Planning Commission to Consider Additional Exemptions for The Northgate

The Falls Church Planning Commission will conduct a work session on Tuesday, September 2, concerning The Northgate, a proposed mixed-use development at the corner of North Washington and East Jefferson Street, the site of Pearson’s Funeral Home.  The session, which will include discussion of the developer’s request for two waivers of the City Code, is scheduled for 7:45 pm in the Council Chamber of City Hall.

As proposed The Northgate would include ground level retail space, almost 15,000 square feet of office space, and 105 rental units – 95 apartments and ten townhouses. The building would be five stories at its southwest corner, four stories at the northwest corner, and three stories at the townhouses in the rear. The project provides for two levels of underground parking with 290 spaces. The Site Plan shows entrances/exits on both North Washington Street and East Jefferson Street.

The property was re-zoned to B-1 Business District and approved for a Special Exception for mixed use by the City Council on March 26, 2007. This is Hekemian and Company’s fourth submission of a Site Plan and subdivision for The Northgate.

The first requested waiver concerns the size of the buffer or spacing between the proposed development and the adjacent residential district. Falls Church requires 20 foot buffers between adjacent properties that are of different zoning districts. However, under Hekemian’s proposal the buffer at the back of the site varies from 29.9 feet to only 3.7 feet.

The second waiver concerns the location of the proposed entrance/exit on East Jefferson Street. Under Code such outlets are not allowed within 100 feet of an adjacent residential district. As proposed, the outlet is about 40 feet from the adjacent district.

The plan now incorporates, through a break in the median, a channelized left-turn bay on North Washington Street that would allow left turns into the site but restrict left-turn egress movements out of the site.

City Staff recommends that the Planning Commission consider preliminary and final approval of the City Plan and the two requested waivers.