A joint emergency room and urgent care center that Virginia Hospital Center (VHC) says will be the first facility of its kind in Virginia took a step closer to becoming a reality last week.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval on Wednesday, Sept. 18 of VHC Health’s proposal to redevelop Graham Center (7234 Arlington Blvd) in West Falls Church with a new medical facility — a project that county staff agreed will “significantly improve pedestrian safety” compared to the existing, aging shopping center.
“We do believe this is going to become a significant asset to not only to this local area, but also to the county as a whole,” Walsh Colucci Lubeley & Walsh land use associate Kathryn Taylor said as the health care system’s representative at the public hearing.
Complemented by up to 10,250 square feet of medical office space, the 14,000-square-foot, free-standing emergency room and urgent care center will be operated by VHC Health in partnership with Intuitive Health, a Texas-based medical group that specializes in these combined facilities.
Launched in 2008 by a group of ER physicians, Intuitive Health says its dual model reduces health care costs by ensuring patients get the correct level of service for their condition.
“Our job is to hopefully help eliminate the decision-making for the patient and provide them a place where they can go [and] not be worried about the financial impact of making the wrong decision between ER and urgent care,” an Intuitive Health representative told the planning commission.
The company now has 33 locations in the U.S., primarily in the south and Midwest. The closest site to the D.C. area right now is in Delaware.
The West Falls Church facility will operate 24/7, with visitors getting an initial evaluation by a licensed physician to determine whether they should get urgent care or go to the ER. Ambulance activity at the site will mostly be limited to medical transports that won’t involve the use of lights and sirens, according to Taylor.
In addition to providing a new medical care option, VHC Health has committed to several pedestrian safety and accessibility improvements, including a replacement of the service drive with 10-foot-wide shared-use paths along both Graham Road and Arlington Blvd.
A 6-foot-wide sidewalk will be added to the drive aisle on the northern edge of the site, creating a pedestrian connection to the neighboring Kingsley Commons neighborood, and an 8-foot-wide sidewalk is proposed on the western side.
The project would also install bicycle parking spaces and crosswalks, including a raised crosswalk near the main ER entrance to slow vehicles down as they turn in. The Graham Road median will be replaced and extended with a pedestrian refuge near the Arlington Blvd intersection.
Taylor noted that the northern drive aisle is worn down with potholes, and VHC was made aware of safety concerns related to the Graham/Arlington intersection. Three pedestrians have been killed in crashes at that intersection since 2018, according to a county staff report on the special exception application.
“One application doesn’t solve the issues, but…those are pretty big improvements for this community to be able to access this site and get around a little safer,” Providence District Supervisor Jeremy Hancock said.
One resident who said he lives about three blocks from the development site expressed concern that removing the service road will lead to more traffic cutting through residential neighborhoods to avoid the Graham Road and Arlington Blvd intersection.
“While I think this is a very, very good use for that site, I’m just curious what the county’s going to do to try to encourage people to use Arlington Blvd as opposed to cutting through the neighborhoods,” he said at the public hearing.
Though they didn’t address cut-through traffic in the nearby neighborhoods, county staff said the reconfiguration of the entrance to the site from Graham Road will make it a less efficient route around the Arlington Blvd intersection. Exiting vehicles will be limited to turning right, and a new left-turn lane for vehicles entering the property could reduce backups.
The Graham Road changes still need to be approved by the Virginia Department of Transportation, though an engineer hired by VHC Health said discussions with the agency have been productive and collaborative so far.
With the planning commission’s recommendation, the application will now go to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for its approval. A public hearing is scheduled for Oct. 8.
