A proposal to replace a single-family home behind the Village Green Shopping Center with townhouses encountered skepticism when the developer brought it to the Town of Vienna Planning Commission last month.
Sekas Homes presented two possible layouts for a 10-unit townhouse concept at 128 Nutley Street NW on behalf of the owners of the existing, 114-year-old house, who requested assistance with rezoning and redeveloping the property, the homebuilder’s vice president, Connor Sekas, told planning commission at a July 10 work session.
“They’re hoping to retire and came to us to rezone and develop their property,” Sekas said. “By right, they could build two homes on that property now, but our hope is that we can get to the RMU [residential multi-unit zone] to provide more housing diversity to the community.”
Originally built in 1900, the two-story house got an addition in 1976 and hasn’t changed hands since the Holmes family bought it for $17,000 in 1970, according to Fairfax County property records. Combined, the building and land are now worth $884,750, as of the 2024 tax year.
According to a letter to the town, Sekas Homes is seeking to change the 0.68-acre lot’s zoning from RS-12.5 — which allows single-unit, detached houses on lots of at least 12,500 square feet — to RMU, which allows multi-unit residences such as townhomes, duplexes and cottage courts under the zoning code adopted last fall.
One of the suggested layouts would provide five townhouses on each side of a single central alley that exists onto Windover Avenue NW. No deviations from the town’s zoning requirements would be needed, but there are drawbacks, including two units only being 18 feet wide, too narrow for a double garage door.
In addition, the garages back out onto the same road, and five units would face the backyards of the adjacent Vienna Commons townhomes, which could be “aesthetically displeasing,” Sekas said.
The developer’s preferred layout would make the units perpendicular, with five facing Nutley and five facing Windover. Waivers of setback requirements would be needed, but it would accommodate all units at 20 feet wide, prevent conflicts between garages and reduce the walking distance from the street to each home’s front door.
“All in all, we feel that this design is preferable compared to the other just from a usability and aesthetic point,” Sekas said.
Of the two options, the Vienna planning commissioners generally seemed to agree that the second one was better, with Stephen Kenney noting that it appears to provide “decent green space.”
However, commissioners worried rezoning the site could trigger a “domino effect,” allowing denser development to chip away at areas designated for low-density housing by the town’s comprehensive plan.
“You can look around town and say, ‘Let’s just pick off these three lots,’ and then the domino effect starts there,” Commissioner David Miller said. “Before too long, we’ve paved the whole town and we’re tearing down the houses John [Sekas] built 20 years ago.”
While the property is marked for low-density residential use, it abuts the shopping center and existing townhouses, and the comprehensive plan encourages “diversified housing and transitions between the lower-density and commercial areas,” Vienna Department of Planning and Zoning Deputy Director Kelly O’Brien said.
Town officials began reviewing the comprehensive plan for its first major update since 2015 in December.
According to Jessica Plowgian, who chairs the commission, some community members reached out with concerns about the development’s impact on traffic and parking. The concept meets requirements for townhomes to have two spaces per unit and one visitor space for every five units, per town staff.
“Between Madison [High School] and Green Hedges [School] and Wawa and the shopping center, it’s a very heavily trafficked area,” Plowgian said. “…I am a little concerned with two guest parking spots. Personally, I’d feel a little more comfortable if there were fewer units, just because I do think overflow parking is a bit of an issue.”
With only a finite amount of space available, there needs to be a balance between density and parking, Sekas said in response, stressing that the concept is in its early stages with no firm commitment to a certain number of units or even a housing type.
Though he estimated the townhouses would likely cost around $1.2 million, he argued they would still offer an alternative in a town dominated by single-family detached dwellings.
The town council has approved some cottage homes in recent years, including duplex condominiums that are now being built on Park Street, but housing prices continue to climb, and zoning restrictions mean that most residential construction is still of the McMansion variety.
As of Monday (Aug. 12), a plan for the redevelopment still hadn’t been finalized or officially submitted to the town, so further comment would be “a bit premature,” Sekas told FFXnow.
“It was kind of a first glance,” he said. “We’ve been working with the Town of Vienna for 38 years…We’ve always found it very beneficial for everyone for us to be open with what we’re looking for and get the town’s feedback for the best use as well.”
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