Dunn Loring Gardens in Vienna looks like a neighborhood that hasn't changed since it was built in the 1940s. And that's exactly what Helen and Flint Webb like about it.
For the last six and a half years, the Webbs and their children have lived on Westchester Drive, a leafy street with one-story brick houses and one-car garages minutes away from Gallows Road and barely a mile and a half from the Vienna metro station right on the Washington and Old Dominion Trail.
But a proposed rezoning on a seven-acre plot of land on the east side of Dunn Loring Gardens has kicked up a storm in the community. The proposal put forward by the BBV Building Companies and head developer John Batal, would place 14 houses on the parcel, that used to be a goat farm.
The district supervisor, Gerry Connolly (D-Providence), has received more than $1,000 in campaign contributions from people associated with the developer in his bid for Board Chairman this year.
The case is set to go to a public hearing before the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 20. Francis McDermott, an attorney representing the developer, downplayed the effect of campaign contributions in an election year and said that there was nothing wrong with the development.
RESIDENTS HAVE criticized Connolly for accepting campaign contributions from John Batal and other BBV employees as well as McDermott. Since May, Connolly has received $1,585 from people linked to Batal and the BBV Companies.
Linda Smyth, the Providence District Planning Commissioner who voted to support the rezoning also received donations from similar donors in her quest to replace Connolly as Providence supervisor this year, but announced at the Planning Commission public hearing that she had returned them.
"It just didn't seem appropriate to have a case pending that the developer was handing me money up front," she said.
Connolly has not said whether he will return the money but he did defer the board's public hearing on the case to make sure that legal documents filed with the county disclosed the contributions to his campaign. The contributions are legal, fully disclosed and have no impact on land use decisions, Connolly said.
"I will abide by the law," he said. "I haven't focused on the case yet."
To McDermott, the donations are not an issue because, he said, "A, they're minimal, and B, they're disclosed."
"Every citizen in this country whether individual or corporate or business has the right to participate in the political process and should participate in the process," he added.
But Flint Webb is not satisfied. "It stinks," he said. "And it certainly has poisoned the neighborhood against Gerry Connolly. It looks like he's corrupt. I'm not going to vote for him."
To Webb, the situation is similar but on a much smaller scale to two Tyson’s Corner rezonings brought forth by West Group and the Lerner Corporation. In those cases, Connolly, who has received thousands of dollars from both companies, pushed for passage of the rezonings.
"It would be one thing if it were some multi-million dollar development up in Tysons. I'd expect there to be some dirty politics on that thing," he said. "But this is small potatoes. Why are they even offering such a bribe? Maybe they think nobody's going to notice if it's such a small piece."
"If that's the way the world runs then that stinks and that's the reason why people don't vote," he added.
FOR THE PAST four years, the residents of Dunn Loring Gardens, the county and the developer have been working to figure out what to put on the seven-acre plot. Residents say they are not opposed to building on the site but that they want any development to be well designed.
"The neighborhood would not be opposed to a good design with 14 houses," said Flint Webb. "We just haven't seen one."
If the developer agreed to build 13 houses instead of 14, "a whole bunch of problems go away," he added.
The design includes a cul-de-sac with a short street veering off to the left known as a "pipe stem."
Flint Webb said that six houses are on the pipe stem street even though a county ordinance requires that pipe stems have no more than five houses. To get around the ordinance, he said, the developer extended the property line of one of the houses so that, technically, the house is on Gallows Road, even though the piece on Gallows is separated from the rest of the property by a sound wall.
"That piece of land, [the future homeowner] is responsible for maintaining it but he can't even get to it from his property. That's nuts," said Webb.
Reached at his office, John Batal, a developer with BBV, refused to comment for this article.
Smyth, the planning commissioner, who supported the application said that the pipe stem street "is something that the county has done any number of times before."
Webb also noted that one of the houses sits on a 21-foot slope.
"That's two stories," he said, "which is going to make it very difficult to put a house on there that doesn't have some problems."
Batal has proposed a retaining wall to even out the property somewhat.
To Helen Webb, one of the biggest concerns is that construction trucks might use her street, Westchester Drive, to get to the development. The trucks would tear up the street, she said, and place children walking to school bus stops at risk. Although the developer agreed to put the construction entrance on Gallows Road, the Virginia Department of Transportation said that the company won't be able to use the Gallows Road entrance if the construction trucks track dirt onto the street.
Karen Hunt, a resident of neighboring Stonewall Manor, also said parking might be a problem in the new development.
"We all know that people have more generally speaking than two vehicles per household, especially when you come to a certain income category and these houses aren't going to be cheap," she said. "I believe it's poor planning and I fail to understand why the county is supporting something like that."
Webb said he was "trying to do my best to work out for the interests of the people who will be my neighbors," he added. "If I were in their shoes, I would hope that my neighbors would be looking out for my interests."
Francis McDermott, Batal's attorney, noted that Batal has proffered to build trails linking the community to the W&OD trail after residents of Dunn Loring Gardens asked for them.
"The density is absolutely appropriate under the current plan and considering our adjacency to Gallows Road."
Smyth also defended the application, saying that the developer would preserve more trees than it is legally required to. Batal also contributed money for parks as part of its proffers. But the company balked at giving the county $10,000 for a bus shelter, offering $5,000 instead.