Falls Church Employs Creative Development Strategies to Keep a Much-Loved Child Development Center

(Editor's note: The following was submitted to Falls Church Patch and written by  Loren Bruce, Lead City Planner, City of Falls Church and Todd Ray, FAIA, Principal, Studio Twenty Seven Architecture.)

The City of Falls Church had a problem. It was renting surplus space to the Easter Seals Child Development Center of Northern Virginia, a much loved and much needed public/private social services program, but its growing public school system was in need of the space.

Ending Easter Seals’ lease would mean losing an important community service. As municipalities throughout Northern Virginia have become larger and more prosperous, non-profits like Easter Seals are going further afield to find affordable space. 

But the City of Falls Church was determined to keep Easter Seals in its borders. A combination of fast-thinking, altruism, innovative design and collaboration allowed Easter Seals to not only stay in the City of Falls Church, but to own a beautiful new facility all its own.

Easter Seals Serving DC|MD|VA is the independently incorporated 501(c)(3) that provides services in the region as an affiliate of the nationwide Easter Seals organization that supports more than one million children and adults living with a variety of conditions, from autism to Alzheimer’s Disease. 

The organization has a network of hundreds of sites throughout the United States. The Easter Seals Child Development Center of Northern Virginia (CDC) in Falls Church provides access to programs and activities that maximize the physical, cognitive, social and emotional development of children and ensures they succeed in school when they reach kindergarten age and beyond. 

In the Falls Church area, it is the only special care facility for children under the age of 2 within five miles, and the only facility serving children below the age of 5, who have special needs such as disabilities, medical frailties, within 10 miles.

James Snyder, Director of Planning and Development Services for the City of Falls Church, knew that keeping the Easter Seals Child Development Center in the City was imperative. During a brainstorming session an idea was hatched. “A contractor had purchased a property with an old building to relocate his headquarters” Snyder explained, “but due to the turn in the economy the project was never realized.” Snyder knew the contractor, John Bellingham of Monarc Construction. He thought Bellingham might be willing to part with the property, if it was for a worthwhile cause.

Bringing Bellingham on board proved to be the easiest part of the process. Not only was he willing to sell the property at a price Easter Seals could afford, he also offered to renovate the building on an expedited basis to meet the project’s very aggressive timeline.  The obstacles to realizing this opportunity lay in the property itself.

The structure was a nearly windowless, one-story, industrial warehouse built in 1973 to store auto parts. The site was a quilt of different jurisdictions and zoning overlays. While the area around it was ripe for development, the property itself languished, in part because of competing zoning prerogatives. Straddling the border of the City and the County, the property was subject to the regulations of four different zoning districts, both commercial and residential. This created a problem: in three of the four zoning districts, the Child Development Center would be allowed by-right; however, the fourth district would require a special exception to allow this land use. 

Thus it was fortuitous that Bellingham, the owner of the site, was a general contractor who had also made previous overtures to the local authorities to develop the property.  When he first purchased the warehouse, Bellingham engaged Studio Twenty Seven Architecture to turn the building into a net-zero, sustainably designed, headquarters for Monarc Construction. While this earlier effort was eventually shelved, it helped establish the relationships needed to expedite turning the property over to Easter Seals and permitting the new land use. 

While the local Economic Development Authority created a $3 million bond package to assist Easter Seals in obtaining financing for the project, John Bellingham re-engaged Studio Twenty Seven Architecture to create a new design for the warehouse. The development team needed to establish the financing, and achieve multiple special exceptions, variances, and approvals, all while creating and executing a design for a highly regulated facility. And, due to the sun-setting municipal lease in the old site, the new 14,000-ft Child Development Center had to be completed in seven months.

To expedite the development, the two municipalities whose border cut through the property had to act as one. Remarkably, both the City and the County agreed to a singular building permit review, inspection and enforcement. The County agreed that since the largest portion of the site would be within the City boundaries, the City should be the primary authorizing agency.  The City agreed to keep the County fully engaged and informed as the project proceeded. A shared realization that Easter Seals was a critical community asset helped foster a unified vision.

