Posts about Seven Corners

Development

Falls Church misses planning opportunity with BJ's

by Steve Offutt   •   September 19, 2011 1:40 pm

Rather than taking maximum advantage of an opportunity to improve an area that is in dire need of better design, the City of Falls Church settled on a cookie-cutter, big box store when planning for BJ's.

Photo by the author.

The BJ's Wholesale Club opened last October 9 near Seven Corners to much fanfare. Most of the press around the opening was very positive, though it was built with little regard for future urban design or long-term planning in the area.

The property owner, JBG Properties, and the City of Falls Church announced the original plan two years earlier in October 2008. In that deal, the city agreed to provide $250,000 in annual tax relief to the property owners (totaling approximately $3 million over 12 years). The relief was intended to help offset some of the costs of site preparation, including retaining walls and infill.

At least one Falls Church resident perceived the deal as providing an unfair advantage to a business that doesn't really need it in comparison to some of the small businesses in the area.

The site is approximately 8.5 acres, and the store is reportedly 87,000 square feet, or about 24% of the site area (for comparison, the wildly popular, mixed-use Clarendon Common in Clarendon sits on 10 acres). It is exactly 1 mile from the East Falls Church Metro and is a typical big box retailer, with a large parking lot along the street and a deep setback.

Though tastefully landscaped, the site was formerly forested, and as many as 100 mature trees were sacrificed for the store's construction. As expected, the parking lot was full the first weekend it opened. On the numerous occasions I've passed by there since, I have never seen it more than about 2/3 full and often more than half empty.

Photo by the author.

As the resident above points out, there is little to no chance Falls Church would have allowed this BJ's near the center of the city. It is in the far southeast corner of the city (map), bordering both Fairfax and Arlington Counties, and away from the "village" area of Falls Church.

One could argue that the BJ's fits into this car-centric area around Seven Corners, which is unlike the center of Falls Church, with its mom-and-pop stores. However, the design could have been somewhat better with minor adjustments and considerably better with significant changes.

One step toward transforming the site to be more pedestrian-friendly could have been siting the building next to the street with a wide, inviting sidewalk and the parking in the rear. Better yet, a few small storefronts could have been integrated along the street as well, lessening the anchor store's isolation and vastly improving the pedestrian experience. Within 1/2 mile of this site are literally hundreds of housing units, primarily multi-family, so a significant density of potential pedestrians exists.

Even more innovative, though, would have been to develop the site completely differently, perhaps with a variety of uses and working on intelligent ways to take advantage of the Metro station just 1 mile away and the density of nearby housing. It could have been the start of a larger transformation for the entire area.

This picture shows the small group of stores just to the west of BJs. When this strip is redeveloped, the setback could be moved closer to the street, improving the pedestrian experience and continuing what could have been a mild transformation had the BJs site been more well designed.

To the east of BJ's is this Jiffy Lube, a fine establishment no doubt, but one that for the time being will detract from improving the streetscape. I am unaware of any current or imminent development efforts in the immediate vicinity of the BJ's.

Presumably Falls Church, with its relatively progressive population and policies, is a strong candidate for innovative suburban land use. In fact, the city has been working with Arlington County on a more progressive, long-term plan for the East Falls Church Metro station area.

In the end, timing likely affected some of the decisions surrounding this property. Because of the recession, Falls Church was desperate for sales tax revenue. If this deal had taken place before the downturn, the city may have had the means to negotiate for a better land use in return for less revenue.

It wouldn't be surprising if, at the end of the 12-year tax break period, the owners either negotiate an extension or simply move to another location. The building itself is single use and couldn't be easily re-purposed, as evidenced by the long-empty Big Lots less than 1000 feet away in the Eden Center.

In retrospect, a few design changes could have been implemented that would have served as a small step towards transforming this area. Unfortunately, that effort was not made and we're left with another disposable big box.

Unless Falls Church and Fairfax County decide to work together to develop a vision for Seven Corners, it will remain a poorly designed, unsafe, and unattractive part of the Washington region.

Pedestrians

Safeway at Seven Corners fixes pedestrian access problem

by Steve Offutt   •   August 21, 2011 1:00 pm

Back in March, I reported that the newly renovated Safeway at Seven Corners had designed their shopping cart corral in such a way as to block sidewalk access, forcing pedestrians to walk into traffic.

Two weeks ago, the Safeway removed this barrier, and now the sidewalk is completely open, allowing for safe and convenient pedestrian passage.

Left: Previous barrier. Right: The same area today. Photos by the author.

Pedestrians

Renovated Safeway at Seven Corners dismisses pedestrians

by Steve Offutt   •   March 11, 2011 1:27 pm

The Safeway in the Willston Center near Seven Corners in Fairfax County recently underwent a major renovation. This renovation provides no access for pedestrians along the sidewalk in front of the store, forcing pedestrians to walk in the parking lot.

