The meeting was called to order by Council President Mark McConn at 7:00 PM. In the absence of the council secretary, meeting notes were taken by the 2nd Vice President, Lewis Grimm.

Council Members:

Mike Fleming – Chantilly Farm HOA

Lewis Grimm – 2nd Vice President, Franklin Farm Foundation

Bob Lerch – Rocky Run

Mark McConn – President, Bull Run

Jim Neighbors – Sully Station

Jeff Parnes – 1st Vice President, Chantilly Highlands

Rick Vaughan – Dartmoor Woods HOA

Presenters/Guests:

Jeffrey Lawrence – Capitol Companies

John LItzenberger – Sully District Planning Commissioner

Brian Mc Neil – Patient First,

Jeffrey Saxe – Kimley-Horn and Associates

Richard Underwood – Kimley-Horn

• Speaking from personal notes without a handout or leave behind, Mr. Litzenberger reported on the recent and upcoming activities of the Fairfax County Planning Commission. He summarized the activities of each of the Commission’s various committees as follows:
  • Policy and Procedures Committee (John is an active member and former Chair of the committee):
    This group basically defines how the Planning Commission goes about its regular business. The previous Annual Plan Review (APR) process generally undertaken on a once every four year cycle for some major portion of the county is being modified to reflect efforts currently underway by Department of Planning and Zoning staff to update the 1995 County Comprehensive Plan to reflect actual 2012 conditions. Some of the specific activities cited were as follows:
    • The previous APR option of allowing for direct citizen inputs to the process relative to individual land parcels is being modified. The revised process will require these inputs to be passed through each of the County Supervisor’s offices to consolidate and reduce the number of specific actions required.
    • The need for updating the 1995 Comprehensive Plan to reflect actual 2012 conditions was highlighted by a number of the County’s older mixed use residential, commercial, and office areas not having been studied in any detail in 20 or 30 years.
    • Several “action corridors” have been identified as the focus of continuing future work. These include, but are not limited to: Tysons and its environs, the Reston/Herndon area, Chantilly north of the Route 50 corridor, and the Route 28 corridor between the Prince William County and Loudoun County lines.
    • The Tysons area task force’s planning and recommendations activities have been completed, with the focus in this area now on actual implementation of the recommended actions. Development of the final text for incorporation into the Comprehensive Plan for the Tysons area is now in progress, with final adoption by the Board of Supervisors envisioned in early 2013.
    • The Planning Commissioners are seeing increasing limitations on the ability of staff from the County Department of Planning and Zoning to support Commissioner objectives and initiatives due to the decreasing number of available staff. This continuing trend may delay several desired activities.
    • An evolving trend is one of performing more comprehensive commercial area boundary studies and areawide studies in place of the traditional parcel by parcel analysis.
    • Fairfax County / Loudoun County interface issues and concerns still continue. These are particularly pronounced along the US Route 50 corridor, with the continuing expansion of residential communities in Loudoun County placing increasing demands on the transportation infrastructure of the western portions of Fairfax County.
    • It was commented by several other attendees that the housing to jobs imbalance in Loudoun County is the principal contributor to this problem, with Fairfax County job sites along the Route 28 corridor at Westfields and in the Reston/Herndon area being the destination for a large number of trips originating in Loudoun County or other communities further to the west.
    • The need for a potential new hospital in Loudoun County along the Route 50 corridor continues to be discussed, with the most likely location for such a facility being the former small private airport on the north side of Route 50 in the South Riding area.
    • The group requested an opportunity to review those sections of the updated Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan text which discuss the area contained within the Sully District. Mr. Litzenberger agreed to provide this to the group when it is available.
  • Housing Committee of the Planning Commission (John is the Chair of this committee):
