Reston's Fairview Apartments might undergo redevelopment, Fairfax Times, April 22, 2011

Note:  The headline mis-names the Fairway Apartments complex.

Despite controversy, plan passes zoning committee with 10-to-1 vote

by Gregg MacDonald | Staff Writer

 

The Reston Planning and Zoning Committee approved the fifth incarnation of a major redevelopment proposal for Reston's Fairway Apartments on Monday.

The apartment complex, off North Shore Drive and across from Lake Anne Elementary School, currently is composed of 18 three-story buildings.

The complex's owners -- the JBG company -- have been proposing redevelopment of the site since 2009.

Previous versions of the planned proposal included as many as 951 total units -- including high-rise towers -- to replace the existing 348 apartments.  . .

. . . Although severely scaled back from its original concept, the project still has its detractors.

"The massive scale of this project is just not Reston-like," said Richard Newlon, a member of the Reston Design and Review Board, who was in the audience of the Planning and Zoning Committee meeting. "When density impacts livability, that's when you have a problem," he said, referring to the hundreds and possibly thousands of residents who would inhabit the 804-unit complex.

Other concerns voiced by committee audience members included traffic impacts and the lack of affordable housing in Reston. . . . 

For the rest of this article on the Fairway Apartments approval, click here.