Fairfax County supervisors on Monday approved a major development project next to the Dunn Loring Metro station, the latest in a series of rail-oriented developments poised to sprout throughout the county.
The plan by developer Trammell Crow to build up to 720 dwellings, shops and a new Metro parking garage passed unanimously despite concerns from local PTA groups that wanted to ensure education dollars promised by the developer went to the most-affected nearby schools. Officials insisted that would be the case.
The public hearing preceding the vote became the stage for a barbed exchange over the school concerns between Becky Cate, an official with the nonpartisan Providence District Council and a former candidate for the Board of Supervisors, and Gerry Connolly, chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
“You’re trying to create a tempest in a teapot,” Connolly told Cate. “And frankly, it sounds political.”
Cate denied Connolly’s assertion.
Despite the brief moment of contention, the Dunn Loring project did not see any major opposition from the board, save a concern raised by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins over the amount of affordable housing included in the plans.
Trammell Crow agreed to keep 8 percent of the residential units as affordable or “work force” housing — available at lower cost to middle-income families. Hudgins said she would have liked to see that figure rise to 12 percent.
The Dunn Loring project is just one of what could be many development projects clustered around rail stops, a practice encouraged by county officials.
The far-more contentious MetroWest has been approved for the Vienna Metro station. In Tysons Corner, through which a new rail light is slated to run, a developer has proposed expanding a major mall into an urbanized mix of retail and residential space.
