Residential Use Suggested As Addition To Hilltop Village Center

FRANCONIA, VA — Fairfax County is seeking input for its 2019-2020 South County Site-Specific Plan Amendment Process, which generated land use change nominations for 22 sites. These nominations include one for the Hilltop Village Center.

The process allows anyone to nominate a land use change in southern Fairfax County. Task forces in the Lee, Mount Vernon and Mason districts are reviewing the nominations to determine if they should be added to the county's Comprehensive Plan, the guiding document for land use and development decisions. If the task force recommends the nomination, it would go to the Fairfax County Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors for consideration.

The Hilltop Village Center nomination isn't proposing to replace retail at the relatively new shopping center. Rather, the nominator wants to add a residential land use in lieu of a previously approved office building that hasn't been built. The proposed residential use would be a five-story multifamily building with 300, one to two-bedroom units and a 634-space parking structure.

"During the time since the original rezoning was approved, the property owner has continuously marketed the site of the office building without a successful result," reads a report on the nomination. "Economics have not supported the construction of an office building in the approved location."

The Hilltop Village Center is currently occupied by various businesses, including the anchoring Wegmans grocery store that opened in 2015. The center is part of a larger parcel of land that was previously a construction debris landfill known as Hilltop Sand and Gravel.

Residents can submit feedback and take part in the nomination process, starting with task force meetings on reviewing the nominations. Task forces are meeting virtually from July to September due to the pandemic. The Hilltop Village Center nomination will be discussed at 7 p.m. on Aug. 10. Meetings will include a public comment opportunity, and residents can participate by phone or virtual conferencing. Virtual meeting and call-in information will be shared at a later time.

Residents can also share comments or pre-recorded videos by email to the Board of Supervisors offices. The Hilltop Village Center is in the Lee District, so comments would be sent to LeeDist@fairfaxcounty.gov.

Should the nominations go to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors, the public can provide comments during that step of the process.

Hilltop Village Center is one of 22 nomination sites that include residential, office, retail and mixed use properties in the Lee, Mount Vernon and Mason Districts. For updates, residents can follow the Fairfax Land Use Planning Facebook page or receive "Comprehensive Plan Announcements" in the county’s subscription list.