The obstacles to development continued. Studio Twenty Seven’s research revealed that the zoning rules dictated that the property, due to its proposed use, had an intensive parking requirement. If stringently applied, almost 100 percent of the site would need to be paved with parking.  

In order to make room for play areas, gardens, and on-site storm water management strategies, parking needed to be limited. Again, a multi-jurisdictional solution was found. Adjacent to the site the City and the County jointly maintained a parking lot. The City and County agreed to allow Easter Seals staff and visitors to use this parking area, and granted a variance. The site could be developed as envisioned.

That vision included many environmentally sustainable strategies. “The land development aspect of the Easter Seals development fit the definition of LID, Low Impact Development,” explains Karen White, the civil engineer on the project. The facility was built within the shell of the existing warehouse, allowing the development to receive tax incentives for adaptive reuse and waste reduction. An innovative storm water management system retains and filters all storm water onsite without straining City facilities and potentially increasing pollution in area waterways. 

Other sustainable strategies include pervious play areas, a migratory butterfly way-station, and an expeditionary learning garden that the children help maintain. This promotes therapeutic outdoor activities, learning and environmental stewardship. Chair of the Board of Easter Seals Serving DC|MD|VA, Janis Schiff shared that the staff are energized “to maximize our new facility” and are “delivering a ‘Save the planet curriculum, to learn about the world through interaction with this sustainable building.”

The new facility also generates much of its own energy. An extensive photovoltaic array consisting of 168 PV panels capable of generating 45,000kwh per year is installed on the roof.  Mr. Bellingham had purchased the system for the earlier, planned renovation for the building, but it was never employed.  In the process of turning over the building to Easter Seals, reselling this system proved to be out of the budget. 

Studio Twenty Seven and Bellingham came up with a creative alternative, proposing a Power Purchase Agreement to operate the solar panels for Easter Seals and sell the energy back to the non-profit at a discount. Easter Seals benefits from the solar panels.  The electrical power generated is sold to Dominion Virginia Power through a special “Solar Purchase Program.”  Bellingham will then donate the full system to Easter Seals once the initial period is concluded.  Now Easter Seals is using less energy while also reducing their overall operating cost. 

Finally, the new facility also includes a geothermal field, which will eventually have the capacity to heat and cool the entire building. That is some way down the road, the wells were placed during construction, but the required systems and connections proved to be too costly for the initial budget.

The Easter Seals development began giving back to the community even before it was completed, providing an impetus for the City to make much needed public improvements.  As part of the agreement to keep Easter Seals in Falls Church, the City allocated $50,000 to provide sidewalks, street and safety lighting where there had been none, as well as repaving the road leading to the facility.  

The Easter Seals development is an example of how creative urban redevelopment, shared public and private vision, collaborative municipal efforts and sustainable design may coalesce to support critical community programs. Like many projects, it could not have been possible through the efforts of an individual; it takes a collection of key players doing what they do best to realize the vision of this project. The City, and Easter Seals, is grateful to both the public and the private partnerships that made this re-development a success.

KEY TEAMS INVOLVED:

Public Sector

City of Falls Church:

City Manager, City Council, Planning Commission, Board of Zoning Appeals, Department of Recreation and Parks, Department of Public Works, Planning Division, Economic Development Authority, Building Inspectors

County of Fairfax:

Fairfax Supervisor Linda Smyth, Deputy County Executive Patricia Harrison, Fairfax Department of Planning & Zoning, Fairfax County Park Authority

Private Sector:

Owner: Easter Seals Serving DC|MD|VA

Owner Representative: Tenant Consulting, LLC

Owner Construction Mgr: Karchem Properties

Land Use Attorney: Holland & Knight

Finance: TD Bank

Contractor: Monarc Construction Inc.

Architect: Studio Twenty Seven Architecture

Civil Engineer: Walter Phillips Engineering

Structural Engineer: Consulting Engineers, Corp

MEP Engineers: AJ Engineers, Inc.