A plan to build shops, a parking garage and up to 720 new dwellings next to the Dunn Loring Metro station saw approval with Fairfax County’s Planning Commission on Wednesday, a major step in passing the county’s most recent rail-driven development.
Developer Trammell Crow Residential is seeking a rezoning to build the high-density project on the parking lot of the Orange Line Metro stop. A positive recommendation from the planners gives the project a serious advantage when it goes before the Board of Supervisors for a final vote on Dec. 4.
The Dunn Loring project passed with relative ease compared to the contentious MetroWest proposal near the Vienna/Fairfax-GMU station, though it was delayed earlier this month because of a bundle of concerns. Wednesday’s vote was unanimous.
The Providence District Council, a local civic group, still wants the developer to give more for parks and remove a cap on the amount it could give for schools, but believes Trammell Crow has come up with a much improved version of the plan, said Vice Chairman Becky Cate. Traffic concerns persist, however.
“We are still concerned about the traffic that will be generated in peak and off-peak hours,” Cate said.
Dunn Loring and MetroWest appears to be part of a rising trend of dense mixed-use construction centered on rail stations, which could be duplicated along the new stations of Metro’s 23-mile extension past Dulles Airport.
At-large Planning Commissioner Walter Alcorn said the Dunn Loring project “has the opportunity to be a model for transit-oriented development in Fairfax County.”
Proponents of that style of development tout it as a way to reduce traffic congestion while providing walkable Arlington-style environments.
“I think everybody realizes that in Fairfax County, in this point in our development, that if we are going to grow, that this is the way to grow,” he said.
