Council Waits on White Oak Tower
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Council Waits on White Oak Tower

Decision on Vienna’s tallest building delayed until late May.

Parking was the major sticking point for the Vienna Town Council. The Trimark Corporation, which owns the White Oak Tower, has submitted a plan to change the building from a single-owner office building to office condominiums.

The White Oak Tower is a six-story building located at 301 Maple Ave., W. The building and its parking — some at-grade and some on a parking deck — was developed from 1977 to 1980. The 65-foot-tall, 48,323-square-foot building, prompted changes to the town code, setting a maximum building height and minimum number of required parking spaces, according to documents provided at the April 18 Town Council meeting.

From 1992-2004, the Town Council approved 11 permits for telecommunications facilities (cell phone antennas) and 75 pieces of equipment related to wireless communications are on the building.

As a result of the changes to the zoning code made after the building was finished, some features of the building are "non-conforming." This means that they were in compliance with the zoning code at the time they were built, but are no longer in conformance.

THE PROPOSED PLAN would require five separate site plan modifications to be in compliance with the town code. When the plan was presented to the Vienna Planning Commission during its March 23 meeting, the commission approved four of these, but denied a request to allow less parking. When the building was constructed, the zoning ordinance (which sets a minimum number of parking spaces dependent on the square footage of the building) mandated that at least 153 spaces be provided. The current code mandates 226 parking spaces. The proposed site plan provides 171 spaces.

The Planning Commission voted 8-0 to deny the request for less parking, after finding that building a new level on an existing parking structure would not be cost effective and that the proposed number of spaces is about 75 percent of the requirements, according to documents provided at Monday's council meeting.

That parking conundrum, however, wasn’t really discussed. A set of eight parking spaces along an adjoining parcel were under contention. These eight spaces actually fall onto two separate lots. Trimark was working on obtaining an easement so that the spots would be counted toward the parking for the tower.

The easement, however, had not been finalized as of the start of Monday's meeting. "We thought we’d have this resolved by now," said Gavin Klein, attorney for Trimark.

The council did not want to discuss the issue without having the easement settled. "I’m very uncomfortable going forward unless we have this ironed out," said Councilmember Sydney Verinder.

The council voted to defer a decision until its second meeting in May, or later if Trimark needs more time.

THE COUNCIL also discussed posting signs notifying motorists of the fine for failure to yield to pedestrians in a crosswalk. The maximum fine that can be assessed is $250, and the town will post signs to that effect at the major entrances to the Town of Vienna.

Councilmembers decided to wait until the signs about the use of red-light cameras are removed, so an excess number of signs are not posted.

The council also set a public hearing for Monday, May 9 to amend the town ordinance to define vicious dogs and dangerous dogs.

The Town Council also voted to hire a consultant to study a back-billing from the Washington, D.C. Water and Sewer Authority. The authority has billed the town over $712,000 for payments going back to 1964. "These never before have been billed to the town," said Philip Grant, director of finance for the town.

The consultant will study the back-billings to verify the back-billing’s methodology and conclusions. The town will pay $7,500 for a first phase, and then an optional second phase that would bring the maximum cost of the study to $45,000.