Vienna’s Planning Commission offered little enthusiasm last week about the prospect of replacing a single-family home with a group of townhouses.
At a meeting on Wednesday (April 23), the commission voted to defer a vote on a plan to replace a home at 128 Nutley Street with nine townhouses.
As part of the development, applicant Sekas Homes wants a 29,552-square-foot lot rezoned from single-unit residential to multi-unit residential.
The house was built around 1900, with a new addition constructed in 1976. The lot is bounded by commercial uses to the east and townhouses to the south, but other properties nearby are single-detached residences.
One of the applicants, John Sekas, touted the project as relatively affordable compared to other properties in Vienna — though homes would still start at $1.1 million.
“There are 12 properties in Vienna that range from $500,000 to $1.3 million,” Sekas said. “Our homes start at $1.1 million.”
In comparison, there are 51 properties between $1.75 million and $2.5 million, he added.
Lyndsey Cloarte, principal planner for the Town of Vienna, noted that the project is only comparatively affordable, not something that’s explicitly designated or accessible for people with low incomes.
“For this particular project, this is affordable as in lower-case ‘a’ affordable,” Cloarte said. “It’s going to be market rate, but given what we see in Vienna, it’s going to be a more affordable option without being affordable housing.”
However, the public hearing on the proposal was dominated by objections from neighbors, who criticized the move as “spot zoning” and expressed concerns about the traffic. Some said the move away from low-level density would erode the identity of the nearby neighborhood.
Planning commissioners expressed some agreement with the public concerns, particularly about the impact generated by nine new townhomes.
“I feel like I don’t fully understand the traffic implications yet,” Commission Chair Matthew Glassman said. “I do see some positives. I’d love to see a sidewalk there on Nutley, but I feel unequipped to evaluate the traffic impact.”
Others praised the benefits of relatively more affordable developments in Vienna, though they concurred with the traffic concerns.
According to Jessica Plowgian:
While not remotely close to real affordability, it’s nice to have some diversity in town and that we try to alter that.
I came into this with real traffic concerns and I think the traffic is a serious issue. I do think this neighborhood struggles. We have three schools and multiple daycares within a couple of blocks, so I think that’s a real concern.
It’s only an increase of seven houses, which is not that many cars, but it is additional delivery trucks, people coming in and out of the house. It is additional trips.
When it is an area already so pressurized, any impact feels real and I have serious concerns about what it would do to the neighborhood.
Glassman said he was “loathe to make a decision” that night without more time to consider it. The planning commission ultimately decided to defer a vote on the project to May, after which the proposal will head to the Vienna Town Council.
