In mid-2008, the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ) conducted a series of nine focal groups with Reston civic leaders about the Reston Master Plan as directed by Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and the Board of Supervisors. Virtually all Reston civic groups participated, including representatives from:
-- Alliance of Reston Clusters and Homeowners (ARCH)
-- Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce
-- Reston Association (RA) Board
-- RA Design Review Board
-- RA Transportation Advisory Committee
-- RA Planning and Zoning Committee
-- Reston Citizen Association (RCA)
-- Reston Community Center (RCC)
-- Working Alliance of Town Center Homeowners (WATCH)
The DPZ also took comments from residents who observed the focus group sessions.
The enclosed document, also available at the County's Reston Master Plan study site http://www.fairfaxcounty.gov/dpz/projects/reston/summary_notes_from_reston_focus_groups_10-15-08_draft.pdf, provides a compilation of the comments made during those nine sessions. It is an important listing of what Restonians think about Reston and how its future ought to be addressed. It illustrates the range of issues and opportunities Restonians see for Reston's future and is good background for anyone participating in the ongoing Comprehensive Plan review process. The notes present an impressive understanding of Reston now and imagination, vision, and concern about its future.
Summary Notes From Reston Focus Groups 10-15-08 Draft
Reston Spring
Reston Spring
Monday, January 11, 2010
Sunday, January 10, 2010
Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force Schedule as of December 8, 2009
December 8, 2009: Organizational Task Force Meeting
2010
January 12: Overview of Current Plan Recommendations
January 26: Second Community Meeting on Planning Principles
February 9: Overview of the Herndon-Monroe Area
Mid-February (date TBD): Community Workshop for Herndon-Monroe Area
February 23: Discussion of Herndon-Monroe Area
March 9: Overview of the Wiehle Area
Mid-March (date TBD): Community Workshop for Wiehle Avenue
March 23: Discussion of Wiehle Avenue
April 13: Overview of the Reston Town Center Area
Mid-April (date TBD): Community Workshop for Reston Town Center
April 27: Discussion of Reston Town Center Area
May 11: Overview of Reston Parkway Area
Mid-May (date TBD): Community Workshop for Reston Parkway Area
May 25: Discussion of Reston Parkway Area
June 8: Discussion of Draft Recommendations
June 22: Discussion of Draft Recommendations
Summer: Task Force to finalize report with recommendations re General Planning Principles and Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
September 14: Staff to outline approach re Planned Residential Community (PRC) zoned Residential Areas & Village Centers
October 12: Discussion of PRC zoned Residential Areas & Village Centers (tentative)
October: Publish staff report re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on Planning Principles and Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
November: Proposed Planning Commission public hearing and recommendations re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on Planning Principles, Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
December: Proposed Board of Supervisors public hearing and decision re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on Planning Principles, Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
2011
(Details regarding the schedule for 2011 will be determined.)
Date(s) TBD: Community Meetings and Task Force Meetings re PRC zoned Residential Areas and Village Centers
Date(s) TBD: Planning Commission public hearing and recommendation re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on PRC zoned Residential Areas and Village Centers
Date(s) TBD: Board of Supervisors public hearing and decision re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on PRC zone Residential Areas and Village Centers.
2010
January 12: Overview of Current Plan Recommendations
January 26: Second Community Meeting on Planning Principles
February 9: Overview of the Herndon-Monroe Area
Mid-February (date TBD): Community Workshop for Herndon-Monroe Area
February 23: Discussion of Herndon-Monroe Area
March 9: Overview of the Wiehle Area
Mid-March (date TBD): Community Workshop for Wiehle Avenue
March 23: Discussion of Wiehle Avenue
April 13: Overview of the Reston Town Center Area
Mid-April (date TBD): Community Workshop for Reston Town Center
April 27: Discussion of Reston Town Center Area
May 11: Overview of Reston Parkway Area
Mid-May (date TBD): Community Workshop for Reston Parkway Area
May 25: Discussion of Reston Parkway Area
June 8: Discussion of Draft Recommendations
June 22: Discussion of Draft Recommendations
Summer: Task Force to finalize report with recommendations re General Planning Principles and Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
September 14: Staff to outline approach re Planned Residential Community (PRC) zoned Residential Areas & Village Centers
October 12: Discussion of PRC zoned Residential Areas & Village Centers (tentative)
October: Publish staff report re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on Planning Principles and Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
November: Proposed Planning Commission public hearing and recommendations re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on Planning Principles, Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
December: Proposed Board of Supervisors public hearing and decision re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on Planning Principles, Dulles Corridor/Reston Town Center
2011
(Details regarding the schedule for 2011 will be determined.)
