Fairfax Water’s plan to update and expand the water tank that serves much of Idylwood and Pimmit Hills has run into strong opposition from many residents of the single-family neighborhood that surrounds the site.
Resident after resident testified at a Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing last Wednesday (July 24) that replacing the existing 700,000-gallon Poplar Heights tank with the 1.25-million-gallon tank proposed by the water authority will irrevocably damage their community and quality of life.
“It is a community defined by its residential charm with homes lining the streets and large trees providing shade and beauty,” said Alex Podpaly, who moved to Poplar Heights from Clarendon. “…This water tower project tears that apart. Such a project would drastically alter the character of our neighborhood, disrupting the residential feel and diminishing the sense of community that we all value, along with having a direct financial impact of diminishing property values.”
New tank necessary, Fairfax Water says
Built in 1952, two years before the Poplar Heights Civic Association was established, the standpipe tank at 7407 Tower Street is in immediate need of replacement, John McGranahan, a Hunton Andrews Kurth lawyer representing Fairfax Water, told the planning commission.
According to Fairfax Water, it identified multiple issues with the tank after acquiring the facility from Falls Church City in 2014. Now at the end of its useful life, the tank is under-sized, and only about 40% of its water is usable for standard operations, requiring regular drainings to ensure enough water is available for emergencies and meet the Virginia Department of Health’s minimum pressure regulations.
The new tank will deliver more consistent water pressure and have adequate storage for both daily operational demands and an additional 540,000 gallons needed in case of fires, water main breaks or other issues, McGranahan said.
“If this didn’t go forward, there’s no viable water storage in the zone,” he told the planning commission. “But if it were to be smaller, it couldn’t meet the fire objectives that they’re required to meet and obviously want to meet because that’s public health, safety and welfare.”
A study commissioned by Fairfax Water in 2016 also looked at sites on Powhatan Street and near Hill Place, where there’s an existing, 30-foot-tall standpipe tank. But it recommended the Poplar Heights site for having “the least perceived impact to the adjacent neighborhood,” since the tank would be similar in height to the existing facility and adjacent to a radio tower.
According to McGranahan, the Poplar Heights site is also preferable because it’s centrally located and has the highest elevation at 525 feet above sea level, so the tower can be shorter than it would need to be at a different site. The tank bowl has to be 50 feet above the ground to provide consistent water pressure, which has been an issue in the service zone.
“This maximizes the use of existing infrastructure. There’s already piping to the location,” McGranahan said. “It doesn’t have to be put in for the first time, which is more disruptive. It is more costly to do one of the other sites than to repurpose this site. Fiscal analysis shouldn’t be the only consideration, but it is relevant.”
House demolitions, safety among concerns
In addition to having more capacity, the new tank will have a different design with a 40-foot-wide concrete pedestal topped by an 80-foot-wide steel bowl. At 100 feet in height, it will be relocated to the center of a site that expanded from 6,400 square feet to 40,692 square feet with the purchase of four lots currently occupied by single-family homes — two of them slated for demolition.
Residents have seized on the impending loss of those houses as evidence that the project will harm their neighborhood, noting that the displaced occupants were public school employees with children.
Though McGranahan stressed that Poplar Heights wasn’t chosen solely based on cost, the 2016 study noted that the Hill Place site (dubbed Falls Hill) had the highest property acquisition costs.
The houses set to be demolished have assessed values around $640,000 to $700,000, while the houses adjacent to the Falls Hill tank are in the $900,000 to $1 million range, per county property records.
“Allowing utilities to purchase and demolish affordable single-family homes sets a troubling precedent for other neighborhoods, creating greater housing inequalities and tarnishing the reputation of both Fairfax County and the utility,” resident Lori Perez said. “It not only harms the community and its residents, but also undermines the diverse housing needs in the area.”
Speakers also raised concerns about the tower’s size, noise, impact on local wildlife, tree loss, shadows blocking rooftop solar panels, and traffic and safety issues during what’s expected to be an 18-to-19-month construction period.
Most of the speakers said they live on Tower Street, which is frequently used by school buses but has no sidewalks. Many houses don’t have driveways, leaving little space on the narrow road with parked cars often lining both sides.
One resident worried the larger tower will exacerbate flooding issues at her mother’s house on Buckelew Drive, but Fairfax Water asserted it will actually help by moving the tower farther away from Buckelew and using “modified soils” that will absorb stormwater instead of letting it run off onto other properties.
“From a stormwater flow perspective, the current situation should get better, and it’s certainly the intent that it will get better,” McGranahan said.
Planning commission postpones vote
The planning commission deferred a decision on whether to recommend Fairfax Water’s application to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors until its next meeting on Sept. 11.
Providence District Commissioner Jeremy Hancock expressed hope the delay will give the utility time to make its project more palatable to the community.
“We have a water tank that’s there today that we’re not going to put out of service,” he said. “We have to figure out how to make water on this site work, but part of my commitment to you all in hearing you is that we not rush this, that we take the time to make sure your voices are considered in this process.”
If the project is approved, the design and permitting process could finish in mid-2025, allowing Fairfax Water to install water mains that will help improve pressure levels for residents in the immediate area around the tank. The actual tank construction isn’t expected to start until 2026.
