Fairfax County Parkway is one of the main arterial routes through western Fairfax County, but staff say it’s due for an overhaul.

At a recent meeting of the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s Transportation Committee, Department of Transportation senior planner Thomas Burke laid out some of the changes recommended in a recent study of the Fairfax County and Franconia-Springfield parkways.

The study looked at 35 miles of the corridor broken up into five segments. Notably, it evaluated transit and multi-modal transportation along the parkways, rather than just vehicle traffic.

On the multi-modal front, Burke said one key takeaway was that the current bicycle and pedestrian facilities were inadequate.

“There was a lot of support in the community for enhancing bicycle and pedestrian experience on the parkways,” Burke said. “Right now, there’s one trail on one side of the parkway and a few gaps.”

Burke said the first priority should be plugging those gaps to have one contiguous trail running from Reston to Fort Belvoir.

“We took it another step based on community feedback,” Burke said. “Why don’t we put a trail on the other side so you don’t have to cross a six-lane highway to get to the shared use path, especially if you don’t need to cross it because origin and destination are on the same side?”

On the other hand, Burke said there isn’t enough demand for transit along the parkway for that to make sense as an emphasis for any sort of parkway overhaul.

“We took a transit look as well: transit is an interesting challenge for the parkways because there’s not a lot of density or employment centers,” Burke said. “There’s a lot of low-density areas and not a whole lot of jobs.”

Burke said the study similarly didn’t find as much demand for the high-occupancy vehicle options seen on other roadways around Fairfax County.

“For decades we’ve had HOV recommendations for most of the parkways,” Burke said. “From Franconia-Springfield — where the Metro is — up to Route 7, all has little diamonds signifying there will eventually be HOV…But we did not find a lot of demand.”

Burke said the study considered both 2+ and 3+ HOV lanes, but found low demand for either option.

The study also looked at road widening, with earlier staff recommendations saying parts of the parkway should be increased to eight lanes. But for the most part, Burke said the study found six lanes was sufficient for the northernmost sections of Fairfax County Parkway.

At the southernmost point of the study, where the Franconia-Springfield Parkway connects to Richmond Highway, Burke said the study recommended increasing the roadway to six travel lanes in parts. Just north of that section, where Fairfax County Parkway connects to Beulah Street, Burke said current plans to increase the parkway to eight lanes overshot the mark, and the road only needs its current six lanes.

Burke noted that this study is looking at long-range transportation improvements. Any of those changes, particularly the widening, could take 10-30 years to implement.

In parts, Burke said there was some community resistance to widening the parkways, and before Fairfax County goes forward with widening in those sections, there should be additional research and analysis.

A pair of virtual meetings to discuss the changes are planned for Wednesday, March 1 at noon and Thursday, March 2 at 6:30 p.m.

Image via Google Maps

The all-affordable residential high-rises planned at Dominion Square West are officially moving forward.

During its meeting on Feb. 15, the Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously approved the Arlington Partnership for Affordable Housing’s (APAH) project, which will replace parking lots currently used by auto dealerships with two 21-story buildings.

In addition to providing 516 units for people earning 60% of the area median income or less, the development will contain private and publicly accessible open spaces and a 33,500-square-foot, two-story community center, all of it supported by a five-story underground parking garage.

“I think this is great,” Dranesville District Commissioner John Ulfelder said. “It fits what we agreed to earlier, it’s going to be a terrific opportunity, and that it’s going to be all affordable is amazing.”

Early in 2022, the commission approved a 175-unit building at 1592 Spring Hill Road that was intended as the first phase of development for the 2-acre parcel.

However, a $55 million investment from Amazon enabled APAH to tackle both phases of the project at the same time. The developer filed a new plan with the county last summer.

“We really think that getting these units online quicker, getting the community center online quicker and the significant increase in the number of units really is a great thing for the county, a great thing for the Tysons area,” said Scott Adams, a McGuireWoods land-use attorney representing APAH.

The community center will be operated by Fairfax County Neighborhood and Community Services and feature a full-size gym, meeting spaces, multi-purpose rooms, kitchen, administrative offices, and flexible classroom spaces, according to a county staff memo.

It will also have a 1,900-square-foot skypark — the second level of a courtyard with play equipment, outdoor seating, grilling stations and other private amenities for residents. The skypark will be open to the public when not being used by the community center.

Public forums held last year confirmed there’s “a distinct need” for a community center to serve both residents of the new development and Tysons in general, Adams said.

“There was a desire and a need for these types of facilities where they can have community meetings, where they can have CPR classes, where they have those recreational opportunities that really just don’t exist right now,” he said.

Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said she prefers this location for a community center over The View, a mixed-use development planned at the Spring Hill Metro station that had proposed a similar facility.

With the community center going in Dominion Square, The View’s developer will likely provide support for a new athletic field instead, county staff recently told FFXnow.

As discussed at a Tysons Committee meeting last month, several commissioners suggested the county needs to be more “strategic” or thoughtful about what public facilities are needed in Tysons and where they should be located.

“While we’re concerned about community centers and having too many of them or having them in the right spot, schools I think is another thing for us to consider where they are,” Hunter Mill District Commissioner John Carter said. “We have one maybe committed. We’re probably going to need more in Tysons over time.”

According to a Dec. 27 letter, Fairfax County Public Schools projects Dominion Square West will result in 43 to 70 new students for the Marshall High School pyramid.

While that isn’t expected to push the schools over capacity, FCPS warns increased residential density “will necessarily increase [student membership], which may negatively impact the instructional program to the detriment of the students involved.”

Adams said the Tysons area should have more capacity by the time the development opens. Planning is underway to convert the Dunn Loring Center into an elementary school, though the boundaries won’t be determined until construction begins next year.

Depending on who had the microphone, last week’s public hearing on the proposed redevelopment of Metro’s West Falls Church station suggested it will either overwhelm local roads or avert “climate arson,” to use one speaker’s phrase.

As they did earlier in the planning process, supporters of the project seemed to have an edge over skeptics at the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s meeting on Wednesday (Feb. 8), arguing that the over 1-million-square-foot development would deliver needed housing and amenities, while making the transit station area more accessible and vibrant than the parking lots that it would replace.

“It is not pleasant to go through an enormous parking lot to get to Metro,” said Aaron Wilkowitz, a resident of the Mount Daniel neighborhood. “I would absolutely love it if we replace that parking lot with dog parks and with playgrounds and all sorts of wonderful things that my family can enjoy and that neighbors can enjoy.”

Developers EYA, Rushmark Properties, and Hoffman & Associates (FGCP-Metro LLC) are seeking to rezone the nearly 24-acre site to allow 810 multifamily residential units, 85 townhouses, a 110,000-square-foot office building and up to 10,000 square feet of retail.

The development would also bring about 2.1 acres of park space and transportation improvements — most notably, a 10-foot-wide shared-use trail on Haycock Road over I-66, as recommended by a community advisory group late last year.

Even the more critical speakers praised the inclusion of the Haycock Metrorail Connector Trail, but they worried about whether the developers will deliver. County planner Bryan Botello noted that the design needs to be approved by the county and state transportation departments.

Some residents questioned whether the grid of streets and 1,095 parking spaces sought at the site — 40% fewer than the 1,781 spaces required by the county — will support traffic, especially with development also coming to the adjacent Virginia Tech campus and in nearby Falls Church.

Ellison Heights-Mt. Daniel Civic Association president Adrianne Whyte warned that, if the parking and loading space is inadequate, “existing roads will become dysfunctional.”

“If this rezoning is approved, the development envisioned by all three parcels combined will dramatically change the stability of our neighborhood, increase the traffic on the roads within and around our neighborhood, and probably negatively impact the quality of life of the residents and other surrounding neighborhoods,” Whyte said.

Resident Cheryl Sim expressed skepticism that the future West Falls Station Blvd linking all three properties will mitigate traffic on Haycock, noting that the Falls Church and Virginia Tech developers have said the road will be closed “on occasion” for events. Read More

The Fairfax County Planning Commission unanimously recommended approval of plans for a 113-unit independent living facility in Seven Corners.

The vote, which included one abstention at the Feb. 8 meeting, sends the proposal from First Christian Church and developer Wesley Housing to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a public hearing on Feb. 21.

Mason District Commissioner Daren Shumate said that the county worked with neighboring residents to tackle two major contentious issues involving the project: increased stormwater runoff in a problematic area and the scale of the project at 6165 Leesburg Pike.

The 7-acre parcel is currently developed with a nearly 27,500-square-foot church.

Aaron Vinson, a civil engineer with Walter L. Phillips, Inc., said the applicant worked to divert runoff away from Ravenwood Park in response to concerns from neighbors and residents about increased stormwater runoff in an area that already floods routinely.

He said the applicant’s stormwater runoff plan diverts runoff towards a “better functioning pipe system.”

Shumate also noted that the actual facade of the building facing a residential parcel is three stories.

“The intent of matching the look and feel of the neighborhood has been met,” Shumate said.

