Sky View Drive townhouse development gets final approval

A long-planned development to build 11 new townhouses on Sky View Drive in the Woodlawn area cleared its final hurdle Tuesday as the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve the project.

The vote allows for two lots at 8419 and 8423 Sky View Drive (see map) to be rezoned for higher-density development, and approves the final development plan for the townhouse. The new development will replace two older single-family homes on the .875-acre site.

The new townhouses are designed to blend in with the Sky View Park development, which surrounds the current lots on three sides. The new townhomes will be somewhat different though, including having a two-car driveways and garages.

As part of the redevelopment, sidewalk will be built along the frontage of the property on Sky View Drive to connect already existing sidewalks on that side of the street.

The two single-family homes currently on the site are surrounded on three sides by the 174-unit Sky View Park development, which was completed in 2004. The two houses are among four single-family homes left from a larger neighborhood that had been redeveloped for Sky View Park. The two homes getting torn down have been vacant for at least the past year; the other two single-family homes left on Sky View are closer to Richmond Highway.

Last spring the Board of Supervisors approved a comprehensive plan update to allow for the project to move forward. Lee District Supervisor Jeff McKay said the roots of the redevelopment dated back to his days as aide for former Lee District Supervisor Dana Kauffman, who left office in 2007.