top of page

Approved - October 2022 Minutes

HCA Meeting October 6, 2022

Zoom meeting attendees: 39

Officers:

  • Tamara Srader, President

  • Mark Rogers, Vice President

  • Michelle Arsenault, Secretary

  • Michael Hamil, Treasurer


Call to Order @19:30

Approval of Minutes. The minutes from the September meeting were approved with minor changes.

Invited Guests’

The HCA heard presentations from two developers: Capital Investment Advisors (properties at 2550 and 2560 Huntington Avenue) and the IDI Group representing the Huntington Club Development.


Lynne Strobel and Steve Bannister of Capital Investment Advisors discussed three parcels at 2560 and 2550 Huntington. The development plan was approved in Nov 2012 but has not been developed. Currently there are a number of vacant offices, so the developer filed a plan amendment for residential with retail which was approved in 2018. The second property (at 2550) is under the same ownership and was purchased in 2016. 2560 is zoned I5 (industrial). The park space (in front of the Parker) is an interim use, and the plan is for multi-family residential with first floor retail and a plaza experience at corner of Huntington and Metro View Rd. At the office building and parking lot (2550 Huntington) the developer is proposing a multi-family residence with 200 units and 7 stories, structured parking, and first floor retail and a community center. They will also remove the impervious parking lot surface and restore the property. There is a planning commission hearing scheduled for March 30, 2023.

Steve Bannister added that at 2660 Huntington they are committed to 11K square feet of first floor retail, and a plaza on the street, but covered and set back. The units will be rentals only.

Slides from the presentation will be available and Tamara will post them on the HCA website and email them. Guests from various groups joined to discuss the Huntington Club Development.

Jolene King, IDI

Ronaldo Cintron, IDI

Evgenia Dmitrieva, IDI

Mark Looney, Cooley Attorney (slides)

Jeff Kreps, VIKA

Andrew Dybalski, Jefferson Apartment Group (JAG)

Greg Van Wie, JAG

Jon Adler, Dream Finders Homes

Michael Kalaris, Dream Finders Homes

Ross Irwin, Rodger Stephens


Mark Looney, Attorney with Cooley, presented a slide show highlighting the proposed development at Huntington Club. Tamara will share the slides via email and on the website.

Final development plan for Phase 1 is underway. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the plan in December 2021. The development consists of townhouse units (both stacked and not) on North Kings Highway, and a high-rise apartment building (18-20 stories) on Huntington Ave. The high rise will be part of phase 2 or 3 and was not represented in the renderings. Committed to ground floor retail, several public areas, parks, green “muses” separating townhouses, improvements to Huntington Ave, and several retaining walls since they are building on a steep grade. Ray Novitske provided feedback about the retaining walls at an earlier presentation and the developers acknowledged his contribution.


Timeline:

Planning Commission Public hearing is November 16, 2022. Once approved, they will provide a series of site plans for final design work and will be ready for county approval in early 2023. October 2023 termination of Huntington Club, commencement of demolition of units for phase 1.


Tamara suggested taking a couple of questions on the call and collecting the remainder via a Google doc/feedback form which she will maintain and share with the developers. Members asked questions about timelines (Phase 1 starts in 2023 and the townhouses on North Kings Highway will be completed in early 2026). Townhouses will be for sale (~700K), not rentals.


Treasurer’s Report.

Tamara thanked members for joining the HCA and paying dues. We have doubled our membership since the September meeting.

  • Currently there are 41 paying members, and we have $912.11 in our account.

  • Tamara has been paying committee dues out of her pocket and needs to be reimbursed.

  • The PayPal form was updated and will now ask for your address.

  • Dues are $12.00/year and are collected at the beginning of each year. https://www.huntingtononline.org/join-hca

Committee and Other Reports

  • Mt. Vernon Council meetings. http://www.mvcca.org/record-archive

    • Environment and Recreation Committee (E & R) (Rep. Alan Ruof). E & R discussed a presentation for the redevelopment of 6100 Richmond Highway/Days Inn. The site is in the 100-year flood plain and is a resource protection area. The developers want to change hotel rooms to rentals and remove parking lot/impervious surface. It’s still early in the process, and they have more discussion to come. Alan mentioned recent changes to the flood maps/areas and will share them with Tamara to post.

