Vienna Officials Moving Forward With Police Station Project

Vienna officials recently voted on new zoning changes in order to proceed with work on Vienna’s new police station.

The Vienna Planning Commission held a meeting on Jan. 8, where community members could give feedback about the classification changes to town-owned parcels of land at 440 Beulah Road NE and 114 Locust Street SW. 

The town bought the parcels in 2013 and 2018.

“The Town intends to demolish the existing vacant house [at Locust Street] and combine the lot with the 215 Center Street South parcel, which currently houses the Bowman House and the existing Police Department facility,” according to the staff report.

The property on Beulah Road is meant to serve as a temporary police station while the new one is built.

Commissioners said that the lots need to be rezoned for governmental use — in accordance with the Comprehensive Plan — before crews break ground on the project on police station project.

While commissioners talked about adjusting the language, ultimately Commissioners Mary McCullough and Sarah Couchman defended the way it was written. 

“This town has every intention of building a new police facility, and our Comprehensive Plan is supposed to lead the future direction of what we want to see done,” McCullough said. 

Couchman echoed her sentiment, adding that the town likely wouldn’t have purchased the land on Locust Street had they not intended to build a police station there.

The Planning Commission voted to recommend the zoning changes in the Comprehensive Plan for both lots to the Vienna Town Council.

The conversation will continue regarding the language in the plan, though. The commissioners asked town staff to look into how things like this have been addressed in the past, citing case studies around Tysons Corner.

Image via Town of Vienna