Harry E. Wells Building • 300 Park Avenue • Falls Church, Virginia 22046 • 703-248-5350 •

www.fallschurchva.gov

DATE: June 21, 2017

TO: Carly Aubrey, AICP, Senior Planner

FROM: Greg Garland, Development Services AAB Liaison

SUBJECT: Architectural Advisory Board Comments, Cottage Houses

The Architectural Advisory Board met on June 7, 2017, and discussed special exception

application for 1006 Railroad Avenue, by Butz-Wilbern Architects & The Young Group, for

cottage housing development. The following is a summary of the board’s comments.

Overall the concept of smaller homes for seniors seems like a great idea and a good concept for

many seniors in the city wanting to downsize. Listed below are potential issues:

1. The 18" high walkway could be problematic especially for seniors as they could trip and fall

off. Would recommend handrails, or other guide rails be included.

2. The W&OD Trail is very close, seems that there should be more security provisions such as

more lighting and possibly have the community gated.

3. Safety in the common house needs to be improved for the guests that stay in the upper

bedroom. The rest of the house is open to others.

4. The trash can area seems far for many of the residents and may need to come up with some

other arrangements for getting the trash out to the street.

5. It is a very small plot of land and would be better to have fewer cottages with more parking

and green space.

Harry E. Wells Building • 300 Park Avenue • Falls Church, Virginia 22046 • 703-248-5001 • www.fallschurchva.gov

DATE: June 19, 2017

TO: Mayor Tarter and Members of City Council

FROM: Citizens Advisory Committee on Transportation (CACT)

SUBJECT: Proposed Railroad Avenue Cottages project

Introduction

On May 8, 2017 the City Council referred the proposed Railroad Cottages project to City Boards and

Commissions for comment. The CACT discussed the project at its June 14 meeting following a

presentation by the developer. This memo responds to the City Council’s referral.

Comments

• Parking: The proposed 13 spaces are most likely adequate for this type of development. It is our

understanding from City staff that development projects that have been built in recent years are

“overparked” – meaning there are more spaces than necessary. In general, we support the City’s

intention to lower its parking ratios for new development projects, but as this is a new type of

development for the City, it is difficult to be certain that the low number of spaces will be

adequate. The installation of 6 additional parallel parking spaces at the northern edge of the

property would offer residents and visitors a “safety valve” for parking and may help to assuage

some of the concern about parking from neighbors. There was some uncertainty at our meeting

as to whether these 6 spots were permissible, however: the developer said yes, the neighbors

said no. Clarification from the City is needed; we recommend these additional spots be

approved.

• Vehicle access/local traffic: Railroad Avenue is an extremely narrow road where cars traveling

in opposite directions must sometimes back out to negotiate one another. Any development on

this site, whether it's the Railroad Cottages project or 4 single-family homes, will result in an

increase of roughly 50 trips per day. Neighboring residents have raised concerns about

pedestrian safety as a result of these increased trips, specifically at the corner of Railroad and

Fowler where there is limited visibility. Perhaps a marked crosswalk could be installed at this

location to offer pedestrians and cyclists increased visibility to drivers. The developer plans to

install grass pave to widen Railroad and offer a turnaround for emergency vehicles. This material

Harry E. Wells Building • 300 Park Avenue • Falls Church, Virginia 22046 • 703-248-5001 • www.fallschurchva.gov

would be an improvement on the current asphalt and much more appropriate for the park

setting of the W&OD trail.

• Transportation Demand Management Plan: The developer’s TDM plan is relatively minimal –

though they are not required to submit anything at all. It includes the VP of the community

association serving as a carpooling manager, as well as shared bikes and a golf cart for ferrying

groceries and sundries around the property (for example, from a distant parking space to a

resident's front door). The developer does not plan to write the requirements of the TDM plan

into the bylaws for the community because they are difficult to change. This makes sense, but

may mean that the residents could opt to discard elements of the TDM plan in the future. It is

our recommendation that the Association should report at least annually to the City on the

progress in the implementation of their TDM.

