The effort to redevelop an unusually sized parcel on W. Broad Street in Falls Church has hit headwinds.
Both city staff and the Falls Church Planning Commission have raised concerns about incomplete information in a plan to raze a dental office at 815 W. Broad, replacing it with a facility that would serve similar uses but would be more than five times larger.
The property owner, KE&H LLC, seeks city approval to demolish the circa-1939 property, which began life as a single-family home, and replace it with two stories of medical space sitting atop a ground-level garage. Broadway Dental plans to use the new building both to continue its current operations on the site and to consolidate operations from a second location, Planning Commission members were told at their April 15 meeting.
While the plan for 815 W. Broad does not require rezoning, enough questions have been raised by city staff and Planning Commission members to make it unlikely the developer’s site-plan request will be accepted based on the current submission.
The plan is “not approvable” at the moment, Jeff Hollern, a senior city planner, told Planning Commission members. That is not unusual for first submissions, he said, although both staff and Planning Commission members indicated the proposal has more open questions than most at this stage.
Information provided as part of the developer’s submission “isn’t even the bare minimum” required to make a decision, Planning Commission member Sharon Friedlander said.
Staff and commission members cited environmental and parking concerns as among issues that need to be fleshed out.
“The questions that were raised on runoff are significant,” commission member Phil Duncan said.
The parcel sits next door to the Broadfalls Apartments building and across the street from St. James Catholic School. It is part of a stretch of W. Broad Street that includes several pre-war homes converted to office or retail space.
One of those buildings, located at the corner of Broad and S. Spring Street (821 W. Broad), will be coming down for construction of a four-story office building to house EcoNize Closets and Blinds.
Under current zoning requirements, a total of 31 parking spaces would be required for the Broad Street site. The property owner is seeking a reduction to 24.
The lot has a narrow but deep frontage on Broad Street. Without combining several of the adjacent lots, the size presents design challenges.
“I would hope that the city could get a better result, but these lots are what they are,” commission member Tim Stevens said.
“We did the best we could,” a representative of the development team told Planning Commission members. Representatives said they were taking concerns raised by staff and commission members to heart and would address them in subsequent submissions.
Detailed renderings of the project are not available at this stage of the project, although the developer did submit schematic designs.
Under changes made to state law last year, the final say on approving or denying the site-plan application rests with city Planning Director Matt Mattauszek. The Planning Commission, which used to have that authority, can offer a recommendation but does not have final say.
Under timetables also set by the General Assembly last year, Mattauszek has 40 calendar days from the time of first submission to issue a decision. It is likely he will reject the plan on or before the May 5 deadline, giving the developer the opportunity to submit a revision.
Mattauszek will then have 30 calendar days to make a decision on the second submission.
City staff said they were hopeful there would be time in the schedule for both the Planning Commission and Architectural Advisory Board, which had discussed the proposal on April 8, to review any revisions that are made.
The 0.32-acre parcel at 815 W. Broad Street last sold in 2006, fetching $1 million. It currently is assessed for tax purposes at just under $1.25 million.
