Board approves childcare facility in Annandale

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Oct. 8 approved the expansion of a childcare facility in Annandale.

The property, a single-family home at 5116 Columbia Road adjacent to Braddock Road, currently serves as a home-based childcare facility for seven children.

The applicants, Reena Abu-Taleb and Zena Shilleh, applied for a zoning special exception to convert the property from residential to commercial to create the Annandale Children’s Academy with space for 47 children.

They plan to repurpose and renovate the house to conform to commercial building codes. The freestanding garage would be converted to an indoor play area.

Outdoor improvements include a new playground, an expanded parking area with 12 spaces, additional screening, and a 10-foot-wide shared-use path for pedestrians and bicycles along Braddock Road and Columbia Road.

The Annandale Children’s Academy would be open on weekdays, 7 a.m.-6 p.m. Children could attend full time, part-time (two or three days a week), or mornings only. There would be six employees.