As a result of the County’s unwillingness to consider Reston
plan amendments proposed by the community, Restonians are facing the end of
their planned community, a community that has balanced people and nature to
maximize quality of life for more than a half century.
County staff stated
in
a letter dated March 28, 2018:
“(I)t
has long been the county's
practice not to amend these new
plans within the first five years of their adoption. . . Staff continues to
support this practice and cannot support changes to land use, density or
intensity recommendations in the Reston Master Plan for the Transit Station
Areas until after 2019 and for Reston's neighborhoods and village centers until
after 2020.”
These are precisely the
areas of the plan that most need change now to preserve Reston as a planned and
livable community.
Despite its alleged “practice,” the County has amended
Reston’s plan at much shorter intervals when it suits the County’s tax revenue
purposes. Specifically, the County
increased Reston’s transit station area (TSA) development plan potential density
in less than a two-year window. Here’s
what we mean:
- In the version of the Reston plan approved February 11, 2014, “The target development level established for
the three TSAs is approximately 28,000 new
and existing residential units and approximately 30 million square feet of new
and existing office uses.” This is generally
in line with the “Scenario G” recommendation of the Reston Master Plan Task
Force that Supervisor Hudgins likes to point to as representing community
involvement.
 |
| Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, Amendment
2013-05, Adopted February 11, 2014, p. 7. |
- In the version of the Reston plan approved June 2, 2015, ostensibly
approving Phase 2 of the Reston plan concerning Reston’s non-TSA suburban areas, the following change was made: “The target development level established for
the three TSAs is approximately 44,000
new and existing residential units and approximately 30 million square feet of
new and existing office uses.” County
staff’s argument was that it maintains the jobs to households balance at about 2.5
to 1. It does not explain why this is
meaningful, much less desirable. It’s equally unclear why, if a change were
required, the jobs potential couldn’t be decreased—instead of increased— to meet the County’s desired ratio.
 |
| Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan, ST09-III-UP1(B),
Adopted June 2, 2015, p. 22. |
And, NO, the county did
not work with the community in changing these critical density elements
of the Reston plan. There was no transparency
in this process and it is not the only change made on Phase 1 transit station
areas when the County was nominally looking only at changes in the suburban
(PRC) areas of Reston. In fact, the County is so opaque on this
matter that you cannot find these two earlier editions of Reston’s Master Plan
on the County’s website. Some of us have
retained hardcopies, however.
The County made this major density change within sixteen months of
the earlier change. So much for the
“practice” of a five year wait! Does
this fact make the change invalid???
So the notion that it is County “practice” not to change the
Comprehensive Plan at less than five year intervals is a falsehood. It is only a self-serving “practice” used by the
County when it does not want to consider Restonians’ concerns about land use,
density, or intensity that has been foisted upon it by the Board of Supervisors
and County staff without community participation.
As a result, we face a hurtling County scheme to increase
Reston’s allowable density in the PRC zoning ordinance from 13 to 16 persons
per acre and continuing support for generally unconstrained redevelopment in
key areas of the Reston Master Plan.
This unconstrained redevelopment potential includes the station areas,
the village centers, and other “hot spots” (such as Saint Johns Wood) the
County has identified without community consultation for high-density,
high-rise multi-family redevelopment.
As a next step toward trying to stop this onslaught,
please
attend CPR’s community meeting on April
23, 2018, 7PM, at RA’s conference center, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr., Reston, VA 20191.
CPR will update the community on recent
developments in the County’s zoning initiative, lay out its ideas for community
action, and seek your assistance in stepping up community protest.
Your involvement is vital to the survival of
the Reston we know and want as a planned community.
