Fairfax County has just approved a change to its Comprehensive Plan involving three contiguous land parcels in Centreville. As a result, office development may more easily develop on two of them, while the third will be used as park land.
THE PARCELS are off Old Centreville Road, near the Burger King and Braddock Road, and by the Little Rocky Run community. Altogether, they're about three acres.
Originally, the northernmost and southernmost parcels were earmarked for residential development at 16-20 homes per acre. And the plot of land between them was designated as park land.
But a Comprehensive Plan amendment proposed putting an option for office use, instead, on the northernmost two acres and park land on the southernmost acre. It also noted that multifamily, residential use is no longer desirable in that area and recommended an exchange of the privately owned land with the county Park Authority.
That way, the park land could be added to the existing Old Centreville Road Park to improve public access to it. And by allowing office use to be consolidated on two adjacent parcels, a more logical, office development can be created. Both the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors OKed the change.
"WE'RE MOVING the potential development and its traffic away from Deerfield Ridge," explained At-Large Planning Commissioner Jim Hart. "And park land, instead of apartments, will be next to Deerfield Ridge. It allows for one, larger [office] development, instead of two small ones, and it gives access to the park behind the Little Rocky Run townhouses."
It's the first time a Comprehensive Plan change has been proposed for these three parcels since 1997. The Park Authority's Master Plan for Old Centreville Road Park was approved in November 1985 and includes a ballfield, tot lot, playground and parking. However — largely due to access problems and because the park has no on-site parking — the park's plan was never implemented. So the just-approved land swap will help it someday reach fruition.
The owners of the property that will now be used for office development have already drawn up a conceptual site plan showing a three-story, 25,200-square-foot office building there. It also shows the park land containing a stormwater-management facility that would serve both Old Centreville Road Park and the unified office development.
In addition, according to the proposed amendment, it's recommended that the offices be designed to minimize visual impacts to the existing, multifamily housing nearby and include a 25-foot, landscaped buffer where the offices are adjacent to housing or the park.
The Planning Commission approved the plan amendment on Feb. 28, and the Board of Supervisors gave it a final OK last Monday, March 12.