Parking lot expansion proposed for Yechon restaurant
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| The house (on the left) could be torn down to make room for a bigger parking lot for Yechon (right) |
The owner of Yechon, the Korean barbecue/sushi restaurant at 4121 Hummer Road, Annandale, is seeking a zoning special exception for a parking lot expansion. The request is expected to come before the Fairfax County Planning Commission in July.
The popular restaurant, open 24 hours a day, attracts customers from all over the region. The parking lot, with space for 69 cars, is often full. The owner, Daniel Shin, wants to increase the parking capacity to at least 100 by tearing down the small house next door, which he also owns, and paving that lot.
Shin has found that house, at 4119 Hummer, difficult to sell or rent because it was the scene of a murder, says Ajay Sharma of Dominion Engineers, who has been hired to design the parking lot expansion.
The former occupant, Chung A. Auh, who had operated a holistic healing business there, was killed in July 2009 during a robbery. Danny Kim was convicted of capital murder in March 2011 and sentenced to life without parole.
According to Sharma, the parking lot project includes a new entrance on Hummer, a five-foot-wide brick sidewalk along Hummer, a small brick “island” with a tree surrounded by a circular bench, additional trees, and two small rain gardens. The brick wall separating the existing parking lot from the lot next door would be torn down.
Residents of the Adams Walk townhouse community across the street from Yechon have general concerns about traffic congestion on Hummer Road, says David Barber, treasurer of the homeowners association. “We don’t like to see the loss of a house, but we like the buffer zone and improvements along Hummer,” he says.
They already have cars parked in the rear of the house next door. For years they have been attempting to turn Hummer Road into a commercial area. If the residents along Hummer would like to be greeted with hundreds of day laborers urinating and throwing trash in their yards, then by all means approve this. Extending the commercial area down Hummer Road one inch will lead to a flood of new requests. Mr. Shin speculated when he purchased the home of the woman, he is already using the home as a commercial property while skirting county regulations regarding using private homes for commercial uses. Let the fight renew.
Wonderful! Turn Annandale into parking lots and infill. Tear down beautiful old homes to make space for a parking lot. That is just what Annandale needs. Just like we needed a Walgreens!
The vacant house does not particularly add to the neighborhood. However traffic on Hummer makes it difficult for pedestrians to cross the street. A "Yield to pedestrians in crosswalk" sign needs to be added at the nearby crosswalk. Since many Yechon customers now walk across Hummer, that would help them, and also help pedestrians in the community.
Also Mr Shin should install a bike rack, to encourage people to arrive at Yechon and nearby businesses by means other than auto.