The Fairfax County Planning Commission gave its blessing last Wednesday (Jan. 8) to two proposed projects that could replace aging commercial buildings with housing on adjacent Oakton parcels.
The proposals to redevelop Redwood Plaza (10600 Arrowhead Drive) and a portion of the Flint Hill Office Park (10530 Rosehaven Street) will now go to the Board of Supervisors. A similar request for a parcel immediately to the north is in the pipeline and will be considered later this year.
All told, the three projects would deliver “almost 500 units in an area that hasn’t seen a lot of housing investment in a long time,” said David Gill, an attorney who represented the two applicants at the planning commission meeting.
The Flint Hill proposal by A&A Properties would raze an existing office building and construct 186 triplexes and 88 townhouses on a 14.6-acre site bounded by Jermantown Road, Arrowhead Drive and Rosehaven Street, just west of Chain Bridge Road.
At Redwood Plaza, the developer Network Realty Partners, under the name Redwood Propco LLC, is seeking to demolish three office buildings and replace them with 196 townhouses on 12.1 acres immediately to the south of the A&A parcel.
In each case, the commercial buildings are “basically vacant,” according to Gill. Given the current condition of the D.C. region’s commercial real estate market, they’re likely at the end of their useful life, he said.
A number of facets of the envisioned development won praise from commissioners, including universal-design elements, the trail and sidewalk network, and the amount of land set aside for parks accessible to the public.
The projects will meet county guidelines for affordable and workforce housing, Gill said.
The commissioners were also pleased that two different developers worked closely to coordinate their efforts.
“I commend the two property owners for coming together to make this a project that is integrated,” Commission chair and at-large member Phil Niedzielski-Eichner said. “The attention to detail is much appreciated.”
“I appreciate the coordination,” agreed Commissioner Jeremy Hancock, who represents the Providence District where both sites are located.
If approved by the Board of Supervisors, the two projects will deliver “a diverse set of housing opportunities for the area,” Hancock said. The A&A project is scheduled for a March 4 public hearing before the board, but the board doesn’t have a set date yet for the Redwood application.
While supportive, commission members peppered Gill with questions and raised a few areas of concern.
Commissioners Mary Cortina (Braddock), Chris Landgraf (Franconia) and Tim Sargeant (At-Large) all voiced unease about the potential impact of the new housing on schools, particularly Fairfax High Shcool.
Landgraf and Cortina said their broader concern had less to do with these individual projects and more about the county’s approach to addressing the ramifications of more residential development on student populations.
Those concerns come as the county government and, by extension, Fairfax County Public Schools face a short-term budget gap and seek ways to diversify the county’s tax base.
An increasing student enrollment puts added pressure on local government. Financial contributions — known as proffers — from developers to the school system will represent only “a fraction of what it costs to actually build another classroom,” Cortina said.
“We’re going to have to address it in the big picture,” Sargeant added.
The commission is slated to hold a public hearing in June for a separate application from Network Realty Partners to rezone the nearby site at 3201 Jermantown Road. The developer, which owns the property under the name Flint Hill Propco LLC, wants to replace the existing eight-story office building with 139 residential units, according to the development plan.
Located across Jermantown Road from the Oakmont Rec Center and Golf Center Complex, the combined developments will “enliven the area,” Niedzielski-Eichner said.
