Some last-minute heartburn over the details led the Fairfax County Planning Commission to defer a series of votes last week that would have advanced the county government’s plans for redeveloping its judicial complex.
After a public hearing last Wednesday (Oct. 9), Providence District Commissioner Jeremy Hancock ultimately pulled back his initial proposal to recommend approval of the submitted plans for the 48.2-acre judicial and public-safety compound surrounded by the City of Fairfax.
“We need to refine this a little bit,” he said.
Instead, commission members voted unanimously in support of deferring a decision to Oct. 23. The delay is unlikely to throw a monkey wrench in the county’s planning for the site, as no date has been set for final action by the Board of Supervisors.
Bounded by Main Street, Chain Bridge Road, Judicial Drive and Page Avenue, the Judicial Complex served as the government’s primary home until the Fairfax County Government Center opened in the early 1990s.
The parcel is now home to the Fairfax County Courthouse, the county jail, police central records, the sheriff’s office and other criminal justice-related operations. It totals about 1.4 million square feet of office space, much of which is likely to remain at least for the near term.
Based on a master plan adopted in 2021, county officials aim to add about 696,000 square feet of new construction, including four new office buildings and a 10,000-square-foot addition to the Historic Courthouse. It will also incorporate affordable multi-family housing, retail, child care and congregate care that’s envisioned as supportive housing for formerly incarcerated individuals, according to a county staff report.
The development will be implemented in phases over 20 years.
The first phase focuses on a new, 176,000-square-foot office tower to house Judicial Complex staff. Reaching up to 90 feet in height, the building will be constructed on the former site of the Massey Building, which was demolished in 2020, and come with underground parking and new public park and plaza space.
The redevelopment project will provide for “more efficient use of [county]-owned property over the next 20-plus years,” said Kimberly Callahan, the project coordinator representing the Board of Supervisors at the planning commission meeting.
Despite having questions about the planned housing, parking for people with disabilities, lighting and other issues on the sprawling parcel, the county’s planning commissioners appeared generally pleased with the plans put forward.
“The design characteristics, the detail — all of that I’m 100% behind,” Planning Commission chairman and at-large member Phil Niedzielski-Eichner said. “A tremendous amount of work has gone into this. I’m excited about it.”
“It’s got some excellent elements,” Franconia District Commissioner Chris Landgraf agreed.
But Niedzielski-Eichner and other commissioners were wary of sending the measure to supervisors without clarifying some of the finer points, such as the placement of affordable housing on the site.
Under the current plan, the housing appears to be “simply out of place … off in a corner. I hope that we can revisit that,” the chairman observed, adding that it’s “one of the only things I have a problem with.”
Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina suggested that the commission ensure its questions and recommendations get addressed by the proposal before sending it to county supervisors.
“I really don’t like doing business this way,” Cortina said of potentially recommending the application’s approval before the kinks are sorted out. Her view ultimately prevailed.
Any upcoming action by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors will set the conceptual framework for the entire project and allow the county government to move forward on the first phase of development. The county will need to return to the planning commission to seek approval of later ones.
Redevelopment plan map via Fairfax County DPWES
