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High-Rise Plans Draw Complaints
Ballston Residents Worry About Overcrowding

By Jamie Stockwell
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 18, 2005; VA03

Quotes:

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."

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.

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.

The proposed building -- referred to as "The Fairmount" because of the existing five-story structure by that name at the site -- will bring "architectural relief to the area" by virtue of its steel and glass design, Savela said. Its construction also offers the county a major bonus: A new west-side entrance for the Ballston Metro station. The developer, The JBG Companies, agreed to build the Metro entrance in exchange for "bonus density" -- additional square footage.

"That entrance has been desired for a long time," Savela said, adding, "And it will really help the property values in that
area."

As important as the Metro station is to the area's residents, Elliott said, the group opposes the county's bonus density deal with The JBG Companies.

© 2005 The Washington Post Company