Community groups: Fix Gallows Road traffic issues before approving new housing
The leaders of eight community groups are demanding that the developer seeking to build 32 homes on Gallows Road across from Woodburn Elementary School be required to install two traffic lights on what has been called the most dangerous pedestrian crossing in Mason District.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission is holding a public hearing on Oct. 7 on Madison Home’s proposal to rezone a nine-acre site from R-2 to PDH-4 (Planned Development Housing). Eleven single-family homes would be demolished to make way for the new single-family homes.
The Board of Supervisors approved a Comprehensive Plan amendment on Aug. 25 to facilitate the development.
Related story: Gallows Road called the most dangerous for pedestrians
The neighborhood leaders, representing 744 homes and over 2,600 residents, sent a letter to the Planning Commission on Oct. 2 stating, “As currently proposed, we believe the application is inconsistent with the community’s future vision as determined by the Board, the Comprehensive Plan, and the imminent Gallows Road Transportation Study.”
The letter urges Madison Homes to agree to a new proffer – calling for two traffic signals, at the intersection of Gallows Road at Aston Street and Hemlock Drive – before the Planning Commission approves the rezoning application.
The traffic signals are necessary, the letter says, because a recent report by Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets found numerous near misses and excessive speeding on Gallows Road near Woodburn Elementary School.
Related story: Supervisors approve Comp Plan amendment for new housing on Gallows Road
One of the proffers in the staff report says that if a proposed private road within the development is extended to Gallows Road, a three-way signal should be installed at that access point. The community groups call for a four-way signal at that spot.
If those proffers are not accepted, the letter urges the Planning Commission to defer the rezoning application until the Gallows Road Transportation Study is released and VDOT and FCDOT determine whether VDOT and FCDOT determine whether an additional access point is needed at Hemlock Drive.
The Gallows Road study is expected to be completed by the end of the year.
The letter was signed by 11 leaders from the following eight organizations:
- Holmes Run Acres Civic Association
- Raintree Homeowners Association
- Lafayette Village Community Association
- Northern Virginia Families for Safe Streets
- Fairfax Families for Safe Streets
- Woodburn Elementary School PTA
- Mason District Council
- Fairfax Federation of Citizens Associations