Reston Spring
Reston Spring
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Group Has Alternative Proposal for Town Center Development, Reston Patch, November 16, 2010, Karen Goff
Reston2020 has suggestions to maintain open space, add school to accommodate Reston growth.
The Reston2020 group, part of the Reston Citizen's Association, calls the Master Plan Task Force's Town Center vision "badly flawed" when looking at Reston's development over the next two decades.Read the rest of this Reston Patch article here.
In a draft of its proposal for an alternative plan, which will be discussed at a public meeting Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Reston Community Center Lake Anne, Reston2020 members say the task force's plan pays too little attention to infrastructure and public spaces (such as cultural spots and open space) and pays little attention to the principles of transit-oriented development. . . .
Second Draft: Reston 2020 Alternative Vision for Reston Town Center, November 15, 2020
This draft report will be discussed at this evening's Reston 2020 Committee, and approved as amended. All Restonians are welcome to attend and participate in the meeting. The meeting will be at 7:30PM at Reston Community Center, Lake Anne.
Reston Town Center TOD Area Development--D2
Reston Town Center TOD Area Development--D2
Monday, November 15, 2010
Draft Reston 2020 Comment on RTF Herndon-Monroe Committee Report, November 14, 2010, Dick Rogers
This draft report will be discussed at the November 16 meeting of the Reston 2020 Committee, 7:30PM, Reston Community Center--Lake Anne. All Restonians are welcome to attend and participate.
Draft Reston 2020 Comment on Herndon Monroe Report
Draft Reston 2020 Comment on Herndon Monroe Report
Letter to the Editor: In Communion with Nature, Reston Connection, November 12, 2010, Kathy Kaplan
To the Editor:
The plaza next to the fountain in Town Center catches enough light and heat to make an effective heat trap. In the early spring I love to go and sit with my face to the sun and remember what winter isn't like. Except to go to the library or visit the doctor, I rarely go to Town Center. I like to go to Herndon and Vienna. Probably at the bottom of that choice is the lingering bitterness about the stretch of woodland that was lost when Town Center was built.
It has been suggested that Town Center is an example of world-class architecture. It is not. Even Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for the New Yorker, said it wasn't. He came to give a talk to the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force. He said Town Center most resembled an uncovered mall. I do have hopes that the development coming to the Reston Parkway Station area will add something to the area that could be thought of as world-class---sumptuous open space with gracious plazas, a rich street life where a human being can feel at home.
Paul Goldberger in an email to me wrote, "Open space is critical to the future of Reston."
We do have something in Reston that does meet the threshold of world-class. Actually there are two things that are world-class in Reston: First, our open spaces and all the trees, the ones we own collectively (our private property) through Reston Association and those owned by our neighbors. Second, our neighborhoods. Our graceful, lovely, alpine-like clusters sheltered by the trees that have grown up around them are the heart of beauty in Reston. We in Reston live in communion with nature, sheltered by the trees that ground our experience in nature.
Should those clusters be stripped out and replaced with high-rises and Texas donuts, Reston will lose its world-class beauty. You don't know what a Texas donut is? They are five or six-story, wood frame constructions with a five to six-story cement parking garage in the center (the hole in the donut). The residential units wrap around the garage. If you haven't seen one, Camden Monument is a good example. It's on Camden Boulevard on the way to the Fair Oaks Mall. It is easily recognizable because of the 6-ft tall white limestone horse in front. There are others along Monroe Street in Herndon. They rise straight up out of the sidewalk like uncapped mushrooms. Modern tenements in the making.
Our clusters in Reston form the bedrock of our community. They are world-class and are worth preserving.
Kathy Kaplan
Reston
The plaza next to the fountain in Town Center catches enough light and heat to make an effective heat trap. In the early spring I love to go and sit with my face to the sun and remember what winter isn't like. Except to go to the library or visit the doctor, I rarely go to Town Center. I like to go to Herndon and Vienna. Probably at the bottom of that choice is the lingering bitterness about the stretch of woodland that was lost when Town Center was built.
It has been suggested that Town Center is an example of world-class architecture. It is not. Even Paul Goldberger, the architecture critic for the New Yorker, said it wasn't. He came to give a talk to the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force. He said Town Center most resembled an uncovered mall. I do have hopes that the development coming to the Reston Parkway Station area will add something to the area that could be thought of as world-class---sumptuous open space with gracious plazas, a rich street life where a human being can feel at home.
Paul Goldberger in an email to me wrote, "Open space is critical to the future of Reston."
We do have something in Reston that does meet the threshold of world-class. Actually there are two things that are world-class in Reston: First, our open spaces and all the trees, the ones we own collectively (our private property) through Reston Association and those owned by our neighbors. Second, our neighborhoods. Our graceful, lovely, alpine-like clusters sheltered by the trees that have grown up around them are the heart of beauty in Reston. We in Reston live in communion with nature, sheltered by the trees that ground our experience in nature.
Should those clusters be stripped out and replaced with high-rises and Texas donuts, Reston will lose its world-class beauty. You don't know what a Texas donut is? They are five or six-story, wood frame constructions with a five to six-story cement parking garage in the center (the hole in the donut). The residential units wrap around the garage. If you haven't seen one, Camden Monument is a good example. It's on Camden Boulevard on the way to the Fair Oaks Mall. It is easily recognizable because of the 6-ft tall white limestone horse in front. There are others along Monroe Street in Herndon. They rise straight up out of the sidewalk like uncapped mushrooms. Modern tenements in the making.
