News-Press Editorial

With unanimous support from the Falls Church Planning Commission Monday night, Atlantic Realty is now poised to win approval for its large mixed-use project on S. Maple (the site of the old duck pin bowling alley) from the City Council this Monday. Given that three earlier attempts to develop the same site were turned back by this City government, it is a credit to the current development team that it listened and responded to City concerns, and as a result is about to bring a major new City asset to fruition. Atlantic Realty proved its willingness to go back to the drawing boards repeatedly in the context of discussions with City officials and input from the public.

The key to the smooth sailing the developers enjoyed this Monday was a meeting they held with neighbors to the site, which resulted in most coming away happy. By adding sufficient buffers and a fence separating the project from the neighborhood, the developers showed responsiveness to their neighbors, and the good will was returned.

A petition circulated against the project by anti-development civic activist Lou Mauro, an unsuccessful candidate for City Council in this May's election, gained many of its signatures based on early versions of the Atlantic Realty plans, and many signers did not have the benefit of a well-rounded explanation of the project. Mayor Dan Gardner expressed that view in a flare-up with Council member David Snyder at Monday's City Council work session, as reported elsewhere in this edition. By contrast, when neighbors emerge from a lengthy give-and-take with developers and feel comfortable with a proposed project, a more valid signal is provided about how the project will be received once it is completed.

In fact, it has been suggested that attitudes might change in the future toward the fence separating the project from the residential area behind it that the neighbors want to badly now. Once these neighbors see the range of retail businesses and restaurants that will dominate the ground floor of the project along S. Maple Street, they may want more direct access than the fence will afford them. Now, in accordance with their wishes, they will have to go all the way around to Annandale Road and south on Maple to get to those businesses. At some point in the future, they may be begging for more direct access.

But that's the way it works, when it is done right. Those who recall the great tempest that arose over plans to build a Taco Bell adjacent the News-Press Building in 1993, can appreciate that while none of the worst fears of the neighbors materialized, some of the most outspoken opponents to the development are today willing to admit they, too, have been seen in line for a Burrito Supreme or two over the years.

Most of the aggressive development now being planned for Falls Church will produce similar positive outcomes, as time will surely tell.