Solutions for Fairfax County, VA
Creating
Smarter Growth in Fairfax County
In Fairfax County, we are
lucky to enjoy a strong economy, the natural beauty of Great Falls, Mason Neck,
and stream valley parks, and an excellent school system. Yet, we see our quality
of life deteriorating as we struggle with traffic congestion, loss of open space,
and ballooning taxes that have accompanied our growth. As we continue to grow,
we must create vibrant communities that are more transit, pedestrian and bicycle
friendly and more effectively protect open space, air and water quality. We must
recognize that growth and transportation are regional issues. The continued revitalization
of the District of Columbia, more jobs at Prince George's 13 Metro Stations and
our Route 1 corridor, and more affordable housing closer to jobs will help to
balance growth and reduce traffic.
GOAL 1: Reduce traffic
Steps for Fairfax:
- Transportation Measures
of Effectiveness
Meet clear transportation measures such as reduction in per capita vehicle miles
traveled (VMT), vehicle trips, and air pollution, and increases in transit, walking
and bicycling trips. (Target rates to be defined.)
- Transit-Oriented Development
Encourage transit-oriented development at existing metro stations by converting
surface parking lots and rezoning areas of industrial use for mixed-use development.
Creating vibrant, pedestrian and bicycle friendly communities at Metro stations
will increase transit ridership as people choose to live and/or work near the
stations, and the station areas allow multiple trips to be accomplished on foot.
- Use public design and
transportation charettes to develop a visual plan for each station. The best recent
example of a charrette process is Columbia Pike in Arlington.
- Key components are inclusion
of affordable housing, pedestrian street designs, and parking policies and other
traffic demand management measures.
- Fix Tyson's Corner
Make pedestrian redesign and rail transit for Tyson's Corner a top priority. Tyson's
is a major contributor to traffic in Fairfax including the Beltway, I-66, the
Dulles Toll Road, Route 123, Route 7, and many local streets. Transit options
and a mixed use redevelopment of Tyson's that integrates housing with jobs and
commercial space and makes Tyson's pedestrian-friendly, would reduce traffic to
and through Tyson's Corner.
- Build rail to Tyson's Corner
from Falls Church within 5 years. Support funding efforts for this portion of
the proposed Dulles Rail Project.
- Phase development to open
when transit is in place to avoid a bulge in traffic.
- Change Parking Policies
Change parking policies to reduce traffic and meet the goal of creating livable,
pedestrian-friendly communities with multiple travel options
- Separate parking charges
from residential rents and charge for parking at all major employment sites.
- Reduce parking ratios for
development near rail transit stations.
- Convert Metro station surface
parking to mixed-use development, and use shared parking and other measures to
reduce parking.
- Increase frequency and
number of bus feeder routes serving rail transit stations.
- Extend Transit
- Address traffic on I-66
by extending rail to Centreville and by converting one lane to high occupancy
toll (HOT).
- Build the Purple Line rail
connections across the Woodrow Wilson Bridge, from Tyson's Corner to Montgomery
County and from Tyson's to Dunn Loring and Springfield.
- Extend bus rapid transit
(BRT) or light rail from Huntington Metro south along Route 1 while expanding
other bus service in Fairfax.
- Improve Pedestrian and
Bicycle Connections
- Improve connections between
neighborhoods and between neighborhoods and community retail centers, schools
and services for pedestrians and bicyclists. This includes more bike lanes, sidewalks
and paths in every community.
- Build narrower streets
and roads with safe pedestrian crossings
- Create tree-lined main
streets with storefronts to foster a comfortable and interesting walking environment.
- Protect the character of
communities along secondary roads by not turning those roads into thoroughfares
Steps Regionally:
Work regionally to reduce
cut-through traffic and support shorter commutes:
- Support office development
in Prince George's County and other areas of the region lacking sufficient investment
to create a better balance of jobs and housing in the Washington Metropolitan
Region. Instead of spending money on a "techway"
highway into Fairfax, Maryland should use the funds to encourage development at
Prince George's 13 Metro stations.
- Work with Prince William
County to reduce non-transit accessible sprawl development in the I-66 and I-95
corridors.
- End free parking in the
District of Columbia, Arlington and Alexandria and increase parking fees to market
rate to encourage commuters to use transit.
- Support more affordable
housing in Fairfax closer to jobs (see below).
GOAL 2: Revitalize Communities
- Map vacant and underutilized
land including office parks, shopping centers, the Dunn-Lorring/Merrifield area
and areas within a ¼ and a ½ mile radius of Metro stations for quality
mixed-use development.
- Turn strip-shopping areas
and large surface parking lots into main street centers by placing cars in structures
and building 2 to 4 story buildings mixing retail, office and residential. Reduce
the size of surface parking lots to make pedestrian access safer and more common.
- Create a New
Urbanist plan for Tyson's Corner that is adopted as part of zoning ordinances
that makes it walkable and bikeable (see also above re Tyson's Corner).
- Include adequate public
parks in the form of formal town greens, neighborhood pocker parks and interconnected
corridors
GOAL 3: Conserve open space for public use and environmental health
- Map the last large intact
parcels of open space in the county.
- Establish an office tasked
with land swaps. Establish a system whereby transit-oriented and infill development
is offset by the conservation of open space within x miles of the development.
- Expand stream corridor
protection and provide more interconnected green space using purchase and conservation
easement tools.
- Ensure transit-oriented
and other mixed-use development includes "town-greens" and other parks
that encourage public use and gathering.
GOAL 4: Ensure affordable housing for a mix of income levels.
Significantly more affordable
housing is needed in the Fairfax County to reduce cut-through traffic and
to house those who work in the county including teachers, police, firefighters
and service workers.
- Allow well-designed and
appropriately-regulated accessory apartments.
- Require all new developments
over a certain size to include at least 15% moderately priced dwelling units.
- Rezone low density office
and retail districts to permit mixed-use development with housing.
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Coalition for Smarter Growth
4000 Albemarle St, NW, Suite 310
Washington, DC 20016
(202) 244-4408 (202) 244-4438 fax
www.smartergrowth.net
© 1999-2005 Coalition for Smarter Growth. All Rights Reserved.
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