Candidates for the Falls Church City Council seat on the Nov. 5 ballot are playing it cautiously when it comes to bringing accessory-dwelling units (ADUs) to residential neighborhoods in the city.
The devil, both contenders suggest, is in the details. And those details have yet to be fully fleshed out, they say.
“It can get a little tricky,” said Laura Downs, one of two candidates in the special election called to fill the remaining year in the term of Caroline Lian, who resigned earlier this year.
Downs is facing John Murphy. The two squared off last week, on Sept. 26, in an evening forum sponsored by the Falls Church League of Women Voters and the Village Preservation and Improvement Society at the Falls Church Community Center.
Murphy, a former chair of the city’s Board of Zoning Appeals, seemed to favor ADUs in principle. But, he said, “I do not favor the proposal” currently circulating, calling it a one-size-fits-all approach where more nuance is needed.
“We can tailor this to specific areas and specific things,” Murphy said at the forum, which attracted a standing-room crowd. ADUs “may be appropriate in some places, but not others,” he said.
Accessory-dwelling units are ancillary housing located on single-family lots. The concept has been making its way to a number of local jurisdictions, including nearby Arlington.
Boosters say ADUs can provide needed options for older family members or those with disabilities who want a degree of independence while still having a cocoon of support nearby. Detractors say they add to increasing densification of bucolic single-family neighborhoods.
Downs, a former chair of the Falls Church School Board, said accessory-dwelling units can be “a great resource” – in the right situation.
“It does add to the housing stock and it does give our residents some flexibility,” she said, while also voicing concerns about the impact on tree canopy, runoff, parking and schools.
With the 2.2-square-mile city having seen a spurt in large-scale mixed-use development in recent years, growth and its impacts on residents’ lives were front and center at the forum.
Though positioning himself as an economic-development booster, Murphy said there were limits to his enthusiasm.
“Am I in favor of unbridled development for the city? No,” he said.
Murphy said every major future development proposal will need to be weighed against the consequences, positive and negative.
“Are we getting all we need? Is it meeting the needs of the city of Falls Church, of citizens?” he asked.
Downs told the assembled crowd that with several megaprojects having come to the city in recent years, a pause to gauge impacts is warranted.
“We need to take a breather,” she said. (“That said, I am a supporter of development,” Downs added in the next breath.)
Falls Church is beginning to reap the rewards its neighbors in Fairfax County and Arlington have seen for decades, where tax revenue from commercial and mixed-use development has been used to help offset residents’ tax burdens and pay for expanding local-government services.
Over the past few years as new development has arrived, Falls Church leaders have been able to lower the city’s real-estate tax rate, helping somewhat to ease the sting of higher home assessments.
But as Fairfax and Arlington have found, increasing urbanization is not without challenges. And there’s little way for the 15,000-resident city of Falls Church to use economies of scale that Arlington (with about 240,000 residents) and Fairfax (about 1.1 million) can.
“Basic government services are expensive when on a small scale,” Murphy said. “We all want everything, but we can’t have everything.”
In some cases, “growth pays for growth,” said Downs, pointing to hookup fees offsetting the cost of additional water and sewer infrastructure. But an increase in residents and daytime workers will bring challenges, she said – while the city has the capacity to absorb additional students in its school buildings, new teachers will need to be hired, Downs cited as one example.
Both candidates expressed support for continuing the focus on lowering residential tax rates. Each also opposed cuts in existing city services.
Mark Gross of the Village Preservation and Improvement Society, who opened the program with introductory remarks, said the evening’s turnout of about 80 people was a testament to interest in the race – and to issues facing Falls Church.
“I’m really, really happy to see this huge, huge group,” he said.
Ordinarily, Falls Church would not be having any city elections in 2024. But Lian’s departure in August, related to improper employment disclosures, teed up a special election.
Photo via League of Women Voters/Vimeo
