Northfax West

• Project typePrivate Development
• Project divisionCommunity & Development
• Project scheduleUnder Construction

Project Updates

• Approved by City Council on July 14, 2020.
• Revised plans were submitted on April 13, 2020 and June 1, 2020.
• A Special Exception application was submitted on March 2, 2020.
• A Major Water Quality Impact Assessment application was submitted on January 31, 2020.
• A rezoning application, Special Use Permit application, and Master Development Plan was submitted on January 6, 2020 for a mixed-use planned development.

Background

Informational development briefings were held on January 7, 2020 for City Council and January 13, 2020 for Planning Commission to discuss a proposal for mixed-use planned development on 11.32 +/- acres. The applicant is proposing 56 townhouses, 200 unit senior living facility (multifamily and congregate living facility) with structured parking, culvert on-site stream, disturbance in floodplain and Resource Protection Area, and road construction by the City and applicant in Phase I. The applicant has an undetermined mix of future uses along Chain Bridge Road and a future access road from Chain Bridge Road in Phase II. Work sessions to review the submitted applications were held by the Planning Commission on May 11, 2020 and the City Council on May 13, 2020.

The proposed culvert would be approximately 970 linear feet long and would impact 1,646 linear feet of stream channel. This proposal has received permits from state and federal agencies, including a Virginia Water Protection Individual Permit (18-1003) from the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VDEQ) and a State Program General Permit (17- SPGP-01) from the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). In addition to the USACE and VDEQ, the proposal is reviewed by the US Environmental Protection Agency, US Fish & Wildlife Service, Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, Virginia Department of Conservation and Recreation, and Virginia Department of Health. The findings from these reviews concluded that compliance with the approved permitting process:

• Will protect instream beneficial uses, will not violate applicable water quality standards, and will not cause or contribute to a significant impairment of state waters or fish and wildlife resources

The approved permit requires compensation for the stream impacts through the purchase of stream credits (or stream condition units) from a VDEQ approved mitigation bank. During the permitting process, the City of Fairfax requested that instead of the purchase of stream credits from a VDEQ bank, that a compensatory mitigation project be completed on a stream located in the City. The VDEQ responded to the City’s request stating that the purchasing of credits is the ecologically preferred form of mitigation. Despite this response from VDEQ, the applicant agreed to complete a stream restoration project on approximately 2,190 linear feet of the stream located in the City’s Van Dyck Park, or an alternative location on other City property with equal length, accessibility and stream condition, in addition to the purchase of stream credits. A tree canopy of 13.5% of the site, or approximately 1.4 acres, is proposed. The majority of the proposed canopy coverage would be achieved through tree preservation. Proposed vegetation would include native species to the greatest extent possible. In additional to the on-site planting, trees would also be planted within the street rights-of-way.

The proposal also received a Conditional Letter of Map Revision from the US Federal Emergency Management Agency on April 1, 2019 for impacts to the floodplain.

Requests

• Rezoning from RM Residential Medium and CR Commercial Retail to PD-M Planned Development-Mixed Use
• Approval of Master Development Plan
• Special Use Permit culvert on-site stream and remove the 100-year floodplain
• Special Exception for disturbance of Resource Protection Area to build culvert
• Vacation of a portion of the right-of-way and dedicate a new right-of-way
• Certificate of Appropriateness of Architecture and Landscaping

Plans

Public Meetings

Location

3570 Chain Bridge Road, Fairfax, VA 22030  View Map

38.859187,-77.3079005

3570 Chain Bridge Road , Fairfax, VA 22030

3570 Chain Bridge Road , Fairfax, VA 22030

Northfax West