Residents near the site where a developer wants to build a 23-story apartment and retail complex in Ballston say the building will tower over its neighbors and increase congestion in the already dense Arlington neighborhood.
The complex, proposed for the southeast corner of Fairfax Drive and North Vermont Street, would be a tower of steel and glass amid a cluster of brick buildings. Plans call for it to have 237 residential units and, on the ground level, about 9,200 square feet of retail space, officials said.
Neighbors say the development will add to the daily traffic headaches of the 1,000 residents of the small block, which is already home to five residential and office buildings, said Glenn Elliott, president of the Ballston Smart Growth Alliance, a group that represents the residents.
"We don't oppose the development of the site," said Elliott, a resident of The Continental at Ballston, a 411-unit condominium high-rise adjacent to the site of the proposed 23-story building. "Our issue is the direct effect it will have on the area, with more congestion and overpopulation. It's important for us that the overall size be kept down."
Some parts of the proposal are also being opposed by a neighboring senior center.
The Ballston Smart Growth Alliance challenged the building plans at two meetings last month and presented the county Planning Commission with a 10-page report proposing several changes, including eliminating all but three surface parking lots on the site, creating an underground parking garage, re-routing traffic from a narrow alley that serves pedestrian and vehicular traffic from the existing buildings to a different side of the new building, and limiting the building's height.
The 21-story Continental, which opened in November 2003 at 851 N. Glebe Rd., sits among a cluster of high-rise buildings in the rapidly developing Ballston community, part of the Rosslyn-Ballston corridor that has become a focal point for development in Arlington.
The Jefferson apartments, a complex for seniors, shares an alley with the condo residents. Nearby are two office buildings -- the 12-story, 28,618-square-foot Arlington Gateway and the Ellipse, which houses the Ellipse Arts Center among its tenants -- and the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association.
In addition, a 336-room Westin Hotel is being built across the street.
"We have many concerns," Elliott said. "It's already highly populated for the space, with very narrow alleyways that will only get worse."
But county officials said the site plans, which call for the development of 6.21 acres -- 5.57 of which have already been approved -- are consistent with the county's planned density for Ballston.
"The fact that it's tall is a problem that other high-rise tenants have, but they have to realize that it is compliant with the overall plan for the area," said Terry Savela, vice-chair of the county's Planning Commission.
