Advisory Committee OKs New 10-Acre Honda Dealership

The Western Fairfax County Citizens Association Land-Use Committee on Tuesday approved a new Honda dealership in Chantilly that will feature the Fairfax County’s first energy-producing wind turbine.

 If the project receives final county approval, construction could begin in the fall, said Scott Crabtree, president of the Pohanka Automotive Group. The 33,000-square foot dealership, which is located on a 10-acre site along Stonecroft Boulevard near Route 50, could be open for business sometime next year, Crabtree said. It will produce about 100 jobs.

“Think of it. Somebody who owns an electric car can come into the dealership and plug right into an outlet at the base of the tower for a charge,” said John Litzenberger, the Sully District representative to the county planning commission. 

The 100-foot-tall turbine tower, which will have blades with a diameter of 30 feet, was an initiative of the dealership group, which wanted to make the project more energy efficient. The turbine will produce a small amount of electricity, about enough to light four-to-five suburban homes, Crabtree said. 

Energy efficiency was an issue in the construction application because county staff had recommended that the committee deny the Pohanka request because the building was not going to be LEED, or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, certified. 

LEED certification provides independent, third-party verification that a building, home or community was designed and built using high performance energy standards. However, Crabtree said that the site is already built to be green-friendly and the cost of the certification, about $200,000, was prohibitive. 

“We would rather put our money into energy-saving strategies that we know will work,” Crabtree said. 

Litzenberger said the county staff had no legislative authority to deny the request for lack of a LEED certification. Other than the LEED issue, the staff generally supported the project, including the turbine tower, said David Houston, an attorney who is assisting Pohanka. 

The new dealership is the result of a partnership between Pohanka and a minority-owned business with national ties owned by Ernest Hodge, who once worked for Crabtree in Richmond, Va., Crabtree said. 

The site will also have a body-repair shop and a large automobile service area that will be open seven days a week from about 5:30 a.m. until 11 p.m., Crabtree said. The idea of the extended hours is to provide off-peak service—when the roads aren’t so crowded—and have most repairs done in less than one hour, he said. 

The vote of the committee, which is made up of local residents, is advisory only. The next stop for the project is the County Planning Commission and if approved, the Board of Supervisors, Houston said.