Council Approves Controversial Downtown Revitalization Project

The Falls Church City Council unanimously adopted a plan to renovate its downtown, over the objections of some residents and the city's planning commission. The vote came just about midnight yesterday after more than eight hours of comments and deliberations over two days.

Atlantic Realty, a Tysons Corner-based developer, will replace the city's center of vacant parking lots and buildings with an eight-story hotel, office buildings, residential units, a bowling alley and a Harris Teeter supermarket.

Construction could begin this summer if the developer and officials can resolve details about the site. The proposed schedule would take place in two phases and wrap up by 2013, according to the developers.

"This was a historic moment in the city," Mayor Robin S. Gardner said after the vote. "This is the largest decision we've had to make since the founding of our city. This project will help Falls Church, not only in terms of revenue, but in building a sense of place."

The $317 million project would add a million square feet of development to a four-block area near Broad and South Washington streets. Four small apartment buildings will have to condemned to make way for the project.

Critics said the project lacked distinction from other mixed-use developments in Northern Virginia.

Council member David Snyder said the project is an "utterly unoriginal design that does not reflect Falls Church."

"The city staff and leadership want this at all cost. They are wedded to it," he said in an interview before the vote. "I accept it because of the tax generation."

The completed project is expected to bring in almost $3 million a year in revenue.

Falls Church, a city of 11,000, wants to expand the commercial tax base to shift more of the burden from homeowners to businesses. The city has one of the area's best school systems and has largely paid for that success through increases in the real estate tax rate and, until recently, higher residential assessments.

The planning commission recently recommended that the council reject the project, citing concerns about financing.

Detractors also said that the project's mix of 60 percent residential and 40 percent commercial development was unbalanced and that the project wouldn't have enough parking, would lack access to transit and needs to include more open space.

The issue has sparked a referendum effort, led by former vice mayor Sam Mabry, to amend the city's charter so that on future projects the City Council can approve construction on a commercially zoned property only if it is 60 percent commercial or retail and 40 percent residential.

The Falls Church voter registrar office's said yesterday that enough signatures have been collected to certify the referendum for the May 6 ballot.

Even if the new measure is passed, it would have no effect on the City Center project, city officials said.