CO MME NT
PAGE 16 | FEBRUARY 9 - 15, 2023
A Penny for Your Thoughts
News of Greater Falls Church By Supervisor Penny Gross
The human condition is always changing. Scholars and philosophers have observed that simple but significant fact for centuries. Local land use provides a good example of how some of the human condition has changed over time. The large estates and farms of early Fairfax County were succeeded by the pre-and-post-World War II suburban model of two-story brick colonial houses. In the early 1950s, thousands of brick and frame ramblers grew like crops on former farm fields as the county’s population skyrocketed. When the cost of land rose, young families found that townhouses provided more first-time buyer affordability. More recently, a demand for larger homes has changed the face of those older suburbs, with additions and, sometimes, teardowns to accommodate the larger structure footprint. Through it all, apartment complexes drew students, young government employees, and an increasingly diverse population to locate in Fairfax County. In tandem, the commercial sectors also grew to serve the residential neighborhoods. Most of those changes required some sort of zoning approval, which included community outreach, rigorous planning staff review, and Planning Commission consideration, before the Board of Supervisors made a final decision. Recognizing that land use needs change, Fairfax County instituted the Site-Specific Plan Amendment (SSPA) process to consider nominations for potential changes to the county’s Comprehensive Plan. Last fall,
nominations for land use changes were solicited, and 70 nominations countywide made the “first cut.” Five Mason District nominations were accepted for further review, and have been the subjects of community meetings before staff recommendations for the work program come to the Board next month. Mason District proposals included adding a multi-family building with retail on the Wilson Blvd. frontage of the existing Cavalier Club apartments in the Seven Corners area; the Arlington/Fairfax jurisdictional line runs through the property, but Fairfax County will consider only the portion proposed on the county side. Another nomination was received to amend the Plan for Pistone’s Restaurant and adjoining parcels. The nominator has been asked to provide more detail for their idea. In Bailey’s Crossroads, a longvacant large parcel along Church Street adjacent to the Bailey’s Crossroads Shopping Center is being proposed for a multifamily building with surface parking. In the Annandale area, several parcels on Gallows Road are proposed for consolidation to build about 20 single family homes. The final nomination, at the corner of Columbia Road and Little River Turnpike, proposes to build 105 apartments on a two-acre commercially zoned parcel. Community input generally was positive for Cavalier Club and a bit mixed for Pistone’s; there was support for housing on the Church Street parcels, but a lot of concern about surface parking instead of
a parking deck. The Gallows Road nomination was received positively, but with a strong admonition to address the traffic issues. Dozens of neighbors opposed the Little River Turnpike nomination, arguing that the parcel is better suited for retail uses. Most of the nominations were submitted for parcels that have been vacant or underused for many years. Change can be difficult, but change also must be considered to address the enormous population growth already in the region, with more forecasted to come. School buildings become senior living centers; shopping malls, a mid-century creation, are torn down to become hospital campuses and mixed-use residential locations. Highrise office buildings morph into live/work structures, and department stores give way to Amazon delivery vans. What was normal and comfortable for grandparents often is not what their grandchildren see in their future. Not all ideas for future development and redevelopment will move to fruition, but public engagement provides greater insight and, often, a better product in the end. Penny Gross is the Mason District Supervisor, in the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. She may be emailed at mason@fairfaxcounty.gov.
C i t y o f Fa l l s C h u r c h CRIME R EPORT Week of January 30 - February 5, 2023
Drunk in Public, W Broad St, January 30, 7:38 PM, a male, 28, of Woodbridge, VA, was arrested for Drunk in Public. Drunk in Public, Wilson Blvd, January 31, 2:27 PM, a male, 37, of no fixed address, was arrested for Drunk in Public. Trespass, S Maple Ave, February 1, 11 PM, a male, 43, of no fixed address, was issued a summons for trespass. Assault, S Maple Ave, February 4, 1:23 PM, a female, 34, of the City of Falls Church, was arrested for assault.
