Several Falls Church residents and one Council member have urged city staff to exercise maximum transparency around a major affordable housing development.
Several speakers on July 28 voiced concerns to City Manager Wyatt Shields that staff have not been communicating adequately about documents related to the Virginia Village plan as they evolve.
“Public trust issues … have arisen,” Council member Erin Flynn said at the meeting, asking Shields to “communicate to staff the importance of maintaining public trust through this process, and also maintaining Council trust through this process.”
Shields said he had taken steps to address transparency concerns.
“I have spoken to staff about this today,” he said. “I want to reaffirm the staff’s commitment to serving the public and serving the Council and the entire community — on any issue.”
“Trust has to be maintained,” the city manager acknowledged. “We will do everything we can to maintain transparency … be clear about what is changing and why it is changing, and ultimately who the final decision-maker is.”
Shields is about to depart as city manager, a post he has held since 2007. Council members are currently working to select a successor.
Beyond Flynn, several residents used the July 27 public-comment period to criticize recent alterations to plans for potential planning and zoning changes to accommodate the Virginia Village development plan, and a lack of transparency from city staff.
Council members last month approved a request for proposals, seeking potential development partners for the Virginia Village site of 1940s-era four-unit apartment buildings. The city’s Economic Development Authority owns nine of the quadruplexes, while the remainder are in private hands.
At the July 27 meeting, Council members and staff spent several hours working through potential zoning changes to accommodate new development on the site.
As had been the case in previous meetings, some Council members wanted more flexibility in setting future zoning rules for the site, while others wanted less.
Among those preaching flexibility is Council member Justine Underhill.
“I just don’t want to limit us,” she said. “There’s all sorts of moving parts to this, and I want to make sure we’re not boxing ourselves in where we don’t have the flexibility later on.”
But Council member Laura Downs said city leaders need to be sensitive to concerns about density and height raised by those living around the site.
“It’s quite a balancing act,” she said.
Council members are expected to further address the zoning and land-use changes for the site in late October. Any final action would be preceded by a public hearing.
Later in the July 27 meeting, Council members voted 6-1 to appoint a seven-member committee that will vet potential partnership plans and deliver a recommendation by Sept. 8.
Members will include Council member Marybeth Connelly; one representative each from the Economic Development Authority, Planning Commission and Housing Commission; and three staff members appointed by Shields.
At the meeting, Council member David Snyder asked that two representatives be added: one a current Virginia Village tenant, the other a resident of the adjacent Winter Hill community.
No other Council members supported the proposal. “It sets, potentially, a questionable precedent,” Mayor Letty Hardi said.
Snyder subsequently voted against setting up the panel with the seven members as originally proposed.
The new body will be subject to Virginia Freedom of Information Act requirements, but is likely to conduct most of its business behind closed doors using exemptions to the law.
The group’s role will be advisory only. The final decision on which development partner to accept, if any, will be up to Council members.
