Lorton Valley III calls its development Giles Overlook: 52 singles family detached dwellings on 38.37 acres on Sanger Street in Mount Vernon.
Fairfax County Planning Commission voted Wednesday, Sept. 14, to recommend approval of plans that will permit development less than 200 feet from the required distance between residential buildings and I-95 and to allow for increased height of a noise barrier to be located 15 feet from I-95 right-of-way.
Although the property will be rezoned from R-1 (one dwelling unit per acre) to R-5, which permits five dwelling units per acre, Lorton Valley’s proposed density will be 1.36 dwelling units per acre, according to Planning Commission documents. The developer will dedicate 20 acres along Giles Run to the county and 75 percent of the land will remain open space.
“Due to the long, narrow configuration of the developable portion of the property, the proposed layout is limited to a single street with dwellings on both sides,” according to planning documents.
“The property contains wetlands, floodplains, resource protection area and even environmental quality corridor areas association with Giles Run, and the applicant has proposed to dedicate most of this area to the county,” according to planning staff.
Access will be from an extension of Sanger Street that will be realigned and extended southward to terminate in a cul-de-sac near a county pump station.
Giles Overlook, currently vacant and wooded except for a county-operated pump station, is located west of I-95, north of a landfill, at the end of Sanger Street in the Lorton area. The western property line is along Giles Run.
“The site benefits from its proximity to Inova Lorton Healthplex,” according to agent David R. Gill. of McGuire Woods. “The Healthplex, along with the continued maturation of the Lorton area, will derive demand for additional high-quality residential opportunities such as this proposed community.”
Lots will range in size from 5,000 to 8,049 square feet, according to Planning Commission documents, and will typically include 20-foot front yards, 8-foot side yards, and 25-foot backyards.
Plans call for planting of evergreen and deciduous trees in front of the sound wall, which will range in height from six to 32 feet.
A tot lot is proposed on Sanger Street.
“The applicant has committed to preparing an additional noise study prior to subdivision plan approval and that the sound wall will be designed to reduce noise exposure for the yards of the lots and the tot lot to 65 decibels or less. This may require a higher noise wall in this location,” according to planning staff analysis.
Proffers specify the front facades of the dwellings will consist of 50 percent stone or brick and raised panel shutters.
The application was initially accepted in December 2011 with a proposal for 40 dwelling units.
The proposed application “has been through many iterations since 2011,” said Mount Vernon District Commissioner Earl Flanagan, “but David Gill, the agent, kept doggedly improving it until I am pleased to report that the South County Federation and its land use committee unanimously recommended adoption.”