Countywide

The general height limit for single-family homes across Fairfax County has stood at 35 feet for 67 years. But county officials say that restriction needs clarification so local residents and builders better understand how the calculation is made.

“Simplicity is important for a lot of reasons,” Board of Supervisors Chair Jeff McKay said yesterday (Tuesday) at a meeting of the board’s Land Use Policy Committee.


News

Oracle wants to provide more parking for employees on its Reston campus.

An attorney representing the Texas-based technology corporation sent a letter to Fairfax County’s zoning administrator in January asking if a surface parking lot could be constructed on the office property at 1900 Oracle Way instead of a previously approved parking garage.


News

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has unanimously approved the redevelopment of a nearly vacant Fair Oaks office building as an apartment community.

The vote on Tuesday (March 3) rezoned the 6.2-acre site at 3877 Fairfax Ridge Road from commercial to a PRM (planned residential/mixed) district, setting the stage for the property owner, Time Equities, to move forward with a site plan application.


Around Town

Bank of America is taking over the former Uno Pizzeria and Grill at Gatehouse Plaza in Merrifield.

The shopping center’s owner, an affiliate of the developer Silver Companies, revealed the identity of its new tenant at 3058 Gate House Plaza in a special exception request that Fairfax County zoning staff accepted for review on Feb. 25.


News

The Fairfax County Planning Commission gave its support last week to an updated Reston Station sign plan — on the condition that developer Comstock Companies reduce the brightness of two digital installations.

Among the signs deemed problematic is a screen identifying the JW Marriott Hotel and Residences that wraps around the southeastern corner of the 26-story building’s roof at 11350 Reston Station Blvd.


Countywide

While the Fairfax County has worked on boosting affordable housing, local officials are wary of state bills that would reduce local zoning authority over residential development in commercial zones.

HB 816 by Del. Dan Helmer (D-10) and SB 454 by state Sen. Schuyler VanValkenburg (D-16) would require local zoning ordinances to permit by-right multifamily and mixed-use residential development on a portion of commercial or business zoning district land.


News

A proposal to build 120 units of affordable housing on a site now occupied by the Franconia Governmental Center has won the support of the Fairfax County Planning Commission.

Commission members voted without opposition on Feb. 4 to approve the plan by Franconia Development Partners, a consortium of several housing groups seeking to redevelop the 3.3 acres of leased county land at 6121 Franconia Road with a four-story apartment building.


News

Fairfax County supervisors gave their blessing on Tuesday (Feb. 3) to a new Flagship Carwash express location near the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Dranesville Road north of Herndon.

“I’m very happy to see this coming through,” Dranesville District Supervisor Jimmy Bierman said after the 9-0 vote.


Countywide

Fairfax County officials are asking the Spanberger administration to make the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) more responsive to housing developments it must review.

In a letter to three new Virginia cabinet secretaries, Board of Supervisors Chairman Jeff McKay expressed concern that current VDOT review process for new housing has placed roadblocks in the way of adding both market-rate and committed-affordable units:


News

Local residents have until the end of the month to submit feedback on proposed changes to Fairfax County’s rules for accessory living units (ALUs).

“We see ALUs as a valuable tool in the housing toolkit,” Casey Judge, a deputy zoning administrator in the county’s Department of Planning and Development, said in a Jan. 21 online community forum.


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