• W&OD Trail: It is our understanding from the developer that NOVA Parks was not receptive to

their offer of improvements near the W&OD trail, such as an air supply for bicycles and welcome

signage. This is unfortunate, as it seems like a missed opportunity to enhance an important

entrance to the City of Falls Church.

• Neighborhood concerns: Finally, we would like to note that neighbors of the proposed Railroad

Cottages still harbor strong concerns about the project. They do not think the parking is

adequate and are concerned about potential pedestrian/vehicular conflicts as a result of the

increased number of trips on Railroad. Council should be mindful that any development of this

parcel (cottages or SFHs) will have an outsized impact on the residents of Railroad Avenue and

neighboring streets.

June 7, 2017

TO: Carly Aubrey, Senior Planner

FROM: Mike Novotny, EDA Chairman

SUBJECT: Railroad Cottages

On June 6, 2017 the EDA Board of Directors approved the following motion by a vote of four

members in favor, none against, and two abstaining (Mr. Young and Mr. Pelton abstained

due to potential conflicts, Mr. Saltzberg was absent):

The EDA recommends City Council moves forward with the Special Exception application

from Railroad, LLC for cottage housing at 1006 Railroad Avenue, with special consideration

given to addressing the following board member comments:

1. Confirm the age restrictions cannot be circumvented by residents, apply to both

ownership and rental housing, and there are clear and reasonable enforcement

mechanisms for the City;

2. Confirm there are sufficient requirements in the deed documents or otherwise for

appropriate long-term maintenance of the houses and grounds;

3. Require high quality construction materials in developer’s voluntary concessions,

including applicant’s stated commitment to hardie siding;

4. Confirm developer is committing to effective stormwater management

improvements;

5. Confirm developer is sufficiently resolving and managing overflow and offsite parking

demand;

6. Confirm emergency access to the site;

7. Direct staff to develop design guidelines for cottage housing “in conjunction with” this

project, to establish a set of ‘lessons learned’ and guidelines that can be applied to

future special exceptions for similar projects.

In conclusion, the voting board members believes this project brings a welcomed diversity to

the City’s housing stock, but would like to ensure it is done in a high quality manner and

addresses remaining open issues to the full extent possible.

cc: Rick Goff, Economic Development Director

1

DATE: June 23, 2017 TO: Carly Aubrey, Department of Development Services – Planning

FROM: Environmental Sustainability Council (ESC)

Cory Firestone Weiss, Chair SUBJECT: Proposed Railroad Cottages Special Exception

Summary The Environmental Sustainability Council (ESC) strongly supports the proposed Railroad Cottages "special exception" application as referred to Boards and Commissions. The ESC believes this project will be a premier local example of high-efficiency sustainable development to inspire City residents and other developers as City housing stock is upgraded and replaced. The ESC advises the City to approve the proposed project and recommends that the City:

• Confirm that EarthCraft Gold certification will be obtained for each structure built on the

proposed site, and

• Encourage the developer to fully offset the stormwater impacts of the site, including both water

quantity and quality impacts

Compared to the by-right construction potential on these lots, the proposed project will most likely result in significantly lower greenhouse gas emissions over time. It is therefore consistent with recent City Council resolutions supporting the Paris Climate agreement and committing to lower the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, there are other elements of the project that support the City’s long history of promoting environmental stewardship. This includes the potential of the development to exceed the stormwater management obligations of by-right development, depending on agreed voluntary concessions and the developer’s ability to obtain stormwater easements from neighbors. This also includes the Condominium Association’s long-term obligation to maintain the site’s approved landscaping, which would not apply to houses built by-right. While it is possible that by-right development of three or four houses on the site might achieve the same overall environmental benefits of the proposed development, neither recent building trends nor building code requirements indicate that this outcome is likely, particularly with respect to energy consumption. Consequently, the ESC supports the project. The ESC’s Energy Transition Sub-committee has provided an analysis below of the proposed project’s greenhouse gas emissions compared to likely by-right development. Greenhouse Gas Emissions

1

Relative to current conditions on the Railroad Avenue site, any development will increase the City’s greenhouse gas emissions. However, the proposed Railroad Cottages design will very likely generate fewer greenhouse emissions than houses built by-right on the site.

