Letter: What We Can Learn From The Lake Anne Land Swap, Diane Blust, RestonNow, November 26, 2013

Diane Blust, who last week resigned from RA's Environmental Advisory Committee (EAC) in the wake of the RA Board land swap decision, is a longtime Reston resident who is extremely knowledgeable about sustainability issues and has been deeply committed to helping Reston protect its environment.  In this letter, she explains what happened and how the proposed swap might have been handled more effectively.  Here is how she begins:

As some of you know, I took the extraordinary step of resigning last week from Reston Association’s Environmental Advisory Committee and as the Chair of RA’s Sustainability Working Group, which was established just last spring by the RA Board to design a sustainability road map for RA.

It would be easy to say I stepped down because of a few trees.  But, that would be a gross oversimplification.  The RA Board decision to swap an acre of mature upland forest for land that serves in part as a drainage ditch for Baron Cameron came at the end of a long process marked by a lack of transparency and bad management.  Changes must be made if Reston is to develop and redevelop in a truly sustainable manner, one that meets “the community’s present needs while preserving Reston’s essential character and ensuring the ability of future generations to meet their needs” — the RA Board’s own definition of sustainability.

The management of the land swap process was flawed, largely due to a lack of transparency. . . .

For the rest of Diane's letter, please click here.