Residents take issue with plans for expanding Pine Ridge police facility

An artist’s rendering of the new FCPD Pine Ridge Operations and Support Bureau.

People who live next to the Fairfax County Police Department’s Pine Ridge Operations and Support Bureau in Annandale continue to have concerns with the county’s plan to replace that facility with a new, larger building and reconfigure the site’s layout.

The FCPD operations bureau is based in a former elementary school at 3911 Woodburn Road and has “outlived its useful life,” said Scott Bishop, of the design and construction division in the Fairfax County Public Works and Environmental Services Department, at a Jan. 28 meeting of the Mason District Land Use Committee. The $33.6 million project is funded by a public safety bond approved in 2015.

The project consists of a new main building – housing the FCPD bomb squad, SWAT team, K-9 unit, and other police operations – and three separate buildings for motor vehicles, including the motorcycle and crash reconstruction units. An existing building for the 911 backup communications center would remain. The facility serves about 100 staff members, and that would not change.

The public parking lot, which also serves Winterset Park, would be moved from one side of the property to the other. The public lot would have 100 parking spaces, and a secure lot for police personnel would have 130 spaces.

Bishop addressed several concerns from residents raised at a previous MDLUC meeting in November.

At the prior meeting, people wanted to know why the county couldn’t retain the existing layout and find temporary leased space for the FCPD operations bureau during construction. Bishop said a temporary building used for a fire station renovation project is about $3 million; a temporary building for a much larger project like this one would cost many millions of dollars.

Related story: New building planned for Pine Ridge police facility in Annandale

The layout needs to change because police facilities need two means of egress and ingress and the current site doesn’t allow for that, Bishop said. That’s why the public parking lot would be moved.

Several community members complained about the county’s plan to close Winterset Park, which has a tot lot and athletic field, during the two-year construction period. Bishop said there isn’t much that can be done about that but promised to look into whether a part of the park could remain open during construction.

Residents also complained that the size of the park would be reduced – from 4.65 to 4.15 acres. That needs to happen to allow for a new stormwater retention system, which is required by Fairfax County, Bishop said.

There were complaints that the proposed bio-retention system, which would fill up with water after heavy rain, would attract mosquitos. Bishop said the water will dissipate into the soil in a day or two and the water will attract wildlife that feed on mosquitos.

There were also questions about whether the proposed stormwater system could be underground, rather than taking away some of the park space. Bishop agreed to look into whether that could be cost-effective but noted that an underground system is less effective.

The property is owned by the Board of Supervisors, and the zoning ordinance requires transitional screening, consisting of a fence and landscaping.

The president of the Winterset-Varsity Park community association said some residents who live next door to the property don’t want another fence because they already have their own fences “and don’t want a lot of new trees because they want to look at the bare field.”

Bishop said if the community doesn’t want trees, the county will look into getting a waiver of the landscape screening requirement.

If the design and construction processes go smoothly, Bishop says the new facility could be completed in 2023.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the project Feb. 26. Since it’s a county facility, it doesn’t need approval from the Board of Supervisors. The Mason District Land Use Committee will consider the project again at its Feb. 25 meeting.