How can plans and zoning regulations shape vibrant, mixed-use, walkable communities? On April 23, 2025 we hosted a discussion with Code Studio, one of the national leaders on using innovative form-based approaches to zoning to guide change and protect what’s best about our neighborhoods.
Speakers: Colin Scarff and Rene Biberstein, Code Studio; Moderated by Ellen McCarthy, Ward3Vision
This event is part of our informational series as the District kicks off DC 2050 — the Comprehensive Plan rewrite in spring of 2025.
Thanks to you and other advocates, we have advanced a set of transportation reform bills through the Maryland House of Delegates. Now we need to do a final push to win adoption in the Maryland Senate so Governor Moore can sign them into law!
This legislation to guide Maryland’s transportation priorities is especially important if the state adds new revenues and spending. Key bills in the Senate Budget & Taxation Committee that CSG supports are:
Transit-Oriented Development (HB 80) – MDOT’s amended bill relieves parking mandates and allows mixed use development in proximity to Metrorail, Purple Line, and most MARC stations. It also removes potential obstacles to transit-oriented development plans on state-owned land.
Transportation and Climate Alignment Act (HB 84) – MDOT is supporting this bill that would require the agency to evaluate its transportation projects to ensure they help Maryland meet its greenhouse gas reduction targets and provide alternatives to driving.
Metro Funding Modification Act (HB 467) – Maryland, DC and Virginia came together in 2018 to successfully fund Metro’s capital needs. As a result, Metro service today is faster, more frequent, and more reliable. However, the $500M in annual funding was not indexed to inflation, risking future funding shortfalls and declining reliability and safety. This bill would index the funding to inflation.
Work Group on Reorganization of MTA (HB 517) – Creates a study group to separate the MARC, Purple Line, and Commuter Bus systems from MTA’s local Baltimore transit focus. This would better ensure a focus on modernization and improved operations for MARC and a successful Purple Line service.
More transportation funding – The just released joint Senate/House budget proposal would increase transportation funding by $500 million per year using an increase in the state tax on capital gains and other measures.
Here are some key Downtown DC revitalization documents for you to review. The latest edition of the State of Downtown Report, by DowntownDC Business Improvement District (BID), will be available April 22, 2025.
DC’s downtown is vital to the success of the entire city and region. We’ll stay engaged and partner with DowntownDC BID, Golden Triangle BID, DC government, and the community to catalyze downtown’s transformation into a great place to be – to live, work, shop and visit.
RE: Support for the Flats at Glenridge Station, DSP-23008 & DDS-24002
Dear Chair Shapiro and members of the Board:
Please accept this testimony on behalf of the Coalition for Smarter Growth (CSG). CSG advocates for walkable, bikeable, inclusive, transit-oriented communities as the most sustainable and equitable way for the Washington, DC region to grow and provide opportunities for all. We work extensively in suburban Maryland, focused on Prince George’s and Montgomery counties.
We would like to express our support for the Flats at Glenridge, DSP-23008 & DDS-24002. The proposed 245-apartment building, with a small amount of office space, offers families affordable homes right next to the Glenridge Purple Line station, along with close proximity to retail, including a supermarket. The site is less than a quarter mile from the station and MD 450, and by direct connection would be about 300 feet from the station.
This proposal is the first major step towards implementing the vision for a walkable Glenridge Transit Village outlined in the Annapolis Road Sector Plan. The apartment building offers amenities like a playground and a plaza with landscaping. Most importantly, these 245 homes give moderate and low income families the opportunity to live next to a rail transit station, and local-serving retail.
This affordable transit-oriented development helps more people rely on sustainable transportation options and reduce the need to drive or own a car. We appreciate the unit mix offering a variety of unit sizes, including many 3-bedroom apartments.
The project provides important contributions to county and community goals, including:
Affordability – the proposal will provide homes affordable at and below 60% of median family income. These are quality, new 1-, 2- and 3-bedroom homes to address residents’ need for low-cost housing. Transit-accessible housing also reduces household transportation costs;
Environmentally-friendly location – allowing more families to live here in a compact, walkable environment reduces traffic, pollution and crashes by giving households options to walk and ride transit more, and drive less;
Better communities with transit-oriented development – more homes in this location, inside the Beltway and next to rail transit and existing retail, helps to transition this area to the envisioned Glendridge Transit Village where more homes and businesses can be focused in a walkable, transit-oriented environment. A vibrant, walkable Glenridge Transit Village will benefit nearby neighbors who can enjoy better retail options, a more human-scaled environment, and transportation choices.
We recognize that the site is currently wooded, but it is a fragment surrounded by development. Allowing more people to live here, steps away from frequent rail transit at this inside the Beltway location means less driving, traffic and pollution for households who otherwise might have to live elsewhere. Additionally, the project will fund offsite forest conservation to offset trees removed from the site, while providing modern stormwater management onsite to control runoff and water quality.
We have two recommendations for improving this project:
Securing a direct walk pathway from the building to the Purple Line station entrance.
Reducing parking and allocating that space and cost savings to other benefits for residents. The large amount of parking — 337 spaces for 245 units is a 1.37 ratio. Development standards reduce by half the required amount due to the site’s proximity to transit.