Date(s) TBD: Community Meetings and Task Force Meetings re PRC zoned Residential Areas and Village Centers
Date(s) TBD: Planning Commission public hearing and recommendation re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on PRC zoned Residential Areas and Village Centers
Date(s) TBD: Board of Supervisors public hearing and decision re Comprehensive Plan recommendations on PRC zone Residential Areas and Village Centers.
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Meeting: Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force, 7 PM, Tuesday, January 12, 2010, Lake Anne Community Center
No detailed agenda is yet available for this meeting. The scheduled topic for the meeting is "Overview of Current Comprehensive Plan Recommendations and the County's Transit Oriented Design Policy."
UPDATE: The following agenda was provided on the Task Force's agenda late on January 10.
RESTON MASTER PLAN SPECIAL STUDY
TASK FORCE
January 12, 2010
Informational Meeting
Reston Community Center at Lake Anne
AGENDA
Public Comment Period
Administrative Items - Patty Nicoson, Task Force Chair
1. Review of Updated Schedule
2. FOIA Update
Overview of Existing Comprehensive Plan recommendations
Heidi Merkel, Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ)
Leonard Wolfenstein, Department of Transportation (DOT)
Discussion of Community Work Groups
Patty Nicoson
Upcoming Meetings - Heidi Merkel
1. January 26 – Community Meeting re: Planning Principles
-----a. Meeting Format
-----b. Objectives
2. February 9 –
-----a. Transit-Oriented Development Presentations
---------- i. Montgomery County experience
---------- ii. Arlington County experience
---------- iii. Reston Metro Access Group (RMAG) Report
-----b. Task Force Discussion of Planning Principles
Adjourn - Patty Nicoson
UPDATE: The following agenda was provided on the Task Force's agenda late on January 10.
RESTON MASTER PLAN SPECIAL STUDY
TASK FORCE
January 12, 2010
Informational Meeting
Reston Community Center at Lake Anne
AGENDA
Public Comment Period
Administrative Items - Patty Nicoson, Task Force Chair
1. Review of Updated Schedule
2. FOIA Update
Overview of Existing Comprehensive Plan recommendations
Heidi Merkel, Department of Planning and Zoning (DPZ)
Leonard Wolfenstein, Department of Transportation (DOT)
Discussion of Community Work Groups
Patty Nicoson
Upcoming Meetings - Heidi Merkel
1. January 26 – Community Meeting re: Planning Principles
-----a. Meeting Format
-----b. Objectives
2. February 9 –
-----a. Transit-Oriented Development Presentations
---------- i. Montgomery County experience
---------- ii. Arlington County experience
---------- iii. Reston Metro Access Group (RMAG) Report
-----b. Task Force Discussion of Planning Principles
Adjourn - Patty Nicoson
The Danger of Two High-Rise Walls & a Transportation Moat Dividing Reston
This article is cross-posted at GoReston.com. See http://www.goreston.com/reston-news/the-danger-of-two-high-rise-walls-a-transportation-moat-dividing-reston
The county task force charged with making recommendations on Reston’s future development, clumsily named the “Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force,” begins its work in earnest this month with 7 PM meetings on the 12th and 26th at the Lake Anne community center.
Despite its nominal focus on the master plan, the primary activity of the task force over the next six months will be to review the County’s Comprehensive Plan for the Dulles corridor and recommend changes. There appear to be two key drivers for this: some 20 proposed modifications to the Comprehensive Plan from developers calling for increased density, largely driven by a stated need to adjust for the coming of Metrorail. That said, a read of the tediously technical Comprehensive Plan shows that the current plan explicitly identifies dozens of times development limits (height, FAR, dwelling units per acre, etc.) appropriate for the arrival of Metrorail. All the 20 proposed plan modifications call for increases in these limits. Given the dominance of developer, property owner, and property manager interests on the task force, its mid-summer recommendations are likely to propose even more density and height for structures, destruction of open space, loss of tree cover, etc., but few road or other improvements.
