A scathing reaction to news of the costs to move ahead on a tentative plan for redevelopment of the Virginia Village on S. Maple in Falls Church by the chair of the City’s Economic Development Authority (EDA) Tuesday night stunned an audience that included F.C. Mayor Letty Hardi. The plan is designed to add significantly to the City’s affordable housing stock.
EDA Chair Ross Litkenhous, a local businessman and former member of the Falls Church City Council, balked at a report suggesting moving ahead with a “request for proposal” for redevelopment of the site would involve an expenditure of $175,000 for a couple of month’s effort by a consultant to the project.
“I think the public would be shocked if they learned the high cost of doing this project,” Litkenhous stated. He emphasized repeatedly that he supports the goal of adding more affordable housing to the City’s current stock but said he questions the costs involved.
The EDA and the City are in the process of forging an agreement on moving forward and are bound by deadlines for submissions for grant aid to move ahead. There was not a quorum at Tuesday’s EDA meeting, so no formal action on that front was undertaken.
EDA member Brian Williams, another prominent local business owner and member of the EDA board, echoed some of Litkenhous’ concerns.
Mayor Hardi, on the other hand, chimed in that the project’s purpose is to conform with the City’s goal of adding to its affordable housing numbers that have shrunken to historic lows.
Litkenhous questioned whether the City and EDA (both of whom own four-plex units on the current Virginia Village site and have been acquiring them with the goal of putting a large affordable housing building on the site) would get enough new affordable housing to make the overall plan worth the cost and effort.
“There are 80 affordable units there now,” Litkenhous noted. “Are we going to be able to double that number to make this work?” he asked. A new building with 160 affordable apartments would test the ability of the City to approve a project of that scale, given strong nearby opposition that has already surfaced.
Actually, in discussions of the current plan, it been proposed that a lot more units be built on the Virginia Village’s much larger parcel of land (4.5 acres), with a multifamily building of 124 units in a first phase and as many as 160 more units after that.
At a recent community meeting, it was noted, neighbors expressed concerns on the size of a prospective new building, noting that it would clash with the surrounding residential neighborhood if it were much more than two stories in height.
Over a decade ago, plans for a similar affordable structure near Virginia Village wound up being dashed by a 4-3 vote against a step to move forward due to neighborhood pressure.
The Wilden project for affordable housing in the City of Falls Church was defeated in the summer of 2010. Then, the City Council rejected a critical amendment to move the project forward by a 4-3 vote, causing the project to collapse. The project was planned for a site near Virginia Village on S. Washington Street and was named in honor of long-time affordable housing advocate Bob Wilden.
That project anticipated a five-story building with 60 units primarily intended for seniors and individuals with disabilities earning between 30 and 60 percent of the area median income.
Upcoming public review meetings are planned for this Saturday, April 11, at the Oak Street Elementary, 601 S. Oak, at 10 a.m. and Tuesday, April 14, at the Columbia Baptist Church, 103 W. Columbia, at 7 p.m.
