Updated 02-01-2011

Over the past few years, Arlington County has been working with the community on long-range planning for the East Falls Church Metro station area. Visit the project website, send us your feedback, and view our Frequently Asked Questions.

• Why is this happening now?
• Why do we need a plan?
• What was the impetus for this plan?
• What happens if no plan is adopted?
• What impact on neighborhood schools?
• How will this development affect traffic?
• Why a tall building at Park and Ride site?
• But VDOT owns the Park and Ride site?
• Why so much development on Park and Ride site?
• Where will commuters park?
• Is this plan to generate affordable housing?
• Why bring Ballston here?
• The original Metro plan was for development to stop at Ballston?

The soon-to-open Silver Line will inevitably bring increasing development pressure to the area.  It’s much better to plan ahead so that the community can work toward a shared vision… rather than reacting to individual project proposals in a piecemeal way. The Arlington East Falls Church Civic Association has been involved in planning efforts for this area for the past 10 years, and formally requested that a County planning process be initiated… which began in 2007.

The purpose of the plan is to set a framework for when development eventually does happen.  We’ll have to evaluate each potential development project as it comes forward -- when the property owners are ready to develop.  When those owners are ready to move forward with a development proposal, the community will have a plan/policy for them to follow. The plan will ensure better coordination between individual sites … creating a place much more desirable than if each site was developed independently.

The original impetus for developing a long-range plan for the East Falls Church area came from the neighborhood itself. All along, the community members have been interested in developing their vision of the future, rather than leaving it to chance.

Whether we like it or not, change will either be thrust on us… or we can be in a position to chart our own destiny. The only communities that don’t see any new development are the ones that are in economic crisis.

Nothing is imminent. This is a long-range plan. Development will occur over time, and will be driven by the real estate market.

Arlington Public Schools (APS) staff estimates that, if the plan is fully developed, it would results in approximately 34‐38 new students (grades K‐12). APS’ analysis over time indicates that families that have school age children typically choose to live in detached single-family homes, as opposed to the new mid-rise, multi-family buildings that are proposed in this plan.

If carried out as envisioned, traffic may actually decline. Research data shows that transit‐oriented development (TOD) actually generates less traffic than typical auto-oriented development (such as that which currently exists in the East Falls Church Metro station area).  Fact: Arlington's traffic is less than it was in 1970, even though our population has doubled in that time.

The transition from auto-oriented to transit‐oriented development results in other benefits as well. For example, in the East Falls Church Area Plan, excess lane width and pavement -- not needed to handle traffic -- can be converted to better serve other uses, such as wider sidewalks, bike lanes and landscaping. Portions of Sycamore Street have already been restriped to provide bike lanes.

In addition, the total amount of development considered in the East Falls Church Plan is not substantial enough to have a major impact on traffic.  The plan calls for most of the area around the station to remain as single‐family houses… and for new development to be on a limited number of sites.

The short answer is that wise transit-oriented development puts the greatest density (height) closest to the transit hub – in this case, the Metro station. When executed well, transit-oriented development reduces traffic, as it has done in Arlington over the last 40 years. You can see this result along the Rosslyn-to-Ballston corridor, with “bulls-eye” densities ringing each Metro station.

The density proposed for East Falls Church, while vastly lower (shorter) than in the Rosslyn-to-Ballston corridor, still adheres to the transit-oriented development concepts. The Plan specifies that heights will taper down from a maximum of nine stories in the center of the site (along I‐66), down to no more than 4 stories along the Washington Boulevard frontage, making it compatible with nearby properties.

The Plan sets forth the community’s (and County’s) vision for the future of this site. We realize that negotiations with VDOT will be necessary to enable full development of the Park & Ride lot, since VDOT currently owns much of the parking lot. We remain hopeful that VDOT will come to understand the community’s desire to evolve in a way that’s consistent with our vision of a well designed and vibrant mixed-use Neighborhood Center for East Falls Church.

Re-developing existing sites is always challenging. When analyzing what is feasible on the Park and Ride site, the analysis had to take into account the loss of revenue that WMATA receives from the parking lot.

Our analysis shows that development at 450,000 sq. ft. (or greater) begins to recoup the revenue and ridership that WMATA derives from the parking function. A proposal at less than this minimum level of development would not meet WMATA’s joint‐development goals and policies, which include expanding ridership and increasing revenue. Therefore, smaller development would not be viable.

Additionally, staff has recommended development of up to 600,000 square feet on this site to enable the possibility of community benefits (such as a new public plaza, transportation improvements, and affordable housing) usually expected from this type of redevelopment.

Commuters will have a number of options, including:

• Any new development (on the Park & Ride site) will include 100-200 shared parking spaces that can be used by Metrorail customers.
• Commuters can also continue to park at the Arlington County parking garage at Ballston Common Mall.
• 13,850 parking spaces at Silver Line stations will relieve some of the parking demand at the East and West Falls Church stations. An analysis by Metro using the addresses from SmarTrip transactions estimates that 19% of commuters parking at West Falls Church would access Metro from the new Silver Line.
• Similar shifts are anticipated at other Orange Line stations, opening up additional spaces.

Arlington’s own history indicates a positive future for Metro commuters. When the Orange Line first opened, there was a large amount of surface parking near most of the stations. As the areas around each station were developed, this parking was replaced by new buildings with underground parking. With more people walking and taking transit to the stations, the number of transit riders at these stations has increased over the years, even without dedicated commuter parking for Metrorail users. Better walking conditions through improved sidewalks and crossings (such as those detailed in the East Falls Church Area Plan), may have the effect of encouraging more people to walk longer distances to access public transit.

Affordable housing is just one aspect of the total community benefits package in any given site plan. It is anticipated that some portion of the community benefits package for projects in this area may go towards the infrastructure improvements envisioned in this Plan. The amount of affordable housing that can be obtained as a community benefit is relative to the amount of project density, so if the densities envisioned in this Plan were higher, then more affordable housing could be obtained. The retention and creation of affordable housing is an important value we hold in Arlington.

Some people may not like what could be legally developed in the area right now. What the Plan does is lay out a blueprint – a vision – for how redevelopment could be built. The Plan envisions a significantly more modest vision than what exists in Ballston, so that is not a good comparison.

The Plan also envisions a central public plaza area – a key need that the community has identified. Many community members are excited about the prospects of being able to walk to a grocery store or coffee shop, and visit with friends in the plaza.

The revised Plan includes a double row of trees along Washington Boulevard, and restricts retail uses to within the public plaza. These two refinements, along with the reduction in building floor-plates, will help incorporate new buildings into the surrounding area.

The original General Land Use Plan (GLUP), going back to the 1960s, envisioned the “bulls-eye” approach to Arlington’s Metro stations – putting the biggest density at the Metro stations, and tapering down into the neighborhoods. This has proved successful throughout Arlington, and is also envisioned at East Falls Church. This transit-oriented-development approach is nationally recognized as a best practice and we routinely host visitors from around the country – and globally – who travel here to see our smart growth practices at work.

And, whether we like it or not, development WILL come to East Falls Church. It will either come and be forced on the neighborhood, one building at a time, or we can adopt a plan to envision the future and plan a new Neighborhood Center that is a great place to live, to visit, to play, and to do business.

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