Proposed Development Approved
Unanimously by Arlington County Board

At their regular meeting of October 7, 2000, the Arlington County Board voted unanimously to approve the development plans for the Village at Shirlington drafted by Federal Realty Investment Trust (FRIT). As a result of community objections, however, the Board added several conditions to the Phased Development Site Plan (PDSP):

1. The maximum height of the residential building, which we got lowered from 16 to 14 stories, was lowered again to 12 stories with a "taper" or set back to 21 feet after the 6th floor. We can not be certain what this means until we have seen the actual site plan drawing for the building but it appears to be a significant plus for the community, especially our neighbors in Windgate III.
2. Board member Chris Zimmerman opened the door to a wider 28th Street extended (the new block of 28th Street) by specifying that the new street would be between 90 and 110 feet wide. This leaves open the opportunity for us to continue to press for the new block of S. 28th Street to be the width as the existing S. 28th Street. While the option is now there, it will take a lot of effort from the community to win this one in the final plans.
3. Arlington County has dropped plans to build a parking garage jointly with FRIT. Originally the County wanted 728 parking spaces in the joint garage with a total of 1200 spaces. The County has review its plans and decided that it may only need 200 spaces. This reduces the size of the parking garage by about 1/3. It is unclear how the parking garage will be reconfigured. The questions we need to pursue include: Is there now an opportunity to move the library? Will the residential construction be reconfigured? What happens to the question of an exit from the parking garage to the Trades Center?
4. The Board gave the developer some very clear guidance on architectural issues and emphasized that the Monument building was a non-starter.
5. The Board required the developer to consult with the community before the any site plans are submitted. This means more meetings for us but perhaps they will now be more constructive.

Unfortunately, what we did not get was any consideration regarding the relocation of either the library or the proposed office building at S. 28th Street and S. Randolph. We had previously, however, lowered this office building by two stories.

We had also made some progress on the traffic issues as a result of earlier meetings. Both the Board and VDOT acknowledged that there are existing traffic problems that should be abated now or they will definitely worsen as the new development is built. VDOT has pledged to draft some suggestions for improvements in the Shirlington I395 traffic circle and Arlington County is already installing some traffic improvements in South Fairlington. We will need to stay on top of both of these efforts as well as studies of the general traffic patterns as they evolve.

Finally, though it may seem like a small detail, the developer made a commitment to the Board to keep the Classika children's theater that is currently in Shirlington.

The County Board instructed its staff to prepare a proposal for all the financial transactions between the County and FRIT. The proposal should be on the December agenda of the County Board. FRIT itself expects to have a site plan for at least one building on the January Board agenda. Presumably, FRIT will present its plans to the Planning Commission some time in early or mid-December. That means that the community will probably need to meet with FRIT in late October or early November. See you then!

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