Photo by the author.

The new renovation is a vast improvement over the old Safeway store that was here. It's bigger, newer, cleaner and includes a Starbucks. Unfortunately, no one paid any attention to how the front of the store interacts with the parking lot and the sidewalk.

This Safeway is not a stand-alone store. It is in a strip that contains a dozen other establishments. It is also adjacent to and very near a large number of apartment buildings, and a significant number of users (myself included) can and do walk to this strip. So it is not a suburban, car-only type of place, even though it has a large parking lot in front.

Although many users come to the Safeway, many also come to the other establishments, and if they wish to visit any that require them to pass by the Safeway (which is in the middle), they must walk into the parking lot to pass in front of the store.

This is, in fact, a dangerous situation. Pedestrians are forced out not into a parking area, but into the moving traffic along the front of the store. The large columns are visual obstacles for both the pedestrians and the drivers. It is likely that at some point in time—probably at night or in other lower visibility conditions—someone will be struck.

Here are some photos:

The BB&T Bank is to the west (left) of the Safeway. To walk past the Safeway to stores on the right, one must walk out into the parking lot.

This narrow section of sidewalk is navigable without going into the parking lot, but there's not a lot of room.

The point where the trash can is located is the place where there is no sidewalk option available. All pedestrians must walk out into the parking lot in order to pass this section. Depending on where the cart storage is, pedestrians may also be forced out at the left of the photo where the leaning sign is located.

This is just past the trash can. The sidewalk is about 12 inches wide, but there is also a sign in the way.

Here's a look from the opposite angle. The sign and trash can are visible on the left side of the photo.

This photo is also taken from the east. The trash can is visible. The BB&T Bank is beyond the Safeway.

Fairfax County's zoning ordinance is hundreds and hundreds of pages. A search through the sections that deal with commercial retail properties like this shopping center resulted in virtually no mentions whatsoever of sidewalks or other pedestrian amenities.

The designers of this Safeway were therefore not required to give any consideration to pedestrians, which is obvious from the outcome. Only those who drive cars were considered in their design choices. Even those who drive here and may also want to go to the bank or to the dollar store nearby are forced to step out into the parking lot traffic in order to do so.

To his credit, when this problem was pointed out to the manager, he was surprised and concerned and expressed his opinion that this design would provide a disservice to his customers. Too bad they didn't ask him before they started.

Pedestrians

The Seven Corners pedestrian bridge: one year later

by Steve Offutt   •   June 18, 2010 1:14 pm

A pedestrian bridge across Route 50 near Seven Corners in Fairfax County opened in May of 2009.

Last year I posted twice about this feature. I recently went back to visit and do another count of bridge users. Here are the results, along with the counts from 2009.

Each entry in this table represents one hour of counting during the middle of the day. The weather was similarly pleasant on all three days.

Based on this simple count, it appears that foot traffic is about the same this year versus last, with approximately half the people crossing doing so at Patrick Henry. This seems sensible to me: the bridge would represent a long detour for many people whose destinations are closer to Patrick Henry Drive. For this count there was only one person who made the mad dash across Route 50. That is fewer than before, although my statistical sample is pretty small.

Pedestrians

Are people using the Seven Corners pedestrian bridge?

by Steve Offutt   •   June 30, 2009 1:54 pm

On May 20th, Fairfax County finally opened the pedestrian overpass at Seven Corners.

According to officials at the ribbon cutting, the original discussions for the overpass began 25 years ago. "All in," including engineering, design, and other costs, the bridge cost $8 million. (In the original post, I reported a price tag of $2.6 million.

The bridge still needs some pedestrian improvements, such as the paths from the bridge to the stores. At left is the sidewalk leading away from the stairs; at right is the sidewalk from the ramp. Both just end abruptly with the Starbucks and B&N beckoning across the lot.

Despite the fact that this area is quite unfriendly to pedestrians, it actually gets a lot of pedestrian use. Here are the statistics I gathered on two different dates, Thursday, May 21 from 10:05 to 11:05 AM and Tuesday, June 16 from 1:30 to 2:30 PM. Both days were excellent weather with temperatures in the 70s.

See the end of the post for some caveats about these statistics.

In both cases there were more users at the Patrick Henry crossing than on the bridge itself, underscoring the continuing need to make that intersection safe and pleasant for pedestrians. I was surprised that no cyclists used the bridge. Perhaps they simply aren't yet aware of the new option.

According to the Pedestrian Program Manager, county also plans to add signals and crosswalks at Seven Corners itself, which would be a definite improvement to the worn footpaths and crossing-fingers-that-the-light-is-red situation that exists there now.

The people who made the "Mad Dash" across Route 50 did so in three locations: 6 of them crossed between the bridge and Seven Corners; 2 crossed between the bridge and Patrick Henry and 2 crossed 50 yards or so east of Patrick Henry.

