The Fairfax City Council gave Moseley Architects the green light to continue creating a site plan for the new police station at the John C. Wood Complex site on Old Lee Highway.
The council saw drawings of a preliminary site plan during Tuesday's work session.
Architects illustrated the two phases for the John C. Wood site with their plan. The first phase showed the completion of the new police station, an access road and parking for staff towards the back, and the relocation of the T-ball field to closer to the park. The current building, which would be located in front of the new police station, would remain as an interim space for City Hall offices while City Hall is being renovated.
The second phase called for the demolishing of the current building, after City Hall renovations are complete. Architects added that the police station would be a two level building, but the first floor would be larger than the second. Its estimated size would be 30,000-31,000 sq. ft.
The site plan also left room for a community center, should Fairfax decide to build one in the future on the John C. Wood site. To illustrate the available space towards Old Lee Highway, architects drew in a 7,500 square-foot, one-floor community center building with 120 parking spaces. If Fairfax decided to have two floors for the building, they would need more parking.
"I think this is a good plan and makes the best use of the site," said Fairfax City police chief Rick Rappoport, when council member Scott Silverthorne asked his opinion.
Council members also unanimously allowed the Farrcroft Homeowners Association to determine what hours they choose to use the traffic control gates in their subdivision. The Farrcroft community had wanted the gates in use continuously to prevent cut-through traffic. Although the streets in question are designated as private streets, the homeonwers association needed approval from the council because of a proffer between the developer and the city which stipulated that the gates would be in use during rush hour.