A wide range of proposed changes to Fairfax County's Residential Development Criteria, many likely to affect Mount Vernon, were unveiled April 6 in a three hour session at the County Government Center.
"The nature of our residential development has been shifting and we have been trying to address that shift," Barbara Byron, Director of the Zoning Evaluation Division, said. "The primary change is from the formula approach to a "does-it-work approach." It is geared to rezoning applications."
Under the aegis of the County Planning Commission, the session was billed as a Public Outreach Session on Development Criteria. It will be followed by a public discussion session scheduled for April 16 beginning at 7 p.m. at the Center.
Kicking off Saturday's session, Planning Commission Chairman Peter Murphy assured the assemblage, "This is not an attempt to slow growth or stop growth. It is a way to gain better coordination. Nothing has been locked in or is carved in stone."
One of the criteria cited as subject to the "does-it-work approach" was that of "usable yard area, particularly in the Mount Vernon District," according to Peter Graham, Department of Planning and Zoning. "You have to fit the criteria into the possibility," he said.
"If somebody does a really good job of addressing a particular issue we will be willing to consider a trade off on other items. What we have tried to do is define high quality. These development criteria are to be used in that context," Graham said.
The County's approach to the use of cash proffers and the Tishler Report, addressing that subject, drew the most questions from the assemblage of developers, residents, and interest groups. Proffers are payments or conditions offered to satisfy a specified requirement or provide resources.
Various jurisdictions in Virginia utilize cash proffers to address development impacts on public capital facility needs, according to the distributed material. On Oct. 22, 2001, the County Board of Supervisors was presented with the Cash Proffer Guidelines Feasibility Study prepared by Tischler and Associates.
That report assigned a dollar amount to be provided by developers, on a per unit bases, to furnish funds for the county to provide certain public services and facilities. It covered schools, parks, libraries, fire/EMS, and police.
Each category was assigned a specified amount. Developers would be required to provide the following based on the type of structures: Single Family Detached - $11,730; Single family Attached - $9,570; and Multi-family - $6,875.
This element of the overall criteria evaluation proposes three alternatives: 1. Continue the current practice, to negotiate on a case by case basis; 2. Institute two separate approaches, depending on the public facility being addressed; 3. Cash proffer or equivalency approach.