It took only 10 minutes tonight for the Falls Church Planning Commission to rubber stamp, with a unanimous 5-0 vote, the City’s new Affordable Housing Policy document that had come out of the Council only after a sharp division and a 4-3 vote. The divide developed on the issue of adding a paragraph to the policy stipulating a preference for “scattered” new affordable housing units, as opposed to any whole buildings dedicated to the cause. It had been pointed out at the City Council that “scattered” units in new residential projects could never attain the policy’s goals for new affordable housing. City Council member Phil Duncan was in attendance at tonight’s meeting, but there was no opportunity for a public hearing was provided in the Planning Commission’s swift action on the item.
