Plan for Homes, Shops Approved in Manassas

The first mixed-use development project in Manassas was approved Monday night by the City Council, clearing the way for new homes, loft apartments, shops and a Harris Teeter market on one of the city's largest remaining undeveloped parcels.

Opus East LLC, a subsidiary of the Minnesota-based Opus Group, can now proceed with its construction plans for the Hastings Marketplace project, a combination of 141 residential units and 126,000 square feet of commercial space on a 29-acre lot bordered by Wellington Road, Lake Jackson Road, Liberia Avenue and Hastings Drive in southern Manassas. The company plans to begin construction next year.

Opus East's application to have the area rezoned from residential and agricultural to planned mixed-use has been debated and revised several times, in the course of nine public hearings to hammer out details. The company has made a series of compromises over the past year -- for example, scaling back the number of townhouses in its proposal from 125 to 61 in the face of objections from neighborhood residents concerned about density, visual impact and increased traffic.

Monday's council approval was unanimous, but at least one member said later that he still had reservations about the project.

"On the positive side, it'll be a nice entrance to the city from the [Prince William] Parkway," said Marc T. Aveni, the only council member to vote against the project at last week's hearing, the first of two necessary for full approval.

"At the same time, it's going to increase traffic in an area that is already becoming more congested," Aveni said. "It is going to send more kids to our school system. And those are going to have to be dealt with."

Opus East has proffered $1.1 million to the city, including $983,000 to the school system. The city calculates that the net fiscal impact of the development will amount to $427,000 a year in added tax revenue.

The plan approved Monday calls for a Harris Teeter at Prince William Parkway and Hastings Drive. Loft-style apartments with smaller retail shops on the ground floor will line a new street, called Market Street, bisecting the project and connecting Hastings Drive to Wellington Road. The vast majority of the residences will be built east of Market Street -- 61 townhouses and 46 single-family residences. The development will also include a park and other green space.

"We think it'll be a good plan, and we support it," said Jim Rogers, president of the Neighborhood Relations Committee, an ad hoc group that initially opposed the project but supports the new, less dense version.

"We realize, hey, this is going to be developed," he said. "We just want it done right."

Rogers said his group also pushed the council and Opus East to take measures aimed at mitigating traffic in the area, such as re-landscaping some streets to discourage motorists from taking shortcuts through residential neighborhoods.

Opus East attorney John Foote said the idea behind planned mixed-use projects such as Hastings Marketplace is to put residences at a walking distance from shopping areas, not an effort "to re-create Old Town."

"It's going to be unlike anything in Manassas," he said.

Other mixed-use projects are also planned for the city. The council approved a resolution Monday to initiate rezoning for the Gateway Boulevard project in the Manassas Gateway Business Park.