MetroWest Builders Undeterred By Davis

"This is the only leverage that we have," Davis said last week. "Hopefully, we can sit down and work something out.

"I'm not a no-growther, but I have a strong opinion on this case."

Like the neighborhood opponents, Davis says he considers the project too dense. He also says that in approving the project, the county board focused too much on developing housing -- which the county says is necessary to accommodate new workers -- and too little on mitigating the traffic impact that would be created by new residents.

"They have just missed the whole transportation aspect," Davis said. "I think that's a mistake."

Davis has dismissed the charges from some county leaders that it is improper for a member of Congress to intervene to undermine a local government decision. He similarly rejects the idea that he did so because he fears that more Democrats than Republicans will fill the new housing at MetroWest.

"We represent the same people they represent -- sometimes better I think," he said of the county board members. "That issue has no credibility. We can't get involved in who moves in. It's a free country."

His wife, state Sen. Jeannemarie Devolites Davis (R-Fairfax), had inquired about ways to slow the project, according to Michael L. Toalson, executive vice president of the Home Builders Association of Virginia.

Toalson says Devolites Davis approached him in late December and said she wanted to scale back or eliminate the project -- but she wanted to know whether this could be done by the General Assembly without violating property rights.

"I said, 'Jeannemarie, for the life of me, I can't think of a way your involvement or the state legislature's involvement could be enacted that wouldn't affect one's property rights," Toalson recalls. "I never heard another word from her."

Devolites Davis has said she tried to get involved after hearing constituents' fears about development.

"I represent the Town of Vienna, and they are very concerned about the growth they are seeing at Tysons Corner and at Vienna Metro -- they're being squeezed."

The project's outcome hinges on the legal and political leverage the two sides bring to negotiations.

The leverage for the project's opponents lies with Davis and his control over the Metro-owned parcel of land. The parcel is about 150 feet wide, but because it is mostly occupied by a massive berm, it could stand as a significant barrier between the proposed development and the train station.

Settle says that although building the project without the Metro parcel would be a "travesty," the development is not dependent on it. Under his reading of county approvals, the developers simply could shift the planned buildings off the Metro parcel and onto the remainder of the property, losing less than 5 percent of its volume.

County officials are studying the legal effects of losing the Metro property, but say they haven't come to any conclusions.

"I'm not ruling anything in and I'm not ruling anything out," Fairfax Board Chairman Gerald E. Connolly (D) said. "I haven't seen a proposal."

Although some neighborhood groups approve of the project, some opponents say they are glad Davis has come to the rescue.

"I don't think it necessarily means the death knell for the project," said Will Elliott, one of the neighbors who has organized the opposition. "But we're certainly pleased that someone has said: 'Hey guys -- time out. This project might not be the greatest thing since sliced bread.' "

Staff writer Lisa Rein contributed to this report.