News: It Takes More Than Stores to Build a Winning Town Center, Washington Post, February 28, 2010

By Katherine Shaver and Miranda S. Spivack
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, February 28, 2010

When Rockville Town Square opened in summer 2007, Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley (D) praised the 12 acres of shops, restaurants and condominiums as a way to revive the aging suburb. Officials visualized people living above stores, eating lunch at sidewalk cafes and walking to the Rockville Metro station.

Nearly three years later, that vision is still taking shape. On weeknights, the after-work crowd streams into Gold's Gym. On weekends, the Gordon Biersch restaurant is packed. But the large space leased to the Superfresh grocery chain remains vacant; eight of the 46 storefronts have changed hands; and some of the restaurants are struggling. The development was designed to meet a demand for pedestrian-friendly suburbs with an urban feel, but it opened just as the economy soured.

The ability of the Washington area's suburban town centers to weather the recession will have long-term effects on life in the counties ringing the District. . . .

For the rest of this excellent, wide-ranging article on Metro-area renewal, click here.

Reston 2020 Blog: 1,000 Unique Visitors--and Counting

Today, the Reston 2020 blog passed the 1,000 mark in terms of unique visitors. That's 1,000 different people--"first-time visitors" based on an internet "cookie"--who have visited the blog in the four weeks since we began counting these things. (The blog actually launched in late December.)

The rapid growth in blog readership is a testament to the importance the people of Reston attach to the ongoing Reston Master Plan Special Study. Its recommendations will affect the lives of the more than 60,000 people who live here now and the more than 100,000 who are likely to live here decades from now under a new plan to guide Reston's development.

For those who are not familiar with this blog, it attempts to post all information publicly available--and occasionally not publicly available--about the Reston planning effort, a one-stop shopping site for information on Reston development. This includes related issues such as the Tysons Corner planning effort and possible County changes in bus or bicycle policy. And it is open to all points of view as attested to its posting of some critical letters written by Robert E. Simon, our founder, for the local newspapers.

We will endeavor to keep this blog as complete and diverse a discussion of Reston development as possible. If you have information that you think bears on Reston's future development, please send it to me at terrmayn@msn.com. With your permission, we will post it for all Restonians to see.

...and thank you all for caring about Reston.

Terry Maynard
Reston 2020
Blog Administrator

CANCELED: Reston Task Force Meeting, March 2, 2010

As announced in the waning minutes of last Tuesday's Reston Task Force meeting and confirmed at this morning's Community meeting of the Task Force, the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force meeting scheduled for March 2 to discuss the Herndon-Monroe Station TOD area has been canceled.

No information on re-scheduling is available yet.

AGENDA: Reston Task Force Community Meeting, 9AM, February 27, Langston Hughes

We regret the delay in posting this agenda, but it has not yet--less than an hour before the scheduled meeting--been made available to the public. We obtained this copy of the agenda from a member of the task force, who received it mid-afternoon Friday, .

Terry Maynard
Reston 2020

RESTON MASTER PLAN SPECIAL STUDY
COMMUNITY MEETING

Saturday
February 27, 2010
9:00 a.m.

Langston Hughes Middle School, Cafeteria, 11401 Ridge Heights Road
AGENDA


9:00 a.m. Welcome
Supervisor Cathy Hudgins, Hunter Mill District

9:05 a.m. Meeting Objectives
Heidi Merkel, Department of Planning and Zoning

9:10 a.m. Brief Overview of Reston Master Plan Special Study
Heidi Merkel

9:30 a.m. Overview of Town of Herndon Transit Station Study
Kay Robertson, Town of Herndon Department of Community Development

9:40 a.m. Background re: Herndon-Monroe Station Area
Heidi Merkel

10:00 a.m. Community Brainstorming Activity regarding future station area character

11:00 a.m. Reporting of results of Brainstorming Activity

11:25 a.m. Next Steps

11:30 a.m. Adjourn

Birders Concerned about Herndon-Monroe and Sunrise Valley Wetlands Impact

Dear Birdwalkers,

I try not to clutter up your inboxes with non-birdwalk messages, but Sunrise Valley Wetland needs people to stand up and speak for its preservation. This park is a regular stop on our circuit of monthly Reston birdwalks. Most of you know that it is a federally mandated wetland mitigation project. In other words, it was created as a trade-off for the destruction of wetlands during the construction of Reston Town Center. According to the deed, the property is supposed to remain a wetland in perpetuity. I have just learned, to my surprise, that the Army Corp of Engineers and the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality can set aside that deed at their discretion if they receive what they deem to be adequate compensation or if they decide some other land use has a higher value to the community.

Sunrise Valley Wetland has the misfortune to be located right next to the planned Herndon-Monroe Metro Station. The county planners are calling for high density development within the 1/4 mile radius of the station and that puts the park at risk. Apparently there is already at least one developer who his sights on the property.

If this concerns or worries you at all, please plan to attend a meeting this Saturday, Feb. 27, at 9:00 AM at Langston Hughes Middle School, 11401 Ridge Heights Rd. in Reston. The Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force will be accepting comments from the public on what we would like development around the station to look like and any other issues we want raised in connection with the coming of rail to Reston and Herndon. I doubt the members of the Task Force are birdwatchers, and I doubt if they even appreciate what a natural resource we have in Sunrise Valley Wetland. This is our chance to tell them. Sunrise Valley Wetland will need all the support we can give it in the upcoming discussions.

Thanks for your consideration,
Carol Hadlock

EAC Recommends Reston TF Protect Sunrise Valley Wetlands Natural Area

The Sunrise Valley Wetlands Natural Area is within the ¼ mile circle around the future Herndon-Monroe Metro Station slated for high density development. This beautiful wetlands is a federally mandated mitigation site developed to offset previous destruction of natural areas in Reston. There exists, within its relatively small 15.75-acre area, multiple ecosystems of open water, marsh and upland forest that attract a wide range of wildlife, including birds, turtles, frogs, dragonflies, butterflies and small and large mammals. The site is used regularly by Reston Association naturalists for public outreach and education programs.

New York has Central Park, Washington D.C. has Rock Creek Park… The Sunrise Valley Wetlands has the potential to become a great model future development in our County, namely the preservation of a significant natural area (as opposed to just open space) within a high-density developed area. Reston has always been a leader in suburban and semi-urban design: Let’s save the Sunrise Valley Wetlands and maintain our leadership in this vital area.

Come to the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force meeting on Saturday, February 27, 2010 at 9:00 at Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston to voice your support for the preservation of this signification community resource.

Diane Blust, member Reston Citizens Association (RCA) Sustainable Reston Initiative, and Reston Environmental Action (REACT)

Below are REACT's recommendations to the Reston Task Force on preserving the Sunrise Valley Wetlands Natural Area.

REACT Recs to RMPSS Task Force--Sunrise Valley Wetlands

Herndon-Monroe Metro Redevelopment Has Birders -- Wait For It! -- Crying Fowl, Restonian Blog, February 26, 2010

Aside from our musty, snow melt-inundated basements and the muck-filled lakes, who knew Reston had wetlands? Apparently, the birders do, and they're not happy about the proposed Wiehle, er, Herndon-Monroe Metro station development (Ed note: we can't read). What's got their -- wait for it -- feathers ruffled?

Read the rest of this post here.