Herndon Planning at Herndon-Monroe Metro Station: Local Reporting on the Monday Community Meeting

On Monday evening, November 8, Herndon held a community workshop to present some preliminary options for developing the Herndon side of the Herndon-Monroe Metro station transit-oriented development (TOD) area.

As reported back to the Reston Task Force on Tuesday evening by members who had attended, the Herndon consultant had done a good job in developing two alternative proposals.  One note several task force members picked up on was that neither of the plans actually dealt well with commuter access to to the station, whether that was adequate parking (all seemed to be for new office buildings), kiss n' ride drop-off, bus terminal, or pedestrian and bicycle access. 

Two local papers sent reporters to the meeting who provided some good coverage on what happened.

In an article entitled "Residents OK with Density, Wary of Traffic," by Leslie Perales, the Herndon Patch reported:

During Monday night's Herndon Metro community workshop the majority of those in attendance said they found the presented plan with higher density was attractive to them but had concerns about area traffic.

VHB Senior Urban Designer Geoffrey Morrison-Logan opened the workshop by talking about what had been done in the past and what types of information the town officials and consultants were seeking from the public. He then went over both area plans (click for a copy of the slideshow from the workshop). Neither include a kiss-and-ride facility or bus loop for the station. . . .

In a different perspective, Fairfax Times reporter Gregg MacDonald wrote in an article titled "Community divided over plans for Metro station":

Proposed development in Herndon has split one local neighborhood into two factions.

On Monday night, the Town of Herndon conducted a community workshop to discuss a "study area" where development is being planned to accompany the implementation of the Herndon-Monroe Metro station, which is slated to open in 2016.

The station will be built in the median of the Dulles Toll Road, with a pedestrian bridge that will connect the station to Herndon.

According to consulting firm Vanasse Hangen Brustlin -- the firm selected by the town to oversee the Metro area project -- the study area focuses on a land area within Herndon, north of the planned Metrorail station.

The consultant's presentation that laid out the options is available here.  This is a very large file:  11MB.