The effect of implementing the task force’s likely changes, almost certain to be approved by the County Planning Board and Board of Supervisors since they created the task force, would be to cut Reston in half from east to west, isolating north from south. Restonians would eventually face two impenetrable walls of concrete, steel, and glass buildings 200’ and taller—some half again as tall as any standing in Reston—on each side of the Dulles transportation corridor. For the moment, the plan limits building heights to 140’ in most areas; however, no such limits exist in the area surrounding the Metro station areas. For example, the current Comstock plan calls for building as many as eight such monster buildings in the small area north of the Wiehle Metrorail Station ranging from 140’-235’ tall under the existing Comprehensive Plan.
The Dulles transportation corridor roadways will also likely expand from 12 to 18 traffic lanes in the years ahead, although this is not a concern of the task force. Current plans call for the widening of the Dulles access road to six lanes. Also, the preferred Tysons Corner “Strawman II” plan option calls for the addition of two eastbound and three westbound “collector-distributor” (CD) lanes outside the toll road as far west as Hunters Mill Rd--a design that resembles I-270 with its multiple express and separated local access CD lanes. Although not yet on the table, Reston will likely see two CD lanes each way alongside the current toll road to handle the anticipated traffic increases from intense Reston development. And Metrorail will run down the middle of this massive transportation moat. That’s 18 lanes of traffic and Metrorail in a 400’-wide trench.
In contrast, I believe that development along the Dulles corridor must drive the unification—not the isolation—of north and south Reston, integrating and complementing the Reston we already enjoy. In particular, development must include powerful attractants for all Restonians and others. These could include a major community recreation center, southward expansion of Town Center’s retail offerings, a major regional performing arts center near one of the Metro stops, and air rights for a public park some 100 yards wide spanning the transportation moat from Sunrise Valley to Sunset Hills, a mini-Central Park at Reston’s heart.
Additional roadways must also span the Dulles corridor transportation moat, more than the Soapstone extension to the Wiehle Metrorail station parking ramp under Comstock’s high-rise configuration. These would include at the minimum another similar road at the Reston Parkway Metro station and an extension of South Lakes Drive across the corridor. Otherwise, movement across and within the corridor will come to a virtual standstill despite public transportation improvements.
If you share my concerns about the current task force effort, please help all of us try to re-direct the task force effort. Attend the twice-monthly task force meetings—and speak out when afforded the opportunity. Work with your local citizens groups and their leaders—Reston Association, ARCH, and the Reston Citizens Association—who are working together and independently to bring constructive ideas to the task force. (Disclosure: I’m a member of the RCA Board, but these views are my own.) Contact Cathy Hudgins, our supervisor, who proposed the task force, or Kohann Williams, who represents Board Chair Sharon Bulova on the task force. In short, make your voice heard if you wish to see Reston’s share of the Dulles corridor developed as a model for an 21st century urban planned community rather than a Rosslyn on steroids.
Terry Maynard
Reston
The county task force charged with making recommendations on Reston’s future development, clumsily named the “Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force,” begins its work in earnest this month with 7 PM meetings on the 12th and 26th at the Lake Anne community center.
Despite its nominal focus on the master plan, the primary activity of the task force over the next six months will be to review the County’s Comprehensive Plan for the Dulles corridor and recommend changes. There appear to be two key drivers for this: some 20 proposed modifications to the Comprehensive Plan from developers calling for increased density, largely driven by a stated need to adjust for the coming of Metrorail. That said, a read of the tediously technical Comprehensive Plan shows that the current plan explicitly identifies dozens of times development limits (height, FAR, dwelling units per acre, etc.) appropriate for the arrival of Metrorail. All the 20 proposed plan modifications call for increases in these limits. Given the dominance of developer, property owner, and property manager interests on the task force, its mid-summer recommendations are likely to propose even more density and height for structures, destruction of open space, loss of tree cover, etc., but few road or other improvements.
The effect of implementing the task force’s likely changes, almost certain to be approved by the County Planning Board and Board of Supervisors since they created the task force, would be to cut Reston in half from east to west, isolating north from south. Restonians would eventually face two impenetrable walls of concrete, steel, and glass buildings 200’ and taller—some half again as tall as any standing in Reston—on each side of the Dulles transportation corridor. For the moment, the plan limits building heights to 140’ in most areas; however, no such limits exist in the area surrounding the Metro station areas. For example, the current Comstock plan calls for building as many as eight such monster buildings in the small area north of the Wiehle Metrorail Station ranging from 140’-235’ tall under the existing Comprehensive Plan.