Drunk in Public, W Broad St, February 4, 10:30 PM, a male, 29, of Vienna, VA, was arrested for Drunk in Public and carrying a concealed weapon (fixed blade knife). Assault, W Broad St, February 5, 3:41 PM, two males who were possibly panhandling, became involved in an altercation. One man fled before the police arrived; the other was still on the scene and suffering from a stab wound. He was transported to a hospital in stable condition. The man who fled was described as 6 ft tall, with a full beard, brown jacket, and possibly a blue blanket around his shoulders or head.
FALLS CHURCH NEWS-PRESS | FCNP.COM
Delegate Kaye Korys
Richmond Report It is week 6 of the 2023 session of the General Assembly. Yesterday was Crossover--the date by which each body must send all bills that have originated in that body and been passed to the other body. In other words, the House sends all passed bills to the Senate to process and vote upon, and the Senate sends all its passed bills to the House. Senate bills sent to the House go through the same subcommittee, committee and floor vote process that bills originating in the House must navigate. If a bill fails in the crossed-over to body, it goes no further. If a bill is amended by the crossed-over to body, it must return to the body of origin and be passed again. If no agreement can be arrived at, the bill is sent to a conference committee consisting of members of both bodies and an agreement is usually found. That agreement must be passed by each body. Part of my legislative philosophy is to work on solving or at least shining light on problems/ issues that are not being attended to by other legislators, to support the work of legislators working in areas that I have championed in the past, to respond legislatively to constituent concerns and to file a few bills that are position statements--even though I know their passage is unlikely. This session, I have filed four bills supporting the rights of developmentally disabled Virginians. I was honored to be appointed to Chair the Disability Commission by Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn for the last two-year session. As such, I became an ally of the Virginia Board for People with Disabilities. This Board is federally required to exist in the language of the ADA. Their charge is to assess the services offered by our Commonwealth and to make recommendations to the General Assembly. The four bills I drafted and filed were based upon the VBPD’s assessment recommendations: HB2315: Directs the Dept of Medical Services and the Dept of Behavioral Health/Developmental Services to convene a work group, including representatives of community services boards, local departments of social services, the Dept of Aging and Rehabilitative Services, the ARC of Virginia, the Dept of Education, the Board of Education and other relevant stakeholders to identify information needed across all partners and to
determine how to enhance the existing data system or to implement a system that can easily integrate all existing data systems to make reliable information more accessible. The work group must report by Oct. 1, 2023. In a recent national study Virginia ranked 39th in accessibility of services and efforts to serve individuals with disabilities. My comment: We have an obligation and a responsibility to all Virginians, but especially the most vulnerable to make sure that the supports we offer are actually usable and used. Focus groups across the state emphatically reported that this is NOT the case now. This bill was passed by the Health, Welfare and Institutions Committee, the Appropriations Committee (even though it does not have a fiscal impact) and finally, the full HOD. HB1980: requires the Board of Education to include in its guidelines and model policies for codes of student conduct criteria for the use of non-exclusionary student discipline measures and to require that school systems report to the DOE on the use of instructional supports and behavioral interventions. The VBPD termed this bill as an effort to end the ‘school to prison pipeline’. HB1981: stipulates that the Bd of Ed’s Regulations Governing the Use of Seclusion and Restraint in Public Elementary and Secondary Schools apply to school security officers and School Resource Officers. This action would also disrupt the ‘school to prison pipeline’. HB1983: requires the DOE to establish a work group based on successful national models to consider the feasibility of hiring school safety coaches and other practices of positive behavior supports and traumainformed school security methods for students. Although none of these bills would have a fiscal impact and would be, frankly, mild responses to the needs of developmentally disabled students, all were defeated by the majority party on partyline votes. At my recent townhall, a constituent asked (without sarcasm) “Do you think these bills were voted down because of ignorance or lack of compassion?” My reply was “ignorance”--I do believe that ignorance of the needs of our more vulnerable children and adults is pervasive. We must work harder and louder to defeat this ignorance. We must start now. She may be emailed at DelKKory@house.virginia.gov.