Letter to County and Reston Officials on Comstock's Wiehle Avenue Development Proposal, Bob & Tammi Petrine, March 5, 2010

May 5, 2010

Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
Fairfax County Planning Commission
Fairfax County Dept. of Planning and Zoning
Reston Planning and Zoning Committee

Subject: Wiehle Avenue Metro Station Proposal by Comstock

Dear Board, Planning Commission. P & Z and Reston P & Z,

By way of introduction, our family has lived in Reston for 34 years. My children have grown up and have homes here as well. We love our community and want you to know that we are but one of many! Reston is full of energetic, highly intelligent, activist people.

I have seen Comstock’s proposed plans for the Wiehle Metro Station area. Good grief, I don’t even know where to begin! I am no expert in Urban Design and Traffic Studies but a 5th grader could tell you that this plan is beyond pathetic.

Reston is a world famous PLANNED community full of charm, nature and warmth. None of those or any other attractive qualities have been translated into the present “plan” of this project. The look of the proposed structures is terrible: bland, depressing, boxy and big: nay, prison-like.

The traffic, which is horrendous now, will become gridlock IF you let this plan proceed. The whole area will become a war zone from which drivers, cyclists and pedestrians will battle to escape.

This is not what we want in Reston. Our community is special. So special in fact that we get to pay escalating tolls in perpetuity, the only community in the county to do so… so special that we finance our own community center and its maintenance by through a special tax district. Reston more than pulls its weight with its generous contributions to the county’s coffers. We deserve so much better.

Whoever is the architect of this proposal, should hang his/her head in shame. If you do approve it, you should do likewise.

Thanks in advance for sending this “dog” back to the drawing board!

Sincerely,

Bob and Tammi Petrine
Reston, VA