Falls Church city officials are hoping for a collaborative effort with their Fairfax County colleagues as redevelopment takes place in the Gordon Road Triangle straddling the two communities.
“We have demonstrated we can work well with Fairfax County,” Falls Church Vice Mayor Debora Schantz-Hiscott said as city leaders on Sept. 15 began planning for the 20-acre parcel located within the locality’s borders.
Located in the city’s West End area, the Gordon Road triangle industrial area is bounded by W. Broad Street (Route 7) to the northeast, the W&OD Regional Trail to the south and Shreve Road and the Fairfax County line to the west.
The border between the two communities slices through a number of parcels. Among them is land owned by the Beyer family, which already has submitted a redevelopment proposal to Fairfax County.
Though still in the early stages of review, that plan calls for mixed-use development where existing service and sales facilities are located. It also seeks a slight boundary change between the two jurisdictions, so each of the proposed Beyer buildings would be located in either Fairfax or Falls Church, but not both.
The Sept. 15 work session included participation by Falls Church elected officials, members of advisory commissions and staff. While Fairfax County was not represented, City Manager Wyatt Shields said the two locales will be in constant contact to ensure a good flow of information.
Shields suggested there might be quarterly meetings between staffs of the two jurisdictions as planning moves forward.
The city owns about 5 acres of the 20-acre site, with the Beyer family owning approximately the same amount. Ownership of the remaining half of the site is split among private entities.
Much of the city’s portion is occupied by the Robert L. Goff Operations Yard on Gordon Road. While some at the meeting floated the idea of relocating that facility elsewhere to provide more development space, City Manager Wyatt Shields was quick to throw cold water on the idea.
It would be “99.9999% not possible” to find a suitable alternative site for operations now housed at the center, Shields said.
Instead, it is likely the city would work to find private partners to fund on-site renovations to and new facilities on the aging facility, rather than try to cover all those costs itself.
Shields said his plan was to bring the timeline for staff to approach the future of the Gordon Road Triangle to Council members at a January retreat. That will come once the occupants of four Council seats on the Nov. 4 ballot are determined and seated.
At the Sept. 15 work session, there were plenty of ideas on what should be shoehorned in the 5 acres.
“There’s a lot we want to use this space for,” Council member Justine Underhill said. She said the city may need to be willing to trade higher density in order to get what it seeks from a development partner.
In January, a contingent from the Urban Land Institute visited the site to explore redevelopment opportunities. Its report, issued in June, offered a number of options, including retail development along Broad Street and the W&OD Trail and additional housing.
The recommendations were “designed for maximum flexibility,” said Emily Bazemore, a senior planner with the city government.
The Urban Land Institute recommendations call for tackling the future of government-owned property first, before considering future uses for the three-quarters of the site that is in private hands. That view drew praise from Council member Laura Downs.
“It’s a very complex process,” she said. “Let us take the lead … attack the city side first.”
But city officials may not have the luxury, given the Beyer plan.
At the work session, Falls Church Mayor Letty Hardi said she hoped “healthy discussions and productive conversation” would guide the process in getting where it needs to go.
“I appreciate having all the brains together in this room,” she said at the conclusion of the 90-minute discussion.
