Category: MAC zoning

Unlike most of my other posts, I have no hard data here.  I’m just going to tell you how I see it.

Sunrise is a major US corporation that has likely spent millions of dollars buying land and putting a contingent contract on land and preparing plans to build an assisted living facility in Vienna.  Presumably, the Mayor invited them in and quietly assured them that they would be able to build here.  At the very least, the Town was talking about a development at Maple and Center long before there was any public acknowledgement that it would be a Sunrise assisted living facility.

To get to the point, if you think the Town of Vienna could stop them from building anything they wanted, at this point, you’re probably out of touch with reality. Continue reading A little reality check regarding Sunrise and others, 2-28-2019

Edit:  The Town’s audio is up now.  Theirs has vastly less less crowd noise, but mine is louder, and might be more understandable for the quieter speakers.  Take your pick.

You can find it at this link.  On my system, the only browser that can deal with the Granicus system used by the Town is Chrome.   If you don’t like the Granicus player, you can download the file (slowly) and play it on your own system.

To avoid confusion, I’ll post the “index” that matches the Town’s audio file here, on this page.  The only major difference I see is that I left the tape running during the break and replaced that with silence.  The Town just cut that out.  The times in this file are approximate right for the Town’s recording.  If you use my recording (Google Drive link below), use the index stored with my recording.

2019-02-27 Planning Commission work session index for TOV audio

Original post follows. Continue reading 2019-02-27 Planning Commission Work Session, audio and index to audio

I have a lot to say about last night’s Planning Commission work session, but I’m going to start my day by pointing out yet another bit of sleight-of-hand from our Department of Planning and Zoning.

The story so far.  MAC zoning was sold, in part, on the notion that the buildings would be limited to four floors.  Although some Planning Commission members now profess that this is irrelevant, I’ll remind people that the functional point of limiting the number of floors is to keep density down.  This wasn’t some frill tacked onto the law purely for the look of it.  It is the Town’s crude, home-grown method analogous to the Floor Area Ratio (FAR) regulations used by more sophisticated entities (such as Falls Church).  It means you can cram only-so-much sellable or rentable floor space onto these MAC-zoned lots. Continue reading Oh, you meant residential mezzanine? Five floors are just fine then, 2/28/2019.

As you can read in my just-prior posting, the Town surprised me by posting the video from last night’s meeting in a very timely fashion.  For those of you who would rather not watch the entire video, here’s my “index” of the video.  It’s an Excel workbook (.xls) showing times within the Town meeting video, and my brief notes for what was being said at that time, by whom.  You can scan it for items of interest, then go to the video to see what was said.

2019-02-25 Town Council meeting, index to video

Use this along with the Town’s video.  You can find the Town’s video at this link.  On my computer, the only browser that will play the video is Chrome.

I suppose that, because I did the work, I can use this index to point out a few things.  Please keep in mind that times are approximate, and may be off by a few seconds here or there.
Continue reading Index to Town Council 2-25-2019 Video, posted 2-26-2019

I’m going to have to rely on my neighbors to tell me what happened at last night’s (2/25/2019) “community engagement” meeting regarding the proposed 40 condo building at 380 Maple West.

I lasted about 60 seconds before I had heard enough and walked out.  And this is from a guy who has spent a big chunk of the past few months sitting in on public meetings, hearing stuff I didn’t want to hear.   As you can tell from the contents of this website.  And, as it turns out, I wasn’t the only one to walk out.  I was merely the first. Continue reading Community engagement plan, 2/26/2019

I attended the Board of Architectural Review meeting last night, but due to “operator error” (i.e., my stupidity) I did not manage to record it.  What follows are my notes, based on what was going to be the timing guide to the audio recording. Continue reading 2/21/2019 BAR meeting — notes only, no audio recording, 2/22/2019

At last night’s (2/21/2019) BAR meeting, we learned that there’s no wall separating the proposed Wawa from the adjacent neighborhood because, in 1974, the Town judged that a wall was not needed for that property.  And, apparently, despite the change in use (from a quiet little office building to a potentially 24/7/365 convenience store), … because they didn’t need one in 1974, the Town thinks they don’t need one now.  Or they can’t legally require one now.  Or something along those lines.

For their part, Wawa said that putting in the wall that would be required under Vienna commercial zoning regulations (masonry wall, 6′ tall, along the entire property line) would result in killing some mature trees.  So they didn’t want to be seen a stepping in and immediately cutting down mature trees.  Instead, Wawa offered to put in additional low (3′ to 4′) evergreen shrubbery along that lot line.

Fair enough.  But shrubbery doesn’t stop noise.  What to do?

Let me offer a suggestion:  Wawa should consider voluntarily putting in a 6′ concrete panel fence at the back of their property.

Detail follows. Continue reading Wawa wall, proposed solution, 2/22/2019

Wawa is going to occupy the vacated Coldwell Banker building at Maple and Nutley.     That is going to be discussed by the Town of Vienna Board of Architectural Review at 8 PM tonight 2/21/2109), and they are accepting comments from the public at this meeting.  You can find the most recent plans by going to this page, then clicking the link for Wawa.

While I feel sorry for the folks living behind that, mainly I’m relieved that this isn’t going to be another large MAC building.  As it stands, the Wawa will have more publicly accessible green space, more trees, and vastly more visual “open space” than 380 Maple West.  Despite having more or less the same size and shape of lot.

The wall at the back of that lot has come up as a fairly important issue.  Or, really, the lack of a wall at the back of that lot. Continue reading Wawa wall, 2/21/2019