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Residents skeptical about new church
Residents of the Centreville area involved in the land use process are balking at an application for a new 43,000-square-foot house of worship on Route 29 that may make the road's already-heavy church traffic worse.Representatives of the New Vision Community Church of Fairfax introduced their proposal to the Western Fairfax County Citizens Association Land Use Committee on April 15.
“I would like to see all of the mega churches on the road provide mass transit,” said Scott Miller, a member of the committee.
Carol Hawn, another member, said traffic from other churches along the road already clogs the area and nearby neighborhoods.
“These houses of worship are affecting all of Centreville,” Hawn said.
New Vision Community Church, a Reformed Presbyterian Church, plans to file an application for a three-phase building project along Lee Highway, between Stone Road and the Cub Run Stream Valley Park. It would be the fifth church in Centreville along that stretch of Route 29.
The church hopes to build a 600-seat sanctuary and possibly a school or a daycare on the site, Amber Scharn, an attorney representing the church, said.
Members of WFCCA's land use committee also expressed concern the development would not meet open space requirements for the land, zoned “residential conservation.”
Growth and density prompted the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors to downzone approximately 40,000 acres in the south and west end of the county in 1982 to protect the quality of the Occoquan Watershed. The land, rezoned residential conservation, is limited to one house per 5 acres but applicants can apply for several other uses, including churches.
The Korean Central Presbyterian Church applied to construct a 286,000-square-foot building on 80 acres up the road from New Vision's site several years ago and met opposition from county officials who worried the development was too heavy for the RC district.
The Korean congregation ended up getting a 205,000-square-foot building approved.
New Vision may also have a struggle ahead because its land is small and surrounded by pipeline easements that may make it hard for them to have enough open space, Jim Hart, a Centreville resident and a member of the Fairfax County Planning Commission, cautioned.
But increased church traffic was the biggest concern expressed at WFCCA's April 15 meeting.
“We might as well shut down Route 29 on a Sunday,” said Mark McConn, a Centreville resident and a member of the Sully District Council.
McConn predicts that after the Korean Central Presbyterian Church moves to the area, Route 29 will be seriously gridlocked on the weekends.
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