A major development project straddling the Arlington-Fairfax county line on Wilson Blvd took another procedural step forward this week.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday (May 5) gave the owner of a key Seven Corners residential parcel the ability to more than double units on the site while also adding retail space.
Voting unanimously and without comment, the body approved the Cavalier Club’s proposal for an amended site-specific plan amendment (SSPA) to accommodate up to 300 new multifamily units plus up to 20,000 square feet of ground-floor retail.
The Fairfax supervisors’ vote addresses plans for development on the 5.64 acres of the parcel located in Fairfax County. The development team has proposed building townhouses on the Arlington portion of the site, but has not started to move through Arlington’s development-review process.
Next stop for the proposal by partners Southern Management and EYA is a rezoning request, slated to be heard by the Fairfax Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors in coming months.
Many of the design details are expected to be be fleshed out then, and a second round of public hearings will be held prior to final approval.
According to Fairfax planning staff, the rezoning application will request 250 additional units — 50 fewer than the 300 now allowed — plus 5,000 square feet of retail space, just a quarter of the maximum permissible via the newly approved SSPA.
The 6200 Wilson Blvd parcel currently is home to a 12-story, 220-unit apartment building on a site that it bisected by the Fairfax/Arlington county line, just east of the city of Falls Church.
The existing apartment building will be retained. New development would largely occur on land currently used for surface parking; a garage would be built to accommodate tenants of the new construction.
“We have been working for a long time to bring this to fruition,” said Sara Mariska, a land-use attorney representing the developer. She said the parkland and retail spaces proposed as part of the project would “really bring folks in” to the site.
In Fairfax County’s development process, a site-specific plan amendment allows development on a property outside the typical scope of surrounding sites.
Arlington accomplishes the same spot-zoning results through its site-plan process.
An online survey conducted by the Fairfax County government last year found mixed opinions on new development at the Cavalier Club site.
Concerns raised in the survey included traffic congestion, too much urbanization and the need for more green space. Proponents praised future affordable-housing units, new retail and planned upgrades to the existing building.
One proposal under consideration by the Fairfax County Department of Transportation seeks to reduce the number of westbound Wilson Blvd travel lanes in the vicinity of the Cavalier Club parcel from two to one.
It is one option being considered to improve what all sides acknowledge is a challenging corridor for pedestrian use in Seven Corners.
Trimming a travel lane would require approval from the Virginia Department of Transportation and, at least tacitly, from the Arlington County government.
