A proposal for new housing in the Woodland Park community near Herndon is moving to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors with a positive recommendation.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday (Nov. 13) to approve the plan by Pulte Homes to put two five-story buildings with 72 total residential units on a parcel near the intersection of the Dulles Access Road and Centreville Road, just north of Sunrise Valley Drive.
Dubbed Caywood at Woodland Park, the housing will replace surface parking on the southeast portion of the 12-acre site. Two existing six-story office buildings will remain, but they could be redeveloped later as tenant leases expire.
The Nov. 13 decision came after planning commissioners vetted the proposal during a lengthy discussion on Oct. 16 that touched on issues ranging from the streetscape along Sunrise Valley Drive to noise buffers.
Located between the Herndon and Innovation Center Metro stations, the parcel at 13221 Woodland Park Road needs to be rezoned from industrial uses to planned development for Pulte’s project to proceed.
Under the proposed development plan, about one in five units will be reserved for workforce housing, and about 30% of the site will remain open space. Two linear parks with a central plaza would be added along Wood Oak Drive and Sunrise Valley Drive.
At the Oct. 16 public hearing, some planning commissioners raised concerns that the project doesn’t include enough density for a site in a Metro corridor, but they seemed generally pleased with the caliber of what was proposed.
In earlier years, planning commission members likely would have recommended approval of, and been done with, the project even with outstanding matters left to be worked out between the applicant and county staff. More recently, though, they’ve requested that projects come back to them for a final look after those discussions take place.
The commission was originally scheduled to issue a recommendation on the Caywood at Woodland Park application on Oct. 30. However, the vote got bumped to Nov. 13 due to an error in revising some of the language in the proffer agreement that commits the developer to certain conditions, such as the provision of affordable housing, native plants for landscaping or parking spaces for electric vehicles.
“In the past, we’ve been a little too loose,” Dranesville District Commissioner John Ulfelder said at the Oct. 16 meeting. “I would prefer to have the opportunity to see what is being proposed.”
The Board of Supervisors is now slated to hold a public hearing and potentially approve Pulte’s application next Tuesday (Nov. 19).
