Editor’s Update: 7-Eleven regional manager confirms that the 7-Eleven on West Street will close at the end of September, confirming information in the community that the 7-Eleven contract have been bought out.
Editor’s Note: While many of us in Falls Church City have been on summer mode, a small cadre of involved citizens have been following the Founders Row project closely; for years. They’ve attended meetings, taken notes and shared information via email to a list of other citizens. Thanks to their involvement, many of us know more about Founders Row then we would have. Now it’s time to tell the Planning Commission and City Council your thoughts.
The “Public Notice Proposed Land Use Change” sign is now up near the 7-Eleven on North West Street. A public hearing for comments on the site plan is scheduled for the July 16 Planning Commission Meeting, while a public hearing for comments on the requested amendment to the previously approved project is scheduled for the August 13 City Council meeting.
The Planning Commission should hear your comments on the overall look, feel and flow of this project, prior to approving the site plan. (Architectural elevations, landscaping plans, and more are on the City’s web site) City Council should hear the concerns and thoughts on the amendment* requested from residents who occupy all parts of the City, not just those who live on the streets closest to the proposed site. New voices are necessary, as it is possible (probable?) they no longer hear the words of those who have been speaking out the loudest and longest.
What is decided for this particular project could influence decisions made for future projects (to include the West Falls Church property).
- Ask yourself, what is exemplary about this project now that there is only one anchor?
- Do a theater and a 100-tap restaurant justify an exception to the height?
- Is reducing the amount of available parking from 1084 spaces to 1026 parking spaces the right thing to do?
- Does it ensure the residents of 394 apartments, attendees of an 815-seat movie theater, employees in the office space, diners at the aforementioned restaurant and patrons of the other retail offerings are able to find on-site parking?
- Is there parking allocated for guests (short term or overnight) of the residents who live in the apartments?
If you cannot attend as you will be out of town or have other commitments, please send your comments to both the Planning Commission and the City Council. The web site does not list individual email addresses for the commissioners; address comments regarding the site plan for the commissioners to review to plan@fallschurchva.gov. Your comments will be included in the package distributed the Thursday or Friday before the Monday meeting.
You can send your comments directly to each council member. Their email addresses are: dtarter@fallschurchva.gov, mconnelly@fallschurchva.gov, pduncan@fallschurchva.gov, lhardi@fallschurchva.gov, rlitkenhous@fallschurchva.gov, dsnyder@fallschurchva.gov and dsze@fallschurchva.gov. If you also include cityclerk@fallschurchva.gov, Celeste Heath will include your comments in the package distributed to each council member the Thursday or Friday before the Monday meeting.
*The amendment requests removal of the second anchor – the hotel – from the design and converting that space to 72 age-restricted apartments plus reducing the number of parking spaces provided for the entire project while keeping the special exception granted to build up to 85 feet in height. Modifying the hotel to apartments causes the ratio for this project to go from 32% commercial/68% residential to 17.5% commercial/82.5% residential on a prime piece of commercial property on one of the two main roads in the City.
I guess what really upsets me is that a group of people and others have spent countless hours reviewing and agreeing to the plans and then Mill Creek shakes the etch-a-sketch and provides a new plan for approval totally disregarding the agreement. I hope City Council does not approve the special exemption because it has 1) not be vetted with the citizens, 2) the net revenue model and results have many unanswered questions, 3) parking is not sufficient, 4) aesthetically it needs improvement since this is an anchor to our city, 5) movie theaters are no longer profitable and this one is asking the city to collect a tax and rebate it to them (because it is not profitable), 6) the number of school children the city has forecasted is much lower than other developments and more discussion is needed since that adds a high cost to the community, 7) let’s do this project right and not hastily approve something that was changed dramatically without the proper review.
The development is way too big for that small area of land. Traffic will be a nightmare and I have yet to see any valid traffic studies. By not providing ample parking for customers/residents/visitors is just a recipe for disaster. Do they think that people won’t use cars? Not true. Parking is already a nightmare in Falls Church City. Don’t make things worse by adding traffic and less places to park.
I am glad to see others share my concerns regarding this project, i.e. The only anchor is a movie theater and movie theater is on the decline, the projected number of pupils decreased from 109 students to 64.5, the lack of sufficient on-site parking, the traffic impact from the large number of residential units (322 multi-family and 72 age-restricted), the data used to determine the net benefit to the City, and more. Please be express your concerns to the Council; it is too late to stop the project but not too late to stop the amendment request.
Some Questions (if anyone knows the answers) Can the Planning Commission stop this? Is the 64.5 pupil estimate a conservative number? That’s a huge decrease and at $15K per child per year cost, the net impact could be grossly overstated by using a number that is not correct. Is there a traffic study and who did it? Remember, Mt. Daniel is expanding and that will add to the traffic on West street also.
I know one person that worked very hard to ensure that the developer addressed many issues: placement of dumpsters, ingress/egress, landscaping, crosswalks, etc. Now all the plans have changed because the developer says they cannot get the requisite commercial space that the city required for the special exemption. They have 3 years to find the tenants. Hold them to the agreement. Please city council, be vigilant. The corner is extremely busy and both automobile traffic and pedestrian traffic is already a nightmare at that corner (try rush hour – horrible). Urban planning is a skill and requires wide sidewalks, sufficient crosswalks, traffic calming and traffic flow measures that have not been adequately addressed. It makes me uneasy that the net revenues have been so fluid so quickly and many are asking thoughtful questions about the net revenue with no real answers. Answers first then maybe approval.
I need to make a correction to the parking information I provided. Per City code, this development should provide 1 space for each of the 10 studio apartments, 1.5 parking spaces for each of the 207 1-bdrm and 1-bdrm with off apartments (311), 2 spaces for each of the 105 2-bdrm and 2-bdrm with office units (210) plus the same number for the 38 1-bdrm and 1-bdrm with office and 34 2-bdrm and 2-berm with office units in the age restricted bldg (125 spaces). Add to that the parking for the office space (11), one space for every 4 seats in the 800 seat theater (200 spaces) and parking for the retail/restaurant space (195) and you arrive at 1062 spaces required by code. They would like to reduce the number of spaces by ~3%, to either 1035 (on the paper work the City has received) or 1026 (on the slide presented at the Community Meeting on June 27. At one time, there was talk of 7 street level spaces being on Founders Avenue, the street internal to the project. I am still reading through all of the documents trying to determine if those spaces are still in the design and, if so, they art included in the 1035 count.
If you can, please look at some of the documents showing the design plan for this project and let the Planning Commission know of any concerns you may have on color, material, overall design, and the like. During the public comment period of the Planning Commission Public Hearing on Monday, July 16 is a good time to ask about or comment on concerns you may have about the construction itself, such as staging of trucks, parking for workers, hours of construction, and anything else construction related. It is also a good time to comment on facets of the design you like. If you cannot attend the meeting on Monday, send your comments in an email to plan@fallschurchva.gov by Wednesday evening so they will be included in the package distributed to the commissioners Thursday or Friday.
Of concern to some, to include a Planning Commissioner, is the yellow color of the age-restricted building that sits at the corner of Broad and West and the “prison-like” look of the eastern side of the project (the side that faces St James and will be highly visible when traveling east on Broad Street).
Links to documents:
http://fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10211/Architectural-Elevations-05162018
http://fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10212/Conceptual-Development-Plan-06062018
http://fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10219/VOLUNTARY-CONCESSIONS-06042018
http://fallschurchva.gov/DocumentCenter/View/10210/Founders-Row-Special-Exception-Amendment-05152018