City Council Meeting

ShinneberryclerkCouncilmember McQuillan? Aye. Councilmember Bates? Aye. Councilmember Peterson? Aye. Councilmember Hardy-Chandler? Aye. Councilmember Hall? Aye. Councilmember Amos? Aye. Motion passed unanimously. We will now move to public hearings. Our first public hearing is a public hearing and council action on a request from davies property for a zoning map amendment and parents rezoning pursuant to the city code section 110-6.4 from rm residential medium to cu commercial urban in the old town fairfax transition overlay district and parents tod with proffers approval of a general development plan to allow an upper story mixed-use building that consists of up to 276 multi-family units and approximately 10,796 square feet of retail, office, or other commercial

Albert Frederickstaffgood evening everyone for the record my name is Albert Frederick this is a public hearing for the Davies property the applicant is the hill a Davies family llc the site is located at 4131 chamber to road the plans for tonight hearing was submitted on july 3rd 2025. there have been several conceptual plans and applications for the development dating back for the for this subject property dating back to 2016. the current application began in march 2022 with the planning commission pre-application briefing the applicant owner submitted a revised plan revised land use and plans in september of 2024 so the applicant is requesting a zoning map amendment from residential medium to commercial urban with proffers in the Old Town Fairfax transition overlay district

line and the southern property line the applicant has provided an access easement and grading the greenway to allow for connections at the adjacent sites to the north and south in the future as those properties redeveloped the plans show that the properties to the south is further consistent with the proposed elevations for the Davies property and then to the north the plans for the BB&T site the applicant is within two feet of the existing grading so there's opportunities for when both properties redevelop that the connections would be be able to be to be made

Micheline Kasten-SmithapplicantGood evening. Thank you for your time. My name is Micheline Kasten-Smith. I'm with Paradigm Companies and I'm here representing the Davies property with the owner here as present as well. David Houston here with Bean, Kenny and Corman, zoning attorney and we're going to sort of work this in tandem. So we appreciate your time. We'll be brief. First of all, I want to say thank you to Fred and the rest of the staff. They did a great job of working with us over the course of a year or so on this presentation. We appreciate your time with the work session. So we're here to address some of the questions and comments that came from that as well as what we had heard from the community and the planning commission and from Barr. So I'll briefly go through some of the

Speaker 8The land use layouts that are in the small area plan show individual buildings between the properties. We're totally consistent with that. There's also been some discussion of an extension of judicial drive through the Davies property, but there is no reference in the small area plan for a street grid at this location. The street grid is closer to the old town retail area in the plan. And what we're proposing is not a street. It's a private alley access drive. I also wanted to talk about some of the proffers. I wrote them and nobody ever asked about them, so I'm just going to tell you. You know, we've proffered the use that won't exceed 276 dwellings, and that includes the ADU units of 6% of the project.

Jeannie Bell Winslowpublic commentI'm Jeannie Bell Winslow, and I reside with my husband, Colonel Wendy Winslow, in the City of Fairfax. Good evening, Madam Mayor and City Council members. As many of you know, I have been interested in the Davies property proposals from the beginning. Over the many years, there have been five proposals, three of which citizens welcomed and supported, but the council voted down. My husband and I have written to Madam Mayor and the city council, the planning commission, and the bar several times. Actually, we've dispatched 34 emails. We have received only four responses, so it's fair to say at times we do not feel as though our voices are being heard. We feel confident that you know about our concerns of the current proposal, so I'm not going to go into another long list of details, yet I will make a few brief comments.

It's suffice to say that we are opposed to, number one, the architectural design, particularly on the side of Chain Bridge Road, which clashes with the city hall and the surrounding federal-style communities. Number two, the height of the two buildings. Number three, the high density. And number four, the tremendous impact on traffic. While we do not question the intention of you for the best of our city, we ask that you consider the negative impact that this project will have on our communities. We know that the Planning Commission does not recommend the project. We suggest, possibly, that you consider the process of placing the Davies property on the National Register for Historic Places. Have it be initiated before this property is completely disturbed.

ShinneberryclerkIs there anybody else in the room that would like to speak on the Davies property proposal?

So anybody else in the room that would like to speak on the proposed Davies property

Catherine ReadAll right, I will close the public hearing now we will proceed with councils questions of staff and or the applicant on the Davies property

Billy Batessorry about that so based on the public convenience welfare and good zoning practice with respect to rezoning application Z 23 0 0 0 7 3 which has known as Davies property and more particularly particularly described as an identified as 4131 Shane Bridge Road tax map 57-4-02-040 I move that the City Council recommend approval of rezoning application Z-23-00073 to rezone the subject property from RM residential medium to CU commercial urban while retaining the Old Town Fairfax transition overlay district TOD plan with proffers which has been prepared and submitted by the applicant

I move that the city council adopt the attached resolution to approve the request of the hill a Davies family LLC for special exceptions pursuant to city code section 110 dash 6.7 to allow less ground floor non-residential use in a mixed-use building to allow more than 24 dwelling units per acre to allow height greater than 48 feet to eliminate the requirement for landscape strip and street trees along a private street to eliminate the requirement for a sidewalk on the northern side of the proposed private street to eliminate the requirement to provide vehicular access to abutting non-residential properties and to modify the transitional yard requirements on the premises known as davies property and more particularly described as and identified as

Thank you. Let's see. I move that the city council approve the request of the Hill and Davies Family LLC for a certificate of appropriateness in accordance with section 110-6.5.6.B of the city code on the premises known as the Davies property more particularly described as an identified as 4131 Chainbridge Road, tax map 57-4-02-040 with the following conditions. One, the proposed development shall be in general conformance with the plans and renderings. Two, the applicant shall secure all required zoning approvals and permits prior to construction. three landscaping is subject to change per urban forest or comments at site plan approval stage for the applicant shall use standing seam metal on the