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Is the Flint Hill area of Oakton a Suburban Center or a Suburb Community?
Many years ago, Fairfax County designated certain areas as “Suburban Centers” in the Comprehensive Plan. Areas like Mosaic (Merrifield), Dulles, Fairfax Center, Centreville, Lorton and Flint Hill were defined as Suburban Centers.
Suburban Centers are defined by the Comprehensive Plan as “employment centers located along major arterials”. These areas are evolving to include mixed-use cores such as transit station areas and town centers that are more urban in character.
In terms of acreage, the above listed suburban centers had between 712 to 6,937 acres. However, tiny Flint Hill Suburban Center only has 137 acres. Check the map out, can you find Flint Hill Suburban Center?
The Flint Hill Suburban Center never achieved its vision of a large employment hub. The Flint Hill Suburban Center was probably selected due to the presence of AT&T as a large employer with over 2700 jobs and the proximity of I-66 as well as several large office parks. However, even then, Flint Hill’s employment in 2013 was low (5,053 jobs) compared to the other suburban center areas.
In 2014 the Fairfax County of Planning and Zoning recommended that Flint Hill should NOT be developed as a core area. Core area is defined as more urban in character, parking configurations, transit accessibility, and development intensity. Fast forward, in the Comprehensive Planning document for 2023, there is no mention of making any changes to the Comprehensive Plan for Flint Hill.
In ten years, Flint Hill’s employment center has plummeted with AT&T’s departure as well as the closure of four other office parks. The Flint Hill area has been and is a suburb in Oakton. In other words, The Flint Hill area no longer meets the definition of a suburban center and therefore should not be developed at a higher intensity.
Our roads and infrastructure cannot sustain urban, high-density development! Just because a developer wants to build 854 dwellings plus a large shopping center does not make it the right decision. Let’s build to the Comprehensive plan which would mean 635 dwellings with at least 106 dwellings designated as affordable housing.