    • Planning & Zoning Committee (Rep. Ray Novitske). The Planning & Zoning Committee had the same presentation that the HCA saw tonight on the two properties along Huntington, and the Huntington Club. Ray provided comments to the developers of the Huntington Club about a retaining wall design, and the fact that there were no heights listed, and they were responsive to the suggestions and addressed them tonight. The P & Z Committee was supportive of the development at the corner of Metro View and Huntington Ave., which includes retail on the 1st floor and a community space. The development on the opposite side of the Parker has also proposed a community center, which seems unnecessary. The Planning and Zoning Committee told them the HCA would be more interested in retail, not a second community center.

    • Tamara initiated a Google form so HCA members can add questions for the developers who presented tonight. The link was included in the chat. Yi asked about sharing the Google form and slides outside of the HCA with other community associations in the area for awareness.

    • Infill Development (Ray Novitske). Meeting was postponed until next week.

    • Public Safety Committee (Rep. Jason Zaragoza). Met this past Tuesday. Katie Watts of the Alexandria Police updated the group on crime stats and staffing. Theft from motor vehicles and car thefts were the two highest. As for staffing, there is currently no parking enforcement officer, but we should have one soon. Bike lanes and crosswalk improvements are in the Huntington Transportation study as recommendations but won’t be implemented for a while. Bert asked about County plans for bike lanes and suggested that the community needs to the hold their feet to the fire to make sure they implement it. Ray (Alan?) offered some history of bike lanes and Huntington Ave. VDOT came to an HCA meeting about 7 years ago and talked about bike lanes. There used to be a striped lane in the middle of the Huntington for bikes, but it wasn’t safe, and because Huntington is not very wide to begin, they determined that bike lanes weren’t a good idea. Also, 7 years prior to the last visit, the County studied Huntington for possibly expanding it to 6 lanes! For more info on the road diet/bike lanes on Huntington, see www.Virginiadot.org/programs/resources/bike/23671-

    • Jason added that if the HCA has individual items, like a flashing crosswalk light, we can approach Storck’s office for quicker implementation.

    • The Mt. Vernon Committees are always looking for volunteers, and anyone may attend.

    • Education Committee (Mark Rogers). So far, the education committee has met once. The discussion was mostly technical and focused on Fairfax County public schools’ administration and funding. They had an accounting of covid funds (180M) and how the money is/was being spent. The key takeaway is that the money is being monitored.

President’s Report. Update from Tamara Srader.

  • Tamara mentioned yellow signs around metro announcing a Planning Commission meeting, October 19 at 7:30. On the docket – a change to the comprehensive plan. Metro wants to develop the entire property. Meeting is open for public comment, and everyone is encouraged to watch and participate. The planning commission meetings are held at the FF County Government Center Building. Ways to participate and or comment: in person, via email, via phone, via video, or on Channel 16. Tamara and Jason did a walk-through of the property and the strip of trees behind Biscayne Drive with Supervisor Storck and his assistant Nick. Jason said they (and others) were able to get Supervisor Storck to strip the language to develop this strip out of consideration, so the land where the trees sit will not be developed, although they could remove the trees.

  • Officer nominations/elections. HCA officer elections for 2023 will be held at the next HCA meeting (November 3). There are four leadership positions – President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. If anyone is interested in running or volunteering, please come forward. In order to run for office, or vote, you have to be a dues-paying member.

Member Time.

  • Jerry mentioned the dumpster next to the Arden is odorous and they don’t seem willing to do anything about it. He asked how to get this resolved. A member suggested approaching the county

  • In-person meetings. Tamara indicated that she does not have time to coordinate in-person meetings but can facilitate Zoom meetings.

  • Megan asked how to report graffiti for levee. The graffiti is on the frontside of the levee at end of Fenwick. Alan was unsure but will find out. Nick mentioned that he reported graffiti a couple years ago by calling the police non-emergency number, because the county maintains a database of such things.

  • Kate asked about the trees next to the Final Salute house at the top of Biscayne Drive. Tamara indicated that the trees between the house and the Aventon development were cut down, in violation of the agreement. According to the Board president the trees were “damaged” during repair of a retaining wall, so the developer removed them. ☹

  • The group discussed all the development in the area and subsequent environmental degradation and loss of habitat. There is a committee on environment quality committee, but they seem to just check boxes when they are developing, rather than protecting space. People are welcome to attend the meetings.

  • Linda Zackin mentioned local non-profits to help plant indigenous trees and suggested connecting the folks at the final salute.

  • Several neighbors have been working all year to pull out invasives and replant at the top of Biscayne.

  • If you would like to discuss a specific topic at the next meeting, please email Tamara Srader, HCA president prior to the meeting at president@huntingtononline.org)

Area Associations’ Time. N/A

Other Elected Representatives’ Time. N/A

Public Time. N/A

The meeting was adjourned at 21:16


bottom of page