Joanne Fiebe

The Seven Corners Community Business Center, located in Fairfax, Virginia approximately 10 miles from Washington, D.C., is at the confluence of two major arterials. It underwent a replanning effort to implement a new comprehensive plan, urban design concept, and multimodal transportation improvements.

The Seven Corners Community Business Center (CBC) is located in Fairfax, Virginia approximately 10 miles from Washington, D.C. at the confluence of Leesburg Pike, Arlington Boulevard, and Wilson Boulevard adjacent to the City of Falls Church and Arlington County.

Extensive community engagement was instrumental to the study’s outcome. The process began with a series of visioning workshops which led to the formation of a community and land owner led task force. Over the course of the study, 85 public meetings were held including a bus tour, two urban design charrettes, a transportation charrette, and open houses, as well as other forms of community engagement such as online surveys.

Early in the process, staff decided to use a form-based approach to planning for the CBC in-lieu-of methods which focus on identifying specific land uses and floor area ratios. This approach emphasized building scale, urban design principles, smart growth values, and function of future development while building in flexibility with respect to specific land uses and intensities. I planned and managed a day-long charrette with the task force and additional community members focused on developing form-based design concepts using the goals and principles established by the task force. The charrette teams created transportation concepts considering larger issues of connectivity and ways to incorporate a grid of streets, identified locations and types of public spaces, and discussed building form and type.

Once the charrette was completed, I used the drawings and themes that emerged to create a draft transportation and urban design master plan concept. Working with the park authority, we developed a connected network of public spaces that would meet the diverse needs of the Seven Corners community. Using the proposed grid of streets and building forms I calculated building square footages using appropriate parking ratios and open space requirements. These square footages became the maximum development intensities allowed under the draft plan.
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The task force deliberated on the proposed development intensities, transportation plan, built form, streetscape, and public space concepts that the team and I developed and the plan continued to evolve.

Example of the Walkshed Analysis that was developed as a series to compare the different concept plans in terms of walkability and pedestrian connectivity improvements within the CBC.
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View incorporated into the Comprehensive Plan which illustrates how buildings could interact with a high capacity roadway such as Arlington Boulevard. In this instance, Arlington Boulevard is converted into a multi-modal street with off-street bike/ped trails. The proposed Spine Road is shown bridging over Arlington Boulevard to connect two of the CBC's land units.

Toward the end of the study, it was apparent that the task force would not be able to reach consensus on one of the CBC’s land units so in a brief period of time staff had to decide how to manage this change. I produced an alternative process that included a special working group consisting of a number of outspoken neighborhood representatives and led them through the design charrette process for this land unit. The charrette had to be specially designed to help the group focus on the form and built environment they were looking for without focusing specifically on land uses and arbitrary floor area ratios. After 5 months, the working group was able to reach consensus on a concept plan for this land unit.
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Proposed bicycle network
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Master Concept Plan

Vision for Leesburg Pike within the CBC. The envisioned Pike includes buffered bike lanes, buildings fronting the street, and pedestrian enhancements.

Example cross-section of the Village Main Street.