Public hearing will address use of eminent domain for Sleepy Hollow sidewalk construction
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| The affected properties are outlined in blue. |
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors agreed July 27 to
advertise a public hearing on using eminent domain to acquire land rights to
properties needed for construction of the Sleepy Hollow Walkway Project.
The hearing will be Sept. 14 at 4:30 p.m.
The project calls for constructing 4,789 linear feet of
concrete sidewalk to provide a continuous pedestrian walkway along Sleepy
Hollow Road between Columbia Pike and Leesburg Pike. The project also includes
upgraded curb ramps, new curbs and gutters, a retaining wall, and drainage
improvements.
The sidewalk project drew stiff opposition from residents –
mainly about the loss of trees – when it was first presented in 2018. County
staff subsequently revised the project to minimize tree loss.
Related story: Sleepy Hollow Road residents not convinced of need for sidewalks
Construction of the Sleepy Hollow project requires the
acquisition of dedications, storm drainage easements, a grading agreement, and temporary construction easements.
The county’s Land Acquisition Division has already acquired
land rights for 31 of the 48 affected properties.
Negotiations are in progress. However, because resolution of
these acquisitions is not imminent, it may be necessary for the Board of
Supervisors to use quick-take eminent domain powers to begin construction on schedule,
states the background materials for BoS meeting.
Those powers are granted to the board in the Virginia code,
but a public hearing is required.
The board document lists the following properties subject to
eminent domain:
Sleepy Hollow Mews Homeowners Association (tax map 060-2-45-A).
John A. Rapsis, 3232 Sleepy Hollow Road.
The Congressional School of Virginia, 3229 Sleepy Hollow
Road.
Katherine L. Mills and Kathy L. Stroop, 6411 Overhill Road.
Seven Corners Place Professional Park (tax map 051-3-34).
Millennium Center LLC, 6319 Castle Place.
Seven Oaks Homeowners Association (051-3-31-2-0002B)
Gregory M. Giammittorio, 3443 Sleepy Hollow Road.
Trustees of the Sleepy Hollow United Methodist Church, 3435
Sleepy Hollow Road.
XBT LLC, 3401 Malbrook Drive.
Angel Uria, 3400 Malbrook Drive.
Christopher J. Farrell, 3132 Sleepy Hollow Road.
Joel Torres-Otamendi, 3117 Sleepy Hollow Road.
Greater Washington Home LLC, 3104 Sleepy Hollow Road.
Viet Q. Nguyen, 3102 Sleepy Hollow Road.
Trustees of the Marilyn C. Gotschall Trust, 6420 Sleepy
Ridge Road.
Virginia Psychiatric Co. Inc., 2960 Sleepy Hollow Road.
I wish the county would not waste millions on a sidewalk where it is not wanted by a large number of people. There are so many sidewalks in Mason District that were constructed decades ago, like the one in my neighborhood, that could use some maintenance. VDOT discards all maintenance requests that I submit and has claimed that they are not responsible for maintenance of the sidewalk along the public road that I live on.
You are absolutely right. As another example, there are either only partial or no sidewalks on the road leading up to Poe Middle School. Children have no choice but to walk on the side of the road as cars and school buses move past them. The danger is made even more severe by the number of cars parked on residential streets near Poe, limiting the space for cars and buses to maneuver to as little as one lane.
New sidewalks and improved sidewalks near Poe are an urgent need. In over 30 years, I have rarely seen people walking along Sleepy Hollow Road, but every single day of the school years, Poe students have to walk in traffic. Makes no sense at all.
Completely agree about seeing very few pedestrians on Sleepy Hollow Road ever. If people wanted and needed to walk along Sleepy Hollow Road, they would be doing it already, even without a sidewalk.
"I never see anyone walking" — hmmmm perhaps it has to do with the lack of sidewalks?
Not convinced anonymous 7/29 at 9:51 am.
There were very few bikers on Sleepy Hollow Rd prior to the designated bike lanes.
There continues to be just a few bikers even with the new bike lanes.
I see walkers almost every day on Sleepy Hollow. I drove this morning and saw two individuals and someone walking a dog, and that was just in a short drive on the northern section of sleepy hollow north of congressional.
This walkway is wanted by many. This project – by and large – has been an example of the county listening to legitimate public concern and adapting the project to meet it.
There are people who want this walkway built (it should have been built years ago). There are people who, understandably, want it to have negligible impact to their property. The county came up with compromises to seriously curtail private property impact.
Sleepy Hollow Road does not have any transit stations, business centers, shopping centers, or anything to actually walk to, aside from Congressional School and Sleepy Hollow Elementary. The closest clusters of restaurants and businesses are not within easy walking distance, even with a sidewalk constructed on the road. This is an easy pet project with some existing right of way for the county to pat themselves on the back, and say that they did something, when they are building a sidewalk that adds very little connectivity to anything.
I walked it once and it was a terrible experience. I would walk it again with a sidewalk. This has become a much more urban area than the original build out and it's unfortunate that the sidewalk was not included from the beginning, but here we are.
Hearing about Poe is unfortunate and I agree that this should be raised as the next project. But they are so far along on this that it would be a mistake to stop progress to start on Poe.
I think there is a good chance that this will be a very popular sidewalk trail – it serves to connect Seven Corners with a major residential community that really is pretty tricky to walk around. Initially, I was concerned about the amount of opposition to the proposed path, but I have been impressed that the County staff have been as patient as they are, redesigning segments of the sidewalk to accommodate community needs. These remaining eminent domain purchases are far fewer than was initially suggested – trees have been saved, some lots avoided. The outcome will be a path that isn't as direct as we might have hoped – it will move back and forth from sidewalk form to a path inside the street right-of-way – but it serves an important need. Finally, note that the eminent domain work for a sidewalk is really just that part of the lot directly adjacent to the street, not the entire lots as is somewhat implied by the map.
The County continue to ram through a sidewalk project that very few of the directly-affected residents want. Perhaps actually enforcing speed laws and working to curtail the chronic, aggressive drivers on Sleepy Hollow Rd would do more to make the area safer for all? Mason District police are never seen enforcing traffic laws on SHR, even though cars routinely fly 15-20+ MPH over the speed limit and drive down the shoulders as if they are a second lane. Tire screeching and angry horns have become commonplace every afternoon.
I can't wait to see how long the traffic backups will be during the long construction period when Congressional School already backs traffic up to Seven Corners on a daily basis. Plus, the County has only offered residents pennies on the dollar for the incursion into their lots and the damages the project will cause to landscaping and property improvements.