Politics & Government

Hy-Way Motel Redevelopment By Lamb Center OK'd By Fairfax City Council

Fairfax City Council approved a special use permit application to redevelop the Hy-Way Motel property with permanent supportive housing.

Lamb Center/Wesley Housing supporters celebrate the Fairfax City Council's unanimous vote to approve the application to redevelop the Hy-Way Motel property on Fairfax Boulevard with permanent supportive housing.
Lamb Center/Wesley Housing supporters celebrate the Fairfax City Council's unanimous vote to approve the application to redevelop the Hy-Way Motel property on Fairfax Boulevard with permanent supportive housing. (Michael O'Connell/Patch)

FAIRFAX CITY, VA — Fairfax City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the Lamb Center/Wesley Housing's application to redevelop the Hy-Way Motel property on Fairfax Boulevard to include permanent, supportive, low-income housing.

"The council did the right thing. We're thrilled with the result," said Lamb Center Executive Director Tara Ruszkowski, following the vote. "The result is a creative plan. They realized that the community believes in this, wants to see it."

The decision came after a two-hour public hearing, at which more than 20 speakers urged the council to approve the special exception that would allow the developers to bring 54 affordable housing units to the Fairfax Circle area.

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For much of Tuesday night's meeting and public hearing, it appeared the council might actually defer or deny altogether the developers' application.

At the Nov. 29 public hearing, city staff recommended that council members defer the decision on the application to give the Lamb Center and Wesley Housing more time to secure offsite parking to bring the project into compliance with the city's zoning ordinance. Staff also recommended additional edits by the applicant to bring its plan into compliance.

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Although the Lamb Center and Wesley Housing had addressed most of the requested changes, city staff recommended the council deny the application, largely over a lack of sufficient parking.

Under current zoning, a facility like the one being proposed would normally require 77 parking spaces to accommodate the building's service providers, staff members, and 54 residents. The application included just 18 parking spaces.

Since the new facility was being built to house residents who earned less than 15 percent of the average median income (less than $25,000), it was unlikely that any of the 54 residents could afford to own a car and, therefore, the applicant didn't need a parking space. Eighteen spaces would be sufficient to support the facility.

City staff disagreed. The city was bound by zoning ordinances that were written to address the density of other types of developments. The Lamb Center/Wesley Housing project was the first affordable housing development of its kind with that level of density. Staff wanted to see more of a commitment from the applicant to identify additional offsite parking to support the project.

The Lamb Center and Wesley Housing contacted the surrounding property owners, but none said they had extra parking to offer.

By the end of Tuesday night's meeting, the applicant committed to providing 16 onsite parking spaces for residents, with an additional two parking spaces for short-term use, according to a revised agreement submitted to the city.

The applicant had commitments from both Truro Anglican Church and Fairfax Circle Church to provide 10 spaces each for the center's use. United Methodist Church had also give the Lamb Center and Wesley Housing a verbal commitment to provide an additional 10 parking spaces.

The applicant told the city that it would operate a 12-passenger van on an on-call basis to shuttle passengers back and forth from the parking spaces to the center during normal business hours, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Starting one year after its entitlement, the applicant said it will conduct semi-annual monitoring of its operations to measure shuttle use, parking occupancy, and use of offsite parking agreements, as well as residential and staff parking permits.

With this new commitment from the Lamb Center/Wesley Housing, Councilmember Jon Stehle made a motion for the council to approve the application. Councilmember So Lim seconded the motion.

Before a vote could be taken, Councilmember Janice Miller introduced a substitute motion, which was seconded by Councilmember Joseph Harmon, to defer the decision.

"I would like to see the applicant and staff formalize the parking agreement and then it be voted on January 10th, 2023, and that is why I moved for deferral," Miller said.

Earlier in the meeting, Lim asked the Lamb Center and Wesley Housing representatives why they were in such a rush to get the application approved at Tuesday night's meeting.

"Financing only happens on an annual basis when you're looking for these types of low-income housing tax credit resources," said Shelly Murphy, CEO of Wesley Housing. "Trying to get it approved now helps us to be able to put in an application next year to secure the tax credits, which means then another year to close on the financing and even start construction, and another year and a half beyond that."

Councilmembers Sang Yi, Miller, and Harmon voted in support of the substitute motion and Councilmembers Stehle, Lim, and Tom Ross voted against it. Mayor David Meier voted "no" to break the tie and the motion failed.

The council then voted unanimously to pass Stehle's motion as amended to include the applicant's commitments stated at the meeting in regards to parking.

The next step for the permanent supportive housing project will be for the Lamb Center and Wesley Housing to line up their financing, so they can close on the property, according to Ruszkowski.

"We're incredibly grateful to the staff and the council," she said. "This is just the beginning. There's lots of hard work and we're very excited about what we'll be able to do — 54 lifeboats."

Task Force Focused On Homelessness Proposed By Councilmember

During the Nov. 30 public hearing. Fairfax Circle business owners said they opposed the project being proposed by the Lamb Center and Wesley Housing based on the behavior of homeless people the owners say were customers of the Lamb Center.

Their complaints focused on incidents of trespassing, vandalism, and harassment they said their businesses had experienced since the Lamb Center moved to its present location on Spring Street in 2016. Only four people voiced similar complaints during Tuesday night's public hearing.


Related: Businesses Oppose Lamb Center Project, Ask Council To Defer Decision


The vast majority of speakers Tuesday night, including 62 who signed a letter to the council, voiced their overwhelming support for the project, with many seeing it as a first step to addressing the region's homeless crisis.

During the meeting, Councilmember So Lim told those in attendance that she was committed to forming a task force in the new year made up of the mayor, council members, city staff, Lamb Center representatives, and Fairfax Circle-area residents and business owners. The task force's mission would be to address many of the concerns about homelessness in the city that came to light during public testimony.

"Our residents and business owners can get together and basically be open minded and discuss things," she said, after the vote was taken. "I think it's the city's responsibility to address the concerns over the homelessness population, so let's resolve it."


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