ARLINGTON COUNTY, VIRGINIA County Board Agenda Item Meeting of October 23, 2004 DATE: October 6, 2004 SUBJECT: SP #106-3 Site Plan Amendment for changes to façade, plaza deck, landscaping, number of units, parking spaces; premises known as 2727 S. Quincy St. (RPC #29-023-006) Applicant: 245 Shirlington, L.L.C. By: P. David Tarter Lawson & Frank, P.C. 6045 Wilson Boulevard, Suite 100 Arlington, Virginia 22205 C.M. RECOMMENDATION: Approve the site plan amendment request subject to revised Condition #17, new Condition #75, and to all previous conditions. ISSUE: None SUMMARY: The applicant requested a number of changes to a residential site plan originally approved in October 2003. After community and staff review, the applicant revised the plans to return substantially to the originally approved design. Staff supports the remaining elements of the site plan amendment request, with a recommendation for the applicant to work with staff on the final design of paver banding in the sidewalks. In addition, in order to encourage as much coordination among the buildings in the Village at Shirlington as possible, staff recommends new Condition #75 to require coordination of the applicant s signage with the Village at Shirlington Comprehensive Sign Plan. BACKGROUND: On October 18, 2003, the County Board approved a PDSP amendment to convert hotel use on the subject site to residential use and approved a site plan for a 245-unit residential building. The project was sold to the current applicant. As a result of final design for the project, the applicant requested several changes to the project, mostly affecting the façade and landscape plan. County Manager: County Attorney: Staff: Lisa Maher, DCPHD PLA - 3830
The following provides additional information about site and location: Site: The site is located at the northeast corner of the Village at Shirlington, bounded by Shirlington Road and I-395 to the east, Arlington Mill Drive to the north, and South Quincy Street to the west. The entire WETA site plan includes the subject site currently approved for a hotel, a four-level parking structure immediately to its south, and the six-story WETA office building to the south of the parking structure. The subject site, the northern portion of the site plan, is undeveloped. Zoning: The subject site is zoned C-O-1.5, as is the entire Phased Development Site Plan. Land Use: Low Office-Apartment-Hotel Neighborhood: The site is not within a civic association. The Fairlington Citizens Association lies immediately to the south of the Village at Shirlington, and the Nauck Civic Association lies across Four Mile Run to the north of the Village at Shirlington. Request: After the approved Alexan Shirlington site plan was sold to the applicant, the applicant proposed a number of changes to the project. While some were necessary to either correct errors in consistency among the original drawings or to resolve engineering issues, several were architectural or landscape changes desired by the applicant. The magnitude of the proposed changes, given the extensive concerns regarding building and landscape design that were raised during public review of the original site plan, necessitated this minor site plan amendment request. Changes resulting from technical and engineering concerns included widening of the loading dock door and combining two doors into one; relocation of the transformer vault and creation of a ramp with retaining wall along Shirlington Road (necessitated by the project s location in a flood plain); and, reconfiguring the parking spaces. Other proposed changes included the removal of the swimming pool from the deck above the parking garage, adding vertical emphasis to the architectural detailing, changing the treatment of the exposed garage walls to look similar to the walls of the higher floors, changing the building color to a single buff color, adding lofts to some top floor units, modifying the sizes of some window panels, reducing the mechanical penthouse height, adding hardscape to the streetscape, and changing the sidewalk banding pattern, as well as additional items. DISCUSSION: The applicant met with community representatives twice. Since the majority of the requested changes affected the exterior of the project, which was one of the main issues of discussion during public review of the Alexan Shirlington site plan, staff decided to ask the Site Plan Review Committee, which would include all the members of the Expanded Shirlington Site Plan Review Committee, to review the site plan amendment proposal. This meeting was held on September 21, 2004. Nearly all comments reflected SPRC members strong preference for the architectural concept of the Alexan Shirlington site plan, which was to maximize the horizontal elements of the building and to create visual breaks in the building by means of setbacks, color changes, difference in treatment between the garage and upper floors, and other means, in order SP#106 Site Plan Amendment - 2 -
