Decision deferred on McDonald’s improvements
The Fairfax County Planning Commission on March 15 deferred a decision on a zoning special exception for an upgrade of the McDonald’s at the intersection of Leesburg Pike and Carlin Springs Road in Bailey’s Crossroads.
The deferral will give the McDonald’s representative and county planners more time to agree on how the project can meet the county’s green building standards.
The Planning Commission is scheduled to decide whether to recommend approval at its March 29 meeting. The Board of Supervisors would hold a public hearing in April.
McDonald’s is proposing to expand the existing single-lane drive-through to two lanes.
The office building next door, at 5613 Leesburg Pike, would be demolished to provide more space for parking and circulation. There would be 47 parking spaces.
A 1,300-square-foot addition would be added at the rear of the McDonald’s. It would contain a larger freezer and refrigerator and larger ADA-compliant restrooms. Outdoor seating would be added next to the addition.
The existing building would remain. The exterior would be modernized, and the interior would be remodeled to improve functionality.
The project includes pedestrian crosswalks, wider sidewalks on Leesburg Pike and Carlin Springs Road, updated streetlights, and landscaping.
The building was developed in 1971 as a Roy Rogers restaurant. The property was leased to McDonald’s in 1997.
McDonald’s land use attorney told the Planning Commission the company is trying to meet the county’s green building standards but is not quite there yet.
Because the project is unable to meet the requirements for LEED certification, county planning staff recommended EarthCraft as an alternative to LEED. However, McDonald’s wasn’t able to get enough points on EarthCraft’s scoring system to achieve certification.
County staff and McDonald’s staff will now try to work out a compromise before the next Planning Commission meeting on March 29.
Thank god they are tearing down those adjacent office buildings next door. This entire block and all the buildings behind it on Seminary Rd are such as eyesore.
I wonder if this one has same franchise owner as the one on Langston Blvd in arlington (near Heidelberg and the fire station being rebuilt). That one has also been trying to modify its drive thru for years and has been in a tug of war with the county.
Not “a Roy Rogers”. It was the very first Roy Rogers. And it was not 1970, it was April 1968.
How cool!
first it was a Hot Shopes JR
So glad they are holding McDonald’s to higher environmental standards. Wish there was more of this required with new construction and remodeling.
This site was a tops drive in prior to being a Roy Rogers.