Despite giving the project its support, the commission cautioned that the county should continue to examine stormwater runoff in the area.

Franconia District Commissioner Daniel Lagana said the Virginia Department of Transportation is undertaking a study of the area in response to community concerns. At a public hearing on Feb. 1, residents described what Lagana said were serious concerns.

Shumate said the county is working with residents on the issue. Specifically, the county has given one resident sandbags to manage stormwater runoff near their home.

“The county needs to be very cognizant of these stormwater issues,” he said, adding that the sandbag step was only a temporary solution to what appears to be a bigger problem.

Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina said that the commission did recommend language for a Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan amendment that better managed stormwater runoff in the area — but the suggestion was not ultimately adopted by the Board of Supervisors.

“As a commission, we heard the residents,” Cortina said. “…We have to keep our eye on the ball with stormwater definitely.”

Fairfax County has made some progress over the past decade in introducing public amenities to support its growing community in Tysons.

Since adopting its Tysons Comprehensive Plan in 2010, the county has secured sites for 14 new, major public facilities, including the completed Scotts Run Fire Station and Capital One Hall, which is privately owned but guarantees space for community groups under an agreement with ArtsFairfax.

Tysons has also added 34 acres of parkland, including four urban parks within the past year, and athletic fields are “ahead of where we need to be based on the…development that’s been delivered,” Department of Planning and Development (DPD) Urban Centers Section Chief Suzie Battista told the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s Tysons Committee at a Jan. 12 meeting.

Planning is underway on other projects, like the relocation of Fire Station 29 to serve western Tysons, but with the area booming in terms of development and population, commissioners asked how county staff decide what needs to prioritize when negotiating commitments from developers, known as proffers.

For instance, why is a community center going into the planned residential high-rises at Dominion Square, rather than a library?

“I think what some of us are concerned about is that opportunity cost,” Providence District Commissioner Phil Niedzielski-Eichner said. “If we make a commitment to a community center, what are we not doing, not able to do as a consequence of that decision? Why is that community center a priority over that thing that we are not able to do?”

The need for a community center in Tysons dates back to the comprehensive plan’s adoption and “was of great interest” to former Providence District supervisor Linda Smyth, who retired in 2019, according to DPD Deputy Director Chris Caperton.

The plan recommends phasing in public facilities based on population and employment growth, acknowledging that they can take a long time to plan, fund and construct.

A community center is listed as a “current need” in the county’s Tysons Tracker, along with a Dominion Energy power substation and interim office space for police. Though the data platform doesn’t show a threshold for a library, the comprehensive plan predicts one will be needed when Tysons reaches 50,000 residents, or between 2030 and 2040.

As of 2022, Tysons had 30,124 residents, according to county data. The county’s plan calls for 100,000 people by 2050. Read More

Tysons is making good progress on fulfilling Fairfax County’s goal of turning it into a place where people live as well as work, county staff say.

Since the Tysons Comprehensive Plan was adopted in 2010, the urban center has seen its population jump from 17,000 to 30,124 residents, according to data shared last week with the Fairfax County Planning Commission’s Tysons Committee.

Over that time period, the housing stock has increased from 8,943 units to 14,253, with another 1,613 units under construction, as of July 2022.

That influx of residents narrowed the ratio of jobs-to-households from over 11-to-1 in 2010 to about 6-to-1 in 2022. Aiming for 100,000 residents and 200,000 jobs by 2050, the plan posited a ratio of 4-to-1 as an ideal mix for Tysons.

“Tysons growth continues to be in line with plan growth projections, and we think residential is tracking probably at a faster pace than we anticipated, but there is still capacity in the pipeline,” Fairfax County Department of Planning and Development Urban Centers Section Chief Suzie Battista said at the Jan. 12 committee meeting.

Based on data compiled for the Tysons Tracker, an interactive platform that launched in 2021 and is currently being updated annually, county staff project that development will fall about 9 million square feet short of the 69.9-million-square-feet goal set forth in the plan for 2024.

Battista noted that the full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and completion of Metro’s Silver Line extension are still unknown, but she doesn’t “think there’s any cause for concern.”

From August 2021 through July 2022, developers finished five buildings with 1.3 million square feet of space, including Capital One Hall and the Hanover apartments. Another 3.2 million square feet is under construction, and projects totaling 1 million square feet got site plan approval.

About two-thirds of the upcoming development is residential, which has grown by over 6.6 million square feet since 2011 — exceeding the roughly 3 million square feet of added office space.

