Monday, March 21, 2016

Fairfax County Approves Massive Sports Center for 395 Corridor



Hi Yupette,

As if the single-occupant vehicle traffic isn't going to be bad enough on I-395 from development in Stafford and Spotsylvania Counties, the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals just approved a massive sports and wellness center on industrial property owned by Washington Gas, just off I-395, near Backlick Road and Edsall Road in Springfield.

According to a press release from Fairfax County:  "The 435,000-square-foot (approximately 10 acre) St. James Sport and Wellness Center will have a multipuropse turf field for full-length soccer, lacrosse, football, field hockey, and softball; two NHL-regulation-sized ice rinks for hockey, ice skating, curling, basketball/volleyboard courts; batting cages; indoor golf simulators; racquet courts; a gymnastics and dance center; laser tag; and rock climbing walls. It will alnso have a comprehensive health and wellness center.

The St. James Center will be membership-based, but non-members will be able to sign up for programs. It will accommodate 1,240 people plus 900 spectators. In addition to regular sports and fitness activities, the center plans to host special events, such as tournaments, meets, and athletic showcases on weekends.. As part of the approval, the St. James Group will install a bus shelter, 22 bicycle parking spaces, bike lanes on Industrial Drive, and other road improvements."

You can do a Web search on this project and obtain a wealth of details about this project. So the "future" if there is a "future" for those of us who live in the I-395 corridor will be to suffer from massive traffic and massive air pollution from tens of thousands more fossil-fuel powered vehicles.

Thanks for your blog.

Joan, 22206

39 comments:

Anonymous said...

Notice this is a membership sports complex, not a community-based sports center. So everyone from everwhere gets to travel one-per-vehicle to and from the site.

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile in Arlington, the County Board just approved paying $820,000 to buy and tear down a single-family home near a park that's assessed at $736,000 to create a vacant lot.

Anonymous said...

How does it cost $50,000 to tear down a 3 bedroom, 2 bath ranch home?

Anonymous said...

How does Arlington get to pay $84,000 over the assessed value of the home, pay $5,000 in closing costs, and then pay $50,000 to tear down the home and create a vacant lot?

Anonymous said...

Check out Parents' Night at your local high schoool and multiply the traffic by 100. That's what's in store for for this site.

Anonymous said...

Let me guess. VDOT and TransUrban will provide dedicated bike lane somewhere along the I-395 corridor between Arlington and Springfield.

Anonymous said...

When does my street in the 395 corridor get repaved?

Anonymous said...

Clue for the Clueless -- Developer payoffs to so-called "Community Leaders" to facilitate projects like 395 HOT lanes through Arlington has been standard operating procedure in Arlington for more than 20 years.

Gourmet Jay said...

Payoffs? What payoffs? Any management consulting Rob has ever done with people who want their site plans approved never had anything to do with my granting them access to the County Board and Planning Staff,

Anonymous said...

How many people who live in Smart Growth Pentagon City will be driving to and from this site for sports activities?

Anonymous said...

Do you think people who live 5 miles away from this sports complex are gonna want to pay $10 round-trip to use the I-395 HOT Lanes?

Anonymous said...

Time for a total moratorium on Smart Growth while Northern Virginia is still livable.

Anonymous said...

How big will the parking lots be?

Anonymous said...

At least Fairfax County is taking care of it's residents' need for additional indoor and outdoor space for sports activities. Arlington County allows Smart Growth developers to build plazas surrounded by upscale restaurants and retail in redeveloped neighborhoods. Then packs hundreds more people into what were designed to be neighborhood parks.

Anonymous said...

Anyone seen what the terrain is like between Arlington County at Four Mile Run and Edsall Road? Try pedaling up South Walter Reed Drive and South Beauregard Street from Four Mile Run to Route 236.

Anonymous said...

Arlington County Board of Supervisors caters to Millennials. Check out the County Board's 2017 Budget Work Session today with Arlington Law Enforcement.

Anonymous said...

How many more vehicles will be entering and exiting I-395 at Edsall Road?

Anonymous said...

This will be a bonanza for the corporation that operates HOT Lanes. People will pay a premium to arrive at the complex before scheduled sporting events begin.

Anonymous said...

This site is being monitored by the staff of Victor Hoskins because of its hostility to the Arlington Way.

Anonymous said...

HOT lanes will be backed up from the 14th Street Bridge to Glebe Road five years after they are constructed.

Anonymous said...

The Arlington Way of Corporate Welfare? Arlington Way of using tax dollars to buy votes from dysfunctional non-profits? Arlington Way of maintaining bloated bureaucracies that allow commercial infrastructure along arterials (e.g., Lee Highway) to deteriorate so they can be Smart Growth redeveloped? Arlington Way of closed-door deals rubber-stamped by the advisory commissions and civic associations? Arlington Way of providing access and exclusives to the media in return for the media boosting the status quo?

Anonymous said...

What Victor Hoskins actually does: Goes around the Beltway promoting himself and looking for corporations he can poach. Concocts corporate welfare deals that REITs can't say no to.

Anonymous said...

Arlington Way of vibrant food trucks and used car lots?

Anonymous said...

Check out what Arlington's Police Chief had to say about the Vibrant Millennials at the last FY 17 Budget Work Session.

Anonymous said...

It gets worse: County Board just approved a $6.6 million parking garage addition in the Trades Center so non-resident employees won't have a problem finding a parking space after they drop off their kid at one of Arlington's public schools.

Anonymous said...

It gets worse -- long-time county staff who inflict smart growth on our neighborhoods say they wouldn't live in Arlington no matter how much they are paid.

Anonymous said...

County 'Planning' Staff: 'Proffer? What's a proffer?'

Anonymous said...

Why should I locate my IT firm in a new building next to a used car lot on a street that's full of pot holes and the street lighting so dim as to be almost useless?

Anonymous said...

Where else but Arlington would restaurant owners have to put up with food trucks parked in front of their restaurants? Thanks, Victor.

Anonymous said...

Arlington is like Cuba and Jay Fisette is like Raul Castro. Regime runs the County to benefit the Party.

Anonymous said...

LOL. Looks like ArlNow has become such a pimp blog for Smart Growth that everyone who has an issue with Smart Growth and got kicked off ArlNow is posting here.

Anonymous said...

The high-pressure sodium cobra street lights put a lot of light onto the street. They are also very efficient. Obviously incompatible with The Arlington Way of Government.

Anonymous said...

So Washington Gas maintenance and repair crews will have to drive to Arlington from 30 miles outside the DC Beltway?

Anonymous said...

ArlNow? FYI -- "G Clifford Prout" is actually "Jane Barcoft".

Anonymous said...

ArlNow blog is a hang out for County employees who promote whatever pet project they are involved with and trash anyone considered to be in any way a threat to their bloated bureaucracy.

Anonymous said...

Apt analogy to Cuba. Fidel Zimmerman has retired as head of the Government and Party to be the Beloved Leader of Smart Growth and Raul Fisette is in charge of the ongoing Smart Growth Revolution.

Anonymous said...

Yes, Like Raul, Gourmet Jay runs the Party and Government from his villa in Ashton Heights when he's not relaxing at his winter estate on Florida's Treasure Coast.

Anonymous said...

When is Victor going to divulge the $200 million Potomac Yards Convention Center done-deal?

Anonymous said...

Barack Obama flies 1100 miles to lecture Raul Castro about Cuba's repressive one-party regime, while there's one operating a mile from the White House.