Revised Draft North Town Center Vision and Straw Man, May 28, 2010

Note from Robert Goudie, Co-Chair, Reston Town Center Committee:

I attach a revised draft of the TCN section of what ultimately will be a broader Committee report on all of TC to include the Metro Station (north and south). Included is an updated straw man map reflecting what is in the report so far (modified the green space; did some greening of the streets as well; indicated by dotted line the new streets). The text edits I hope capture the things we talked about Tuesday (I’m providing a clean copy and not redline; a redline at this point would be meaningless and messy). I want to just briefly comment on the increased density trigger we have drafted based on last week’s discussion:

1. 50 du/ac on the 41-acre TCN site would yield @ 2,000 res units. So the fundamental idea we have structured is this: Inova may build up to the existing 0.7 non-res FAR so long as the needed infrastructure (grid and open space) is built; it may go up to 0.9 non-res FAR so long as in addition to the grid and open space there are at least 1,000 residential units on the ground (of course it could be more; this is a floor).
2. How was that number arrived at as a good-faith trigger? If you add in what is planned for the extended TCN area (Spectrum and RAJ, which is @ another 1500 units), that yields a total minimum of @ 2500 res units for the extended TCN area (with the trigger).
3. By way of comparison: the extended Urban Core, at 50 du/ac, yields about 4200 res units. Right now, on the ground, there is about ½ that. So the extended TCN (when built out according to the trigger and the Spectrum concept plan) would have roughly the same number of res units on the ground as currently exist within the extended Urban Core (probably slightly more, +/-). So that is some perspective for each of you to judge whether this is a trigger that meets your objectives.
4. One further comment on why we didn’t, for example, go up to the 2,000 units for the trigger. We all know the res market goes hot and cool based on supply/demand. If we lock in the trigger floor at too high a number you run the risk of land staying fallow for long periods if there is a cold res market. Folks won’t build the res and are then locked out from developing other things we may want because they haven’t met the trigger. That concern has to be balanced with setting a floor that actually gives you something you want regardless of market conditions, which is some meaningful mix of res and non-res. We thought 1,000 was a good-faith benchmark and of course nothing precludes Inova from going beyond that number; it is a floor/minimum to allow the 0.9 non-res FAR. So I hope all that is helpful background for the discussion.

Reston Town Center North (TCN) Vision Statement (Revised).Doc--05-28-10

Revised Reston TC Straw Man--05!28!10