Hitching the horse up out front of the Davis General Store used to be the mode of shopping in this part of western Fairfax County, but times have changed. On February 12, the Board of Zoning Appeals is going to look at owner Donald Crump's property one more time to see if the office trailer and plant shade structure are under the site plan ordinance.
Jane McWilliams is a long time resident of the area, and she's seeing the 2.89-acre lot expanding before her very eyes. Civilization is creeping in, establishing one more foothold suburbanizing the outlying parts of the county.
She's been following this for years and is rallying the troops to attend the meeting.
"I've been on the phone since early this morning. There's a lot of citizen opposition," said McWilliams two weeks before the meeting.
Currently the store occupies 6,000 square feet of space, and the plan is to expand it to 9,300 square feet, which is an increase of more one-third. The four additional structures on the property include a 4,000-square-foot structure, 15 feet high on the rear of the main building labeled "storage space" on the drawing. Another 1,600-square-foot storage area on the side, a 3,375-foot addition also on the side that is 20 feet high and a 117-square-foot structure that is already part of the building. Throw in 36 additional parking spaces and a 32-foot wide water tower and the corner lot that was once an old fashioned general store turns into a major structure.
"Our concern is he's expanding that, it's not in harmony, definitely visual pollution," McWilliams said.
Lilian Knakmuhs owns and operates The Clifton Pottery store right across the street. All the things McWilliams is worried about also concern Knakmuhs, with an added concern of water shortage and fire from the eight gasoline pumps out front.
"Seventy-five feet from my front door, how would you like that?" she asked.
In the past, travelers have knocked on her door looking for a bathroom. Knakmuhs had a feeling they were sent from the gas station across the street.
"They sent them here. I'm not going to stand there with a towel and a swish thing to clean the toilet every time it gets used," she said.
Work was underway on the fast food portion inside.
"No comment on any of it," a woman who was involved with the construction said.
The traffic at the station is not local according to McWilliams. The Clifton Road location is a cut-through for many.
"He's servicing cross-county traffic. The expansion really services cross-county traffic," she said.
<mh>On The Record
<bt>The property is zoned C-5, which is retail and fast food. In a county staff report from the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeal (BZA), appeal application A 2000-SP-029 dated August 14, 2001, several violations were cited, dating back to 1994. These violations included "the rental truck operation as a use that was not permitted at that time in the C-5 district, for adding structures and storage/display areas" from a April 11, 1994 notice and another notice of violation, dated March 8, 1996, referencing the previous notice "noting that the current violations included, but were not limited to those cited in the 1994 notice."
On February 29, 1999, the second submission was approved pending payment of certain fees, but "the applicants failed to make the required payments and, as a result, the activities being conducted on the property in violation of zoning regulations continued," it stated. There were no signs of the truck rental operation anymore, but several structures still remain.
This process continued, going back and forth several times. McWilliams is convinced nothing has been resolved.
"They've been in violation for seven years," she said.
McWilliams distributed a flyer for their impromptu meeting on Monday, Feb. 4 at the Clifton Elementary School to "inform our community about the intense development that is taking place at the Davis General Store," as was stated in their agenda. According to McWilliams, 110 people attended the meeting.
Another fax was distributed, signed "Davis Store," that starts off with, "A memo has been circulated by Ms. McWilliams making several incorrect assertions regarding the store." It further stated "the only issue now before the BZA is the status of two 'structures' on the site — the office trailer and plant shade structure." It concludes with "we intend to continue to remodel and modernize the store and dress up the site. We will continue to offer plantings, hay, mulch and hardware along with grocery needs. The site plan shows possible future development, which is not immediately planned."
The property is in Supervisor Elaine McConnell's district and she has been watching the developments from afar, claiming that the store is within zoning law and not an issue for the supervisor's office. She noted Virginia's attitude toward property issues.
"This state really respects land rights. He has a right to do anything within C-5 zoning, that's the law," McConnell said.
<mh>The Old Days
<bt>Fairfax Station is rich with history, especially from the Civil War period, when the train played a big role in shaping that region. The store has been in existence since the 1800's according to the staff report, and McWilliams would like to see the store remain a part of that history. She remembers moving to the area in 1975 and seeing people hitch their horses up to the sign out front.
"It's really a landmark here and it's always been a general store. That was a hitching post," she said, pointing to the gasoline price sign on the corner of Clifton Road and Wolf Run Shoals Road.
There are eight pumps, a big yellow "Shell" sign out front and traffic coming and going all day. Any action may be too late, McWilliams realized. No signs of the rustic, Ike Godsey-like country store remain.
"There's not a whole lot we can do except citizen opposition," she said.
<mh>Similarities
<bt> Knakmuhs is 75 years old and knows that the land she's sitting on is her "cash-cow" as well. Her land is zoned residential and retail, and Exxon, a professional photographer and a non-profit organization have already approached her. There is a conservation easement that makes it unattractive to developers.
"I could put a gas station, but I don't want to. I turned Exxon down. When you tell them there is a conservation easement they can't use, they don't want it. I'm not a little girl. I need to retire. I am in the market to sell," she said.
A buyer for Knakmuhs land who would use the existing structure would be ideal, but that may be wishful thinking. McWilliams is hoping for the best.
"We might be opposed to development depending on what it is. If she sold it to a shopping center [developer], we'd be fighting her right now," McWilliams said.