Blog posts are the personal views of Letty Hardi and not official statements or records on behalf of the Falls Church City Council

Dear Friends,

I hope the start of the school year and fall season has been good to everyone. City Council returned from our summer recess this week with a work session on accessory dwelling units and the bike master plan. Read on if you’re interested in housing and biking, both have more opportunities for input from the community this fall and beyond. Speaking of biking – come celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the W&OD with me tomorrow morning at 10 am. It should be a beautiful morning!

Before fall calendars fill up too much, I’ve also scheduled my 1:1 office hours for the rest of the year (see below). Or you can see more of us at the “Ask the Council” open door sessions which are the first Wednesdays of every month at 9 am, or via email or public comment. I look forward to hearing from you.

Best,
Letty

What Happened This Week:

(1) Accessory Dwellings

Since our kickoff scope discussion last spring (see my May post), there have been 6 community sessions to gather input on accessory dwellings (ADs) in board and commission meetings and two well attended open houses at the library. ADs has been in the city’s Comprehensive Plan (our long range planning document) and our last two City Council Priorities/Work Plans. The good news is that many jurisdictions have already legalized accessory dwellings, so we’re not starting from scratch and can learn from experiences nearby and across the US. At the same time, ADs have shown to be a limited, incremental tool so they will not solve all housing challenges across the board. So if we want to make them a viable option for more people, we need think critically about what has hindered their production.

This week, we heard staff’s draft framework on proposed amendments to allow detached (interior ones are mostly allowed today in Falls Church) based on that public input, national best practices, and analysis of proposed state code. As always, the staff report has the most detail, but I’ll share my takeaways and key themes I’m hearing.

Use cases I’ve heard from public input:

• Diverse, generational living – seniors aging in place, dependent children, caregivers, home office, guest space, accessible alternative for family members with special needs
• Expanded housing options – another form of housing that is not multifamily apartments/condos or single family homes
• Affordability – supplemental income from renting out the primary or accessory unit
• Preservation and addition of smaller, starter home stock

Details and considerations to address:

• Dimensional standards – heights, setbacks, square footage limits, lot coverage, stormwater and tree canopy*, etc
• Programmatic standards – parking, rental, owner occupancy, short term rentals, etc
• Approval processes
• Conversion of legacy accessory structures like garages

*A common concern is the impact to stormwater and tree canopy. As proposed, staff is recommending that existing building and impervious coverage limits (25% and 35%, respectively), stormwater, and tree canopy standards are maintained – which means that any property that builds an AD would have to meet the same rules that a single family home or teardown/redevelopment would.

Because we’re still early in the process, there are many more opportunities for input. The staff report lays out the schedule ahead (page 13 of the staff report has the proposed schedule). Of note, there are 3 more opportunities in September – at the Planning Commission meeting on September 18 and two more open houses/town halls on September 25 and 28. When we get to draft code later this fall, there will be additional work sessions and community meetings. First reading/vote for City Council is currently scheduled for November and final consideration in February 2025.

More real photos of different forms of ADs are in the presentation from the open houses

(2) Bike Master Plan

The update to the Bike Master Plan has been underway for almost a year and we’re near the finish line. The draft plan has come a long way, with many iterations and updates based on input. The staff report shows the updates and answers based on the questions we’ve heard.

Three important call outs from me:

• The specifics of the 3 priority routes identified for implementation (Route to Secondary Schools, N. West, and S. West) will be determined later. Continuing from the neighborhood meetings held over the summer, staff will develop block by block designs and another round of community meetings will be held in Spring 2025 to collect input before the route designs are finalized.
• The request for traffic calming, pedestrian facilities and a more “complete streets” approach will be incorporated in the designs. Notably, the traffic calming request for S. West is underway through the Neighborhood Traffic Calming program and I expect some interim/light solutions to be implemented ahead of the specific bike plan for S. West.
• Policies and plans are only as good as the implementation. In the upcoming budget amendment this fall, the cost to implement the 3 routes will be among many of the other competing requests across the city and one that I hope we’ll be able to fund.

What’s Coming Up:

Monday, September 9 – City Council Meeting*

Monday, September 16 – City Council Work Session*

Monday, September 23 – City Council Meeting*

Wednesday, October 2 – Ask the Council Office Hours (9 am, City Hall)

Monday, October 7 – City Council Work Session*

*Mondays (except 5th Mondays and holidays) at 7:30 pm. You can access the agenda and livestream here, including recordings of past meetings

Letty’s Office Hours

Monday, September 30 – Letty’s Office Hours (12-1 pm, Mr Browns Park)

Thursday, October 17 – Letty’s Office Hours (9-10 am, Cafe Kindred)

Thursday, November 14 – Letty’s Office Hours (9-10 am, The Happy Tart)