To: Fairfax County Board of Supervisors
Fairfax County Planning Commission
Dear Board and Planning Commission members,
Attached please find a resolution passed unanimously by the Reston Citizens Board of Directors at its regular monthly meeting last night, May 23, 2011, opposing County approval of JBG's current proposal for re-developing the Fairway Apartments complex on North Shore Drive.
As noted in the brief resolution, the JBG proposal violates a number of both new and long standing Fairfax County and Reston community standards. The proposed increase in density far exceeds that of the neighborhood and DPZ's own recommendations made last year and is not tied to any TOD area, village center, or other higher density area. The proposal provides little or no infrastructure relief for this more than doubling of dwelling units, which--from a traffic perspective--will add to congestion and is especially dangerous given the presence of an elementary school across the street. Despite the huge increase in dwelling units JBG proposes, the Fairway Apartments proposal does not offer adequate workforce, much less affordable, housing in a neighborhood that was once entirely affordable housing. Finally, the proposal is broadly incompatible with Reston's goal of achieving architectural excellence, offering a 500' unbroken facade on one building, a "Texas doughnut" for another, and three-story townhouses in a neighborhood of two-story homes, among other design flaws.
In short, the JBG proposal endorsed by Reston's Planning and Zoning Committee on strictly legalistic grounds offers less that either the County or the community expects for re-development in this residential neighborhood and in Reston generally. We hope that you will find these arguments compelling and will reject JBG's current re-development proposal for Fairway Apartments.
On behalf of the RCA Board,
Terry Maynard
South Lakes District Representative
Board of Directors
Reston Citizens Association
cc: Reston Citizens Association Board of Directors
Reston Association Board of Directors
Association of Reston Clusters & Homeowners Board of Directors
Reston Planning & Zoning Committee
RA Design and Review Board
Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force
FC Department of Planning and Zoning
FC Department of Transportation
Reston Connection
Reston Patch
Fairfax Times
Restonian Blog
Go Reston Blog
bcc: RCA Reston 2020 Committee
Sustainable Reston
Save the Glade
Approved RCA Resolution on Fairway Apartments
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