Fairfax County planners want a little bit more time before making a recommendation on the proposed redevelopment of Lake Fairfax Business Center.
At its Sept. 23 meeting, the Planning Commission deferred a vote on the plan to turn the mostly vacant office park in Reston into a large residential neighborhood.
Bethesda, Maryland-based EYA Development wants to rezone about 49 acres of the 88-acre property at 1780 Business Center Drive from industrial use to planned residential mixed-use development.
The Board of Supervisors amended the comprehensive plan in August to allow housing and retail on the office-dominated property. Now, the rezoning application is before the county so officials can hammer out the finer details of the future development.
EYA’s rezoning proposal has two development options that would bring between 956 and 1,042 residential units, along with about 22,000 square feet of retail use. The smaller option splits the housing between 385 multifamily units, 329 side-by-side townhouses and 242 stacked townhouses, while the larger option would include 517 multifamily units, 316 side-by-side townhouses and 209 stacked townhouses.
The proposal also includes roughly 20 acres of green space and parks, plus about 4 acres for a future elementary school.
Located off the Dulles Access Road and near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, the property has seven office buildings, six of which are completely vacant, while the other sits at 40% vacancy with a lease expiring next year. It also has a Lifetime Fitness gym, Homewood Suites hotel, Reston Montessori School and a data center.
While the gym, hotel, school and data center are not part of the rezoning, the data center generated some concern for commissioners.
Constructed in 2001, it’s only about 100 feet from a portion of the proposed residential area. That distance is significantly shorter than the 200-foot barrier required under regulations approved by the Board of Supervisors in 2024. However, those regulations only apply to new data center construction.
The developer has proposed noise limits at different distances from the data center, but Commission Chair Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner stressed that the monitoring needs to be inclusive of constant, low-frequency noise.
“If we’re in a position where we have a current data center and we’re going to build residences adjacent to it that are nearby, this matter of low, constant noise would be near to anybody who spends time outdoors adjacent to it,” he said. “We need to be sensitive to that if we’re going to build residences nearby. I think it’s a matter of pragmatism on our part in not burdening a future generation of homeowners with something that we could have avoided or fixed prior to building the homes.”
Sully District Commissioner Evelyn Spain noted that “this data center is already there so there isn’t anything we can do about that.” But it’s important for staff to monitor noise regulations, she said.
“With the current situation with the data centers and all the concerns that neighbors have, even the 200 feet is still uncomfortable for them,” she said. “So I urge staff to stay on top of this because there could be problems, complaints made.”
Three people spoke at a public hearing before the commission’s vote and were generally supportive of the redevelopment.
Renzo Sanio said it “makes more sense” to put residences on the property.
“To me, this is a very straightforward choice,” he said. “We can watch this property continue to sit vacant and decline or we can give it new purpose.”
The commission still deferred a final decision to give the applicant more time to address several technical concerns from county staff.
Commissioner Paul Thomas, whose Hunter Mill District includes the property, also wanted the Reston Planning and Zoning Committee to provide feedback. The committee, which advises the Planning Commission, pushed back a previously scheduled meeting that had coincided with Yom Kippur.
The meeting was instead held this past Monday (Sept. 28) and included the Lake Fairfax Business Center redevelopment on its agenda.
Barring more delays, the rezoning is still expected to reach the Board of Supervisors on Nov. 17.