to reduce the apparent size of the building. SPRC members also preferred to see the two-color scheme of the original site plan that used predominantly colored (as opposed to buff) brick, as in most of the other residential buildings in the Village at Shirlington, to distinguish them from the buff commercial buildings. Comments at the meeting also reflected participants desire for the applicant to restore more of the plantings that were approved in the original landscape plan, as well as to maximize greenscape on the former pool deck. The applicant subsequently revised the site plan amendment proposal to restore most of the original features of the original site plan. The resulting plans and accompanying table of requested changes are attached to this report. Staff supports the proposed changes with the following comments related to certain aspects of the request: The proposed changes generally are consistent with the spirit of the original approval. In some cases, a request improves the original plan, such as the applicant s request to reduce the size of the mechanical penthouses. In some cases, the proposal may not be ideal from an aesthetic sense, but offers an improvement that offsets any negative impact. An example of this is the enlargement of the loading dock door to provide maneuvering room from the narrow alley. The applicant agreed to improve the appearance of this door by using a translucent glass door instead of the previously approved metal. Staff supports the proposed parking counts. The residential unit count would be reduced by one, from 245 units to 244 units. The proposed number of direct access parking spaces would increase by one, from 323 to 324, compared with the by-right parking requirement of 270. This would result in a slightly increased parking ratio compared to the original site plan. The applicant also proposes to reduce the number of tandem parking spaces by six, for a total parking reduction from 365 spaces to 360. Since tandem parking spaces do not count toward required parking, and the proposed direct access parking ratio exceeds required parking, staff supports the elimination of the six tandem spaces. The applicant also requests a compact parking ratio of 14.5 percent, a slight increase above the approved ratio of 12.4 percent. Since the proposal falls below the by-right maximum of 15 percent compact spaces, staff supports the proposal. Staff generally supports the proposed landscape plan but recommends revised condition #17 (landscape plan) to require further refinement of the paver banding pattern to ensure compatibility with the guidelines in the Shirlington Design Book and with other sidewalk banding in the Village at Shirlington. In order to maximize design coordination among the property owners and buildings in Shirlington, staff also recommends new Condition #75 to require the applicant to coordinate the project s signage with the Village at Shirlington Comprehensive Sign Plan. This condition language was included in the Quincy Towers office building site plan. CONCLUSION: The applicant has revised an earlier site plan amendment proposal to reflect staff and SPRC concerns and to return to a design much more consistent with the original site SP#106 Site Plan Amendment - 3 -
plan approval. Since the changes are now consistent with the intent of the original approval, staff recommends that the County Board approve the site plan amendment request subject to revised Condition #17, new Condition #75, and to all previous conditions. Revised Condition #17: 17. The developer agrees that the final sidewalk pattern/design and final selection of materials and colors to be used shall be as determined by the County Manager or his designee on the final site development and landscape plan and final engineering plan, in accordance with applicable urban design standards approved by the County Board and in effect at the time of the site plan approval. The developer further agrees to construct the sidewalk improvements detailed below prior to the issuance of the first Certificate of Occupancy for the site plan. The sidewalks along the street frontages of this development shall be paved with concrete with paver banding, and shall be placed on a properly-engineered base approved as such by the Department of Public Works. The developer agrees to work with staff to design the paver banding to ensure consistency with the Shirlington Design Book and with other sidewalk banding treatments in the Village at Shirlington. The sidewalk treatments shall continue across all driveway aprons for loading and garage entrances along all frontages