Arlington County Presses Forward on Development Plans for East Falls Church Area
By STEPHEN HISCOTT
Falls Church Times Staff
February 14, 2011
On February 9, 2011, Richard Tucker and his team from Arlington County hosted a Community Meeting to present and discuss the East Falls Church Area Plan. The meeting was attended by approximately 100 citizens and included more than a dozen presentation boards with various renditions of potential development, vehicular/pedestrian conflicts and scale comparisons of the East Falls Church area overlaid with Shirlington, Ballston and Rosslyn.
The meeting was notable in several ways, among them the nearly 200 pages of plans, presentation slides and prior community comments distributed at the beginning of the meeting. Further, the presentation and materials were very professionally prepared and presented. Finally, during the extended Q&A period following the presentation, many of the citizens expressed considerable concern regarding the issues they perceived in the current plan and County process.
It was noted during the presentation that the East Falls Church Planning Task Force was responding to requests from the County and others to proactively develop plans for the area well in advance of potential development anticipated leading up to and following the opening of the Metro Silver Line through Tysons Corner coming out of East Falls Church station. It was also repeated that the development proposed in the plan could take 15-20 years to materialize and that the planning was consistent with Arlington County’s historical precedent of planning proactively. The policy determinations noted by Arlington County included preserving single-family homes, promoting local retail and public open spaces, as well as pedestrian and public transit-friendly communities.
The concern voiced by several in attendance stemmed from debate regarding how significantly traffic (and cut through traffic) will increase and whether plans proposed will impact pedestrian convenience and safety. The Task Force noted numerous improvements, that the group expressed skepticism. Several citizens from other recently developed Arlington County communities (e.g., Shirlington) were very vocal in their frustration regarding commitments Arlington has made in the past (regarding limited traffic growth, etc.). Many also expressed concern regarding the increases in height allowances, including above Le Cote d’ Or and Econo Lodge from 4 to 6 stories and above the Park and Ride from 4 stories to up to 9 stories. While the presentation suggested limited impact on surrounding schools, several in attendance questioned the likelihood that few families would take advantage of the proposed mixed-used space.
The presentation noted that the plan calls for preservation of single family homes and will be dependent upon area development and private investment, with guidance from Arlington County.
According to the presentation, the Arlington County Board is expected to make final approval of the East Falls Church Task Force plan on April 16th, leading some in the group to inquire how they can more effectively express concerns and influence proposed plans to be soon finalized for development that may take years to come to fruition.
Following is a link to the plan — http://www.arlingtonva.us/departments/CPHD/forums/columbia/current/pdf/EFC_Analysis.pdf
By (see byline)
February 14, 2011
Under the EFC plan, all parking spots at the EFC Metro will be eliminated.
And there are no plans for a garage. Leaving some 400 daily parkers to fend for themselves in the surrounding neighborhoods. This will only further aggravate neighborhood parking and traffic. The Arlington County Board has refused to address this problem, saying only the parkers will have to go to the other Metro stops to park. Fine, but we all know, folks will be parking in front of your house and mine. Arlington County Board’s response to this issue is, “Tough bananas! Your problem not mine. Now imagine how many additional cars will be seeking to park at the EFC Metro stop when the Silver Line opens the way to the West (Reston, etc.)
It is going to be a nightmare. I hope your paper, the Falls Church Times will investigate and address this problem better than the Arlington Gazette. Maybe the residents of Falls Church City might have better luck with their city council, then we in Arlington have had with our supposedly democratic Board. By the way, I wonder how many folks in Falls Church City are aware of the impeding elimination of all EFC Metro parking?
W. Spaeth
My understanding is that the land currently used for parking at the East Falls Church Metro station is owned by VDOT, not Arlington County. Based on recent experience (Arlington suing VDOT over proposed HOT lanes along I-395) I would not expect VDOT to roll over and give Arlington what it wants for development in this location.
Thank you Stephen Hiscott for a concise and informative article. I don’t think many of us living in the area near the EFC Metro are aware of the plans.
These redevelopment plans present as an urbanization of the area. It will look like Ballston and Rosslyn.
I am always surprised when developers say that parking is not needed. And, assume that people will walk or ride bikes to the Metro.
I agree with Warren Spaeth comments. And, am thankful that our Arlington neighbors are speaking up with these obvious concerns.