Fairfax City Planners Review Updated Chain Bridge Road Redevelopment Plan

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — A proposal to replace four office buildings on Chain Bridge Road with a mixed-use development of apartments, office space, retail and structured parking moved through another review step Monday during a Fairfax City Planning Commission work session.

The proposal covers 4085, 4101, 4103 and 4117 Chain Bridge Road, a 3.87-acre site between Chain Bridge Road and University Drive. The properties are currently developed with four office buildings totaling 119,934 square feet.

Christopher Land LLC is seeking to rezone the site from Commercial Office to Commercial Urban while retaining the Old Town Fairfax Transition Overlay District. The applicant also is seeking a special use permit for multifamily use, special exceptions and a major certificate of appropriateness for architecture and landscaping.

Under the current plan, the office buildings would be replaced with three buildings containing up to 392 apartments, 29,639 square feet of office space, 7,747 square feet of retail, 637 structured parking spaces and 18 surface parking spaces.

The proposal also includes a 26-foot-wide private east-west access drive from Chain Bridge Road to University Drive and a north-south greenway between two of the buildings.

City staff said the project would require several special exceptions, including requests to exceed the 48-foot height limit in the Transition Overlay District, exceed the district’s residential density limit, provide less than 75 percent ground-floor nonresidential use in one mixed-use building, and eliminate a sidewalk on the northern side of the proposed access drive while providing one on the southern side.

Senior Planner Albert Frederick told the commission the proposal includes three six-story buildings. Building A, fronting Chain Bridge Road, would include 72 units, ground-floor retail and office space, and additional office space on the second floor. Building B would include 154 units, office space and amenity space. Building C, fronting University Drive, would be a standalone residential building with 164 units and a fitness center facing University Drive.

Frederick said the Old Town Fairfax Small Area Plan recommends up to four stories along University Drive and five stories elsewhere on the site. The applicant is proposing buildings with maximum heights of 73 feet, 70 feet and 76.5 feet.

Traffic, pedestrian access, the proposed private road, the greenway and building height were among the main issues raised by commissioners during the work session.

Commissioner Tassos Mccarthy questioned the transportation study’s assumptions, noting that “traffic is a problem, and the parking has always been a problem.” Dan VanPelt, a transportation consultant for the applicant, said the study used assumptions that he described as conservative and that the future development would generate a similar number of trips to the existing office uses, although travel patterns would change.

Another commissioner questioned whether the private east-west road would push more traffic onto University Drive, which is intended in the small area plan to be lower-speed and more residential in character. Van Pelt said the study looked at University Drive intersections and did not show a significant change in how the intersections would operate.

Several commissioners focused on the greenway, which is intended to create a pedestrian connection through the site. Commissioner Matthew Rice said the applicant’s treatment of the greenway was “light years ahead” of earlier discussions about the nearby Davies property, but he urged the applicant to do more to separate the public space from loading and service functions.

Rice also suggested removing several surface parking spaces near the fountain area to create more open space, and he recommended a raised crosswalk where the greenway crosses the private street.

Vice Chair Kirsten Lockhart said she liked the step-down toward University Drive and said the pool and fitness center could make the project an attractive rental location. But she said the massing along Chain Bridge Road remained a concern because the road is not wide and could begin to feel “very claustrophobic” if future developments continue to push building height.

Planning Commission Chair Jim Feather said he had some concern about how the University Drive side would read from the street, saying the four-story appearance may be “a superficial nod” if the taller portion rises too close behind it. Feather said he wanted to see additional renderings showing the building's bulk.

Feather also said he was concerned about how the greenway would connect safely to the adjacent Davies property, particularly where the pedestrian route reaches the road and lacks a clear landing area.

Despite those concerns, Feather said the applicant had brought forward “a very commendable concept” that attempts to meet housing needs while preserving some office space.

No vote was taken Monday. The Planning Commission work session was intended to provide feedback before the application moves to formal hearings.

The next step is a June 17 Board of Architectural Review work session on the proposed architecture. The City Council is scheduled to hold a work session on the proposal July 7.

After that, the applicant is expected to submit revised plans and supporting documents before public hearings are scheduled before the Planning Commission and the Board of Architectural Review. The City Council would hold the final public hearing and decide whether to approve the application.

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