Falls Church - Say no to Sunrise signs?

[Anonymous]

Haha. Ok. Nice attempt at a misdirect you crotchety old nimby dinosaur.

Is this an age discrimination issue or a building code / land use issue? You are moving the debate into serious age discrimination territory. I don't think that will help your cause. Is that what this is about? Is that it for you? You don't want to live near "old people" - in this day and age... are you kidding me? Truly shame on you.

[Anonymous]

"Haha. Ok. Nice attempt at a misdirect you crotchety old nimby dinosaur. "

Is this an age discrimination issue or a building code / land use issue? You are moving the debate into serious age discrimination territory. I don't think that will help your cause. Is that what this is about? Is that it for you? You don't want to live near "old people" - in this day and age... are you kidding me? Truly shame on you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The people who live around there should be celebrating a Sunrise development, lest the space otherwise be turned into something like that tacky LAmbiance of McLean subdivision across the street. At least Sunrise won't bring more kids into the overcrowded schools.

The McLean schools aren't particularly overcrowded, particularly compared with APS these days. At most 15 homes could be built on the site given the current zoning, and it's safe to assume only a fraction of the families would have kids or send them to public school. It's a residential area and both L'Ambiance and other developments in the area have more than held their value. I can more than understand the opposition to skirting the zoning laws and allowing Sunrise to change the character of the neighborhood. If John Foust is so eager to do favors for Sunrise, let him redistrict Balls Hill Road near his house to accommodate them.

McLean would be more over crowded if their class sizes were as small as Arlington's. Arlington can solve quite a bit of its problem by raising the class size by 5 students.

Not quite. McLean is better situated because FCPS expanded their schools when they are renovated. Arlington built new schools smaller than the ones they replaced just as it was getting a huge influx of students.

[Anonymous]

Wow, too bad the forum turned so nasty. Back to reality, so the land was sold to Sunrise. I doubt Sunrise would go through with the purchase unless they had some assurance from the county or a representative that rezoning is possible. The plans will most likely go through tbe BZA and citizens can make their voices heard. The opponents of the project need to be looking at ways to scale the project back, safety and traffic issues, and why the zoning laws should remain. My street is zoned R3 and now the feeling of suburban space is gone because developers were allowed to build to the allowable setbacks. The original character of the neighborhood is gone, if anyone cares about that. The corner site in question will lose tbat beautiful open field. I pray the project will be at least reduced in height and unit count.

[Anonymous]

Thanks. Well said. I totally get it now and you have helped clarify the process. The open space issue will be difficult to overcome - the consideration for donating land isn't as attractive as selling it and earning tax dollars - it sounds like you realize that. Unfortunate but true. It will be interesting to see how it pans out. Whoever the sign folks are I believe should be more open to debate as long as it's professional and civilized - they might even be able to convince others of their perspective. The Web site slants a bit towards emotional rant. Even the way they depict the proposed structure in the photo is biased and not a literal representation. They should stick to the facts - of both sides. They immediately block people on Facebook who dissent. I think all this adds up to a lack of credibility - and encourages equally unproductive comments and opinions from those who don't agree with them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, too bad the forum turned so nasty. Back to reality, so the land was sold to Sunrise. I doubt Sunrise would go through with the purchase unless they had some assurance from the county or a representative that rezoning is possible. The plans will most likely go through tbe BZA and citizens can make their voices heard. The opponents of the project need to be looking at ways to scale the project back, safety and traffic issues, and why the zoning laws should remain. My street is zoned R3 and now the feeling of suburban space is gone because developers were allowed to build to the allowable setbacks. The original character of the neighborhood is gone, if anyone cares about that. The corner site in question will lose tbat beautiful open field. I pray the project will be at least reduced in height and unit count.

I don't believe the sale has closed. The county real estate records continue to show the church as the owner, so the records haven't been updated yet if Sunrise closed. Their plans depend on getting a zoning exemption, which they have not yet secured, so I'd think the contract is contingent.

[Anonymous]

Very good. I hope that is the case. I understood a church wanting to do something good with the property, but Sunrise is just as gredy as a home developer. My parents moved to McLean in 1972, and my mom passed away two years ago. Before that we looked at retirement facilities, and no one in the family could afford Sunrise pricing. Connect a virtual straw from a retirement account to Sunrise's and they will suck out all the money from the elderly as possible. Its simply not true that everyone in McLean is a millionaire and can afford assisted living in McLean. My friend's parents, sold their McLean home and are loving life at Ashby Ponds in Asburn. Their heirs will be given the full cost of the condo upon their passing. Wow, no wonder they are expanding that facility out in Asburn.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very good. I hope that is the case. I understood a church wanting to do something good with the property, but Sunrise is just as gredy as a home developer. My parents moved to McLean in 1972, and my mom passed away two years ago. Before that we looked at retirement facilities, and no one in the family could afford Sunrise pricing. Connect a virtual straw from a retirement account to Sunrise's and they will suck out all the money from the elderly as possible. Its simply not true that everyone in McLean is a millionaire and can afford assisted living in McLean. My friend's parents, sold their McLean home and are loving life at Ashby Ponds in Asburn. Their heirs will be given the full cost of the condo upon their passing. Wow, no wonder they are expanding that facility out in Asburn.

When Sunrise was first founded, it may have been good, but it's now owned by a large REIT in Ohio called Welltower that gobbles up retirement homes all over the country. It's basically like a hedge fund that tries to maximize its profits by extracting as much money out of the building and operation of senior facilities as possible. The days when it was a local company controlled by DC-area residents are long gone.

[Anonymous]

Interesting, that verifies what I thought, thanks.

[Anonymous]

I totally concure about sunrise business practices. And the fact that there are not affordable places for seniors in the community. They are like any developer and they are very expensive however the alternatives for people in our area are lose-lose - if you can't get in to Vincent hall or Chesterbrook - I had to drive to Ashburn for hospice care for over a month and with traffic I never saw my family and I basically had to face the whole thing alone because it was so far away - so from my perspective any port in a storm - however I completely understand - I see all the points on many levels and I appreciate the civility of the discussion that is going on now...

[Anonymous]

So sorry you had to go through all of that.God Bless and happy 4th!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very good. I hope that is the case. I understood a church wanting to do something good with the property, but Sunrise is just as gredy as a home developer. My parents moved to McLean in 1972, and my mom passed away two years ago. Before that we looked at retirement facilities, and no one in the family could afford Sunrise pricing. Connect a virtual straw from a retirement account to Sunrise's and they will suck out all the money from the elderly as possible. Its simply not true that everyone in McLean is a millionaire and can afford assisted living in McLean. My friend's parents, sold their McLean home and are loving life at Ashby Ponds in Asburn. Their heirs will be given the full cost of the condo upon their passing. Wow, no wonder they are expanding that facility out in Asburn.

So why isn't the church selling to an affordable housing non-profit to develop into subsidized housing for income-restricted seniors. That's what they'd be doing in Arlington.

[Anonymous]

Good question.If anyone knows what the church/parish financial decision making process is, please inform here.My friend told me the church is run by the head of the same organization in Chantilly.

[Anonymous]

I apologize for not reading through this thread--does anyone know when is the next meeting of the FFX planning commission that would consider the Sunrise proposal? thx.

[Anonymous]

I don't know, but the MCA adopted a resolution on July 6th opposing the zoning exemption. There were at least six community associations that oppose it as well.

I can't see John Foust allowing this now, unless he wants to turn Dranesville over to the Republicans in the future. The neighborhoods that oppose this have been his biggest supporters in the past (his own neighbors in the swanky part of McLean keep trying to unseat him).