July 25, 2002
<bt>After receiving two approvals for its library-construction proposal, St. Timothy Catholic Church will next head for the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
It obtained its first OK last Tuesday, July 16, from the West Fairfax County Citizens Association (WFCCA) Land-Use Committee. Two days later, the county Planning Commission concurred, as well.
The Chantilly church is on 18 acres on Poplar Tree Road and has a sanctuary seating 1,400 people. In 1981, it added a school approved for up to 600 students.
Now, to improve its educational facilities, St. Timothy hopes to build a 7,500-square-foot library. It would be two stories and include four classrooms on the second floor to free up space in the school for meeting rooms. The project also includes 1,600 square feet for a meeting room in the library, plus a garage.
The church also wants to increase the school-enrollment cap because of its plans to add an on-site preschool. And although it's asking permission to enroll as many as 772 students, in actuality — because of staggered attendance days — there'd be no more than 692 children on site at any one time.
Church-service parking spilling over onto Poplar Tree Road and other nearby streets has long been a problem in the neighborhood. So, when giving their approval for the building proposal, the WFCCA members encouraged St. Timothy to continue working with county staff and the local community to get the church parking off the streets. Following the unanimous approval by the Planning Commission, last Thursday, July 18, the matter will go before the Supervisors on Aug. 5.
<tgl> — Bonnie Hobbs