The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a comprehensive plan amendment last Tuesday, Sept. 15 that could lead to nearly 3,000 new multifamily units near the Dunn Loring Metro station in Merrifield.
The vote was another procedural step forward in allowing Malkin Properties to replace its existing 706-unit Merrifield at Dunn Loring Station apartment complex with up to 2,975 units located in high-rise and mid-rise buildings.
The firm has owned the 35-acre garden-apartment complex at 8130 Prescott Drive since it opened nearly 60 years ago. Redevelopment would add about 5,200 new residents and 80 new employees to the site, county planners estimate.
A three-year review process took the development proposal from a design that “was not very good” to one most will embrace, Providence District Supervisor Dalia Palchik said at the Sept. 15 meeting.
“The level of detail through this process has made for a better application,” she said. “The density is closer to where the density should be.”
While a rezoning proposal with more details will be considered later, the Sept. 15 action “represents an important next step” both for this specific project itself and the evolution of Merrifield as a whole, Palchik said.
The proposal has the support of both county staff and the planning commission, but it has not won unanimous praise among the public.
Harold Moskowitz, a resident living nearby, said the increasing urbanization through “stack-and-pack” development was causing quality-of-life issues.
“Merrifield is becoming congested,” he told the Board of Supervisors at a public hearing preceding the vote. “There are already too many vehicles on the streets. Every additional high-rise and mid-rise, multi-story development project worsens the situation.”
But Rebecca Dedert, representing the Coalition for Smarter Growth at the hearing, said the plan allows the county to make “essential progress” toward its goals for more housing, particularly near transit.
Dedert did voice concern that the more than 706 existing units, which are among the lowest priced options in a pricey area of the county, might be replaced by only 250 units of workforce housing, as required under county policies.
Elizabeth Bigham, a resident of Merrifield at Dunn Loring Station, similarly supported the redevelopment but worried about potentially losing out on a rental unit that’s affordable for her and close to both employment and transit.
“Being able to live here has been such a blessing,” she said.
Palchik acknowledged the concerns about the planned affordable housing levels, but said that issue — and the specifics of relocation packages for existing tenants — would be vetted when the rezoning plan comes before the planning commission and Board of Supervisors.
“It won’t be solidified until the next phase,” she said.
Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay said the project has been “a long time coming” but would be worth the wait.
“It is rare to have an opportunity to build this amount of housing walkable to a Metro station,” he said.
The new units, which will be phased in over time, will also help the economics of the Merrifield and Mosaic District corridor, Palchik said.
“[The] additional foot traffic will help businesses that we’ve seen continue to struggle,” she said.
Under the comprehensive plan amendment, the tallest structures would be built in areas where they don’t conflict with neighboring residential properties.
In addition to allowing up to 2,975 residential units, the plan calls for up to 25,000 square feet of retail space. The property owner will add new park spaces on site and support expansion of the county’s nearby Hartland Green Park.
A new internal street network, plus improvements to the nearby street grid, would be funded by the developer.
The package has a floor area ratio, or FAR, of 1.9. Known as FAR, that ratio measures the amount of a site’s interior square footage divided by the square footage of the parcel.
The existing apartment complex was constructed in 1968 between the Capital Beltway to the east and Gallows Road to the west.
It sits just to the east of one of two “core areas” for development in the approximately 1,550 acres designated by the county as the Merrifield Suburban Center. It will now be incorporated into the core area surrounding the Dunn Loring Metro station.
Being subsumed into that core area for planning purposes allows the project to have more density than what would have been available outside of it.
