Falls Church Mayor Opposes T-Zone Update Before City Council Approval

FALLS CHURCH, VA — Zoning updates to transition zones (T-zones) within the City of Falls Church were approved Tuesday, despite the mayor and another City Council member remaining steadfast in their opposition.

The T-zone updates, which would apply to a small area of the city between single-family residential zones and commercial zones, were approved 5-2 after a multi-year discussion with various tweaks along the way. Less than 3 percent of the city is within transition zones and includes North Washington Street and Park Avenue with existing uses of Columbia Baptist Church, Christ-Crossman Methodist Church, Sunrise of Falls Church, single-family houses used for business, residential townhouses, Kaiser Permanente facility and a small office building.

City Council's T-zone approval eliminates new single-family and two-family housing uses and allows townhouses, apartments and condos as residential uses. Residential developments would have to have a minimum of 14 units per acre or a maximum of by-right 34 acres per unit without affordable units and 40 units per acre with 10 percent affordable units. The maximum residential density with a special use permit review would be 51 units per acre, depending on the percentage of affordable units.

On the commercial side, the T-zone updates aim to provide more neighborhood-serving retail. The changes eliminate uses like parking lots and boardinghouses and allow businesses like restaurants, bakeries, salons and barbershops, clothing stores, bookstores, furniture stores and hardware stores.

Falls Church's mayor was one of the members who has been opposed to approving the T-zone ordinance as it stands.

"It does feel rushed, even though we've been talking about this for two years. Why? Because every week we have made significant changes or folks have made significant changes to this proposal. It hasn't been timely, fully considered or contemplated," said Mayor David Tarter at Tuesday's City Council meeting.

For example, Tarter pointed to changing the minimum parking requirement from 2.5 spaces per townhouse to one. The mayor said Park Avenue already has limited parking, part of which is due to limited parking provided at Mary Riley Styles Public Library.

Tarter, whose career has been working in development, also noted the concern of by-right development due to developers sometimes envision things differently than city officials or residents. The mayor says the larger mixed-use projects under construction are helping provide more housing opportunities and get commitments like school capital contributions and dedicated affordable housing.

"By right development is exactly that," said Tarter. "If it meets the requirements of the zoning, you have to approve it...This proposal could be a legislative act where the city council or others could have much more control over ultimately what goes in there for the benefit of the common good. And that would eliminate issues that we're talking about right now if this proposal were to change to provide less dense development by right and more through special exception or [special use permit] process."

Councilmember Dave Snyder attempted to get the T-zone ordinance tabled to delay approval, but that motion failed 2-5. In his opposition, Snyder cited reasons like by-right development giving more control to developers, a threat to historic properties and small-town feel, the proposal not helping with low-income housing, environmental impacts from impervious surface and tree canopy requirements, and inadequate setback requirements.

"We want to have a government of the citizens, by the citizens and for the citizens," said Snyder. "This ordinance it's deeply flawed process. Regrettably, the council members who have pushed it over significant public request and urge for improvement is a clear example of government of a special interest by special interests and for special interests."

Councilmember Debbie Schantz-Hiscott countered that members supporting the T-zone proposal were not acting unethically but rather in the interest of the city's future.

"This isn't something I take lightly. I've raised my three children here. I brought my parents to live out their remaining years here in Falls Church, and to suggest that I would do anything intentionally negligent to Falls Church, again, it's unfair," said Schantz-Hiscott.

Schantz-Hiscott said new T-zones won't necessarily be apartments but something like townhouses to provide more housing options.

"Is it affordable as an [Area Median Income] housing? No, but it is responsible for filtering, meaning somebody who can move into that from a smaller or smaller townhouse or an affordable dwelling perhaps can move up into this type of housing, and you have more affordable housing left in its wake," said Schantz-Hiscott.

Vice Mayor Letty Hardi said the ordinance factored in compromises made since City Council's first reading 18 months ago and nearly 30 public meetings later. She said the ordinance improves "appropriate buffers" between residential and commercial areas for heights, setbacks, step backs and lot coverage.

On housing types in T-zones, Hardi noted T-zones were not intended to be about affordable housing, given other mixed-use developments with dedicated affordable housing were being planned. Instead, Hardi envisions townhouses, stacked condos or stacked townhouses.

"T-zones at 3 percent of the city's land can't possibly address affordable housing, but it can begin to add more diverse housing stock that we don't have and yield more diverse housing beyond apartments and two-million dollar homes," said Hardi. "The latest research that [Schantz -Hiscott] also cited shows that adding market-rate housing across the entire price spectrum does help alleviate prices across the entire spectrum. So while $800,000 to $1 million doesn't seem affordable enough, it is now frankly the median home price in Falls Church, and that kind of starter home stock is sorely needed."

Councilmember Phil Duncan echoed a desire to provide housing options to more income levels in the city. Duncan said he and his wife had less than $60,000 in 1985 when they moved to Falls Church and bought a $110,000 house.

Duncan estimated that income to be $170,000 today with inflation factored in. He believes not enough has been done to help households with that income level get homes in the city.

"I think we've made good progress on the affordable housing component, we've added approximately 100 or so units," said Duncan. "We've made good progress on trying to help the elderly community with the Sunrise, the Kensington and the West Fall senior project and hopefully the Quinn project coming up. But we haven't been able to tackle...to help young professionals get their starter home or their second starter home in the City of Falls Church."

Final documents for the T-zone ordinance are available here.