Update 10/6/23

WHAT’S HAPPENING

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Franconia District Supervisor Candidates Forums

More opportunities to meet the Franconia Supervisor Candidates…

• October 11 (Wednesday), at 7 pm, Rose Hill Civic Association, John Marshall Library, 6209 Rose Hill Ave, Alexandria VA 22310 (side door entrance)
• October 12 (Thursday), at 8 am, Belle Haven Country Club, 6023 Fort Hunt Road, Alexandria, VA (registration and $30 event fee required). Sponsored by the Mount Vernon Springfield Chamber of Commerce. All County Board of Supervisor candidates will be present to address issues faced by businesses in Fairfax County.
• October 18 (Wednesday), at 7 pm, Kingstowne HOA, Snyder Fitness Center, 6450 S. Van Dorn St, Alexandria VA 22315

The Candidates

• Paul F. Beran (Republican)
  https://berangoodnews.com
• Rodney Lusk (Democrat)
  https://www.luskforsupervisor.com/
• Mark T. Welch (Independent)
  https://www.markforsupervisor.org/

Video of Brookland-Bush Hill Civic Association Candidates Q&A held on September 16, 2023*
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nK8uwvjQu-o

*For the segment on Rose Hill Plaza, go to minute 34:58
Source: YouTube @BeranGoodNews

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FRANCONIA LAND USE COMMITTEE

A Review of the New SSPA Process

At the October 2, 2023, meeting of the Franconia Land Use Committee, Planning Commission staff made a formal presentation on the SSPA process. Land Use Committee member John Nicholson, who represents the Northern Franconia Civic Association (NFCA), shared the following summary of the virtual meeting and the concerns of the committee members present. See below for a link to the Comprehensive Plan presentation from the Planning Commission.

“The Franconia District Land Use Committee met last night for the purpose of reviewing the new Site Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) process. The intention is that in the future the individual site requirements covered in the process will be brought to the Committee for review. The briefing was provided by a staffer from the County Department of Planning and Development. The most interesting part of the meeting was the Q&A discussions after the briefing. 

I will attach a couple of the briefing charts to this email. As explained to us, the land development process covers the lifecycle of the development environment. The comprehensive plan amendment part of the cycle, which includes zoning review, comes after a time for concept development and before building design. The Comprehensive Plan is supposed to be a guide that reflects the community’s vision for the future. [I underlined this because I think the Comp Plan actually is the Board of Supervisors vision for the County – incorporating their political agendas – and not so much what we want for our communities.] The Comp Plan and amendments provide recommendations to achieve the vision. Rezoning is supposed to conform to the requirements of the Comp Plan. A chart was provided discussing “how much” development can be anticipated on a site or within a planned area. The answer was addressed using the terms density, intensity and Floor Area Ratio. Residential density was defined by dwelling units per acre. Non-residential and mixed-use intensity was defined by FAR. We learned that the County is planning for a 634 unit multi-family building with first floor retail at the current site of Best Buy/Pet Smart on Frontier Blvd [guess that makes it mixed use]. After this briefing, the presenter encouraged public participation by providing comments to staff during the amendment process. 

Then it got interesting, with many questions and comments, not all addressed satisfactorily. First, I noted that the affordable housing redevelopment of the Franconia Government Center was supposedly ready for an interim agreement last March, but has now gone silent. Is this being subsumed in the new SSPA process? The answer was that the project I mentioned is not in the DPD office giving the briefing, therefore they did not know the status offhand. This SSPA is addressing all Comp Plan requirements for the “Franconia Triangle”, which would seem to mean re-addressing whatever must have existed previously and on which the project had already proceeded to source selection.

An important comment was made noting that the results of the Land Use Committee vote on the Top Golf development were not briefed to the planning commission. The question was why does this Land Use Committee even meet if the Supervisor and County ignore it? A staffer said in-person comments, video comments, or call-in comments are heard, and written comments indeed may not be briefed. [In reply to my email comments to the planning commission, I was told that my comments would be given to commission members.] A Committee member noted that Supervisor Lusk did not acknowledge, much less reply to, email comments about the Committee down-vote on Top Golf. This was true for me too – he has ignored my correspondence.

I asked  what were the residential density goals for the Franconia triangle and for the Franconia Transit Station Area. The briefer did not know. She indicated that they change depending on developer planning. One participant said that if a plan changes every time a developer asks for a “onesie” change, then it’s no guiding plan at all.

 There was considerable discussion about traffic congestion – no surprise. The member from the Franconia Forest HOA made a good point that we need a holistic transportation plan that accounts for the big picture of County developments. Right now every vacant lot and underutilized business concern is a target for the County to put in dense multi-family growth, without transportation improvements. One Committee member of long standing said “we don’t do transit plans before we do development & infill plans, and we need to.” The staffer replied that the Comprehensive Plan does factor in some transportation requirements, primarily at the TSA level.

Finally, a member from NFCA asked how to see in one place all projects approved, in the pipeline, or proposed. The answer was that the County has GIS online map tools that allow viewing the data in different ways. The Wellington Commons member noted that about 3,275 new dwelling units may be added to the current landscape.

There seemed to me to be lots of angst about the County changing the character of our communities without our consent, and especially about letting our quality of life slip by ignoring current and growing traffic problems as we “densify” – or, put more fish in the fishbowl, as one member characterizes it. 

As always, get involved to make a difference.”

Email sent on 10/3/23. Reprinted here with permission.

The Franconia Land Use Committee meetings (now primarily virtual) are held the first Monday of the month, except in July and August, and are open to the public. However, the meetings are not publicized. If you would like to attend, email Franconia@fairfaxcounty.gov.

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Top Golf Site Amendment Moves Forward

The Planning Commission recommended the Comprehensive Plan amendment 2015-IV-RH1 to on September 27, 2023.  See: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planningcommission/pcaction-home.

The Board of Supervisors public hearing for this Plan amendment is scheduled for Tuesday, October 24, 2023 at 4:30 p.m. See: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/boardofsupervisors/2023-board-meetings

To testify at the BOS meeting, instructions are available online at:
https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/clerkservices/ways-provide-public-hearing-testimony

Background

On October 20, 2015, the Board of Supervisors first authorized consideration of a plan amendment to support an option for a mix of residential uses up to 275 dwelling units and 20,000 square feet of retail use which may be increased to 70,000 square feet to accommodate a retail anchor such as a grocery store. The current proposal reflects in the Staff recommendation provides for 174 single-family attached residential units, a publicly accessible community park, multimodal transportation improvements, and landscape buffers. Recommendations relating to the transportation network may be modified. See: https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planning-development/plan-amendments/staff-reports

For information concerning the Plan Amendment process or the Comprehensive Plan, call 703-324-1380, TTY 711 (Virginia Relay), Monday – Friday from 8:00 am – 4:00 pm. Updates on planning activities can be received by signing up for emails at https://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/planningcommission/newsletter or by liking the Land Use Planning & Zoning Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/fairfaxlanduse/.

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