Concerns About Topgolf Site Plans Raised At Kingstowne Meeting

KINGSTOWNE, VA — After a Planning Commission vote was deferred on a proposed plan amendment for the former Topgolf site in Kingstowne, the Kingstowne Residential Owners Corporation hosted a meeting with Lee District officials to hear public concerns about a potential residential redevelopment.

An amendment to the comprehensive plan for the site, located on South Van Dorn Street across from Kingstowne Towne Center, is up for approval from the Planning Commission before Board of Supervisors action. The Planning Commission had deferred the vote until Sept. 22 due to vigirous community discussion, largely involving negative feedback.

There have been various redevelopment concepts presented for the Topgolf site in recent years, with the most recent calling for 164 townhomes and 44 stacked townhomes with a density around 12 dwelling units per acre. While the revised concept is mentioned in a county staff report for the plan amendment, that development concept isn't final. Development specifics would be considered in the zoning process. A comprehensive plan amendment, which provides general land use recommendations for a site, would need to be approved before a developer can go through the county's zoning process.

Supervisor Rodney Lusk told Patch earlier in August that a plan amendment would allow residential uses being proposed by the applicant. The current uses on the site are the restaurant use from the now-closed Ruby Tuesday and recreational use from the now-closed Topgolf.

The revised development concept, unlike previous concepts, does not include a retail component. Lusk anticipates a redevelopment would have largely or entirely residential uses and believes it should include some publicly-accessible open space. He doesn't see retail or recreational uses as likely.

"The beauty of Kingstowne is that we don't have a dearth of restaurants. You could really walk across the street from the site and you're at the Kingstowne Towne Center," said Lusk.

If a plan amendment is approved, the next step would be the rezoning process to decide specific regulations of what the applicant can do with their property. That includes a specific kind of residential use, building size, building setbacks, building heights, sidewalks, green space, stormwater management, parking, contributions to schools, and more.

"You normally don't get to the rezoning stage until you've done the plan stage, but in this case they've kind of been talking about both at the same time, and it's a little confusing because you can't finalize number of units, the size of the facilities, all those things until you get to the actual rezoning. We're not there yet," said Lusk.

Key Takeaways from the Town Hall

During Tuesday's meeting, Lusk and other officials reiterated the fact that many elements of the development would be addressed during the rezoning process. But as residents saw a revised development concept presented this year, many of these elements are already being discussed. At Tuesday's meeting, various residents expressed concerns about traffic, drainage issues, density and more.

One key item the comprehensive plan does set is the density recommendation, which determines the number of housing uses allowed on the land. The current allowance in the comprehensive plan is 4 dwelling units per acre, or 4.8 with the affordable housing density bonus. The recommendation for the plan amendment from the Lee District land use committee in July: 8.3 dwelling units per acre or 10 with the affordable housing density bonus. County staff's recommendation from June was 10 dwelling units per acre or 12 with the density bonus. The final density recommendation will be decided with Planning Commission action, then Board of Supervisors action on the plan amendment.

Density was mentioned by numerous residents. One resident since 2001 who spoke at the meeting said the comprehensive plan and its density should not be amended. The resident noted the lowest density proposed — 10 dwelling units per acre with the affordable housing density bonus recommended by the Lee District land use committee — was over double the 4.8 dwelling units per acre in the current comprehensive plan.

"The adopted comprehensive plan was not rushed, it was created with thought, and it has been a success story here in Kingstowne," the resident said. "I believe in big business. I also believe in development. So why would Fairfax County's Board of Supervisors choose to detract from a well-established and successful community such as Kingstowne?"

Another 10-year resident agreed the density shouldn't be raised and that land should instead become park land.

"Any further residential development in the area is bad for residents. It's going to add traffic," the resident said.

Numerous residents mentioned the ongoing concern of heavy traffic around Van Dorn Street and not wanting additional residential development to exacerbate it.

One resident of 17 years said Topgolf was one of the main reason his family moved there. Now Topgolf is gone, and he said the area has become more congested.

Another Kingstowne resident of 18 years moved there to raise her children because of Topgolf and other draws. She also highlighted the concern of more residential housing adding more traffic and raising safety concerns to children on the roads.

"As a parent a grandparent now and a Sunday school teacher and coach and team mom, I don't want to see these kids get hurt," she said.

She added in conclusion, "I hope Supervisor Lusk will consider what our complaints are and our thoughts and our input. Some are positive, some are negative, but we all want to have a better community."

Meghan Van Dam of the county's Department of Planning and Development told attendees a "high-level" traffic analysis was completed with a focus on the broader area, longer range forecast for land use and what kinds of traffic would be added by new development.

"It's not a detailed analysis but then again we do not have a development plan that we're actually looking at right now that's being proposed for approval," said Van Dam. "That comes during the rezoning, and when the rezoning comes along, where there is a plan, there's a layout, there's a specific number of units that would be committed to, that is when we would have the ability to look at a very detailed level of the trips that function along the road, where they would access from, how the road network would change potentially."

The question of homeowners association membership won't be something addressed during the plan amendment or rezoning process. A representative for KROC told the town hall participants the proposed development wouldn't open under KROC jurisdiction. The decision of adding the development to KROC would be up to its board after the development would be built. A few implications of adding the development to KROC would be increases to KROC's assessment base and use of community amenities.

Near the conclusion of the meeting, Lusk announced his intent to host a design workshop to discuss the future of the Topgolf site and different options for the site. The workshop would last approximately six hours. A date and time will be announced at a later time.

David Lagana, the Planning Commission's Lee District representative, said he wouldn't take action on the plan amendment on the Planning Commission until a workshop happens. Lagana previously introduced the motion to defer the Planning Commission action on the plan amendment until Sept. 22.