The Dulles transportation corridor roadways will also likely expand from 12 to 18 traffic lanes in the years ahead, although this is not a concern of the task force. Current plans call for the widening of the Dulles access road to six lanes. Also, the preferred Tysons Corner “Strawman II” plan option calls for the addition of two eastbound and three westbound “collector-distributor” (CD) lanes outside the toll road as far west as Hunters Mill Rd--a design that resembles I-270 with its multiple express and separated local access CD lanes. Although not yet on the table, Reston will likely see two CD lanes each way alongside the current toll road to handle the anticipated traffic increases from intense Reston development. And Metrorail will run down the middle of this massive transportation moat. That’s 18 lanes of traffic and Metrorail in a 400’-wide trench.
In contrast, I believe that development along the Dulles corridor must drive the unification—not the isolation—of north and south Reston, integrating and complementing the Reston we already enjoy. In particular, development must include powerful attractants for all Restonians and others. These could include a major community recreation center, southward expansion of Town Center’s retail offerings, a major regional performing arts center near one of the Metro stops, and air rights for a public park some 100 yards wide spanning the transportation moat from Sunrise Valley to Sunset Hills, a mini-Central Park at Reston’s heart.
Additional roadways must also span the Dulles corridor transportation moat, more than the Soapstone extension to the Wiehle Metrorail station parking ramp under Comstock’s high-rise configuration. These would include at the minimum another similar road at the Reston Parkway Metro station and an extension of South Lakes Drive across the corridor. Otherwise, movement across and within the corridor will come to a virtual standstill despite public transportation improvements.
If you share my concerns about the current task force effort, please help all of us try to re-direct the task force effort. Attend the twice-monthly task force meetings—and speak out when afforded the opportunity. Work with your local citizens groups and their leaders—Reston Association, ARCH, and the Reston Citizens Association—who are working together and independently to bring constructive ideas to the task force. (Disclosure: I’m a member of the RCA Board, but these views are my own.) Contact Cathy Hudgins, our supervisor, who proposed the task force, or Kohann Williams, who represents Board Chair Sharon Bulova on the task force. In short, make your voice heard if you wish to see Reston’s share of the Dulles corridor developed as a model for an 21st century urban planned community rather than a Rosslyn on steroids.
Terry Maynard
Reston
Friday, January 8, 2010
News: 2010 in Reston, Reston Connection, January 6, 2010
Issues to follow in the year ahead.
By Mike DiCicco
Revisiting Reston Plan
The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force held its first meeting in December and will continue to meet into 2011. The group’s initial meeting followed a county-sponsored "land-use college" conducted in late summer and early fall to educate residents in zoning lingo and process.
The task force will first examine uses in the Reston Center for Industry and Government (RCIG) that surrounds the Dulles Toll Road.
For the rest of this article, please click here.
By Mike DiCicco
Revisiting Reston Plan
The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force held its first meeting in December and will continue to meet into 2011. The group’s initial meeting followed a county-sponsored "land-use college" conducted in late summer and early fall to educate residents in zoning lingo and process.
The task force will first examine uses in the Reston Center for Industry and Government (RCIG) that surrounds the Dulles Toll Road.
For the rest of this article, please click here.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Reston 2020 Committee Meeting, 7:30 PM, January 7, 2010, Lake Anne Community Center
The Reston 2020 Committee will have its next meeting at 7:30 PM, Thursday, January 7, 2010, at the Lake Anne Community Center.
The agenda for the meeting includes the following:
1. Discuss a proposal for Community Advisory Groups to present to the Task Force.
2. Discuss Committee view on Planning Principles to present to the Task Force.
3. Finalize the Reston 2020 blog and its administration.
4. Develop a plan to publicize and present Committee views at the Task Force Community meeting, January 12, 2010.
The agenda for the meeting includes the following:
1. Discuss a proposal for Community Advisory Groups to present to the Task Force.
2. Discuss Committee view on Planning Principles to present to the Task Force.
3. Finalize the Reston 2020 blog and its administration.
4. Develop a plan to publicize and present Committee views at the Task Force Community meeting, January 12, 2010.
Saturday, January 2, 2010
December 2009 Activities of the Reston 2020 Committee
The Reston 2020 Committee had a busy month, despite the holiday period, beginning with Chairman Dick Stilson’s remarks at the meeting launching the County’s Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force on December 1. At that meeting, Dick proposed that the Task Force--
--Take a holistic approach to its review of Reston planning.
