Condos Coming at Waples, Lee
<bt>Following a Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan amendment, developer Trammel Crow Residential plans to put 63 condos at the corner of Waples Mill Road and Lee Highway.
The land had an approved plan for an office building in 1985. The approval predates the Chesapeake Bay Preservation Ordinance, and would have put a building within a stream buffer, or Resource Protection Area.
The plan change, approved by the Board of Supervisors in July, would allow a residential complex to be built, but would keep it out of the stream buffer.
"The most important thing is we've removed the building from the Resource Protection Area," said Art Walsh, attorney for the developer during the Fairfax County Planning Commission's Dec. 7 meeting.
The plan will include three Affordable Dwelling Units and underground parking. Planning Commissioner Suzanne Harsel (Braddock) noticed that the plan calls for three units to be at the ground level, abutting the parking garage.
She asked Walsh to ensure that the plan has an air-quality plan for those units. "I wouldn't want 63 car exhausts seeping through my kitchen," she said.
Planning Commissioner Ken Lawrence (Providence) praised the plan, saying it will be better for the area than the previously approved office building and will better fit within the community.
The Planning Commission voted unanimously to approve the plan. It must go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
<sh>Christmas Tree Robbery
<bt>A Christmas tree vendor was robbed Friday, Dec. 9 in Burke, said a Fairfax County Police report. Around 8:30 p.m., two men entered a trailer near a Christmas tree stand in the 9500 block of Old Keene Mill Road. According to the report, one of the men confronted the victim, a 21-year-old Springfield man, brandished a firearm and demanded money. The victim opened an outside cash register and gave the suspects an undisclosed amount of cash, and the suspects fled down Lee Chapel Road.
The suspects were described as dark-skinned men, in their late teens, and approximately 6 feet tall, said the report. The suspect with the gun wore a green winter coat, black hat and face mask, said the report, while the other suspect wore a blue winter coat, black hat and face mask.
Anyone with information about the crime is asked to call Crime Solvers at 1-866-411-TIPS (8477) or the Fairfax County Police Department at 703-691-2131.