Falls Church Considers Lower Profile For Project

City Weighs Shorter Downtown Buildings

A plan to redo Falls Church's downtown is likely to have a lower profile against the city skyline than initially envisioned but is expected to go forward, the mayor said.

Critics said they are still wary of its overall size.

Developers and city officials have been discussing possible changes to a $317 million plan for a redevelopment project that would reshape almost nine acres in the heart of the city. The most recent revision would lower the heights of the new buildings without reducing the number of dwellings.

The streetscape would include an eight-story hotel near the city's eponymous church, a new bowling alley on the site of a Bowl America closed because of storm damage, a new roundabout intersection and a Harris Teeter grocery store. There would also be two apartment towers, one for the elderly.

But deteriorating economic conditions have caused developers and city officials to reconsider aspects of the project, Mayor Robin S. Gardner said Monday. The apartment tower for older adults would be seven stories instead of the 11 discussed this year, and the Harris Teeter building would shrink by about two stories. The lower heights would not reduce the number of dwellings, Gardner said.

Other revisions requested by developers were deemed not acceptable, including a recent proposal to add assisted-living space for older people who required more intensive care. Gardner said moving away from a community for active older residents would not fit the city's plans for the site.

None of the changes is official, Gardner said. She said she hoped that a site plan could be submitted next month, following public conferences and hearings on the design.

"The important thing is, this is going forward," Gardner said.

Nader Baroukh, a City Council member who lives close to the project, said the changes intensify the concern that a shorter, denser hulk will be deposited in the city's midst.

By reducing height but not the number of dwellings, there will be less open air in the buildings' design, and the development will have to push west, toward Big Chimneys Park, Baroukh said.

"While it has been downsized in certain elements, there are changes to it that have made it more intense," Baroukh said.

Sam Mabry, former vice mayor, said the plan is too massive and will overwhelm nearby neighborhoods. Mabry also criticized developers' plan to fill the towers with one-bedroom apartments. Mabry said that although smaller apartments make financial sense because they would be marketed to older, childless residents who would need fewer city services, such as schools, the development would discriminate against families, in violation of the federal Fair Housing Act.

Mabry said city officials are unrealistic about the project's ability to help the city head off a shortfall of tax revenue.

The precipitous drop in housing values and tax assessments will compound the problem and could force the city to boost its tax rate by 50 percent in the next few years, Mabry said.

Mabry cited a Nov. 17 memo from John H. Tuohy, Falls Church's chief financial officer, that says the city's finances are on course to hit a $3.9 million shortfall in fiscal 2010. That gap could widen to $17.5 million by 2013.

"They're in a desperation mode," Mabry said. "There is a desire for a quick financial fix."

Mabry said officials need to trim staff and make government more efficient. He said the city also needs to focus on luring more businesses, because commercial properties use fewer services while contributing revenue.