Final action on VHC Health’s proposed 146-bed S. Carlin Springs Road behavioral health and rehabilitation facility could come as early as September.
That somewhat aggressive planning timeline was laid out at a community-kickoff meeting for the project yesterday (Monday). Current plans anticipate the project heading to the full Planning Commission on Sept. 9 and the County Board on Sept. 19, although that timetable may slip.
The $160 million project at 601 S. Carlin Springs Road is expected to take between 24 and 36 months to complete if it gains County Board approval, said Adrian Stanton, a VHC Health vice president who has been the public face of recent development projects.
“We look forward to the dialogue” as the plan moves through the review process, he said.
The next major step in that process will be two meetings — tentatively slated for May 18 and June 25 — of a site-plan review committee (SPRC) that will consider issues related to the proposal.
The body will be led by Planning Commission member Devanshi Patel.
“Its role is to identify issues … and work toward clarity,” Patel said. “It serves as the community’s forum.”
County Board member Susan Cunningham, who will serve as the elected body’s liaison for the project, said the ultimate goal for the coming planning process was to “get it as right as possible.”
“Your voices will matter throughout the process,” Cunningham told a crowd of more than 100 that filled the Board room for the kickoff session.
VHC Health (formerly Virginia Hospital Center) and its development partner LifePoint Health are seeking county permission to construct a facility that will include 96 behavioral-health beds serving both adults and adolescents, along with a 50-bed in-patient rehabilitation facility.
The review committee will include representation from the Glencarlyn, Arlington Mill and Forest Glen civic associations, the school system, nine county commissions and other stakeholders.
The parcel had been used from the 1960s through the 1990s as a hospital facility unaffiliated with VHC Health, which ultimately acquired it. In 2019, the county government acquired the property from VHC Health as part of a land-swap agreement. The hospital organization in 2023 announced plans to buy or lease the property for its new facility.
The project has come in for some criticism. At the April 20 meeting, Arlingtonians for Responsible Land Use circulated a two-page list of concerns about the planning process and impacts of construction on the site.
The organization is asking the county government to “pause any work, planning, proposals or action” until studies of the site itself and potential alternative locations for behavioral-health facilities could take place.
Questions and concerns also have been raised by residents living around the planned facility, and civic associations representing them. The facility’s design received some criticism at a recent meeting of the Forestry & Natural Resources Committee.
County officials, however, seem eager to move forward.
Deborah Warren, deputy director of the county’s Department of Human Services, noted that one in four adults and one in seven juveniles are facing mental-health issues. Statewide, there are only 24 behavioral-health hospital beds for adolescents, she said.
The proposed facility would expand services, particularly for youth, Warren said.
“We need those beds,” she said. “We want to get in there early and intervene early.”
A community survey related to the proposed facility will be open online through April 30. A walking tour of the parcel will take place Friday, April 24 at noon at the site, and is open to the public.
The county government plans to retain a portion of the 601 S. Carlin Springs Road site. At the April 20 meeting, County Manager Mark Schwartz suggested county leaders will explore options for future uses during the upcoming update to the county’s capital improvement program.