1 Estimates and analysis by ESC’s Energy Transition Sub-committee

6.23.17 ESC Railroad Cottage letter

2

Energy demand for heating and cooling: In a typical home, heating and cooling of the living space account for roughly 40% of total home energy use. The proposed living space in the 11 buildings appears to be less than what could be built by-right in 3 to 4 large single-family homes with 3500 – 5000 sq.ft. of living area each. Even without splitting RPC# 52-102-32, each of the three lots would allow by-right over 3200 sq.ft. of building plan area, before adding second storeys and finished basements. Indeed, the developer’s May 2017 “Response to Neighborhood Concerns=” (Attachments 4 & 7 in the referral to Boards & Commissions) suggests that the heated and cooled above-grade volume of the Cottages would be roughly 60% of that of four by-right houses. The volume ratio would be even lower when by-right basements are included. The cottages are therefore very likely to require much less energy, even if insulation and window choices were the same in cottage and by-right construction. However, the cottages will be built to meet EarthCraft Gold certification, which leads to average energy savings of 46% relative to houses simply built to code, according to the certifier

2. The ESC recommends confirming that

EarthCraft certification requires inspection and testing of each building, not the first finished example of each style. Furthermore, over the multi-decade life of these houses, the proposed installation of ground source heat pumps is expected to reduce overall CO2 emissions (compared to the likely by-right use of traditional gas heating and electric, vapor-compression cooling) as the Dominion Energy electric grid moves to lower-carbon sources of power over time (gas, wind, solar)

3.

As an added benefit, the liquid pumps used for heat pumps are often indoors and also far quieter than the air fans used in conventional a/c units and would consequently benefit neighbors. Photovoltaic Panels: In contrast to the ordinance governing houses built by-right, the Cottage Ordinance provides an incentive for including solar energy - the only incentive of its type in the City. If the proposed Railroad Avenue project implements at least 561 sq.ft. of solar panels as discussed, this would increase the City’s installed photovoltaic capacity by roughly 6% and significantly offset greenhouse gas emissions from development on the site. In contrast, only a very few single-family homeowners in the City have installed solar panels to date; it is therefore reasonable to expect that the by-right alternative will not include solar panels. Electric Vehicles: The proposed inclusion of an electric vehicle charging station also supports the adoption of lower-emission transportation modes in the City.

2 http://www.viridiant.org

3 For heating, heat pumps and natural gas roughly breakeven initially. For cooling, ground source heat pumps will generally consume less

electricity than air-source heat pumps or conventional vapor-compression air conditioning, because they discard heat into the cool ground rather than the hot air. In both cases, the magnitude of difference cannot be quantified until the equipment is specified.

Harry E. Wells Building • 300 Park Avenue • Falls Church, Virginia 22046 • 703-248-5001 •

www.fallschurchva.gov

MEMORANDUM

DATE: 26 May 2017

TO: Carly Aubrey, Planner

FROM: Debra Gee, Planning Specialist DG

SUBJECT: Railroad Cottages

The City’s Historic Architectural Review Board (HARB) and the Historical Commission

considered the Railroad Cottages proposal in separate meetings on 25 May 2017.

The HARB offered the following comments:

An archeological review of the site should be conducted prior to commencing construction.

There should be fewer cottages on the site and the cottages proposed should be spaced further

apart from one another. The developer should keep in mind the notion of a “cottage”

community; not a high design dwelling. The HARB found the elevations proposed uninspiring,

the scale of the cottages and the project are overwhelming. Residential parking should be

located throughout the development as these cottages are proposed for persons who are 55 years

or older; remote parking will make it difficult for residents to move groceries from their car(s) to

their cottage.

The Historical Commission provided the following comments:

The Historical Commission supported the HARB comments and expressed the need to address

historical issues at this site. The history of the property should include the long term African-

American ownership of the site. Consideration should be given to the relationship between the

W&OD Railroad and this adjacent property.

