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| The Seven Corners plan calls for affordable housing to be replaced on a one-to-one basis. |
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a long-term plan for the redevelopment of Seven Corners shortly after midnight July 29 after adding provisions to ensure that affordable housing will be retained, that a school will be built on the Willston site, and that transportation improvement will move forward.
Only one supervisor, Pat Herrity (Springfield), voted against the Seven Corners amendment. He argued that unless the vote is deferred, “we’ll end up with something counterproductive.”
“I do not think there is value in deferring this any longer,” said Penny Gross (Mason), who spearheaded the effort to develop a plan amendment for Seven Corners more than three years ago. The aging commercial area is plagued by traffic congestion, and without redevelopment, Seven Corners will deteriorate further.
The process to develop the plan amendment spanned more than 80 public meetings, including a series of community visioning sessions, a task force, two design charrettes, and a working group to consider the Sears site.
“Nothing will change right away,” Gross said. The plan sets out guidelines for redevelopment; any proposals by developers will have to go through a public process for zoning. Plan amendments for Annandale and Bailey’s Crossroads were adopted five years ago, she noted, and there still hasn’t been any redevelopment.
The Seven Corners plan amendment considered by the BoS incorporated several changes endorsed by the Planning Commission July 15. Those included a 20 percent reduction in residential density in “Area B” (the site of the Seven Corners Shopping Center), the need for a relocation plan for existing tenants, and language stating that an elementary school should be built on the site of the Willston Multicultural Center.
More than 30 people spoke at the BoS hearing, many of them local residents who cited concerns about too much density and the need to improve the transportation infrastructure before redevelopment takes place.
Supervisor John Cook (Braddock) proposed a couple of tweaks to the plan that Gross agreed to support.
Despite an agreement by County Executive Ed Long and Fairfax County Public Schools Superintendent Karen Garza in support of providing a school at the Willston site, Cook expressed doubts that the language in the plan wasn’t strong enough.
Cook’s proposed language, which was adopted by the BoS, states: “The plan provides for the building of an elementary school sufficient to meet the area’s needs whether it’s at Willston or elsewhere, unless Fairfax County Public Schools finds such a school is not necessary.”
Although it’s not spelled out in the plan amendment, Gross said she and school board member Sandy Evans are working on a concept for the Willston site that combines a school with community services, including those provided in the existing Willston Center.
The Willston area of Seven Corners currently has 589 units of affordable housing, most of it with very low rents. The plan amendment calls for an equal number of affordable units within Seven Corners. Those units, however, could be affordable to households up to 120 percent of the area median income (AMI).
Cook, however, urged that the replacement units be affordable for people with the same income levels as current tenants. “If there are 589 units today affordable to households at 60 percent of AMI, the plan ought to say there will be at least 589 units at or below 60 percent of AMI,” he said.
Supervisor Catherine Hudgins (Hunter Miller) said the plan should allow for flexibility, while staff from the Fairfax County Housing office explained that more than half of the existing affordable units are market rate, while the rest are in a tax credit program with low rents locked in.
The BoS approved Cook’s motion to provide at least a one-to-one replacement of the 589 units affordable to people at 60 percent AMI spread throughout Seven Corners.
In response to concerns that redevelopment could proceed before the transportation improvements are in place, the BoS adopted an amendment directing county staff to conduct a transportation analysis, including cost estimates for road improvements, a plan for phasing them in, and a process for engaging the community in the analysis.
The Seven Corners plan would allow more than 5,000 additional housing units to the Seven Corners area, which would be divided into three mixed-uses villages, with the highest density levels at the site of the current Seven Corners Shopping Center. To reduce traffic congestion, the plan calls for the Seven Corners intersection to be simplified, an additional overpass to be built over Route 50, and a new grid of streets would be added in areas being redeveloped.
The Seven Corners plan would allow more than 5,000 additional housing units to the Seven Corners area, which would be divided into three mixed-uses villages, with the highest density levels at the site of the current Seven Corners Shopping Center. To reduce traffic congestion, the plan calls for the Seven Corners intersection to be simplified, an additional overpass to be built over Route 50, and a new grid of streets would be added in areas being redeveloped.
John Thillman, co-chair of the Seven Corners Land Use and Transportation Task Force, Karl Moritz, a member of both the task force and Sears Working Group; and a couple of local residents urged the BoS to approve the plan amendment.
While Thillman argued that revitalization won’t happen unless developers are allowed to increase density enough to generate sufficient revenue, several residents disputed that claim.
Catriona McCormack said excessive density creates “a terrible burden for our community.” High levels of density might make sense in an area close to Metro, said Donald Smith, but Seven Corners is more than a mile away.
Mollie Loeffler, an independent candidate running against Gross for Mason District supervisor, urged the BoS to use the entire five acres at the Willston site for a school and house county offices in vacant spaces in existing office buildings. She also called for affordable housing to be spread throughout the county.
While the plan approved by the BoS sets an overall goal for density, it doesn’t preclude developers from proposing higher density during the rezoning process. Foulger-Pratt, which purchased Sears and two office buildings with an toward creating a mixed-use project on the site, has put its plans on “indefinite hold” because the reduced density level means it’s no longer economically viable, Dick Knapp, senior vice president for acquisitions, told the Annandale Blog last week. The company will “look at other options for leasing” Sears and the other buildings, he says, and will “regroup a couple of years from now when things settle down and try to get more density.”
While the plan approved by the BoS sets an overall goal for density, it doesn’t preclude developers from proposing higher density during the rezoning process. Foulger-Pratt, which purchased Sears and two office buildings with an toward creating a mixed-use project on the site, has put its plans on “indefinite hold” because the reduced density level means it’s no longer economically viable, Dick Knapp, senior vice president for acquisitions, told the Annandale Blog last week. The company will “look at other options for leasing” Sears and the other buildings, he says, and will “regroup a couple of years from now when things settle down and try to get more density.”