Vote On Hilltop Village Center Residential Nomination Deferred

FRANCONIA, VA — A nomination regarding the land use at Hilltop Village Center drew negative feedback from area residents as part of the 2019-2020 South County Site-Specific Plan Amendment Process. On Monday, a Lee District task force decided to defer a vote on whether or not to recommend the nomination until Sept. 14.

The 2019-2020 South County SSPA process allowed anyone to submit a nomination for a land use change. Task forces were formed in the Lee, Mount Vernon and Mason districts to determine if they should be added to the county's Comprehensive Plan, the guiding document for land use and development decisions. The task force's decision to recommend or not recommend a nomination goes to the Fairfax County Planning Commission. If a nomination is recommended for the Comprehensive Plan, it would go to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.

The Hilltop Village Center is a shopping center anchored by a Wegmans grocery store across from Fort Belvoir on Telegraph Road. A four-story office building was approved but was never constructed due to a slow market.

The nomination proposes a five-story residential building instead of that unbuilt office building. That 300-unit residential building is envisioned to be at the corner of Telegraph Road and Beulah Street, which is also across from the Landsdowne shopping center.

Residents shared negative feedback about the nomination during the task force meeting and comments submitted ahead of the meeting. Residents in Landsdowne and other nearby communities cited concerns about parking, traffic, and the appropriateness of a five-story residential building in that location.

The boards of the Landsdowne, Island Creek and Hawthorne residential associations voted to oppose the nomination. Over 1,000 local residents also signed a petition and presented it during the task force meeting.

Jay Dick, president of the Landsdowne Community Association, wrote that the association isn't opposed to development but believes it should be "appropriate in size, function and design for the space." The association doesn't believe the Hilltop Village Center nomination meets that criteria.

"Any development must be aware of the communities needs and blend into the community. The developers need to keep this in mind," he wrote. "They will not be the ones living next to an out of scale building, but we, the residents of Landsdowne will."

Fort Belvoir has also been involved in feedback about the nomination. According to a preliminary county staff report on the nomination, Fort Belvoir expressed security concerns about locating a residential use on Telegraph Road near its boundaries. However, it stated that design solutions could mitigate the security concerns.

That county staff report recommended the nomination be added to the Comprehensive Plan. Here's what the report said:

The potential to achieve county policy objectives related to the production of affordable and workforce housing warrants consideration of the higher intensity. The review would need to evaluate any conflicts between the predominantly auto-oriented nature of the shopping center and residents living onsite to identify resolutions for successfully integrating residents into the commercial environment. The evaluation should include coordination with Fort Belvoir to address security concerns.

The task force did not make a vote on the Hilltop Village Center nomination on Monday because of the timing of public comments being shared. Due to the large number of comments, they were not available for task force members to review until just before the meeting. Deferring the decision until Sept. 14 will give members time to read through all comments.

Lynne Strobel, a lawyer who represented the nominator during the task force meeting, noted that the nomination is only a first step and that conversations with local communities would continue.

On Monday, the task force discussed two other nominations — Beacon Hill Apartments and 6235 Brandon Avenue. The Beacon Hill Apartments nomination, which suggested a greater density residential use, was not recommended by the task force.

More updates on the South County SSPA process are provided online.