The Historic Commission suggested that the developer’s Voluntary Concessions should include

an interpretation of the W&OD Trail and its environment. There should be an archeological

exploration of the site prior to construction. The history of this site is two—pronged. The two

themes are Entrance to the proposed development should, in some way, honor the families who

once lived there and the railroad. The railroad was originally named the Alexandria, Loudoun &

Hampshire and was significant during the post reconstruction of the Civil War.

Dear City Clerk:

The Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC) met to review the proposed Railroad Cottage proposal,

including the latest voluntary concessions, community benefits & Terms and Conditions received just

prior to our meeting on June 15. HSAC offers the following comments on the project:

• In general, we support the addition of more diverse housing types in the City such as what is

being offered by the Railroad Cottage proposal. We note that this is also consistent with the

Comprehensive Plan value supporting inclusiveness and social sustainability (including a diverse

housing stock). However, we do not think that the project is necessarily offering “affordable”

housing for seniors as was described in earlier materials.

• We support the age restriction as proposed and want to add that if the developer is not able to

sell the properties based on these restrictions, no changes in the restrictions should be

considered by the City Council. These age provisions should be permanent for the whole

existence of the project.

• We support the provisions allowing for access by all people through the at-grade boardwalk

area that will allow easy access. We do note, however, that the potential distances to be

traveled from the carport area to the most distant houses could be significant.

HSAC has two specific recommendations/requests of the City Council as this project is finalized:

• The affordable housing fund contribution of $10,000 is much too low and must be increased.

The City staff will be calculating an amount based on the typical project and providing this to the

City Council for consideration.

• The City should continue to monitor the parking situation on nearby residential streets and

consider mitigation approaches if the project results in unacceptable overflow of cars in the

surrounding neighborhood.

We appreciate the opportunity to comment on this project

Sincerely

Human Services Advisory Council (HSAC)

From: Mary McMahon

Sent: Monday, July 03, 2017 10:48 AM

To: Carly Aubrey

Cc: Bradley E Gernand "Brad" (bgernand@ida.org); Bradley E. Gernand

Subject: Railroad cottages

Carly,

The Library Board of Trustees met last week and talked about the Railroad Cottages. Joe Wetzel was

present and gave a brief description of the project and answered questions from the Board. He then left

and upon further discussion the Board decided again not to make any formal comments as a Board to

Council re this project since it is not their area of expertise. They did note that the citizens living there

would use the library, they hoped. They said that as individual citizens, they might comment, but not as

a Board.

Thought you would like to know the results. They held to their previous policy.

Thanks so much and Happy Fourth!

Mary

Mary W. McMahon

Library Director

Mary Riley Styles Public Library

120 N. Virginia Avenue

Falls Church, VA 22046

703-248-5032 Ofc

703-248-5144 Fax

DATE: July 12, 2017 TO: Mayor Tarter and Members of City Council

Members of the Planning Commission FROM: Tree Commission Dennis Szymanski, Chairman SUBJECT: Railroad Cottages TR17-15 City Council referral to Boards and Commissions

The Tree Commission submits the following comments regarding the current Railroad Cottages development plan: We understand that a great deal of the existing vegetation and trees may be removed and replanted when construction is completed. The Tree Commission is always concerned about the possibility of potential removal of a large canopy trees and will provide relevant specific input when the developer provides his site plan. Additionally, with a goal of supporting the City’s tree canopy goals and properly screening this project, the developer should ensure that there is enough space for the roots and branches of the canopy trees shown between the carport and the neighboring single family home. Another concern is the potential removal of trees along the W&OD trail. Should such trees be removed for widening of Railroad Avenue, the Tree Commission would expect them to be fully replaced. Finally, while not directly related to tree conservation, the Tree Commission nevertheless cannot help but comment on an important issue in this project. The were several parking models to choose from based on West Coast experience, and the Cottage Housing ordinance forces the developer to employ limited parking for residents, not to mention guests. While the aspirational notion of reducing the reliance on automobiles in the future is laudable, the plan execution for this project fails to specifically account for parking habits today. This will force neighbors on Fowler to no doubt seek parking restrictions, thus setting up a neighbor-vs-neighbor dynamic, and that is bad public policy.

cc: Carly Aubrey, Senior Planner