Reduced Parking For Redevelopment Proposed At West Falls Church Metro

FALLS CHURCH, VA — With redevelopment being planned around the West Falls Church Metro, the transit agency is proposing parking and bus bay reductions.

The proposal relates to a mixed-use development with potential residential, office and retail uses on part of the West Falls Church Metro Station site and the Virginia Tech site. The development would need to be approved by Fairfax County and is separate from the West Falls development being constructed on the old high school site in the City of Falls Church.

On Metro's West Falls Church site, the proposed development would add buildings, reduce parking and bus bays, and relocate kiss-and-ride spaces and bus bays. According to an environmental evaluation for the Metro-owned property, the Metro site could get up to 90 townhouses, up to 810 multifamily units, up to 10,000 square feet of ground-floor retail, up to 110,000 square feet of office space and 9 acres of open space. Separately on the Virginia Tech site, the development team is seeking 440 multifamily units, ground-floor retail, a six-story office building with space for Virginia Tech and headquarters for HITT, and one-story retail space, according to Washington Business Journal. Development details would be refined during the local approval process.

Under Metro's proposal, the south surface lot at West Falls Church station would be eliminated, reducing park-and-ride capacity from 2,009 spaces to 1,350 spaces. The existing parking garage would remain.

In addition, kiss-and-ride spaces would be relocated to a roadway closer to the station and reduced from 64 spaces to approximately 20. This would include 10 short-term paid spaces, two accessible spaces and more short-term drop-off spaces. Existing spaces include 47 short-term paid spaces, nine accessible spaces, and five short-term drop-off spaces. The 68 hourly paid parking spaces along the Metro access road would also be eliminated and reduced under the proposal.

The existing eight bus bays currently in a bus loop would be replaced with a minimum of four bus bays along a new roadway adjacent to the station plaza.

A rendering of the proposed Metro site is available here.

According to Metro, parking spaces at the West Falls Church Metro have been underutilized and had a decline when the first Silver Line phase opened in 2014. The environmental evaluation for the proposal found average peak-hour parking utilization in 2019 was 1,100. There were 123 days in 2019 when parking exceeded 1,200, and it occasionally exceeded 1,400 or fell below 900.

As for the kiss-and-ride lot, the environmental evaluation noted the kiss-and-ride spaces are being underutilized and may be used by some as daily parking.

The first step in redevelopment, a comprehensive plan amendment, was approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in July 2021. The site then needs rezoning and site plan approvals.

A survey on the proposed parking and bus bay changes on the West Falls Church Metro site is available through Oct. 31. A public hearing will be held by Metro's board at 6:30 p.m. on Oct. 19. Residents may provide testimony during the public hearing by dialing into 855-925-2801 with meeting code 4773 and following prompts to be put in the speakers’ queue. To join by video, register in advance by 5 p.m. on Oct. 18 by emailing speak@wmata.com. Residents may also attend the Oct. 19 public hearing in person at the Virginia Tech Northern Virginia Center, 7054 Haycock Road, Falls Church, VA. Speakers are encouraged to register in advance by emailing speak@wmata.com or calling 202-962-2511.

PREVIOUS COVERAGE:

• West Falls Church Plan Amendment Approved By Fairfax County
• VA Tech Property To Be Conveyed For West Falls Church Development
• West Falls Developers, City Officials Hold Groundbreaking Ceremony