Gatewood Plaza

Gatewood Plaza is a proposed redevelopment of an existing office building (and adjacent parking structure) at 10201 Fairfax Boulevard, located at a signalized intersection directly across from Boulevard Marketplace. The applicant is seeking a Zoning Map Amendment (from CR Commercial Retail and RM Residential Medium to CR Commercial Retail), a Comprehensive Plan Amendment (changing the future land use designation from Commercial Corridor to Multifamily Neighborhood), a Special Use Permit, and nine special exceptions covering density, bulk, building height, bulk plane, required yards, transitional yards, parking, and resource protection area. Post-application work sessions were held at the Planning Commission on January 27, 2025, and at the City Council on February 4, 2025; both were informational only with no formal action taken. A key procedural obstacle surfaced: under the current Comprehensive Plan, mixed-use development including residential uses is only permitted in designated activity centers or specific sites identified through the plan process, and the Gatewood Plaza site (located in a Commercial Corridor) does not qualify, meaning there was no mechanism to approve the proposal even with Planning Commission and City Council support. This prompted broader policy discussions — at both the Planning Commission and City Council levels — about whether the city should reevaluate its policy on residential development in commercial corridors, with the Planning Commission taking a majority vote recommending that question be brought forward to City Council, which was scheduled to take up that discussion as of September 2025.

In this wiki

• Meeting history — every action, vote, and update, with links to the moment in the meeting video
• Positions & open questions

2025-01-27 — Planning Commission Regular Meeting/Work Session

Agenda item 8b: Post-application discussion on a Zoning Map Amendment and Comprehensive Plan Amendment for Gatewood Plaza, 10201 Fairfax Boulevard (watch the moment)

• Outcome: Post-application discussion held; staff report presented. No formal action taken.
• [8b] Post-application discussion was held on a request for a Zoning Map Amendment from CR Commercial Retail and RM Residential Medium to CR Commercial Retail, and a Comprehensive Plan Amendment to change the future land use designation from Commercial Corridor to Multifamily Neighborhood. No formal action was taken at this work session.
• Status after: in_progress

2025-02-04 — City Council Work Session

Agenda item 1c: Discussion on a request for rezoning from the RM Residential Medium and CR Commercial Retail zoning districts to CR Commercial Retail, a comprehensive plan amendment, a special use permit, and nine special exceptions for Gatewood Plaza, 10201 Fairfax Boulevard

• Outcome: Discussed per the agenda. No formal action taken; this was a work session discussion only.
• [1c] A request for rezoning from RM Residential Medium and CR Commercial Retail to CR Commercial Retail, along with a comprehensive plan amendment, a special use permit, and nine special exceptions for Gatewood Plaza was discussed at this work session. No formal action was taken.
• Status after: proposed

2025-02-10 — Planning Commission Regular Meeting/Work Session

Agenda item 10: Staff Report (watch the moment)

• Outcome: Planning Division Chief Nabti briefed the Commission on recent and upcoming City Council meetings and other planning items, including the Davies proposal work session, the Ox Block B pre-application briefing, Gatewood Plaza, accessory dwelling unit zoning text amendments, the Pathway Homes proposal, the Christopher at Fairfax proposal, the Two-Year Transportation Program, Chain Bridge Road/Eaton Place transportation project, Fairfax County comprehensive plan review, and the Certified Planning Commissioner Program.
• [10] A work session on the Gatewood Plaza proposal was held at the February 4, 2025 City Council meeting, as reported to the Commission.

Open questions

• Whether the City Council will revise the Comprehensive Plan policy on residential development in commercial corridors (the policy question triggered by the Gatewood Plaza proposal, brought to Council as of September 9, 2025 following a Planning Commission majority vote).
• Whether and when formal action (Planning Commission recommendation and/or City Council decision) will be taken on the Gatewood Plaza Zoning Map Amendment, Comprehensive Plan Amendment, Special Use Permit, and nine special exceptions.
• Which specific City Council members informally requested the policy re-evaluation during the February 4, 2025 work session (noted as unresolved in the September 9, 2025 record).

Member commentary

• Clara Schweiger (staff presenter, CDMP) — Schweiger served as the staff presenter at both the January 27, 2025 Planning Commission work session and the February 4, 2025 City Council work session, walking both bodies through the post-submission phase of the Gatewood Plaza redevelopment proposal, including the zoning and comprehensive plan requests and the nine special exceptions sought by the applicant.
• Planning Division Chief Nabti — Nabti briefed the Planning Commission on February 10, 2025 regarding recent City Council meetings, including the Gatewood Plaza City Council work session. He was also referenced as the staff resource at the September 9, 2025 City Council meeting regarding the origin of the policy re-evaluation request stemming from the Gatewood Plaza work session, though specific details of which council members made the informal request were not confirmed on the record at that time.