Save the North Fork of Accotink Creek in the City of Fairfax

Updated on 7/15/20 

The City Council unanimously approved the Northfax West redevelopment project on Tuesday, July 14th.

We are outraged over the granting of a special exception late Tuesday night which paves the way for the elimination of a living stream and forest. The Council should not have traded away this precious natural space for man-made green infrastructure and stream restorations. View the ANS press release

Close to midnight, with several Council members reading prepared remarks, Council unanimously approved the development proposal without modifications requested by residents and conservation organizations. 

Although he voted to approve the project, Councilmember Yi, answering without prepared remarks, passionately stated “The way we do things is most concerning to me,” highlighting the desire for independent consultants to help evaluate development projects. “People will walk away thinking ‘The Council did not listen to us.’” He continued: “We heard you and what you said is very important and it’s been weighing on me.”

. . .

Read the blog post:
(last updated on 7/13 prior to the approval)

On June 22nd, the Planning Commission voted 6-1 to approve the Northfax West rezoning and Master Development Plan. While the Planning Commission does not have the authority to vote on allowing impacts to RPAs and floodplains, their approval of the Master Development Plan (which requires impacts to the RPA and floodplain) indicates their approval in moving forward to culvert the North Fork of Accotink Creek.

City Council has re-scheduled the Northfax West development plan public hearing for July 14th.

This project currently proposes to remove 4 acres of forested riparian habitat while permanently burying the North Fork of the Accotink Creek. City residents’ voices are needed now to tell the City Council to save the A1 section of this stream and forest.

We need to protect nature for people and wildlife during redevelopment. There’s no way to make up for losing the living headwaters of the Accotink watershed. City residents are at risk of losing a place of solace, while owls, fish, and salamanders will lose their home.

To move forward, the land will have to be “rezoned” and this process presents an opportunity for the public to provide their views. The Audubon Naturalist Society, in partnership with Friends of Accotink Creek and a growing number of City residents, are speaking up to protect the healthiest part of this ecosystem: the 797 linear feet of the A1 section of the stream. There is a significant risk that the City’s environmental goals will be buried with the stream.

What plans are guiding this development?

Significant parts of this plan are excellent in their vision for transforming acres of gravel parking lot into a more vibrant, ecologically focused activity center. Walkable streets, denser development to allow for a more urban center help make better use of scarce land. Man-made rain gardens, bioswales, and green roofs are fantastic to incorporate into development plans. All new and redevelopment should have these as a baseline. However, they are not a replacement for forest and stream.

Where are the opportunities for development on this site?

We support smart growth and urban centers – in the right places – and not with the false choice of losing a healthy ecology. The City’s own Small Area Plan has identified the Northfax Activity Center as being an environmentally focused area where residents have requested a connection to nature. Destroying the forest and stream would be contrary to this plan.

What should be saved on this development site?

As more developable land is sought, the opportunity for green space and health of the stream has been misrepresented and instead used as an excuse to build on it. For example, at a May 13 City Council meeting (5 hour 14 min, 30 second mark), a developer stated:

“What exists today on Northfax is a stream that is entirely located on private property. No one gets to enjoy that stream other than the two houses on that property, which are in the floodplain. Furthermore, based on studies that Apex Companies, our environmental consultant, has done the stream is not in good condition. There’s no observed fish or other macroinvertebrates indicative of good water quality in that stream area.”

Residents have flocked to green spaces during this pandemic, proving the value of forests and streams to our personal long-term well-being. The City could, in fact, decide to make this green space public property to be enjoyed by City residents.

As for the health of the stream, life is readily observable, both in the perennial stream and in the surrounding forest. In fact, in their submitted application’s “Stream Impact Assessment Form” (p. 27), part of the perennial stream (labeled A1) rates “Optimal” in terms of instream health and rated average or better in all other categories. On my visits to Orchard Street, I found owls, deer, fish, salamanders, and the insects which support this life in the North Fork of Accotink Creek and its forest. 

What current lives in and around the North Fork of Accotink Creek?

What is the current plan and what ideas do *you* have for an alternative?

Note: The Northfax West property is privately owned
If you are interested in seeing this property first-hand, you can visit it from Orchard Street, just east of Chain Bridge Road. While the road is public, the area surrounding the road, including the forest and stream, is private. Please do not enter private property either here or upstream without permission from the property owner.

Additional resources

About Renee Grebe

Renee is the Northern Virginia Conservation Advocate at ANS.
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2 Comments

  1. Hi – has anyone created an online petition for this? It might be a good way to get the word out in a socially distant way. We started a change.org petition for another environmental issue in the city and had a strong response.

    • Kate – thank you for your thoughts. Petitions can be great for organizing a list of contacts with which you’ll follow up and create a lasting network. In that vein, a City resident did create a Facebook group created with that goal in mind (in case you or others are on Facebook): https://www.facebook.com/groups/786139911918540/

      However, my experience in using petitions in order to garner support have shown them to be less effective. For example, for a local NOVA issue last year, a petition with 220+ signatures was treated by the locale as “one piece of feedback” whereas a generic form submission from the opposite point of view was counted as dozens of pieces of feedback. The locale even showed a map of supporters versus opposition and didn’t map the signatures from the petition (which included individual addresses and signatures). A knowledgeable friend later told me that petitions do not hold the weight people think they do.

      The A+ answer is to have everyone’s voice be their own, personal one, raising up common asks when possible (as in the above blog post) submitted directly through the proper channels. Even it’s one sentence, it can often hold more weight than a petition. Calling in to the City Council meeting on June 23rd with a well-crafted, 3-minute comment is also a good investment if you have the time.

      I hope that is helpful context! Thank you for engaging and speaking up!

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