FAIRFAX, Va. (7News) — A three-story addition to a home in Fairfax County’s Greenbrier neighborhood is getting attention from far and wide because of how tall it looks compared to nearby homes.
The vast majority of the homes in the Greenbrier neighborhood, a few miles east of Chantilly, are one or two stories tall. Still, the under-construction addition is not only three stories but looms over a one-story home next door that it is just feet away.
For now, work has stopped on the addition as the county tries to resolve an issue related to the construction.
“A building permit was issued by Fairfax County for the addition because the proposed structure met the Zoning Ordinance standards, including height and setbacks,” read a statement from William D. Hicks, Director of Fairfax County Land Development Services. “However, a recently submitted survey indicates the construction, as currently built, does not meet the required 8-foot side yard setback. Staff notified the property owner and is meeting with them to determine the plan to correct this issue and bring the construction into compliance with the county's regulations."
Homeowner Mike Nguyen acknowledges the issue with the setback, but tells 7News he is building exactly what the county approved.
“Everything is the correct way, the way that the county approved, so I don’t know what else to do,” he said, adding that he will meet with county officials on Tuesday and may have to ask for a variance to move forward.
Nguyen said he realized three-story homes were allowed when he saw a large rebuilt home on nearby Memory Lane. He acknowledges, though, that because he’s putting his addition on the side of his property instead of rebuilding the center of the home, and because his addition has a flat roof, it looks a lot different than the other three-story home.
Nguyen says he has good relations with his neighbors and never intended to upset any of them. He says he has lived in Greenbrier for more than 20 years, and he is building the addition because his home is too small for the three generations who currently live in it. He and his wife live there along with his three and six-year-old children and his parents.
“In Asian culture, we tend to have our parents stay with us so we can take care of them when they get older,” Nguyen said. “We don’t send them to the nursing home.”
Nguyen says that because of the attention the addition is getting, some people have started to harass his family, leading him to get Ring cameras for his home.
“When I was playing with my kids in the front yard, they started to come by harassing and cursing in front of my little kids,” he said.
7News also spoke with Nguyen’s neighbor, Chris Leonard, whose property is most affected by the addition since it looms over parts of his home. Although Leonard described the addition as a “bit much” and said it blocks the sun from large parts of his property, he said the Nguyens are very nice neighbors and he understands why they would want to have more space for their family.
“I don’t have a problem with them proposing this plan, with wanting to build this,” he said. “My biggest concern is why was it approved in the first place, and now all the sudden, a few months later, now there’s a work stoppage? So my biggest concern now is, what’s that mean for them? If they have to take it down, [with] the cost that’s going to come to them, why would the county allow it in the first place?”
While 7News was along Marble Lane in the Greenbrier neighborhood, a number of people drove by in cars to gape or take pictures of the addition.
“This is the most hideous thing I’ve ever seen in this neighborhood,” said Wanda Mitchell, who grew up in the neighborhood and whose mother, Mae Pullman, was an original homeowner from 1968. “I don’t even know how the county would allow something like this.”
“It’s hideous, it should never be allowed in this community,” Pullman said.
In the wake of the controversy over the addition, Supervisor Pat Herrity, who represents the area where the addition is being built, plans to join Supervisor Kathy Smith on Tuesday to propose a review of “height-looming standards” in the county.
‘We have seen in my district, and many others, redevelopments of residential lots that result in new homes or additions that may not be compatible with existing development patterns in their neighborhoods and can result in structures that loom over the adjacent property,” said a preliminary version of the proposal sent to 7News by Herrity’s office. “These structures are unsightly and detract from the overall aesthetic of the community by juxtaposing a 30-to-35-foot structure next to a 15-foot ranch-style home.”
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