By Brian Trompeter
The Fairfax County Planning Commission, following its second public hearing on the matter, on July 27 unanimously recommended that the Board of Supervisors approve a proposed comprehensive-plan amendment for a broader mix of uses at the Pan Am Shopping Center in Vienna.
The amendment is intended to produce a better retail environment, enhance compatibility with surrounding land uses, offer diverse housing types, provide open-space amenities and connections for pedestrians and bicyclists, and protect the adjacent Thompson Cemetery and floodplain, county officials said.
Supervisors in late 2021 directed county staff to evaluate a proposed comprehensive-plan amendment for the 25.18-acre site, located in the southeast quadrant of Route 29 and Nutley Street.
The property, now occupied by the 221,000-square-foot Pan Am Shopping Center and a 9,000-square-foot Wells Fargo bank, is located about three-quarters of a mile from the Vienna Metro station.
Under the proposed plan amendment, the site could become home to 585 multi-family residential units taking up 609,000 square feet of space. Retail at the site would drop somewhat, with 140,000 square feet of existing uses at the shopping center remaining (and being upgraded) and new 47,000 square feet of new uses in stand-alone buildings and the ground floors of the residential buildings.
Following testimony at a June 28 public hearing, county officials tweaked the proposed amendment to emphasize operational and safety factors for drivers, pedestrians and cyclists at Nutley Street’s intersections with Routes 29 and 50 when the site is redeveloped.
County staff also recommended that the proposed 585 residential dwellings be inclusive of affordable-housing options, instead of providing bonus density for providing them. Any retail above the proposed total of 187,000 square feet should result in a reduction of the number of residential units, staff added.
In addition, county staff pressed for a contiguous, combined pedestrian-and-bicycle facility on the east side of Nutley Street, where the shopping center is located. Further staff recommendations include:
• Providing wayfinding signage and gateway architecture at the site’s northwest and southwest corners.
• Limiting building heights to 80 feet along Nutley Street and 70 feet on the site’s eastern boundary, which would lessen impacts on adjacent townhouse communities.
• Using grading, landscaping and streetscape improvements to make the pedestrian area along Nutley Street distinct and reduce the visual impact of taller buildings at the site. Future development also should ensure utility connections do not conflict with landscaping and streetscape elements, staff suggested.
• Maintaining the forested area on the site’s eastern boundary as a natural buffer for adjacent neighborhoods and improving it by adding native vegetation and removing invasive plants.
• Upgrading the existing interparcel connection at the site’s southeastern corner with lighting and paving, so that it might serve as an urban park.
• Consolidating land to provide at least one common green space with active-recreation uses.
• Minimizing use of impervious surfaces, which now are occupied by parking, in order to provide more parks, open spaces, landscaping and pedestrian paths.
• Enhancing stormwater management of the site’s surface-parking area using landscaped strips, trees and plantings.
One Fairfax resident, who did not leave contact information with the commission’s clerk, said the amendment originally proposed a townhouse/condominium community, but this later was switched to a rental arrangement. Many more rental units are going to be built near the Vienna Metr station, he said.
County planning staff said the proposed plan amendment does not preclude offering condominiums at the site.
Attorney Greg Riegle, representing the site’s owner, Federal Realty, said the company from the beginning signaled its intention to build rental units on the site. This would result in more consistent oversight and professional management, he said.
Nearby Fairhill Elementary School’s enrollment stood at 545 students this past school year and the school system expects that figure to rise to 585 by the 2027-28 school year, county staff said. The Pan Am development would result in 48 students above that total, they said.
Fran Wallingford, who lives on Mantua Drive, said she was gratified county officials had addressed residents’ concerns after the previous public hearing, but said the promised “robust community engagement” on the proposal had not materialized.
Wallingford urged the commission – unsuccessfully as it turned out – to defer the matter in order to “get it right.”
Planning Commission Chairman Phillip Niedzielski-Eichner (Providence District) said the plan amendment acknowledges that Pan Am Shopping Center is a “vital and valued community asset.”
The amendment would result in a balanced mix of uses, preserved and upgraded retail, new housing opportunities near transit, improved pedestrian and bicycle facilities, new public gathering spaces and upgraded stormwater capabilities, he said.
“The goal is to balance the viability of existing retail assets with the effective integration of residential units to create an updated, strengthened, vibrant, mixed-use neighborhood,” Niedzielski-Eichner said.
The eventual rezoning application will provide the “proof of the pudding” for that vision, he said, adding that the developer needed to engage meaningfully with the public regarding the proposal.
