Hello,
One of AY's contributors who's familiar with planning and zoning issues attended the Fairfax County Planning Commission meeting last night. What was up for discussion and a vote, as it affects Arlington, was a significant increase in density in Planned Residential Mexed Use and Planned Develpment Commercial sectors of Bailey's Crossroads, Seven Corners and Annandale. In other words, Smart Growth redevelopment.
A description of this proposal appeared in the Metro Section of last Sunday's Washington Post.
Fairfax County Planning Commission decided to approve a FAR 5.0 maximum on new redevelopment rather than a lower density. FAR is an acronym for floor area ratio, the ratio of the total floor area of the building to the area of the lot on which the building is constructed (e.g., 250,000 square foot building on a 50,000 square foot lot).
The FC Planning Commission voiced little concern about traffic and parking. The impact of traffic on Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church wasn't on the FC Planning Commission's radar. If they weren't concerned about the impacts on Lake Barcroft, Sleepy Hollow, and Linconia, why should they be concerned about the impacts on adjacent neighborhoods in Arlington, Alexandria, and Falls Church? Multi-modal-multi-jurisdiction gridlock? What's that?
This up-zoning is on the Fairfax County Board of Supervisor's agenda for its meeting the afternoon of June 21st. You can check out the staff reports on the FC Planning Commission's and FC Board of Supervisor's Web sites.
Cindy
