Column: County Rushing “Dysfunctional” Master Plan?, John Lovaas, Connection Newspapers, August 30, 2013

A bit over four years ago, the Hunter Mill District supervisor announced the formation of a community Task force to prepare a new Reston Master Plan to shape Reston, complete with rail service, for a generation. The supervisor said it was a vital mission, top priority, to be completed during 2010. Then, she left the room—and the planning process. Fast forward—the train is about to arrive and the task force has yet to complete even the first half of its work—the comprehensive plan for three new rail station areas. Part two will treat the rest of the community. Why the task force is three years behind schedule is a matter of opinion.  . . .

. . . the best analytical work for the task force has been produced by our own volunteer Reston Citizens Association. While having only one seat on the task force, RCA volunteers (over 60 in total) working as the Reston 2020 Committee of the RCA have produced and presented more than a dozen well-researched analytical contributions for the new plan and its implementation. . . .

. . . At its last meeting, the task force commented on the latest staff draft Master Plan. It was not well received. Disappointment was expressed with the overall quality and lack of attention to excellence in design and architecture. RCA went much further. While commending the work of task force members for reaching some difficult compromises including “densities, mixes [of uses], RCA concluded that in the draft the “goals and constraints … have been utterly destroyed.”. . . .

. . . Is the county really going to try to ram through such a disappointing product, one that will guide Reston development for a generation? Find out at the next public task force meeting, Sept. 10 at 7 p.m. at the Community Center in Lake Anne. . . . 

Click here for the rest of this commentary.