Now that it has Fairfax County's approval, the Fair Oaks Child Development Center will be able to double its enrollment and expand its building to accommodate the additional children.
Built in 1999 at the corner of Spruce Avenue and Route 29, the facility is on 2.28 acres at 12001 Lee Highway. Some 75 children are currently enrolled, but adding to the rear of the building will enable the child-care center to serve 150 children.
However, before it could receive the county's blessing, the center had to figure out what to do about a sticky traffic situation. At issue was the intersection of Marymead Drive and Route 29, just west of the facility.
The problem is that, currently, cars traveling west on Route 29 and going into the service drive would cut across and not go around the median, thereby conflicting with residential traffic. And drivers heading east on Route 29 do the same thing.
At first, Jane Kelsey & Associates Inc., the land-use consultant representing the applicant, proposed extending the median to prevent cars from cutting across. But, instead, changes will be made at the Marymead end of the intersection.
"When we met with VDOT [the Virginia Department of Transportation], VDOT said to leave the Route 29 median alone," explained Jane Kelsey. "But it said we could narrow the access point going into Marymead — which is what residents there wanted."
For motorists coming down Route 29 from the west, the road-engineering changes will force those turning right onto Marymead to "actually make a complete turn into Marymead, rather than driving diagonally into the service drive from Route 29," said Kelsey. "It'll alleviate that problem."
The site has an existing asphalt trail, and the Supervisors said it could remain, in lieu of the center having to put in a concrete sidewalk. There's already a playground with equipment, and a grassy picnic spot with trees will be added. Fair Oaks Child Development Center hopes to begin construction of the addition in July.