The Seven Corners Home Depot is requesting a zoning special exception allowing it to expand into the adjoining storefront, currently occupied by a temporary Spirit of Halloween store. It was formerly a Room Store, and before that, Dollar General.
The store is facing lots of “operational challenges,” Painter said, including a lack of space and an increasing number of contractors picking up large loads of building supplies. The Seven Corners Home Depot is one of the most successful stores in the chain and draws customers from Arlington and D.C., yet it is smaller than the average Home Depot.
The special exception is needed because the expansion would put it in the “big box” category for this area, which is 500,000 square feet.
Janet Hall, the Mason District representative on the Fairfax County Planning Commission, told the MDLUC she is “outraged by the way Home Depot treats the neighborhood,” with pallets of sod, mulch, and fertilizer piled up all over the parking lot and blocking cars trying to get through. It’s unsafe, trucks come close to running over people, and there have been many zoning violations, she said.
“It’s been an embarrassment,” said Hall. “You have got to be a better citizen.”
If the store is able to expand, store manager Tom Gallagher said the materials piled up in the parking lot would be moved inside and additional changes would be made to the interior space.
The MDLUC didn’t take a position on the expansion of Home Depot. Last week, the Bailey’s Crossroads Revitalization Corporation endorsed the proposal. The Planning Commission is scheduled to have a public hearing on it Nov. 5.