additional parking spaces in two existing islands in the parking lot.”

The six-story apartment building was built in 1976 with 119 parking spaces, exceeding the 76 that were required at the time to support 275 dwelling units and 14 employees, according to a site plan.

Accessible parking spaces aren’t shown in the site plan, but the property owner added markings later to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements, leading to the current capacity of 118 on-site parking spaces, Prodo wrote.

The application says the additional spaces won’t be close to or “negatively impact any neighboring properties.”

“While one end of the additional parking spaces is located near the property frontage on Tyspring Street, the property is located at the end of a cul-de-sac so little traffic drives by the property,” Prodo said.

A proposed layout for the reconfigured parking lot indicates that two trees will be removed and two lights need to be relocated. The owner also plans to construct a new underground stormwater facility designed to meet current quantity requirements.

Per the application, the facility will “probably” meet the county’s stormwater quality requirements as well, but “it is possible that a very small amount of nutrient offset credits may need to be purchased.” The size, location and type of facility planned haven’t been finalized.

The application was accepted by county planners on Nov. 30 and is currently under review.

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