Additional Proposed Planning Principles for RMPSS Task Force, Joe Stowers, January 31, 2010

On January 31, 2010, Mr. Joe Stowers, long-time Reston resident, submitted the enclosed additional proposed planning principles to the Reston Master Plan Special Studies Task Force via the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning.

In the introduction to his five-page paper, Mr. Stowers outlines these four additional principles:

This paper proposes that 4 additional planning principles be added to those presented at that January 26 meeting:
(1) all planned high-density areas of Reston should be planned as urban areas rather than as suburban areas,
(2) all planned high-density areas should include grids of local circulation urban streets,
(3) the Reston Master Plan should include a commitment to work toward quantitative measures of balance between major land uses, especially improved balance between jobs and housing, but also target ratios of balances among convenience retail, comparison-shopping retail, cultural, recreational, open spaces and facilities for concerts and performances, and other uses, and
(4) the costs of housing, especially low and moderate income housing in high-density urban areas, should be reduced by modifying existing County standards that unnecessarily drive up the costs of housing, especially parking requirements, but also many other standards that are inappropriate in high-density urban areas.

Additional Planning Principles RMPSS Task Force