Mason task force agrees two amendments in Seven Corners should move forward

The Gibson house is in the center, and the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is on the left. The road is Leesburg Pike.

The Mason District task force charged with reviewing nominations to amend the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan approved two overlapping development proposals in Seven Corners Aug. 19.

This is a preliminary step in a lengthy process that could eventually result in major redevelopment projects.

The Gibson house, as seen from Leesburg Pike.

The task force is reviewing six site-specific nominations to determine whether they should be added to the county planning staff’s work program for amending the Comprehensive Plan. The nominations will also be considered by the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors.

The task force considered two proposals Aug. 6 and will discuss the final two on Sept. 8.

The proposals considered Aug. 19 involve a major expansion of the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center at the Row Street/Leesburg Pike intersection in Seven Corners and a private homeowner who wants to build three to seven housing units on her property at the same intersection.

Related story: Mason District task force approves one development proposal and opposes another

Priscilla Gibson’s house is on a one-acre lot at 6152 Leesburg Pike. Her grandfather built the house in 1929 using a team of horses to dig the foundation.

Gibson wants to build a cluster of small cottage-style homes in the backyard. Her mother would live in one of the homes, while the others would be occupied by the elderly or disabled veterans. The homes would be designed to facilitate mobility with appropriate accommodations for the disabled, such as built-in grab bars.

Gibson is seeking a waiver of the county requirement that states any new development along that part of Route 7 must include a service road.

The nomination from Dar Al-Hijrah calls for a community center, up to 25 units of senior housing with supported retail, and an expansion of the mosque on 7.5 acres on Leesburg Pike, Row Street, and Munson Hill Road.

The entrance to Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center on Row Street.

Dar Al-Hijrah owns most of those properties, but not others. The mosque’s preliminary plans call for the community center to be built on Leesburg Pike on the site occupied by the Gibson house.

The community center would serve the entire Bailey’s Crossroads area, not just people who attend the mosque, said  Saif Rahman, director of public and government affairs for Dar Al-Hijrah. It would have meeting rooms and possibly an indoor swimming pool and basketball courts.

Rahman told the task force the community center and expansion of the mosque are the top priorities and that the housing and retail components might not be necessary. “None of the plans include any sort of retail. It’s in there to keep the options open,” he said.

Rahman said he has begun meeting with Gibson about ways to coordinate both proposals and “find a solution we can work through.”

“We live in the home the mosque seeks to build on,” Priscilla Gibson said. “This is our family home. We prefer to live there.” She said she didn’t know about Dar Al-Hijrah’s plan to build on her property until she received a certified letter from the mosque.

Someone can nominate a property they don’t own but can’t have it rezoned without the owner’s consent.

The task force agreed that the Gibson and Dar Al-Hijrah nominations should be considered in context with one another and with the First Christian Church’s nomination to build an apartment building for low-income seniors on the other side of Route 7.

Following a discussion of how the Gibson and mosque nominations could be combined, task force chair Marty Machowsky called the potential conflict with both nominations problematic. “We can encourage nominators to work something out, but that’s as far as we should go,” he said.

Task force members and community residents also raised concerns with the mosque proposal about parking, stormwater drainage, and traffic on neighborhood streets.