--Create and use community advisory groups to help inform the Task Force.
A week later, at the first official meeting of the Task Force, there was some positive discussion of moving forward with the community advisory groups, but also many questions about their role, composition, tasks, etc.
The December 9 meeting of the Reston 2020 Committee and ensuring Committee dialogue has focused on developing a terms of reference for the community advisory groups. The immediate objective of the Committee is to present to the Task Force a robust proposed terms of reference for community advisory groups that it will find amenable, approve, and implement at its January 26 meeting.
--The current draft terms of reference under study by the Committee proposes the creation of as many as eight advisory groups along functional and area lines.
--The draft lays out an ambitious work agenda for the groups that is complicated by the rapid planned pace of the Task Force they will support.
The Reston 2020 Committee would very much like to encourage your participation in one of the advisory groups as they are formed. We will provide details as they become available, but please feel free to contact RCA about your interest.
A critical element of the Reston 2020 Committee’s effort discussed at its December meeting is developing a communications strategy to ensure Restonians have timely and complete information on the Task Force, the Committee, and other inputs affecting the re-vamping of the Reston Master Plan.
--Among the most important of these is making sure there is an appropriate process for ensuring the participation of the three Committee members who are also Task Force members—which requires a “public meeting” under sunshine laws.
--Communications with the local news media will also be an important element of the Committee’s efforts to help assure that developments in the Task Force receive comprehensive and balanced coverage.
--The creation of a Reston 2020 blog was also proposed. A prototype blog is being reviewed with a view to a public launch in early January 2010.
The Committee is also reviewing member contributions for Planning Principles to be used by the Task Force. A number of ideas have been submitted and they will be culled and organized to meet the spirit of the Task Force’s intent to establish a set of principles to guide their planning activities.
The Reston 2020 Committee is arranging a public meeting for the 6, 7, or 8 of January 2010 at a place not yet determined. This will precede the Task Force’s January 12 “community meeting” as well as its first working meeting on January 26.
--Take a holistic approach to its review of Reston planning.
--Create and use community advisory groups to help inform the Task Force.
A week later, at the first official meeting of the Task Force, there was some positive discussion of moving forward with the community advisory groups, but also many questions about their role, composition, tasks, etc.
The December 9 meeting of the Reston 2020 Committee and ensuring Committee dialogue has focused on developing a terms of reference for the community advisory groups. The immediate objective of the Committee is to present to the Task Force a robust proposed terms of reference for community advisory groups that it will find amenable, approve, and implement at its January 26 meeting.
--The current draft terms of reference under study by the Committee proposes the creation of as many as eight advisory groups along functional and area lines.
--The draft lays out an ambitious work agenda for the groups that is complicated by the rapid planned pace of the Task Force they will support.
The Reston 2020 Committee would very much like to encourage your participation in one of the advisory groups as they are formed. We will provide details as they become available, but please feel free to contact RCA about your interest.
A critical element of the Reston 2020 Committee’s effort discussed at its December meeting is developing a communications strategy to ensure Restonians have timely and complete information on the Task Force, the Committee, and other inputs affecting the re-vamping of the Reston Master Plan.
--Among the most important of these is making sure there is an appropriate process for ensuring the participation of the three Committee members who are also Task Force members—which requires a “public meeting” under sunshine laws.
--Communications with the local news media will also be an important element of the Committee’s efforts to help assure that developments in the Task Force receive comprehensive and balanced coverage.
--The creation of a Reston 2020 blog was also proposed. A prototype blog is being reviewed with a view to a public launch in early January 2010.
The Committee is also reviewing member contributions for Planning Principles to be used by the Task Force. A number of ideas have been submitted and they will be culled and organized to meet the spirit of the Task Force’s intent to establish a set of principles to guide their planning activities.
The Reston 2020 Committee is arranging a public meeting for the 6, 7, or 8 of January 2010 at a place not yet determined. This will precede the Task Force’s January 12 “community meeting” as well as its first working meeting on January 26.
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