When the new Tysons Comprehensive Plan was approved over two years ago, no one believed it would take this long for the County to begin allowing construction. In many of the earliest applications, the projects had been in the works for the better part of a decade, working hand in hand during the comprehensive plan process. The County was not ready for the review pressures and onslaught of applications, but more importantly the County and VDOT appeared to be purposefully delaying approvals until infrastructure funding and master planning had been completed. Infrastructure funding for the next 40 years has been determined and the Board of Supervisors is scheduling many large projects for hearing over the next couple of months.
One project we have been tracking is the ambitious Arbor Row project, which not only is seeking rezoning approval, but final construction plan approval on several high-rises for immediate construction. After gaining planning commission approval on October 17th it appeared to be a shoe in for approval in October 30th, possibly allowing for major earthwork operations to be completed before the end of November and avoiding costly impacts due to weather.
The rescheduled BoS hearing will likely be sometime during the first week of November. While this appears to be a minor enough change, in construction a few days can mean all the difference, especially when dealing with seasonal construction. The delay from Hurricane Sandy may end up pushing Arbor Row’s ground breaking until the Spring thaw, joining several other projects which will be up for Board approval in March.
Real estate, land development, and city economic growth are all very much dictated by market conditions and timing. The past two years has been an unprecedented period of multi-family housing growth and the return of businesses to urban corridors. During this period not a single significant plan was approved for Tysons Corner, sending much of the possible market to DC and Arlington. Clearly hurricanes fall into the category act of god, and are unplanned events. However, Fairfax County did not need to wait so long to approve a project which many call a slam dunk, a win win, and a gold standard in smart growth development. This project, along with a handful of equally fair and progressed plan sets, should have been reviewed this summer so that construction could have begun this year, instead of next.
We are dealing with multi-billion dollar investments in our region. If you want to spur the best growth and hold the leverage of great market conditions in order to be returned community concessions, you have to strike while the iron is still hot.