    • A major focus of this committee will be the examination of allowing a variable (as opposed to a single fixed value) percentage of affordable and ADA housing units in new or renovated multifamily housing complexes. With increasing numbers of aging and middle income residents in the county, this is becoming a more significant issue with each passing year.
    • The committee had been in a period of little activity for some time, with the November 2012 meeting being the first official meeting of the group in nearly four years. The next scheduled meeting will be in January 2013.
    • The new emphasis on affordable and ADA housing was prompted by the discussions regarding the proposed Timber Ridge development along Centreville Road in the Sully District. Given the location of this new housing complex immediately adjacent to a major new government agency office complex requiring large numbers of employees with security clearances, it would seem that the availability of providing an increased number of housing units tailored for wounded veterans and others with more moderate incomes would be a major benefit to all parties concerned. A major area of interest to the housing committee will be to revisit the median income levels associated with each of these defined housing types and income level stratifications.
  • Schools Committee (John is a member):
    • The Fairfax County School Board members are now facility focused
    • Schools continue to seek obtaining exemptions from having to follow County zoning regulations that apply to all other types of development in the county.
    • The installation of cell phone towers at county schools is a continuing issue. While the placement of these facilities is clearly seen as a consistent, long term revenue generator, there are widely different perspectives held by individual school PTAs, school principals and staff, and area homeowners as to the overall benefits and impacts (physical, visual, and perceived health concerns) which the Planning Commission is regularly called on to consider.
  • Land Use Process Review Committee (John is not a member):
    • The activities of this committee are closely related to those of the Policy Committee
    • This committee is currently working to define a more standardized policy and procedure with respect to the County’s Telecommunications policy.
    • A need has been identified for a “sunset time” for any approved cell phone applications if no action has been taken by the proponent. Potential times before expiration of 30 or 60 months have been suggested.
  • Personnel and Budget Committee (John is a member):
    • The sole focus of this committee is on the monitoring of internal Planning Department operations.
  • Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Committee: (John is not a member)
    • This committee undertakes an annual review of all Fairfax County capital improvement plans for conformance with the adopted county comprehensive plan.
    • This includes a review of all county agencies which expend capital funds.
  • Parks Committee:
    • This committee functions as the liaison to the independent Fairfax County Park Authority on matters involving the interaction between park facilities and adjacent land uses.
    • A continuing issue concerns the allowance of cell tower installations inside or outside of, but within close proximity to, county park facilities. The basic revenue generated by each cell tower to the owner of the property on which the tower is placed is equal to $25,000 per year for the principal tower owner/operator plus $5,000 per year for each additional carrier whose equipment uses the tower. Assuming a maximum of six carriers on a single tower, the annual revenues to the land owner is approximately $50,000.
  • Transportation Committee:
    • This group serves as the liaison between the Planning Commission with both the independent Fairfax County Transportation Advisory Committee (TAC) whose members are appointed by the Board of Supervisors and the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT).
    • The Planning Commission’s Transportation Committee also interacts with the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) but in a secondary role to that of FCDOT staff and the County Board of Supervisors.
• Mr. Litzenberger’s presentation and discussion with the Sully District Council members in attendance concluded at approximately 8:00 PM. This allowed the only scheduled Land Use and Transportation activity to begin prior to the originally anticipated start time of 8:30 PM.