Conclusion
We urge the Planning Board to approve this application as a major step forward for the Glenridge Transit Village and the benefits it will provide to the larger community and county.
Send a message to the Prince George’s Planning board by Tuesday, March 11, 12 noon
We’ve advocated for the Purple Line. We’ve advocated more affordable housing – especially at rail transit. Well, here it is! The first new affordable apartments steps away from the Glenridge Purple Line station. Please join us in voicing our support!
This proposal for 245 affordable apartments, right next to the Purple Line, is the first step towards realizing the planned Glenridge Transit Village. It will provide homes for low and moderate income households in a location that will reduce how much residents have to drive and spend on transportation.
Much more needs to be done by the county and state to transform this very suburban, automobile-dominated area into a walkable community, but this project is a good first step. We’re asking for the amount of parking to be reduced for this project and for a direct walking connection to the transit station. And, we will be pressing the county and state to make it safer to walk and bike to this and every Purple Line station.
We recognize that the site is currently wooded, but it is a fragment surrounded by development. Allowing more people to live here, steps away from frequent rail transit at this inside the Beltway location means less driving, traffic and pollution for households who otherwise might have to live elsewhere. Additionally, the project will fund offsite forest conservation to offset trees removed from the site, while providing modern stormwater management onsite to control runoff and water quality.
CSG and allies support transformation of the old AT&T office building and its acres of parking. CSG is joined by the Sierra Club, Chesapeake Climate Action Network, Fairfax Alliance for Better Bicycling, Fairfax Families for Safe Streets, Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions, Nature Forward, Northern Virginia Affordable Housing Alliance, and YIMBYs of NoVA.
RE: Comments in Support of AT&T Oakton plan amendment – PA 2023-00009 (SSPA 2023-II-1F)
Chairman Niedzielski-Eichner and Commissioners,
The above nine organizations, as part of the Fairfax Healthy Communities Network, are
providing the comments below to express our strong support for the redevelopment of the AT&T Oakton site and ask that you vote in favor of Plan Amendment – PA 2023-00009 (SSPA 2023-II-1F).
Our organizations assess proposed development projects in accordance with our shared principles that they provide more homes for a mix of incomes, are accessible to transit with safe walking and biking options, and provide good environmental sustainability and design.
Providing more housing for a mix of incomes in walkable, high amenity areas near transit and jobs is essential to ensuring an inclusive and economically prosperous Fairfax County where people are able to live near their work, reducing long commutes and our climate impact.
The proposed redevelopment of the AT&T site is a great opportunity to do just that on 33 acres in the heart of Oakton, transforming acres of underutilized office space and parking lots into an inclusive, vibrant community. It offers new homes, including affordable units, with access to transit, improved bike/ped connections, enhanced stormwater management, parks, and tree preservation.The redevelopment provides the opportunity for much-needed placemaking within Oakton that will enhance residents’ sense of community.
The proposed plan amendment is the first step in making way for this redevelopment proposal to become a reality. The plan calls for an appropriate increase in intensity and balanced mix of uses, including grocery and retail, that will support a walkable, vibrant community as the core of the Flint Hill Suburban Center. Appropriate transitions to existing neighborhoods support compatibility and integration with the surrounding area. It includes good urban design with a grid of streets, wide walkways, activated street level activity, parks and open spaces.
Transportation
The AT&T site is in a prime location near transit services, including the Vienna Metro, local bus service, and express buses running in the I-66 High-Occupancy Toll lanes. It is also served by two major regional multi-use trails, the Gerry Connolly Cross County Trail and the 66 Parallel Trail.
While the site benefits from proximity to these sustainable transportation options, the area today is not comfortable or inviting for people trying to get around without driving. The proposed redevelopment is an opportunity to help turn that around, improving safety and accessibility for residents and visitors of the site itself, and catalyzing, through the planned area transportation study, improvements for the surrounding community as well.
We are grateful the draft language includes the needed transportation improvements that will help improve mobility in the area. The plan calls for optimizing transit and enhancing bus stop amenities, improving pedestrian and bicycle connections, adding safer crossing options, including a traffic signal for families to safely cross to Oakton Elementary School.
The innovative approach to the Chain Bridge and Jermantown intersection will improve driver travel time and provide better infrastructure and safer crossings for people walking and biking without destructive widening with more lanes.
Housing
More housing in the county is desperately needed. The shortage of homes and high prices mean more and more people cannot afford to live in Fairfax. The proposal to redevelop the AT&T site will deliver 850 new homes in multi-family buildings and townhomes. It includes 18 percent affordable and workplace units, an increase over the policy recommendation of 8 percent. This supports the county’s housing goal of providing 10,000 units by 2034.
Environment & Parks
We are grateful the draft plan calls for open space, a well-designed and connected urban park, and the preservation of established trees along the perimeter of the property and new native plantings. This supports the redevelopment proposal that includes the addition of a 2-acre park complementing the existing Borge Street Park, a central green common, and a 1-mile shared use path that provides a linear park around the perimeter of the site. Redevelopment will provide updated and enhanced stormwater management, green infrastructure, and stream protection.
In Summary
This plan amendment supports redevelopment of the AT&T Oakton site, which will provide much needed housing in a walkable community with access to transit and enhanced environmental design and open space. We ask that you approve the plan amendment.
