TC 5-25-10 Meeting Summary
TC 5-25-10 Meeting Summary
TOWN CENTER COMMITTEE
AGENDA - 5/25/10
Administrative
– Tight schedule today; lot to cover; ask that all (both in Open Forum and Committee
discussion) keep comments tight
Open Forum (5 minutes)
Rob Whitfield suggested there needs to be some summary of existing conditions in TCN; Rob
Hanna expressed support for the “town green” concept.
I. Presentation from Rockwood Capital (new owner of the Sallie Mae building) (10
minutes, Johanna Kiev presenting)
Johanna Kiev indicated that Rockwood is now owner of the Sallie Mae building. SM
remains a partial tenant on a multi-year lease; however, the lease may be terminated if
Rockwood can find a tenant willing to fully lease the space. Long term Rockwood is open
to redeveloping the site, and has some interest in residential (especially on the eastern
portion of the site with a residential tower). There is a lot of parking underground so this
could create some flexibility. Keen interest in creating better connectivity to the core and
the Metro station and open to collaborating on solutions that would improve both.
II. Committee Discussion (75 minutes)
a. Four big issues perhaps not yet at consensus:
i. Open Space: opining on “Savannah Squares” and 200’ strip down existing
FCPA parcel in addition to Town Green?
After viewing the depictions of the various options that Rae prepared, the
Committee by consensus agreed that it should stay with its original focus – a
more central “town green” space. There was concern that the space could
not accommodate true Savannah Squares (smaller pocket parks should not
be precluded) and that advocating for a wide park use of the existing FCPA
parcel ought not be done while also arguing for a large “town green” – there
needs to be enough developable land to make the other public goods
embodied in the straw man a reality. This does not preclude other options or
configurations; indeed, language suggesting other open space augmenting
the “town green” should be added and the Committee liked Pete’s suggested
language (that configurations other than the straw man are possible and final
layout will be determined by negotiations with the landowners, but the straw
man is indicative of our major themes). It was also agreed the buffer around
the potential police station block should be taken out as inconsistent with our
recommendations of a more urban design; language about softening the e-w
edges of through streets could be added.
ii. Commitment to “animated” Fountain Drive as retail corridor
Agreed this language should be changed to better reflect two key goals: 1)
our straw man helps animate the “intersections” along Fountain (not
necessarily the entire drive) for retail, thus complementing the Spectrum
approved concept plan; and 2) a road diet along Fountain should also be
considered.
iii. Non-res:res ratio: 1:1 and 35 du/ac or something different?
There was a great deal of discussion about what the goals of this intensity
might be. There was a sense that a key goal is to create a strong residential
component (consistent with transit-oriented development). Susan
emphasized the need for workforce and low-income housing; Joe argued for
creating better balance between the resident TC labor force and TC jobs. In
comparison to the TC urban core, Mark suggested that the UC today is at
0.95 non-res FAR and that residential is about ½ the 50 du/ac at +/- 2500
units. Key takeaways:
- We’d like to see greater residential balance in TCN as compared to the
urban core; and
- we should stay with 50 du/ac.
The Committee agreed the co-chairs should propose a trigger mechanism,
probably based on dwelling units, that would create a tiered approach: Inova
could develop up to the existing 0.7 FAR so long as the grid and open space
were delivered and could go to 0.9 FAR if a strong residential component
was delivered. New language would be proposed next week.
iv. New Dominion crossings
The Committee liked the new language proposed, and suggested adding the
following:
- ND is an important collector for FCP and RP and that should not change;
- RMAG suggested a road diet that we endorse, especially between Fountain
and Explorer;
- traffic calming for the whole study area; and
- look to especially create strong ped/bike crossings north-south into the
conceived open green area.
b. Mark up draft section of Committee report addressing TCN
III. Future schedule:
a. June 1: 1st half finish on TCN mark up; 2nd half start South side – how to get
additional stakeholders here?
b. June 8: Start to put together “straw man” for areas North and South of Metro Station
c. June 15: Further discussion on “straw man” and identifying key concepts for pieces
of Committee report related to same
d. June 22: Presentation and discussion of section of Committee report dealing with
Metro north and south
e. June 29: up to 30 minutes for community comment on consolidated Committee
report; remainder Committee discussion to try to finalize Committee report
