Notes on the Reston P and Z Committee Meeting, 11/19/12

Notes on the Reston P and Z Committee Meeting, 11/19/12

John Hanley, RCA Reston 2020

On Monday, November 19^th, I attended the Reston P&Z Meeting at N. County Govt. Center. Besides what appeared to be a full slate of P&Z Board members (10+), there was a significant audience, including Andy Sigle, Joe Leighton and Mike Collins from RA, John Bowman, John Thoburn, and various members of RA’s and Supervisor Hudgin's staff. Developers Bozzuto and Veatch (BV) had trucked in 8 or so of their people, too. The atmosphere was relaxed in general.

1. THE BOZZUTO BUILDING

The whole meeting was devoted to the building proposed by BV. It is a 5 storey, wood-frame building, with 421 dwelling units, mostly one bedroom, with “some” two and three bedroom units. 12% are to be for affordable housing. It will contain some 10,000 sq. ft. of retail. The building will sit on the 3.8 acre property on Sunset Hills presently occupied by Reston Mini Storage. All resident parking will be under ground. BV is proposing some 600 places on two floors (1.6 cars per dwelling unit). This was queried (see below). The building is to contain three internal open courts, one with a swimming pool.

I have not been following this development up to now, but it is evident that there have been detailed ongoing negotiations on the building between BV and the P&Z over the past year or more. In general, it looks as if the proposal is well on the way to being approved, with a few caveats, some significant, however.

2. DISCUSSION POINTS

Drainage and Storm Water disposal: A touchy matter in this neck of the woods, after the flooding of the car parks on the other side of Sunset Hills last year. Apparently, BV have satisfied P&Z that the building will cause no problems.

Roads and Access: This provoked a considerable amount of questions and discussion. The building is designed to have two sides open to road/street access (left off Sunset Hills and left again, with access through to the Wiehle Station area, inboard of the present office/professional buildings east of the site along Sunset Hills. There will be no direct access on the SS Hills side, apart from the present light. An additional turn lane off SS Hills will be provided by BV. On the fourth, eastern side will be an alley for removal traffic, trash collection, etc., with no access to or from Sunset Hills. One or two P&Z members queried this decision, but BV said that VDOT would not approve this, as it would be dangerous.

One member, Mr. Weber, felt that the proposed streets and access/exit points were a “disaster”. Traffic would be unmanageable, with 600 additional cars active on top of the growing number of commuters coming to the station.  Had BV talked at all with Comstock about what was obviously going to be a huge problem?  Initial silence from the BV representatives.  Then one of them said that streets, access and traffic were not BV’s responsibility. They were just “responding to the extant street grid”. Weber said that he would vote against approval, if this matter was not addressed. It is clear that RCA/R2020 concerns about grid-lock are shared by at least one person on the P&Z Board!

Ecological Roof Treatment: BV said that this was ruled out, because of roof-loading limits on wood-frame buildings if this type.

Parking: Another member said that his review of the proposal showed that the stated parking space numbers and the allocated space for them did not add up. BV’s plan showed two underground parking floors, for some 600 spaces. As each floor only allowed for 230 spaces, the parking would not be sufficient, even if the ratio were lowered to 1.4 cars per dwelling unit (under discussion, apparently). BV were told “you need to provide a third parking floor”.

Transformers: Some concern was expressed about whether there was sufficient space available for the large transformers that would be needed to service a structure with this residential density. Discussion followed and it appeared that the BV people successfully persuaded the Board that the space available for the transformers was adequate.

Reston DRB: In answer to a question, it was confirmed that Reston DRB did not have any jurisdiction in this area.

Conclusion

All in all, this building, while not a slam-dunk, appears to be on its way to approval, subject to the areas of criticism noted above. But it is clear that concern is growing over the lack of any plans to deal with the hundreds, if not thousands, of extra cars that the station, this building and others will produce at rush hour and beyond. As someone muttered, “where the hell are they all going to go?