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,

Happy Juneteenth! I went back to my posts from June 2020, when we first recognized Juneteenth in Falls Church. June 2020 feels like lifetimes ago for many reasons. It was a good reminder of the social justice awakening that swept across our country and the energy and conviction we all felt to do better. I had noted that Falls Church has been socioeconomically and racially segregated – we are half as diverse as our neighbors immediately next to us. Since then, we have grown our population and housing (remember, housing at all affordability levels matters!), but we have more work to do. I went back and read the ideas I shared in 2020. What struck me most was how relevant those reflections remain today. The challenge is not simply acknowledging the complicated truths of our history, but translating that understanding into real policies and actions that create a more inclusive community. Six years later, the opportunity before us at Virginia Village is one such moment.

If you don’t yet have plans, join the community in celebrating Juneteenth at the Tinner Hill Historic Site today.

Read on for my thoughts on Little City Sips, a timely New York Times article, and Virginia Village ahead of our vote next Monday. Public comment continues to be welcome offline via email, virtually, or in person next Monday night. And note, my office hours in June will be Monday, June 29 from 630-8 pm. Full summer schedule below.

Take care,
Letty

What Happened This Week:

(1) Little City Sips

For those of you who enjoyed the Little City Sips last Saturday with the other 4000 people, you saw Falls Church at its finest. Live music, walkable streets, delicious food and drink plus perfect summer evening weather. I’ve never seen Broad St so vibrant and full of people. One restaurateur commented to me that it was “the best thing the city has done in 20 years!” A big thank you to city staff who worked hard in securing the license with the ABC, the details and coordination with our business community, public safety and public works staff who prepared and worked the event to keep it safe and enjoyable for all.

After action meetings are underway to discuss what went well and how we can learn from last Saturday. This was a pilot, and my hope is that we’ll be able to expand the geographic area to include more businesses and have several more Little City Sips in the coming months. More to come.

(2) New York Times – One City Might Have Just Cracked the Housing Crisis (Vancouver)

Before you wonder what Vancouver has to do with Falls Church, I encourage you to spend 5 minutes with this article (it’s a gift link so you can read it without a paywall). Beyond the inspiring story of the Canadian government returning 10 acres of land to the Squamish Nation, two themes stood out to me:

• Housing is connected to almost every challenge local governments are trying to solve. The article argues that density is not an environmental problem to be managed, but a solution to environmental, economic, and social challenges. People who live in walkable communities drive less, consume less energy, and have greater access to jobs, services, and opportunities. Housing, transportation, sustainability, economic development, and community building are not separate conversations – they are deeply connected.
• The article also captures a tension familiar to anyone involved in local government. In trying to ensure fairness and public input, we’ve often created processes that make it extraordinarily difficult to say yes to anything. As the article notes, every decision can be appealed, every objection weighed, and every delay justified. The lesson is not that developers should have free rein. It’s that we should be careful not to become so focused on avoiding mistakes that we lose sight of the costs of doing nothing.

(3) Virginia Village

With the caveat that I have not yet read the posted materials for next Monday’s meeting, where I expect there will be changes to the zoning and RFP drafts based on our work session this week, City Council is poised to consider first reading (ie, vote 1 of 2) on the zoning for the Virginia Village site and authorize the release of the RFP so we can hear how the development community might renovate or redevelop the city owned quads.

A few thoughts:

We’re just beginning. If we move forward next week, this is the beginning – not the end – of a process that will likely stretch into 2027 – full of ifs and decision points to come. There will be multiple opportunities for public input, proposal review, negotiations, additional zoning action, site plan review, and affordable housing funding applications before any project moves forward. Specifically: hopefully we’ll get back interesting proposals from the development community at the end of the summer, we’ll have a high level presentations of the proposals to the community, a committee will be reviewing and scoring the proposals, City Council will choose a proposal and partner in the fall, negotiations on interim and comprehensive agreement with the partner, final zoning changes (vote 2 of 2) in the late fall, then a site plan process in early 2027, and affordable housing funding application with Virginia Housing in March 2027.

Leadership requires setting guardrails, not eliminating possibilities. The concerns we’ve heard about setbacks, height transitions, and neighborhood compatibility deserve thoughtful responses. At the same time, we should be careful not to layer on so many restrictions that we discourage the very proposals we’re hoping to attract. As our JLL consultant reminded us this week, the market will respond to the rules we establish.

The goal should be to create zoning that both respects the surrounding neighborhood and allows for financially feasible, affordable housing options to be built. If setbacks are too deep or height limits too restrictive, we may significantly reduce the number of affordable homes we can create. That’s why I support more flexible ranges and encouraged staff to ground their recommendations in real-world examples elsewhere in the city and the practical realities of the site, rather than arbitrary numbers.

Finally, I’m not convinced an additional discretionary review process is necessary if we are doing the work now to establish strong zoning guardrails. The community conversations about building form, transitions, height, and compatibility are happening today. Adding another layer of review later, even a skinnied version, would add time, cost, and uncertainty to a project where the financial margins are already tight – all of which means less housing or more expensive housing or no housing at all. While a typical development process brings people along to help shape the project, we’re having those exact discussions and debates right now.

Affordable housing requires tradeoffs. If we want more homes that working families, seniors, and young people can afford, we have to be willing to provide enough certainty for those projects to move forward and give up a little bit of control. We should be attracting strong proposals, so we can evaluate real options rather than deter opportunities before they ever reach us.

What’s Coming Up:

June 22 – City Council Meeting*

July 1 – Ask the Council Office Hours (9 am, City Hall)

July 13 – City Council Meeting*

July 20 – City Council Work Session*

July 27 – City Council Meeting*

Summer Recess

August 24 – City Council Work Session*

August 31 – City Council Meeting*

*All 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 Summer Office Hours:

June 29 – 630 – 8 pm (Harvey’s)

July 15 – 630 – 8 pm (Grillmarx)

August 26 – 630 – 8 pm (Little Beast)