Child Development Center plans to expand

This end of the ACCA building, which used to house the Annandale Adult Day Center, is vacant.

The Child Development Center (CDC), an early childhood education center and preschool operated by Annandale Christian Community for Action, is seeking permission to expand into a vacant area in its building at 7200 Columbia Pike.

The space became available when Fairfax County closed the Annandale Adult Day Center – serving older adults with mental and physical disabilities – in December 2015 in a cost-cutting move.

The Fairfax County Planning Commission on June 29 recommended approval of a zoning special exception to allow the CDC expansion project to go forward. The Board of Supervisors is scheduled to hear the matter on July 11.

The CDC serves 230 children, ages 3 months to five years old. The new space will allow the center to serve 60 more children, said Executive Director Maria-Isabel Ballivian. That is critical, because there’s a huge need in the community for early childhood education and the CDC has a waiting list.

Ballivian hopes to create one new preschool classroom as soon as possible and another in October. The expansion would also allow more space for staff professional development and parenting classes.

Eventually, she would like the CDC to offer before and after-school care for children age 6-13, serve more special-needs children, and provide a school readiness program in the summer for rising kindergartners.

No changes are planned to the exterior of the building, which had once been Annandale Elementary School. Resilient floors and kid-sized plumbing facilities would be installed in the new space, and the parking lot would be reconfigured.

The CDC will again host a full program of children’s activities during the Taste of Annandale on Oct. 14.