City Center Design Changes Revealed

The Falls Church City Council met in closed and public work sessions on Thursday night to view and discuss Atlantic Realty’s proposed design changes for the City Center.

Facing increased construction costs Atlantic is planning to reduce the height of two of the buildings and significantly change the design of the complex’s primary structure, generally referred to as the Harris-Teeter Building (HTB), which will occupy the current Bowl America site at the corner of Maple Avenue and Annandale Road.

This building, whose name derives from its primary prospective tenant, will be reduced to 68 feet (6.5 floors) on the Annandale side and to 84 feet (8 floors)  on the Gibson Street side.   The building’s interior courts will be increased from 2 to 3; however, the new courts will be considerably smaller than those shown in the original plan.

Although the building will have fewer floors, the number of residences will remain the same under the new design — 413 apartments and 16 townhomes.    This will be achieved primarily by changing setbacks, most significantly on the Gibson Street side where the setback will be reduced to less than 5 feet in some areas, compared to the 30 feet as originally designed.

The facade facing Shirley Street will maintain its original setback of 30 feet above the proposed townhomes; however, there will no longer be openings into the courtyards.  Instead, these breaks in the facade will, in effect, be filled in with units to a height of 7 stories, creating a continuous frontage.

Atlantic now is planning to use wood construction on the upper, residential floors.  The lower, mostly commercial base floors will be primarily concrete.  Ceiling heights will remain unchanged throughout.

The overall effect is a design which is denser and more uniform throughout.  For example, there will be no variations in the roof line, the differences in height being due to the slope of Maple Avenue.

Atlantic plans to lower the active adult building from 11 floors to 7.  No design details were available concerning this structure other than that the number of residences would be reduced from 134 to 90.

City Attorney John Foster stated that the prospective design changes would not require an amendment to the current special exception ordinance due to the revisions being in “general accordance” with the final legislation approved by the Council.  Given that decision and the Council’s concurrence, the changes will be forwarded to the Planning Commission for review in January.

Books are Only an Excuse

December 5th will see the 10th annual Barnes & Noble Night supporting the  Mary Ellen Henderson Middle School PTA.  Come to the 7 Corners Barnes and Noble after 7pm on Friday to see your neighbors, enjoy the entertainment, have a chance to win a nice door prize, and maybe buy a book.

And speaking of door prizes, Falls Church has some very generous restaurants.  I stopped by Argia’s, Clare and Don’s, Ireland’s 4 Provinces, and Dogwood Tavern to ask them to donate gift certificates to be used as door prizes.  Every one of them came through.  It is great to have their support in the community.

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Community Comment: Falls Church Can’t Afford Project

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Planning Commission Rejects Affordable Housing Site Plan

On Monday, December 1, the Falls Church Planning Commission by a vote of 6-1 rejected the site plan and subdivision for the proposed affordable housing project at City Center, also known as the City Center South Apartments (CCSA).    

Commissioners cited inadequate parking space as their primary reason for the rejection.  The site plan allows for 239 spaces.  However, under a strict application of the current zoning code, 418 spaces should be provided, leaving a shortfall of 179.  Attention was drawn to a recent memorandum by Falls Church Zoning Administrator John Boyle in which he wrote ”It is difficult to imagine how such a parking plan [as proposed] can function.”

Advocates of the proposal explained that the project would use what they termed as ”shared parking.”   However the commissioners were not persuaded.  Commissioner Melissa Teates expressed concerns that businesses in the immediate area that already are under parking pressure likely would suffer if the project went forward. 

Objections were not limited solely to the parking issue.  Commission Chair Maureen Budetti stated that the current plan placed too much on one site and that she felt the City staff recommendations for approval were “lukewarm.”

Commissioner Christine Sanders noted that her objections were ”about basic health and safety” as she cited concerns about increased traffic.  Ms. Sanders also pointed out that the CCSA site plan is closely tied to the Center Center development. which she referred to as in a state of flux, and that she was unsure if the proposed affordable units were still in keeping with the scale of the adjacent project.   

The Commissions’ rejection of the site plan threatens Virginia’s financial contribution to the project as  the application deadline for state funding occurs in early 2009, leaving insufficient time to develop an alternative plan and have it approved. 

The Commission also rejected by a vote of 5-2 City staff recommendations to commit Falls Church to long-term financing for the project and to grant a real estate tax exemption to the CCSA for the purpose of affordable housing. 

Commissioners John Lawrence, Suzanne Fauber, Ruth Rodgers, Budetti, Sanders, and Teates voted to turn down the CCSA site plan and the related application to combine the three lots on the site into two.  Former City Council member Lindy Hockenberry cast the sole vote in favor.  Ms. Hockenberry  was joined by Ms. Teates in casting the only votes in support of the staff recommendations on tax exemptions and financing.

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