Fairfax Water drops plan to use eminent domain to acquire property

Fairfax Water plans to acquire the light yellow properties in Merrifield for a new water facility and might also purchase the dark yellow lots. [Fairfax Water]

The Fairfax County Water Authority has dropped plans to use eminent domain to acquire a property at 8515 Lee High in Merrifield for a new maintenance facility.

That plan was opposed by the owner, Milestone Properties, and by the Greater Merrifield Business Association. GMBA had complained that a water facility would not be good redevelopment option for a site so close to the Mosaic District.

Fairfax Water now proposes to purchase several adjacent properties in Merrifield close to Gallows Road: 2931, 2939, 2943, 2947, and Lot 76 on Mayberry Street and 8109 and 8117 Ransell Road  It’s also considering acquiring 2924 Telestar Court and 2927 Gallows Road. Those properties are even closer to the Mosaic District but are on the other side of Gallows Road.

The agency must build a new central maintenance facility “to meet the existing and future public water service requirements for its customers,” states a notice from Fairfax Water announcing a public hearing on the plan that had been scheduled for Feb. 4. “This location was suggested by the Greater Merrifield Business Association and others as a feasible site for such a facility.”

The Mayberry Road properties are listed as vacant on Fairfax County’s tax records. The Ransell Road properties are occupied by Al’s Towing Service and a warehouse. There’s a low-rise office building on the Telestar Court site and another building on the Gallows Road property.