With No 'Master Developer,' F.C. Charts New Course to Downtown Redevelopment

Key Falls Church city officials huddled at City Hall yesterday to jump start the creation of new guidelines for redevelopment of the city's commercial center. Following last week's Falls Church City Council vote to terminate “master developer” negotiations with the Akridge Company to manage the redevelopment, the city is now hurrying to prepare for an expected rush of prospective new companies eager to work on one or another segment of the four-block area.

The city's planning, zoning, economic development offices met under the direction of City Manager Dan McKeever to begin designing the parameters of a new “overlay district” that will define the “look and feel” of the kind of new downtown Falls Church wants to have. “The sooner we can get this done, the sooner developers will know what we expect and there will be no guessing,” McKeever told the News-Press in an interview yesterday. He said the Council wants to be able to approve the new zoning before the end of the year, and added he was confident that deadline could be met.

McKeever also confirmed that Akridge has remained in contact with him following last week's unanimous vote, which Akridge officials had sought, unsuccessfully, to defer. McKeever would not confirm the fact, but Akridge's Chris Ciliberti told the News-Press last week that his company would move quickly to make an offer for purchase of city-owned land in the 300 block of W. Broad St. Akridge has a letter of intent from the Whole Foods Supermarket to relocate to that site, next to the post office, if Akridge gets title to the city property and, on the basis of that, can assemble some adjacent parcels.

A key to the parameters for a new city “overlay zoning district” in the downtown area will be its ability to yield concessions from prospective developers for the creation of open, public space in the area, McKeever said.

“We want to make much of what we define for the district susceptible to 'by right' development,” he said. “That way, developers will know what we do and don't want, and if they conform, they will be able to build without need of any special permits.”

The downside of that approach, however, is that it will not give city officials any leverage to obtain proffers from the builders that would result in, for example, a commitment of land for a public square or other forms of public use.

“When you require a 'special exception' approval as a condition for development, you naturally get more offers from developers to encourage approval,” he said.

Finding the right balance between giving developers assurances of what the city wants in the area and enticing contributions to public space and other community benefits will be among the earliest issues the city staff will grapple with in crafting the proposed new “overlay district” rules, he said.

The “overlay district” will “create the atmosphere and picture of what we want,” he said. “It will define the look, feel, density and level of uses we'd anticipate, establishing clearly for the developer that 'this is what you can build.'“ The city's existing “design guidelines” will be incorporated into the document, he added.

As for new suitors showing up at the doors to City Hall looking to build in the area, McKeever said he's “heard” of interest, but no one has come knocking yet. “It's been just a week” since the vote to open everything up, he noted.