Scaled Back More, Senior Project OK'd

Ignoring a request by the Falls Church Housing Corporation to delay a vote on its application, the Falls Church City Council voted unanimously Monday to grant all three required approvals enabling the Housing Corporation to construct a senior affordable housing project in the 1000 block of West Broad St.

However, the Council approval was for a project contained entirely on only 50% of an undeveloped parcel of land owned by the Falls Church Volunteer Firefighters. That meant a plan reduced in size for a fourth time since originally proposed by the Housing Corporation last summer.

The parameters of the proposed project approved Monday now call for 48 senior housing units and a construction cost shortfall of $1 million. Earlier versions, which sought slightly more than 50% of the land, called for 70 units and were financially self-sufficient.

Carol Jackson, executive director of the FCHC, asked for the Council to table the action until the question was answered of how the $1 million funding shortfall accompanying the latest plan would be met.

But the Council decided that it would address that question after approving the plan, as it had planned to do Monday before Jackson sought the delay.

Council members were unclear on whether or not they would be willing to deploy City resources to make up the difference. While Mayor Dan Gardner said "I'm committed to support this project" and Vice Mayor Marty Meserve said "I am confident the next step can be successfully negotiated," Council member Lindy Hockenberry said her vote "In no way assumes public support" for the project, adding "support for a whole lot of money will not be there."

While Councilman David Snyder said "We'll do everything we can to help the Housing Corporation carry out its mission," Councilman Sam Mabry questioned whether City taxpayers should bear the entire burden of a project that will not be restricted to use by City residents.

While Council member Robin Gardner said a "happy compromise" had been reached, and Mayor Gardner said "I hope everyone will be satisfied with the outcome," Council member David Chavern called the outcome "an unhappy turn of events" and said "I am not sure where the money (for the $1 million funding gap) will come from."

He said "the ones who may lose out will be the needy, including senior citizens," adding, "I am not sure how the last chapter will be written. This is at best the end of the beginning, and I am not sure we are near the beginning of the end."

The Council will begin to tackle the issue of the funding gap at its work session this coming Tuesday (pushed over from Monday, a holiday).

But while the Council's unanimous vote to approve the scaled-back project was met by a loud applause from a contingent of neighbors to the site, it did not please Housing Corporation representatives.

Still, following the meeting, Jackson told the News-Press, "We intend now to aggressively pursue the Council's willingness to address our funding shortfall under this plan."

Late yesterday, Council members Meserve and Snyder contacted the News-Press in separate phone calls to express, as Meserve put it, "How optimistic we are that everything's going to work out."

Meserve said she thought it could be done "without putting the burden on the back of taxpayers," through services, expert advice and other things. "It will get built, if we have anything to do with it," she stressed.

Snyder said, "There's a lot of thinking going n about how to provide appropriate assistance. We are fully aware of the challenge and our intent is to fully support this process. There is broad interest on the Council in making it real."

Meanwhile, Falls Church attorney Paul H. Melnick, president of the Falls Church Volunteer Firefighters, owners of the land in question, said his organization "continues to the interested in working with the Housing Corporation" to make the project happen.

"We continue to want to see if something feasible can be hammered out with the financing issue," he told the News-Press Tuesday. "We're wiling to talk about extending the date (of the contract deadline) at least for a limited time."

"We're definitely hoping something can be worked out. We're not adverse t extending the settlement date," he added.

He said he is concerned for the perception, as expressed by some Council members, that the Volunteers are not cooperating fully. "We're simply trying to be responsible property owners," he said.

Another City attorney, Bill Baskin, who is legal counsel to the Volunteers, said he was puzzled by an outburst from Mayor Gardner when he tried to make a similar point at Monday's Council meeting.

The mayor told Baskin, who was at the speaker's podium, "You know if it comes down to it, we hold all the cards and I think you know what I mean."

When Baskin tried to respond, the mayor cut him off twice. "You are not recognized," the mayor snapped. "You are out of order."

"I have no idea what he was referring to," Baskin later told the News-Press. "If there was something I was supposed to know about, I'm not in on the secret."