A major mixed-use development proposed near the Innovation Center Metro station still needs some work more than three years after the developer first asked Fairfax County for permission to revise its plans.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission deferred a vote last week (July 16) on whether to recommend approval of the proposed Aurora Station at Dulles development until its Sept. 16 meeting.
Developer Pomeroy Companies is seeking amendments to its 2019 rezoning plan, the conditions of that rezoning, a conceptual plan and a final development plan for the project. Pomeroy first submitted its requested revisions in 2022.
The planning commission delayed a vote at an earlier meeting with a public hearing on July 8 as well.
“We’re still not ready to move forward on this application,” said Commissioner Alyssa Batchelor-Causey, whose Dranesville District includes the property.
Just east of Dulles International Airport, the 39-acre vacant property at 13710 Frying Pan Road south of Herndon is bounded by Frying Pan Road, Sunrise Valley Drive and Mount Pleasant Baptist Church.
The original proposal envisioned slightly more than 2 million square feet of mixed-use development, including housing and an independent living facility. The submitted amendments would maintain the same overall density, but increase the residential development by 388,000 square feet to 1.96 million, while capping commercial development at 150,000 square feet.
Pomeroy is also asking the county to let it scrap the senior living facility option on a block designated as Landbay C in favor of more residential units, specifically 98 stacked townhomes or biplex units. In conjunction with that change, the company is seeking to reduce the number of homes allowed on a block to the north (Landbay B) to 93 traditional townhomes or 96 stacked townhomes or biplexes.
Overall, Aurora Station at Dulles could deliver between 1,551 and 1,414 homes across four multifamily residential buildings and four blocks of townhouses or biplexes. Between 27 and 49 homes could be reserved as affordable and workforce dwelling units, depending on how each of the land bays are developed.
It would also include space for retail and commercial development, such as a grocery store, in the multifamily buildings.
In its plan, Pomeroy requests at least two development options for most of the land bays, allowing flexibility in the number of residential units and amount of commercial space provided. Despite the changes, the proposal keeps the already approved density for the property.
Concerns about project still unresolved
Commissioners didn’t provide a reason for the deferral at last week’s meeting, but a staff report noted outstanding issues with affordable housing, transportation, parks and construction phasing.
Some of those issues involved a new, internal street connection between Sunrise Valley Drive and Frying Pan Road, the need for pedestrian facilities in certain areas, and uncertainty about the amount of urban park space as well as affordable and workforce dwelling units that will be provided.
Despite those lingering concerns, county staff recommended approval of the applications “in order to increase housing production in the County,” the staff report said.
At the July 8 public hearing, the lone resident who testified asked about the potential impact of the Aurora development on a future public elementary school planned in the adjacent One Sunrise Valley residential project that Pomeroy is working on with CRC Companies.
According to county staff, Fairfax County Public Schools hasn’t started work to plan for the school at this time, but Pomeroy has agreed to contribute funding to offset the development’s impact on existing schools and support construction of the future elementary school.
Commission members peppered Scott Adams, a McGuireWoods land use attorney representing Pomeroy, with a variety of questions similar to those raised by county staff.
Among other issues, commission chair Phil Niedzielski-Eichner questioned “the logic” of including gates limiting vehicular access to some land bays to residents and making the street connecting Sunrise Valley and Frying Pan private instead of public, as originally intended in the 2019 rezoning.
“To approve a development of this nature for a private road only and to put the onus on maintaining that system on the property owners, to me, is unfair to them,” Niedzielski-Eichner said. “We have an obligation to look out to the future. We’re protecting the future community members as well as the developer’s interest. I just don’t see this as something that would be acceptable.”
Adams told the planning commission that Pomeroy would “love” for the road to be a public street, but the Virginia Department of Transportation “flatly said they would not accept that street” into its secondary system for maintenance.
Pomeroy has instead offered to contribute $25,000 to help the future homeowners’ association — an amount that Niedzielski-Eichner suggested is insufficient.
According to county staff, VDOT’s rejection of the proposed street stems from the inclusion of a traffic circle shown with only two legs in one option for housing development on Landbay A, because it wouldn’t meet the department’s definition of an intersection or roundabout.
“When I hear the gap between what VDOT requires and what you’re willing to do, it seems to me that’s a relatively small gap that’s closeable,” Niedzielski-Eichner said.
Candice Bennett, an at-large commission member, observed that her neighborhood association is able to repave and clear snow from their private roads faster than VDOT is able to address their public streets.
“Just putting that out there that there are some occasions where private streets are not all bad,” she said.
Once the planning commission takes action, the conceptual development plan amendments, which cover the full 39-acre project, would go to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a public hearing. A date for that hasn’t been scheduled yet.
