Questions, cautious optimism at meeting on North Hill project

The North Hill property has caused a fair amount of heartburn in the Route 1 corridor for more than three decades. But while a Wednesday night community meeting about the latest proposed development on North Hill produced many questions, there were no real fireworks during a broad-ranging discussion at Walt Whitman Middle School.

Hosted by Fairfax County Supervisor Dan Storck (D-Mount Vernon), the meeting featured presentations by David Shultz of project developer Community Housing Partners, project architect Michael Wiencek, and Storck himself.

Two subjects elicited the most passionate responses from the crowd: First, the amount of units dedicated for low-income residents; and second, calls for the community to support the proposed development after years of conflict.

North Hill was purchased by Fairfax County in 1981 through a grant provided by the federal government that stipulated the county put affordable housing on the land, which was then primarily occupied by a run-down trailer park.

Rev. Keary Kincannon, pastor at Rising Hope Mission Church who ministers many homeless or formerly homeless residents in the Richmond Highway area, called the new North Hill proposal “one of the best” he’s seen through the years in terms of how the property could be used to serve lower income residents.

Kincannon did however express concern that only 28 units were set aside for people whose income is 30 percent or less of the Area Median Income (AMI) of $107,000. He suggested that adding efficiency apartments to the planned apartment complexes could help those most in need.

“There are a lot of people I serve that an efficiency apartment would be wonderful, would allow them to have a life of dignity,” said Kincannon. 

Kincannon’s questions led to many follow-ups regarding affordable housing in the Route 1 corridor, including a question about why only rental units, not houses for sale, are slated to be set aside for low-income residents. CHP’s Shultz said the county had ultimately decided to go with apartments only, and added that the 141 market-rate townhomes planned for North Hill are the financial backbone of the entire project.

“Our townhome development … enables and subsidizes and gives the money to build the affordable apartments,” Shultz said. “The years that have gone by of this land being undeveloped are a testimony to the difficulty of developing this site. It costs a lot of money to redevelop this site. These townhomes are basically the financing source of the apartments.”

While questions about affordability and home ownership opportunities for lower-income residents clearly resonated with many in the crowd, most questioners were generally supportive of the planned development and curious about its details, particularly the park planned for 22 acres on the site.

Two statements by audience members in support of the North Hill project produced the audible praise from much of the audience. Ron Fitzsimmons, a longtime resident of the Mount Vernon area and former aide to former Supervisor Gerry Hyland, made a plea for residents to make their concerns known and work with the county, but ultimately to rally behind Supervisor Dan Storck so that something finally comes to North Hill.

“My sense is that this is one of the best plans we’ve seen in I don’t know how many years,” said Fitzsimmons. “And we do not want to nickel and dime it to death. We have to let Dan [Storck] go with this so we can see some kind of progress on that … abandoned field.”

The next steps in the North Hill project will be amending the county’s comprehensive plan and getting rezoning approved. Storck said that needed to get done before March 1, 2017 because of the tax credits involved with funding the project. Not making that deadline, both Storck and Shultz said, would push the project behind by at least another year.

What’s planned for North Hill, as of Wednesday’s meeting

Current breakdown of apartments:

• 42 one-bedroom
• 127 two-bedroom
• 49 three-bedroom
• Additionally, 60 apartments will be set aside for senior citizens (51 one-bedroom, nine two-bedroom)

Breakdown of townhomes:

• 195 townhomes, all at market rate (there had been previous plans to have an undisclosed amount of townhomes sold below market rate for first-time buyers. That is no longer the case.

Park: The 22-acre park will be visible from Richmond Highway, and will be located mostly along the northeast portion of the development. There will be parking spaces; there was some disagreement between Storck and Shultz about whether those spaces would be reserved only for handicap visitors (Shultz was under the impression it would be for handicap only, Storck believed that there’d be a few set aside for the general population).

There was not a representative from the Fairfax County Park Authority at the meeting; the master plan for the park can be viewed on Fairfax County’s website. 

Timeline: On May 2, the developer will resubmit the plan to the county. Storck said that between now and February 2017, the comprehensive plan will need to be amended and rezoning will need to be hammered out and approved by the Board of Supervisors. March 1, 2017 is the deadline for the project developer to apply for the tax credits necessary for the project’s funding.

Should all that go according to plan, construction would begin no earlier than October or November 2017.

Also discussed during the meeting:

Woodley Hills Estates: One of the first questions about the new development was about what, if any, effect it would have on the trailer park located on the already-developed portion of the North Hill property. Shultz indicated that, other than increased traffic on Dart Drive during construction, there would be no impact on the Woodley Hill Estates homes.

Impact on schools: The question of how the new housing would impact the local schools was addressed by Karen Corbett Sanders, the Mount Vernon District Representative to the school board. Sanders provided the following breakdown, provided to her by the school system, for the projected impact on Bucknell Elementary, Carl Sandburg Middle School and West Potomac High School:

• From the townhomes: 49 additional students for Bucknell,12 for Sandberg, 25 for West Potomac
• From the Apartments:54 for Bucknell, 13 for Sandberg, 24 for West Potomac

Walkability/Bikability

A bike trail is planned for the west side of the development, next to RIchmond Highway. There will also be a set of paths that wind up the property from Dart Drive and eventually hit the park.