Notably, the increase in housing has included 773 affordable or workforce dwelling units to date, not including the planned, all-affordable Dominion Square West and Somos projects. Tysons had just 40 units of affordable housing prior to 2010, according to the tracker.

Battista says developers seem open to the county’s revamped ADU/WDU policy for Tysons, which reduced the percentage of affordable units required in each project but lowered the targeted area median income (AMI) levels.

“We were finding from the development community, some of the higher tiers, that wasn’t really getting at the goal of what we were trying to accomplish with affordable housing just based on the AMIs in this area,” she said. Read More

A major public-private partnership for affordable housing on the Fairfax County Government Center campus is moving forward.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission voted Wednesday (Jan. 11) in approval of a plan to build 291-unit apartment buildings dedicated for affordable housing, a 10,000-square-foot daycare, and a service facility on the site.

Lincoln Avenue Capital and the Fairfax County Redevelopment Housing Authority plan to develop the 4.5-acre site through the partnership, titled The Residences at Government Center II — a model that has been adopted by the county in each magisterial district to boost the stock of long-term affordable housing.

Braddock District Planning Commissioner Mary Cortina stressed the need for affordable housing in the county, calling the lack of supply a “critical issue” for housing, the economy, and the county’s ability to attract and retain businesses.

“One of the most impacted actions of the board is to build affordable housing,” Cortina said.

The county has committed to securing 10,000 new affordable units in the next 15 years for individuals who make up to 60% or less of the area median income.

At the government center development, roughly 324 parking spaces are planned in a garage, with 13 dedicated for surface parking.

Cortina reflected on how the campus has evolved since the government center moved from downtown Fairfax to the new campus. She noted that a residential component has long been contemplated for the site — which has not become the victim of “suburban sprawl.”

“I think it shows in the special place that it has become,” Cortina said.

Before construction can begin, the county’s Board of Supervisors must approve an amendment to the county’s comprehensive plan and a rezoning amendment from the government center campus.

A project set to place affordable housing for seniors along Richmond Highway (Route 1) has cleared another hurdle.

At its final meeting of the year on Dec. 7, the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted unanimously to recommend approval of a plan amendment to allow a six-story, 70,000-square-foot affordable, independent senior living facility with a “community-serving” ground floor at 6858 Richmond Highway.

The development will be next to the Beacon of Groveton apartment building and about a half block from the Beacon Center, a retail area with a Giant, Lowe’s, and other stores. It will be also about a half-mile from a Richmond Highway Bus Rapid Transit station, which could begin operating around 2030.

The roughly half-acre site in Groveton was previously approved for “office and retail uses” in 2004, per the staff report. Right now, it sits essentially undeveloped as an “interim park space” with a sign out front noting its availability.

The proposed plan amendment won’t change the previously approved density or height of any possible development, only the allowed use.

With this go-ahead from the planning commisision, the plans to build this affordable, senior living facility along Richmond Highway will now go to the Board of Supervisors. A public hearing is set for Jan. 24, 2023, with rezoning consideration likely not until May.

The facility is not expected to be open to residents until at least 2027.

The plans didn’t get much pushback from commissioners, who noted the need for more of this type of facility in the county.

“There’s a significant shortage of independent, senior, affordable [housing] throughout the county,” said At-Large Commissioner Candice Bennett. “For folks who are trying to stay in their community and near family…preserving enough options so folks can stay in their community, I think, is going to be important. I’m excited to see this plan amendment come forward.”

Mason District Commissioner Julie Strandlie recalled how important it was to her family to live nearby when her grandma, at 102 years old, needed a facility of this nature.

“It’s really important to have many of these types of facilities for families in as many communities as possible,” Strandlie said. “Because with traffic and the time commitment, it’s really difficult to get to that facility to see your loved one as often as one would like…I hope there will be more facilities like this throughout the county.”

However, during the public hearing, one member of the community shared concerns about building another development along the already congested Richmond Highway.

An area resident for three decades, the neighbor said he’s a caregiver for his elderly parents, and the traffic is so bad, he does not feel safe letting his dad walk along Richmond Highway in the evening. Read More

(Updated at 3:25 p.m.) Plans for an 86-unit condominium development by Fairfax Square in Tysons will go to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a public hearing this afternoon after securing the planning commission’s support last week.

The commission voted 9-0 on Wednesday (Nov. 30) to recommend that the board approve Pulte Group’s Flats at Tysons Corner on the 1953 Gallows Road parking lot, despite county staff’s continued objections to loading spaces being on a street rather than inside the buildings.

