Questions about Plaza Cast Shadow on Proposal, Reston Connection, March 30, 2010

Staff recommends denial of Comstock application but says developer has continued to cooperate.

By Mike DiCicco
Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Richard McCary, president-elect of the Committee for Dulles, said his organization was a longtime supporter of the Metro line to Dulles Airport and recognized that parking around the planned rail stations was a critical element of the plan. Thus, he said, the committee commended Comstock Partners for the firm’s "imaginative and efficient" approach to meeting that need.



The developer has entered into a joint development agreement with the county, whereby Comstock will pay for the construction of a 2,300-space underground garage to serve the coming Wiehle Avenue Metro Station and then build its own mixed-use development on top of the structure.

However, McCary told the county Planning Commission at its public hearing on Comstock’s rezoning application last Thursday, March 25 that such a development had high standards to live up to. "As yet, we do not feel that exceptionally high standards of development have been met," he said.



AMONG THE CONCERNS raised by those who testified at the meeting, as well as some of the planning commissioners, were a lack of design excellence, traffic impacts, the amount of parking on the site and, most frequently, the quality of the plaza that is proposed for the middle of the development. Most who commented, including county staff, expressed concern that traffic and the near-constant shade cast by tall buildings would make the plaza uninviting as a recreational area. Staff had recommended that the proposal, as submitted, be denied, although at the hearing, staff members said Comstock was cooperating with the county and making changes to its plan.



The Planning Commission . . . .

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