When residents of Chantilly's Pleasant Valley community spoke up at the April 27 meeting of the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals, they were able to delay approval of another new church in their neighborhood. (The BZA deferred decision until July).
Now they're planning a meeting to marshal their forces against the Sant Nirankari Mission — which they contend would be an unwelcome and intrusive addition to their community.
"This is going to fundamentally change the whole character of the neighborhood forever," said Harry Heisler, a Pleasant Valley resident since 1989. "Right now, the houses all have proximity to an undeveloped woods for scenery and for buffering from Pleasant Valley Road's noise and light."
"Four other churches have been approved on similarly zoned land within half a mile, and this would be the fifth," he continued. "Three have already been built, but they weren't on land surrounded by homes. This one would be dropped into a triangular lot bordered by a subdivision that's been here for 20 years."
At issue is the Sant Nirankari Mission, which meets in a local Methodist church, but wants a place of its own. It hopes to construct a 15,600-square-foot place of worship on a nearly 4.1-acre site at 4501 Pleasant Valley Road. The structure would be 45 feet high, seat 350 people and have 119 parking spaces.
The wooded parcel it's eyeing is zoned RC (residential conservation), so the mission needs a special permit from the county to build on it. But nearby residents strongly oppose the plan and have scheduled a community meeting for Tuesday, May 17, at 7 p.m. in the Sully District Governmental Center, 4900 Stonecroft Road in Chantilly, to discuss it.
Indeed, in a notice about it to the neighbors, Heisler wrote, "We must mobilize now." He said the meeting's purpose is to determine:
* Are there people in the neighborhood with expertise in engineering, land-use or law?
* What issues do they all agree on?
* Where do they go from here? Is there enough true opposition to fight the granting of the special permit? And do the residents want adjustments to the mission's plan, or are they totally against it?
Representing the mission, land-use consultant Jane Kelsey says the congregation has been in this area for more than 20 years and has 80-100 members. "They now have to meet on Sunday afternoons," she said. But if they had their own place, they wouldn't have to work around another church's schedule and could meet, instead, Sunday mornings.
Kelsey said the parcel on Pleasant Valley Road seemed like an answer to their prayers. "It's so hard to get a church site in Fairfax County large enough to build on — and near a major arterial road so its traffic wouldn't go through a neighborhood," she explained.
Still, the neighbors are adamant. Said 10-year resident Cynthia Shang: "The other churches are on the other side of the street. They're not nestled in our development." Added Heisler: "This building would be in my backyard — 55 feet from my property line and about 75 feet from my deck."
The site's bordered by Louis Mill Drive and Carl's Court on one side and Pleasant Valley Road and Cub Run Road on the other two sides. And with its zoning, just one home could be built on it. But neighbors were stunned to learn a large church building could also go there.
"When we moved here, I expected some development — other homes — but certainly not commercial property," said Heisler. "Especially a 15,600-square foot church with two parking lots." He's also upset that "the developers never directly contacted the 18 homeowners bordering this property" to tell them about the proposal.
There's no homeowners association for Pleasant Valley's 535 homes and, he said, "The only official notification of this happening was a letter from the BZA dated April 7 to notify us of the April 27 meeting. Kelsey sent a letter, the day before."
Actually, Kelsey and some of the residents met in March 2002 about another church proposed there and, said Shang, "We expressed concerns about having any public meeting-place on that spot because of parking, water and traffic issues." But when two years passed without further word, she said, "We thought it had been denied."
Then, two months ago, Pleasant Valley resident Lynn Terhar alerted her about Sant Nirankari Mission. "We thought it was a new application because, in 2002, its name was Universal Brotherhood."
Kelsey said the mission submitted its application, last October, and she tried unsuccessfully to reach the residents. But, she added, "Two people whose homes also back up to the site were at the first WFCCA (West Fairfax County Citizens Association) Land-Use Committee meeting in December."
At the BZA meeting, residents presented a 96-signature petition opposing the special permit and outlining their objections. The major one is drainage. "Every time it rains, almost everyone on the west side of Louis Mill has flooding and standing water," said Heisler. "It cascades down off that four-acre property into Louis Mill. And when they turn two of those acres into concrete, it's going to be even worse because there'll be less land to soak it up."
"There's an S-turn on Pleasant Valley where the lot is — and where water accumulates severely," added Shang. "This winter, a lot of cars slid off the road there from the ice buildup, and there was even a fatality."
Pam Cave, a Louis Mill resident since 1991, said stormwater runoff from that steeply sloped lot forms a creek and "drains into the lot next door, my lot next to it and all the way down to the house at the bottom of the hill. If they pave over it, it will just exacerbate the problem." And, added Cave, an attorney, "Pushing the water onto the adjacent lots is trespassing."
But because there'll be 50 percent open space, an underground stormwater-management pond is planned — and the county code "requires that you not have any more water flowing off the site after construction than you had before," Kelsey said there'll be no additional water impact to the neighbors. "And the county will make sure of it," she said. "The mission has to enter into a maintenance agreement with the county."
Shang also fears that residents will end up policing overflow parking. "How could they control where their members park?" she asked. "We'd bear the brunt of it." And she's worried about noise from their evening meetings, lighting from their parking lot, plus traffic.
Kelsey said a deceleration lane is planned on Pleasant Valley Road. But, said Shang, "Because of the way the road is curved there, people driving in either direction would have difficulty seeing cars lined up there, waiting to turn." However, Kelsey said the county's Transportation Department "wouldn't have approved the church if they had concerns about [the curve]." And the church entrance was moved further off Pleasant Valley "to allow more space" for vehicles entering.
Cave says the mission would "infringe on the rights of landowners to enjoy their property, free of intrusion, water, noise and lights," and Heisler agrees. "It's a shame to lose that beautiful piece of woods for a very big building that doesn't belong in this neighborhood," he said.
"I understand their concerns," said Kelsey. "But they could lose a lot of that forest to a new home with a tennis court, swimming pool and a four-car garage — and they'd have no control over it. And they wouldn't have to have 50 percent open space."
Still, asked Heisler, "Don't I have a right to enjoy the quality of life I expected when I bought here? I applaud the BZA for its deferral. No one can explain how this would be a good thing for me, my neighbors or my community."