Fairfax County is moving through the early stages of an ambitious plan to renovate the Centreville Regional Library and combine it with affordable housing.
During a public hearing before the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Sept. 29, more than half a dozen residents offered a range of views on the plan to construct 180 multifamily residential units and community space alongside the to-be-redeveloped library, located on just over 4 acres at 14200 Saint Germain Drive.
Technically, the hearing only dealt with a transfer of site ownership to the Fairfax County Redevelopment and Housing Authority (FCRHA) — a necessary step to allow the authority to further evaluate the proposal and identify a potential developer. The transfer was ultimately approved by the Board of Supervisors on a 9-1 vote.
Prior to the hearing, Michael Lambert, assistant director of real estate services for the county’s facilities management department, gave a brief overview of the project.
“Centreville Library was built in 1991 as a one-story, 30,000-square-foot building with a collection of over 130,000 items, study rooms, and meeting areas for community events,” said Lambert. “The library branch has been experiencing operational disruptions as a result of ongoing issues such as flooding in staff areas, HVAC system failures, and inadequate electrical wiring.”
The county estimates that $37 million will be needed to fund a renovation of the Centreville Regional Library, according to the fiscal years 2027 to 2031 Capital Improvement Plan, which notes that it’s “anticipated” that the new library will be co-located with affordable housing.
The Board of Supervisors recently approved an amendment to the comprehensive plan that allows additional density in the Centreville area, and the combined library and affordable housing project could be funded through economic development authority bonds, which don’t need voter approval, as early as fiscal year 2029, which starts on July 1, 2028.
A similar concept is being considered at the Chantilly Regional Library, which was constructed in 1993.
“The first step in this redevelopment process is for the board to convey the library property to FCRHA and for FCRHA to enlist the services of a private developer to manage the entitlement, design, and construction of the new facility,” Lambert explained.
Residents who spoke during the public hearing appeared about evenly split between those who were for and against the concept.
Centreville resident Emory Sims worried the project could have substantial costs — such as finding insurance for a public-private building — that would erase any savings from the future housing developer using public land.
“In the long run, defining who owns and who pays for the shared structural elements, like the roof, foundation, elevators, or HVAC systems, can lead to intense legal disputes,” Sims said. “If the roof leaks or the main foundation shifts 20 years from now, a cash-strapped nonprofit and a politically shifting county government may clash for who pays for the multi-million-dollar repairs. If the county delays its share of maintenance due to budget cuts, it directly impacts the residents living above, or vice versa.”
Affordable housing advocates, however, defended the site as an ideal location for a mixed-use project that could help address the county’s housing problems.
“This site is an excellent place for mixed-use redevelopment, which will contribute to a walkable, amenity-rich neighborhood, which is desirable to the changing preferences of our county residents,” said Jill Norcross, a county resident and executive director of the Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance. “Additionally, this conveyance supports county goals to have inclusive, healthy, and diverse communities that allow people to live where they work, shop, read, and be in community.”
The alliance’s Fairfax director, Anika Rahman, argued that there’s a “clear” need for more affordable housing in the area.
“The average two-bedroom apartment in Centreville rents for about $2,383 a month, which takes roughly $95,000 a year to afford,” she said. “On average, market rent here at 42% higher than what is affordable, one in two of Centreville households already spends more than 30% of its income on housing. Buying a home is even further out of reach.”
Rahman said that workers the county relies on — teachers, nurses, first responders, as well as retail and service workers — are being priced out of the community they serve.
“These include librarians, the very people who would back this library,” Rahman said. “Land is one of the biggest barriers to building affordable housing in Northern Virginia. When the county puts public-owned land to work, it lowers development costs and stretches every public housing dollar further. This 4.34-acre site already owned by the county and closed to service is exactly the kind of opportunity we should be taking. The library needs this investment too.”
John Boylan, a longtime Centreville resident and past president of the Dulles Chamber of Commerce, served on the county’s Centreville task force that helped shape the recently adopted Centreville Comprehensive Plan amendment.
“We need more housing, period, but especially we need more affordable housing,” Boylan said. “We need more workforce housing, and we need to help those who are not able to attend here today. All the firefighters and teachers, the people that stock the shelves at Giant, all the people that are baristas — they’re not here to testify that they need this housing. But it’s true, and at the chamber, we see this all the time when we work with our businesses.”
But others said that the Centreville library site isn’t the best location to add hundreds of new housing units.
“I think in this case you’re trying to jam as much housing into a horrible spot,” said Centreville resident Klyde Siegfriedt. “Regardless of whether housing is good or not, where you put it is critical.”
Now that the site transfer has been approved, the FCRHA will lease the property to the county so the library can continue operating. If the housing authority ends up not pursuing a project, the land could be transferred back to the Board of Supervisors.
The Fairfax County Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) will conduct additional public outreach before and after it selects a developer to partner with on the affordable housing component, county staff said in a report for the Board of Supervisors meeting.
The development plan will also be subject to public hearings by the planning commission and board as part of the county’s standard rezoning process.
“The public will be afforded several opportunities during the review process to comment on the design of the redevelopment and its possible impacts on surrounding communities,” county staff said.
