Letter: Master Planning Under Scrutiny, Kathy Kaplan, Reston Connection, February 4, 2010

To the Editor:

On Jan. 26, I spoke at the Community Meeting of the Dulles Corridor Special Study Task Force. I was invited to speak by Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning to present the Citizens’ Reston Master Plan, Dulles Corridor — Specific Planning Principles written by myself and Urban Designer and Landscape Architect, Guy Rando. Mr. Rando worked on the initial construction phase of Lake Anne with Whittlesey and Conklin, the urban planners who designed Reston for Robert E. Simon. His children and my daughter grew up in Reston and all of our grandchildren live in Reston. We are very concerned about the county’s effort to change the Master Plan. Our “Specific Planning Principles” were written to provide a framework for the redevelopment of Reston. In addition to our presentation, Jerry Volloy presented planning principles from ARCH, the Alliance of Reston Clusters and Homeowners, and Richard Stillson presented planning principles written by the Reston Citizens Association 2020 Committee.

We were given a “Strawman” list of planning principles written by DPZ Planner Heidi Merkel to guide our discussion last night. I made some editorial changes to that document, and I would like to share my reasons for those changes with the community.

“Preserve the long-term stability of Reston by protecting and enhancing existing neighborhoods throughout the community.” I asked that the phrase “and enhancing” be deleted. The term “enhancing” is a specific term that refers to adding commercial and residential infill to established residential neighborhoods. This is a way of increasing density. This is promoted in the Council of Government’s 2050 Region Forward report signed by Supervisor Cathy Hudgins (D-Hunter Mill).

“Continue to encourage a development pattern which provides residential, commercial, recreational and other entertainment uses in proximity to each other to maintain Reston as a community in which to live, work and play.” The phrase “in proximity to each other” is a justification for inserting commercial properties into established residential neighborhoods and it should be deleted.

“Ensuring that high-quality green and open spaces are incorporated into new development.” Mr. Rando and I have requested that the minimum amount of open space be 33.3 percent for the RCIG. Under the covenants of the RCIG, the area between Sunset Hills Road and Sunrise Valley Drive, open space is currently mandated at 50 percent. Much of the land in the Dulles Corridor is basically undeveloped, that is, it consists of parking lots which can be easily uncovered with a minimum amount of effort. This land can be used for parkland. It can also be reforested to provide green buffers.

In the proposals for redevelopment along the Dulles Corridor, 20 such proposals referred to as APR nominations request new residential units. If these residential units are built at the density requested by developers there will be 23,413 new residences in the RCIG.

Using the county’s figure of 2.15 people per household to calculate people living in high-rise apartments, there will be an addition of over 50,000 people living in the corridor.

Those people will need amenities. In the Lake Anne Comprehensive Plan Amendment, it states that Reston Association will provide parkland for new residents. According to county guidelines each person needs 0.00148 acres of parkland. Our developer, Robert Simon, provided us with open space and parkland. The developers of the Dulles Corridor need to provide new residents with parkland and it needs to come from the Corridor itself: 50,000 new residents require 74 acres of parkland. There are 760 acres of land in the RCIG. Much of it is under parking lots which are never used. There is ample land to create recreational spaces for new residents.

Developers should not anticipate that Reston Association homeowners will allow our common lands to be stripped of trees to create parkland for 50,000 new residents. Our common lands are our private property. The riparian easements sold to WSSI to complete stream restoration are under a Mitigation Banking Instrument enforced by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and the Virginia Dept of Environmental Quality. These stream valleys are protected from any kind of development or disturbance whatsoever. They may not be cleared for tennis courts, basketball courts, or parks. They must remain in their natural state.

At the meeting, I also mentioned the Comstock/County Wiehle station development proposal and showed a 3D model of the area now occupied by the park and ride. This 3D model was created by Fred Costello, a Task Force member. According to VDOT, the level of density of this project will create unacceptable traffic delays on surrounding streets. The density of this project as measured as a floor-to-area ratio, or FAR, is well beyond the 2.5 FAR allowed by the current county Comprehensive Plan. This proposal needs to be evaluated along with the other 20 APR nominations by the sitting Dulles Corridor Special Study Task Force. It will be reviewed by Reston Association’s Planning and Zoning Committee on Feb. 8 and will go to the county Planning Commission on Feb. 25. If this development goes ahead as proposed, it will effectively block traffic on one of the two bridges across the Dulles Toll Road.

The Reston 2020 Committee, of which Mr. Rando and I are members, has a Web site [http://reston2020.blogspot.com/]. I hope you will visit this Web site and read more about the master planning process.


Kathy Kaplan
Reston