1. 8:00
   • Patients First facility on Centreville Road in Chantilly
   • Proponent: Jeffrey Saxe, Kimley-Horn and Associates
   • Action: By Right
   • Location: Centreville Road
   • The only land use presentation on the agenda concerned the proposed Patient First facility to be located on Centreville Road in Chantilly. Speaking on behalf of the proponent were Jeffrey Saxe of the firm of Kimley-Horn and Associates, Brian Mc Neil of Patient First, and Richard Underwood of Kimley-Horn.
     • Mr. Saxe described the proposed development as a 1-story day-use medical office which accepts walk-in patients as well as any who make prior appointments. It is deemed to be an office use and is allowed by right given the existing C-8 zoning on the property. No new entrances are proposed onto Centreville Road as it will use existing entrances which serve its immediate neighbors to the north and south.
     • The subject land parcel is located in the northwest quadrant of the US Route 50 / Centreville Road intersection and is the currently vacant parcel between the Exxon service station at the intersection and a two-building office complex further to the north. The proposed new structure would be approximately 7,000 square feet on the 41,000 square foot land parcel, resulting in an overall floor area ratio (FAR) of about 0.17. Access to the site would be provided through the use of a new short service/frontage road connection to those now existing along Centreville Road for the gas station and the 3-story office building. VDOT would not approve direct access from this parcel onto Centreville Road, even for just a right turn in / right turn out traffic movement.
     • It was indicated that the development site plan presented by the proponent meets county open space, building set back and buffer requirements and provides a total of 43 parking spaces for office staff and visitors. Underground stormwater detention facilities will be constructed underneath the paved surface parking lot.
     • The site paln has been submitted to county staff for review and comment, with formal written comments expected in the near future. Initial verbal comments indicate no major concerns by county staff, with a resubmittal of the final site plan anticipated in early 2013. Assuming normal review of the final site plan, the proponent hopes to be able to initiate construction in March 2013. A six-month construction time schedule is anticipated. If this schedule is adhered to, the facility could be in full operation before the end of 2013.
     • Mr. McNeil expanded on Mr. Saxe’s remarks by noting that Patient First is a regional chain of free-standing urgent care medical facilities now operating in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia. The proposed 7,000 square foot facility on Centreville Road would follow the basic unit design and include 12 examination rooms, an X-ray room, offices for three physicians, a patient waiting area, and space for on-site nurses, administrative staff, and a small on-site pharmacy for use by patients at the facility. Physicians would be general practitioners and internists, most likely with some prior emergency room experience. However, this facility would not be a full service, free-standing emergency room operation as one would find at a traditional hospital.
     • Mr. McNeil indicated that several other Patient First facilities are already in operation or under construction in the Northern Virginia area. He noted an existing installation in the City of Manassas on Liberia Avenue near the Wal-Mart as being the same size and performing the same functions as the proposed facility along Centreville Road. Mr. McNeil stated that the existing Manassas facility, and the proposed Centreville Road facility, would operate 365 days a year and would be open between 8:00 AM and 10:00 PM.
   • Following a brief discussion focusing on vehicular access and circulation to and from the site, the Sully District Council went on record as having no objections to the proposed development. The proponents departed at approximately 8:20 PM
   • About 8:25, the owner of the office complex along Centreville Road just north of the proposed site of the Patient First facility arrived. Mr. Jeffrey Lawrence expressed his surprise that the development presentation scheduled to begin at 8:30 PM had apparently started and ended prior to his arrival. The Council members replied that the scheduled starting times shown on the agenda are only estimated times. The Council members further indicated that when the development proponents arrived earlier than anticipated, the group felt it only appropriate to allow them to begin their presentation earlier than originally scheduled so that the duration of the meeting could be reduced for the benefit of all in attendance.
     • Mr. Lawrence accepted this position and then expressed his concerns regarding the proposed Patient First development proposal. His immediate major points of concern were as follows:
       • Potential negative impacts of increased traffic volumes through the parking area of his office complex and the associated service/frontage road.
       • Potential safety and operational issues at the existing signalized intersection for his development at Centreville Road and Metrotech Drive.
       • Potential for increased vehicle / pedestrian conflicts at the signalized intersection and along the service/frontage road.
       • Increased traffic congestion and safety issues associated with increasing use of the PNC bank drive through lane at the south side of one of his two buildings.
       • The failure of the Patient First development proponent to provide him a copy of the proposed site development plan as of the date of the Sully District Council meeting.
     • The owner of the north parcel office development noted a number of additional points including the following:
       • He had previously paid a deposit to complete the currently missing service road connection and would like a status as to what happens with this previous funding.
       • The north building complex currently includes two medical care facilities (pediatrics and Ob/Gyn) which are already very busy throughout the day. What will the impact of the proposed new Patient First facility have on traffic and parking demands for the overall development area?
       • It was his understanding that the south parcel is still owned by Dr. Leon (sp); is this to be leased or sold to Patient First?
       • Any potential connection of the Patient First facility to the north parcel’s existing sanitary sewer connection was viewed as an unresolved issue.
       • Issues with previously funded north parcel development conditions: paid for higher lighting and raising of existing utility lines along west side of Centreville Road but neither action has yet been accomplished. What is the status of his prior cash payment for this purpose made to Fairfax County?
       • The current north parcel contains two buildings, one of 40,000 square feet and the other of 16,000 square feet gross floor area, for a total of 56,000 square feet. His internal site circulation plan required the provision of 3.6 parking spaces per 1,000 square feet or a total of 202 parking spaces. On a regular basis, virtually all of these spaces are filled by the staff and visitors to the current building occupants, with the dead end stub for the unfinished service/frontage road being regularly used for parking. What will be the effects on parking demand from the new Patient First facility on his existing office complex parking spaces?
     • The Council members and Mr. Litzenberger expressed their appreciation to Mr. Lawrence for his comments and recommended that he meet with the Patient First development proponent to discuss his concerns. Mr. Litzenberger indicated that he would be sure to raise these points with the development proponents when they appear before the Planning Commission and would pass them on to the Planning Department staff.

• Jeff Parnes then briefly reviewed a number of general information items as shown on the formal meeting agenda. He noted that VDOT was holding a series of public information meetings on the proposed Bi-County Parkway linking Prince William and Loudoun Counties just to the west of the Fairfax / Loudoun county line on December 18th and 19th.

• The January meeting will take place on January 23rd and will feature a review of FY 2014 Fairfax County School Budget by Kristen Michael, Director of Budget, FCPS

There being no further business before the group, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 9:18 PM.

Respectively submitted by,

Lewis Grimm,

2^nd Vice President
Sully District Council