“This is an imperfect proposed infill development,” Providence District Commissioner Phil Niedzielski-Eichner said. “However, when I weigh the opportunities against the limitations of this unique and heretofore undevelopable site, I believe the balance is on the side of opportunity and is worthy of our recommendation for approval.”

Four commissioners abstained from the vote, three of them because they missed the Nov. 2 public hearing on Pulte’s application. At that meeting, county planners and residents of the townhomes to the west across Gallows Road worried that the two proposed on-street loading spaces were too small and could impede vehicular travel, potentially exacerbating existing traffic issues on Gallows.

Staff especially opposed a space on a future public road off Gallows that will eventually be extended to Route 7, per the Tysons Comprehensive Plan.

In response to the public hearing, Pulte has revised its plans to consolidate both loading spaces into one larger space on the north side of a private street in the development. The space will be 11 feet wide and 41 feet long, and it will accommodate trash collection trucks as well as residents’ loading needs.

The two planned five-story buildings will have enclosed, central trash receptacles. Pulte has similar waste pickup arrangements at other properties, its representative noted.

“It’s very efficient,” DLA Piper attoreny Antonio Calabrese said. “…It takes about seven or eight minutes for these two buildings.”

Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina seemed skeptical that the design tweaks would resolve concerns about disruptive loading activities.

“It’s not ideal, to say the least, and I’m inclined to support staff’s position on this,” she said, opting to abstain from the vote.

Niedzielski-Eichner, whose district includes Tysons, emphasized his respect for staff’s opinion but argued that the proposed development would help further the comprehensive plan’s vision for an Old Courthouse District as a smaller-scale, mixed-use transition between the nearby single-family homes and Tysons Corner Center.

“With additional infill and redevelopment, portions of this district will evolve into a neighborhood that supports an active 24-hour environment where people go to restaurants or stores after work,” the Tysons plan says.

Noting that he wouldn’t support the development if it was rental apartments, which would see more resident turnover than condos, the commissioner highlighted the promise of 17,000 square feet of park space and a streetscape enhanced with art, trees and landscaping, and pedestrian amenities, including sidewalks and crosswalks.

The condos will include nine workforce dwelling units and six affordable dwelling units.

Pulte has also agreed to work with ArtsFairfax on a mural along Gallows, refined its plan to construct sewer improvements to reflect potential county policy changes, and raised its cap from $2,500 to $5,000 for getting an easement so it can build a sidewalk north to the retail building at 8027 Leesburg Pike.

Niedzielski-Eichner’s argument for the project convinced some other commissioners to support it, despite their reservations about the loading situation.

“It could be and hopefully will be a very positive [development] for this area of Tysons,” said Vice Chair John Ulfelder, who represents the Dranesville District. “As Commissioner Niedzielski-Eichner suggested, maybe it could be a catalyst for additional development by others that will help further this area under the Tysons plan and our goals for Tysons.”

The first pieces of the long-anticipated redevelopment of Springfield Town Center are officially moving forward.

At a Nov. 30 meeting, the Fairfax County Planning Commission voted to approve the replacement of a surface parking lot with a five-story hotel — a move that the applicant says could jumpstart the rebirth of the area that surrounds the mall.

David Gill, the applicant’s representative from Wire Gill, said the hotel — Home2 Suites by Hilton — is a “great first step in analyzing the vision that was thought of nearly a decade from now.” The building sits across two parcels fronting Loisdale Road on property owned by Philadelphia-based Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT).

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold public hearings tomorrow on the hotel and a companion application for the Hanover, a mid-rise residential building with up to 460 units.

Overall, in 2007, the area was approved for 2 million square feet of commercial space and up to 2,736 residential units, in addition to the roughly 1-million-square-foot mall.

The hotel piece of the property only covers a roughly 5.4-acre piece of the overall development plan.

The latest proposal swaps the hotel with the original location of the first office building planned on the site. The plan also calls a reduction in hotel rooms from 225 to 140 rooms and a reduction in the ground-floor retail from up to 23,000 square feet to a small portion that will serve hotel guests.

Gill said that the applicant plans to build suites only.

Braddock District Commissioner Mary Cortina expressed concerns about the deferral of a Central Park that was previously set to be triggered by the development proposal, due to challenges with “no build” areas maintained by restaurants.

“When are we ever going to see the park part of this? Could this use be indefinitely put off? And I think it would detract from the property value overall,” Cortina said.

County staff noted that the applicant is still committed to the Central Park, but when market conditions and associated easements allow it to move forward in a realistic manner.

Planning Commissioner David Lagana lauded staff for their work on the project.

“We worked very hard to get this application ready for this board date. It was a Herculean effort,” he said.