The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors gave the thumbs up, Monday, Jan. 6, for construction of 17 new townhouses in Centreville. The homes will be mostly brick and upscale, with garages, and will be built on almost 2 1/2 acres at Route 29 and ODay Drive.
But what makes this new community stand out from others in the local area is that its developer, the ALD Group, has agreed to contribute $30,000 toward improvements at the Barros Circle recreation area, across the street from the new neighborhood. The amount is nearly twice what developers normally donate toward recreation for that many homes.
The ALD Group came before the Board seeking a rezoning. To achieve the housing density its proposal requires — 6.8 homes per acre — it needed the property rezoned from its currently approved one home per acre to eight homes per acre. And that's what the Supervisors did.
"It was a problem site for some time," said Supervisor Michael R. Frey (R-Sully). "It should have been consolidated with Barros Circle, many years ago, but it wasn't."
In exchange for permission to build its townhouses, ALD will clean up and re-pave the Barros Circle basketball court and put in a tot lot where children can play four square, tetherball and other games. As things stand now, the play area doesn't have anything except two basketball hoops.
ALD will lower one of the existing basketball backboards so younger children can play. It will also put in lights so the children can play basketball later at night, and it'll erect a fence between the recreation area and Route 29 — and also between that area and the woods to the east — to prevent errant balls from getting lost in the trees. Barbecue grills and benches will be added, too.
"Most importantly, I think [ALD] showed sensitivity to the Barros Circle project," said Frey. "And the improvements that they're going to provide to the recreational facilities at Barros Circle are badly needed and will certainly be a benefit to the kids in that community. So, all in all, it worked out about as well as we could hope for."