If it receives Fairfax County's blessing, St. Timothy Catholic Church in Chantilly will construct a 7,500-square-foot library. It will be two stories and include four classrooms on the second floor to free up space for meeting rooms in its associated school.
The church sits on 18 acres on Poplar Tree Road and added the school in 1981. The sanctuary seats 1,400 people, and the school is approved for up to 600 students. But St. Timothy now seeks permission to add another building and increase the school-enrollment cap.
"The church needs a library to improve its educational facilities because of the population increase in the area and the large number of students here," explained Lynne Strobel, representing St. Timothy. She spoke last Tuesday, May 21, at the West Fairfax County Citizens Association (WFCCA) Land-Use Committee.
St. Timothy is asking for the student-population hike because it wants to add an on-site preschool. And although it's requesting to be able to enroll as many as 772 students, Strobel said that, because of staggered attendance days, there'd actually be "no more than 692 children on site at any one time."
The building plan also includes 1,600 square feet to be used for a new meeting room and garage. And Strobel said the church discussed its ideas the previous week, with members of the nearby communities.
"They had no objection to the proposal — just to the existing problem of people parking off-site, on Sundays, on Poplar Tree Road and other nearby streets," she said. "[But] there's enough parking on-site, so we're taking measures to correct that, such as striping and painting of curbs. And in June, they're changing the mass schedules to allow people more time to come and go between services."
The WFCCA's Jim Hart advised Strobel that any such actions are probably a good idea. Said Hart: "[What's proposed] is an intensification of a not by-right use in a residential area, so now might be a good time to address the parking issue."
However, not everyone was pleased with St. Timothy's plans. Norm Saunders of the Poplar Tree Homeowners Association said the school's hours are already creating havoc with rush-hour traffic in that area.
"We're concerned because we have a tremendous amount of traffic trying to avoid the Poplar Tree/Stringfellow Road intersection in the morning," he said. "So we're opposed to the increase in the student population because it could make our traffic situation worse."
The matter is scheduled to go before the county Planning Commission on July 18. Strobel will return to the WFCCA on July 16 with more information and updates on any changes to the plan between now and then.