City Council Approves Redesign For Fairfax Circle McDonald's

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Council unanimously approved a proposal Tuesday to replace the McDonald's restaurant near Fairfax Circle with a more modern building and add drive-through windows to the structure.

McDonald's USA LLC submitted a proposal in January 2020 to rebuild the existing 3,309 square-foot restaurant located at 3195 Old Lee Highway. The application included a request for a special use permit to allow the company to install drive-through windows and facilities as an accessory use.

"The main reason we bought this application before the council was, first and foremost, modernize the look and feel of the restaurant to give it a more contemporary look, and match the branding that McDonald's is rolling out," said Evan Pritchard, a planning attorney representing the applicant.

In addition to giving the property a new look, the applicant wanted to add a drive-through lane and continue to provide access to the site from both Old Lee Highway and Old Pickett Road.

According to the site plan (image above), a drive-through ordering board would be added to the parking area on the east end of the property and pay and pickup windows would be installed on the northside of the building. Customers wishing to access the drive-through would enter on Old Pickett Road, follow the (red) lane to purchase and pickup food, and exit the property onto Old Lee Highway. A secondary bailout (blue) lane would follow the same pattern.

The applicant requested a special exception to the parking requirement. The site currently has 55 parking spaces. In order to accommodate the addition of the drive-through facility, the applicant needed to remove the existing parking along the north side of the property. Although the applicant would be required to provide a minimum of 22 parking spaces, only 19 are included in the proposal.

"We are going to be improving the sidewalk along Old Lee and Old Pickett," Pritchard said. "We're going to be rearranging. Some of the parking is going to go away from the north end of the site and somewhat be offset by new parking and reconfigured parking on the southern end of the site."

While the parking being proposed was less that what was required, Pritchard pointed out that 900-square-feet of the building would be basement storage, which was not accessible to customers.

The applicant also requested approval for modifications to the front and side setback for the property, and the tree canopy requirement along Old Lee Highway.

Since the McDonald's sits on an oddly shaped lot, the applicant asked the city to take that into consideration regarding the setback requirement on Old Pickett Road.

"We're removing 10 trees to reconfigure the site, but we're adding 17, so there's going to be an overall net increase of seven trees on the site," Pritchard said. "We're actually exceeding the required canopy that would normally be required."

Although weekday average daily trips to the McDonald's would increase by 412 under the site's new configuration, a traffic study anticipated no change in traffic at the intersections of Old Lee Highway and Old Pickett Road, according to City Planner Supriya Chewle.

City staff recommended the City Council approve the proposal. Following the public hearing, council members voted unanimously to approve McDonald's application.