The bridge will, of course, require maintenance, and hopefully the county has budgeted for that. Already the bridge has become a magnet for graffiti. There was already at least one overflowing trash receptacle. Over time, if the county lets the facility become run down, many people will choose not to use it any more. After only a month, this one seems to already be neglected.

Caveats on table data: Data was gathered while sitting on the bridge. Accuracy as follows:

• Bridge users: 100% accurate
  
• PH Drive: Likely undercounted by 10-20% due to distance and sight line. Better data on second date due to learning curve.
  
• Seven Corners: Likely undercounted by a lot due to sightline and inability to see parts of the crossing area
  
• Mad Dash: 100% accurate; no way anyone could cross without being seen.

Pedestrians

Seven Corners pedestrian overpass opens tomorrow

by Steve Offutt   •   May 19, 2009 9:47 am

Tomorrow, Fairfax County will cut the ribbon on a new overpass across Route 50 (Arlington Boulevard) at Seven Corners, near Patrick Henry Drive and the Home Depot. This is the deadliest intersection in all of Fairfax County. On average, 2-4 pedestrians die there per year, accounting for approximately 25% of all pedestrian deaths in the county.

Creating separate pedestrian facilities is often not the best solution. It's better to simply make our streets and roads more accessible, safer and more usable for all users: pedestrians, cyclists, Segway riders, and cars. Sometimes planners will create a poorly designed or planned pedestrian facility that will then "relieve" them of their responsibility to think more holistically about the interactions of road users.

In this case, Seven Corners is already too pedestrian-unfriendly, and no short-term changes could make it so. The pedestrian bridge at Seven Corners is probably the only reasonably safe enhancement Fairfax could implement in the short term. It also is located where pedestrians generally want to cross and where many have been injured or killed.

Here's a map of the area, from the official VDOT site. However, the bridge is actually somewhat west of what this map shows.

Prior to the construction of this bridge, pedestrians could only cross at Patrick Henry Drive and Cherry Street, 1.3 miles apart. Patrick Henry isn't that safe either, and pedestrians have been killed in the crosswalk. The county has improved this crossing in the last couple years, but it's still a 6-lane highway. One could cross at the Seven Corners overpasses, but only a brave and fleet person would do so. There are no actual pedestrian facilities like sidewalks or lights there.

Since crossing at either Patrick Henry or Cherry Street requires a very long schlep, many people choose to make the mad dash across Route 50. For years, the county tried to force pedestrians to cross at Patrick Henry rather than find a safe solution to their need to cross closer to their destinations.

There are homes, apartments and significant commerce on both sides of the highway, so there are lots of reasons for people to cross. From the Sunflower Restaurant, you can see the Guitar Center, only 200 yards away, close enough to hit with a golf ball. However, to walk there, a pedestrian would have to walk down Route 7 to Patrick Henry, cross, and walk back, for a distance of 1.2 miles. I'm not even sure there are sidewalks along this entire route. With the new bridge, that pedestrian would still have to walk ½ mile, but the route is considerably more direct, doable and obvious to potential pedestrians.

Still, the county needs to continue to improve this area as well as the entire length of Route 50 inside the Beltway, where usable pedestrian crossings are few and far between. The north side empties out inside the frontage road, forcing people people to cross another lane of traffic to get to the sidewalk. If the frontage road had been shifted a little southward, the bridge would need to be somewhat longer, but not much. They completely rebuilt this entire area, so they could have designed the bridge that way.

Pedestrian access on both sides needs to be addressed now that the bridge is complete. Completing well designed sidewalks and creating pedestrian access to cross the parking lots will make the bridge much more usable. There are still way too few ways to cross in this 1.3 mile stretch. And Seven Corners itself needs to be rethought and redesigned to accommodate other road users besides cars. (It doesn't even do a very good job with cars!)

Finally, this project took a long time and, at $2.6 million, probably cost too much. Fairfax started the project in the fall of 2007. Originally it was supposed to be complete last November. Unfortunately, the original truss that was delivered was cracked, which caused a several-months delay. Although it appears to be an excellent facility, Fairfax County is not known for its willingness to invest in bike/ped facilities. I suspect that the next time someone suggests an improvement, the county will say, "But that one at Seven Corners cost so much; we can't afford to spend that kind of money willy nilly on pedestrians."

Here are some photos of the bridge. This article in the Falls Church News-Press describes the placement of the main bridge section a couple of weeks ago.

Click on any image to enlarge.

Taken in February from the Barnes & Noble parking lot prior to installation of the bridge.

Looking east from Seven Corners. Home Depot is behind the bridge to the right.

Looking west along Route 50. You can see the ramp pedestrians will come down and then have to cross the frontage road on the right to get to the sidewalk. Dumb.

At the top of the ramp looking south across the bridge.  Still a little work being finished up.