of the site plan, and there shall be no barriers to impede the flow of pedestrian traffic. The sidewalks shall contain street trees placed in either tree pits, tree grates or planting strips, consistent with the Standards for Planting and Placement of Trees in Site Plan Projects, and as specified below. Placement, planting and root enhancement options shall be consistent with the Standards for Planting and Placement of Trees in Site Plan Projects, and as specified below. Street trees shall not be placed within the vision obstruction area. All public walkways shall be constructed to County Standards. The developer agrees to maintain and replace the street trees and sidewalks for the life of the site plan. The sidewalk sections and street tree species shall be as follows: South Quincy Street A minimum 14-foot wide sidewalk measured from the back of curb, including a 4-foot wide planting strip, planted with 4 to 4 ½ inch caliper Zelkova Green Vase street trees and either grass or such ground cover as liriope muscarii, hypericum, calycinum (Aarons Beard), or juniperius conferta (Shore Juniper), placed approximately 30 feet on center. Arlington Mill Drive A minimum 14-foot wide sidewalk measured from the back of curb, including a 4-foot wide planting strip, planted with 4 to 4 ½ inch caliper Willow Oak street trees and either grass or such ground cover as liriope muscarii, hypericum, calycinum (Aarons Beard), or juniperius conferta (Shore Juniper), placed approximately 30 feet on center. Shirlington Road A minimum 12-foot wide sidewalk measured from the back of curb, including a 4-foot wide planting strip, planted with 4 to 4 ½ inch caliper Red Maple street trees and either grass or such ground cover as liriope muscarii, hypericum, calycinum (Aarons Beard), or juniperius conferta (Shore Juniper), placed approximately 30 feet on center. SP#106 Site Plan Amendment - 4 -
Alley A minimum 10-foot wide sidewalk measured from the back of curb, including a 4-foot wide planting strip, planted with 4 to 4 ½ inch caliper European Hornbeam Fastigiata street trees and either grass or such ground cover as liriope muscarii, hypericum, calycinum (Aarons Beard), or juniperius conferta (Shore Juniper), placed approximately 30 feet on center. New Condition #75: 75. The developer agrees to coordinate all signs, including directional signs, with any future Village at Shirlington Comprehensive Sign Plan. Signs shall be consistent with the project s overall sign design. SP#106 Site Plan Amendment - 5 -
PREVIOUS COUNTY BOARD ACTIONS: October 9, 1976 December 4, 1982 July 13, 1985 December 13, 1987 November 14, 1992 April 9, 1994 January 11, 1997 Approved a rezoning from C-2 to C-O-1.5 (Z-2086-76- 3); and approved a Phased Development Site Plan. The approval expired in 1981. Approved a Phased Development Site Plan (PDSP), on four parcels, consisting of 570,000 square feet of office space, 428,000 square feet of retail space, 300 hotel rooms, and 490 residential units; known as Village of Shirlington. Approved PDSP amendment to increase the maximum building height on Parcel 3 from 10 stories (150 feet) to 11 stories (150 feet); and approved the final site plan for Phase II (SP-2) on Parcel 3, allowing an 11-story office building with 295,000 s.f. of office g.f.a. and 17,000 s.f of retail g.f.a. Approved a PDSP amendment to transfer 85,895 square feet of office/retail area from Parcel Two to Parcel One; and Approved the Final Site Plan for Phase III (SP-3) on Parcel One, allowing a 6-story office building with 85,895 square feet of office/retail area, and a 10-story hotel with 299 units. Approved one tenant identification sign 100.5 square feet in size on east elevation of building. Approved conversion of approximately 4,000 sq. ft. of retail space to secondary retail use including classroom, copy facility, and shower/locker room space for an existing tenant for a period not to exceed 12 years (2006). Approved a phased development site plan amendment and final site plan amendment to add two stories of studio/mechanical/technical support space above the existing parking garage structure and an atrium lobby between the office building and existing parking garage; three transmit and receive satellite dish antennae on the studio roof; up to three rooftop signs; and modification of use regulations to permit 50 percent compact spaces and to not count the proposed two floors and atrium as gross floor area for density purposes. SP#106 Site Plan Amendment - 6 -
July 20, 2001 October 18, 2003 Approved conversion of approximately 4,485 sq. ft. of retail space located on the first floor of the office building to office/commercial space. Approved PDSP amendment to convert hotel to residential and approved site plan for 245 residential units. SP#106 Site Plan Amendment - 7 -