Notes from Town Center Committee Meeting, September 28, by Dick Rogers

Process: Although the Town Center (TC) committee made some progress through its line by line, it will meet again on 5 Oct to complete review. It still intends to present to the Task Force (TF) on 12 October.

 

Public Comments:  During this session, Terry Maynard presented his short analysis of density and residential balance that was being proposed for Town Center.  His comments were greeted coolly if not coldly by the TC group. Robert Goudie, co-chair, argued several points:

• Even if we give 5 FARs for development, it will never be built in all places to that.
• The projections as presented to the TF are 14,300 residential units and 57,000 new jobs, much less than Terry's  projections.
• The TC committee's  1:1 residential-to-office space projections are more than double the GMU projected demand for residential housing. 

The brief discussion was ended by a curt request from one member to end the discussion, and Maynard's comments were not discussed latter. (Comment: Terry suggested a 4/3/2 "wedding cake" FAR model as an alternative.)

 

Police Station: Half the Fairfax County government showed up to discuss the police station issue. The FC DPW (commendably) had tried to take into account the committee's planning by re-orienting a 2-story police station facing the proposed green with a plaza in front of it. Cameron Glen Drive would be kept open as part of a potential grid. The station would be rebuilt in the area along TCN next to the Bowman Towne affordable dwelling units. The fuel depot was labeled as "critical" to police operations and desirable for the rest of FC services. The police acknowledged they were sensitive to any high rise buildings around the station, but could not control what was eventually done there.  (Comment:  The committee seemed to collapse under this show with lots of "that is great"s. One member asked if the police had considered anything else within 5 miles--"not really, we want to stay on county-owned property.  No one asked about alternative fuel depot sites. Various TC residents applauded a continued big police presence.)    

 

Developer collaboration: The committee went back over the issue of how to promote developer collaboration in the south area regarding a major park area.  The debate ranged from requiring them to collaborate to leaving it optional.  The upshot was general consensus to avoid a requirement with a language that implies that the first one into the gate with a proposal will set the parameters for overall development.

 

Line by line:

• Residential collar: The draft met the usual resistance;  wording should be changed to allow more commercial in TCN (see below).
• Road Issue: The character of the roads in and around TC were discussed.  There was much discussion about how bike traffic should be handled.  (Comment:  This pre-occupies many, but the Mercedes, BMWs, etc., overwhelm the bikes outside the meeting room.)  Heidi Merkel, County Planning Staff, noted the county is trying to get VDOT to think about urban roads and suggested generalized statements.   
• Town Center North (TCN).  INOVA continued its work to erode a large residential designation in TCN.   They wanted to eliminate the goal of 2,000 residential units in TCN.  Among other things was the idea ""If the County does not want residential on its land, it would put all the pressure to do the residential on INOVA's property.  (Comment:   So much for the idea of civic facilities being the primary purpose of the county land.)    
• TCN boundary:  There was a "deja vu" discussion of the boundary between TCN and TC.  Whether the Library area should go in TCN.  Eventually it seemed decided that the 7 1/2 acres around the Library (and Library park) should be in TCN North. (Comment: This will change all the park-open space-development ratios.  It was noted in the discussion that FC Park Authority will probably want 5 acres for its existing 5 acre TCN park land so how this is calculated impacts the bigger parks/open space calculation.  This makes it possible for the committee to claim that some of the 7-1/2 acres around the library--already designated as potential parkland-- should meet the FCPA goals of an equal 5-acre park for its area.)
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