Gas station plans to replace repair shop with a convenience store
The Fairfax County Planning Commission is scheduled to consider an application Sept. 14 to transform the vehicle repair facility at the Ravensworth Shell gas station into a convenience store.
The Shell station is located at the Ravensworth Shopping Center on the corner of Braddock Road and Port Royal Road in Annandale.
The applicant, Capital Services Inc., intends to retain the existing six fuel pumps and canopy, replace the four-bay vehicle service area with a convenience store, and add a small second-floor office. The building’s footprint will not change.
There would be two entrances to the convenience store, one on the north side and the other on the south side of the building. Both the fuel pumps and store would operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
The project would include a number of site and architectural improvements. The building design would be upgraded to include brick veneer, glass windows and doors, and a gabled metal roof with a small tower. According to one of the development conditions, all sides of the building must have harmonious architecture.
Vehicular access to the site would not change. Currently, vehicles access the gas station from Braddock Road with right-in and right-out turns and from two curb cuts from Port Royal Road.
The northernmost curb cut on Port Royal Road (closest to Braddock Road) would become a right-in-only entrance to allow fuel trucks to access the station’s underground tanks. There would be a narrower, channelized entrance to physically limit movements to right-in only. The other curb cut further south would continue to permit full movements.
Lane striping, stop bars, new landscape islands, and pavement striping would be installed to direct traffic within the shopping center.
Overall daily trips are expected to increase from the current 3,128 trips to 4,033 trips and would be spread out throughout the day and evening hours.
Landscaped islands and outdoor seating would be added. The sidewalk along Port Royal Road would be widened to five feet. Speed bumps would be removed and a stop bar would be added along the southern side of the building.
The Planning Commission held a hearing on the proposal July 27 but deferred a decision to Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m. The Braddock Land Use Committee endorsed the project.
One of the major outstanding issues involved a staff recommendation calling for Capital Services and the shopping center owner to dedicate land for trail improvements associated with the upcoming Braddock Road Multimodal Improvement Project. Capital Services’ representative told the Planning Commission they hope to work out a compromise with VDOT.
Other questions raised at the hearing involve the need for loading space, inlet filters for stormwater treatment, the location of landscaping, and outdoor sidewalk displays.
Staff recommendation? Are these the same geniuses who stuffed z-mod down our throats during a pandemic? IMHO the shopping ctr owner did a darn good job refurbishing that property 2017 – a big improvement. The guy seemed like a real straight shooter – came to our community meetings and engaged with residents about his plan. That’s much more than we can say for the county “staff” at this point. They can’t get it together to improve Annandale center – but they can make “recommendations” to a decent business owner? Something is wrong here. Why can’t they get the trashy area behind the Block cleaned up? Why don’t know what’s being built at the old Wendy’s ? Why are we stuck with the useless traffic circle filled w weeds on Ravensworth? Bike lanes that disappear or empty into deadly (literally deadly) or intersections. The Planning Commission need a full scale re-do asap.