Letter: Open Space as Breathing Room, Robert E. Simon, Reston Connection, February 24, 2010

To the Editor

These days, people promoting superior land use planning have “open space” as their shibboleth. They importune their volunteer representatives, as well as their elected representatives, to hold out for what they consider to be a minimum acceptable percentage of open space. They apply this percentage indiscriminately to the 1,700 acres of Tysons Corner, and to the 30 acres of Lake Anne Village Center. All this without a common understanding of what open space can mean, of the variety of amenities it furnishes.

I suspect that Reston’s prime promoters have “nature” in mind when they rally for open space — trees, grass, as well as natural areas. Well, as a big fan of open space, I think of it as simply the space between buildings, breathing room. If any development is prohibited on 70 acres of a community, you can have a nature center — on 24 acres, you can have a lake. Create a wide paved boulevard with trees in wells and benches, as in many a European city. Open space? I think so.

May I suggest that we do away with relying on a predetermined percentage of “open space” (whatever that may mean) as a criterion for judging the merits of any proposed site plan. Each site plan should be judged on its own and, equally importantly, on its relationship to its immediate and its extended surroundings. Does it represent a pleasant place to work and/or live in, and, beyond that, is it compatible with its neighborhood and does it contribute to the goals of the entire community in which it is located?


Bob Simon
Reston Founder