Housing proposed at Eleven Oaks in Fairfax City
By Frank Mustac
Three developers recently presented what appeared to be hastily prepared plans to construct residential housing on the site of the former Eleven Oaks Elementary School on School Street in Fairfax City, a few blocks south of City Hall.
Earlier this year, contractors demolished the building that most recently was home to Fairfax County Public Schools administration offices.
The city purchased the property in July 2007 from FCPS for $4 million to prevent the county schools from converting the facility to a use that Fairfax City Mayor Robert Lededer said was inappropriate in an area surrounded by residential communities.
The city also is working with the Virginia Department of Transportation on the completion of George Mason Boulevard, which will pass through the Eleven Oaks property directly into George Mason University.
Representatives of the university presented one of the three development proposals for the Eleven Oaks site to the Fairfax City Council March 25.
Tom Calhoun, vice president for facilities at Mason, told the council that the university would like to acquire the property to build faculty and staff housing of a density higher than that proposed by the two other developers, both of whom presented plans for about 50 townhouses, 2 1/2 to three stories tall.
“Faculty and staff housing is of critical importance to the university,” Calhoun said.
The university already has plans to build about 155 residential units for its employees on its Fairfax campus. However, those units do not entirely satisfy the need for faculty housing, Calhoun said.
There is some doubt whether the Mason proposal would be as attractive to the city as the proposals from the two private companies, Walnut Street Development and D.R. Horton Inc.
Should the city council accept the Mason offer, the property would essentially be owned by a state government entity, which would probably be exempt from paying local real estate taxes, meaning none of the residential units would help finance the city government or the schools that children of Mason employees living at Eleven Oaks would likely attend.
In addition to calling for far less density in their proposals, plans from Walnut Street Development and D.R. Horton Inc. include parks and other common public areas. Preliminary plans from Walnut Street Development also include a clubhouse and pool.