Our clusters in Reston form the bedrock of our community. They are world-class and are worth preserving.
Kathy Kaplan
Reston
Agenda: Reston 2020 Meeting, 7:30 PM, November 16, 2010, RCC Lake Anne
IMPORTANT UPDATE: Dick Stillson will not be able to attend the meeting to make his presentation on implementation. Instead, Dick Rogers will present a draft Reston 2020 comment on the RTF Herndon-Monroe Committee report.
Reston 2020
Agenda
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
7:30 PM
Lake Anne RCC
Room “B”
1. Implementation: Dick Stillson – 15 min.
2. Update on Wiehle – John Lovaas
· Discuss what the Wiehle plan should include
· Determine primary author for 2020 Wiehle report
3. Town Center Report, revised – Terry Maynard
· Discuss latest iteration
· Agree on any substantive changes
4. Administrative items
· Discuss 2020 flyers re: 2020 policy related to tolls on Rt. 267
· Other business – Update on Task Force tentative schedule
· Date for next meeting
Everyone is welcome: please feel free to bring interested friends and neighbors.
Plans for Metro-Accessible Reston Coming Into Focus, Reston Patch, John Lovaas, November 14, 2010
The following is the text of an OpEd published in the Reston Patch by long-time local community leader and activist, John Lovaas.
After 11 months, Phase I of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force shows the first glimmer of results. We can see parts of plans in the rail corridor taking shape. And, as we head into winter, we are learning that Phase II will likely slip to some time in the spring. The actual work in Phase I is done by three - now four - Task Force committees: Reston Parkway; Wiehle Avenue; Herndon-Monroe; and the recently created Vision Committee. While a vision framework should have been put forth at the beginning of the Master Plan study, the Vision Committee is now in gear and offers perhaps the only hope for injecting coherence into the product of study Phase I.
The Vision outfit has exceptional leadership, the most experienced professional community planner on the Task Force. It also has strong community participation and a clear course of action for examining plans of the three station area committees, vital matters they've not addressed, and the impacts of what they propose.
I've been glued to the Task Force since day one in December 2009, attending over 100 meetings. Its work is not easy. Nor is it quantum physics. The process wandered at times, lacking clear direction. To date, we have but one complete committee report -- that of the Reston Parkway/Town Center group, and drafts from the other two station-area committees. The Wiehle report, of course, is key since that station will be the first to open—in 2013. Their draft looks promising. Herndon-Monroe's is far behind.
But, let's talk about the known — the Reston Town Center Committee's recommendations for a new Master Plan. Their task was complex, dealing with a large, already partially urban area. Their report reflects compromises on some thorny issues while ignoring others, such as infrastructure. It also reflects strong commercial developer influence. For example, it stresses the need "to incent" developers, including, for example, offering huge density bonuses while waiving a requirement to contribute to infrastructure to support massive new density—up to 2.5 times that of the existing urban core.
The great new density will continue to favor commercial vs. residential construction, resulting in more profit AND more congestion piled on Reston's already failing intersections. And, they propose less open space relief than other station areas, favoring grassy areas more suitable for pet potties than creative, attractive parks suggested by residents. They leave providing athletic fields for thousands of new residents to other parts of Reston to pony up.
However, there is encouraging news. First, Reston 2020, the community coalition following and supporting the Task Force, is putting the finishing touches on a terrific alternative plan for Town Center. Unlike the Committee's version, the 2020 alternative sizes growth in density to fit public infrastructure and community needs, consistent with Reston's goal of being a world class planned community. The 2020 plan for Town Center will:
* permit doubling the current level of development - more than what the County recently approved for Tysons Corner - while slashing development above the carrying capacity;
* emphasize residential/commercial development balance, reducing the traffic generation of the Committee plan;
* require additional and more varied open space;
* call for new school construction, not included in the Committee plan, to accommodate the additional demand created by growth;
* call for the addition of a major fine arts center, possibly on the south side of the station, at least partially funded by developer proffers; and,
* provide positive incentives for developer actions to benefit the community—e.g., FAR increments for LEED Gold standard for construction as well as providing affordable housing and open space above county minimum requirements.
More good news: At the strong urging of community groups — led by the Reston Citizens Association and Reston Association — Hunter Mill Supervisor Catherine Hudgins has agreed to change the composition of the Task Force for Phase II of the Master Plan Special Study. Hudgins has the exclusive power to appoint or remove Task Force members.
Since Phase II will focus on the areas in and around Reston's to-be-expanded Village Centers, it would seem appropriate to add residents and small business owners from these areas as well as a residential developer. She could make room for such genuine representation of the areas under study by reducing the ranks of commercial developers and friends, and Town Center reps now serving on the Task Force. Just a thought.
After 11 months, Phase I of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force shows the first glimmer of results. We can see parts of plans in the rail corridor taking shape. And, as we head into winter, we are learning that Phase II will likely slip to some time in the spring. The actual work in Phase I is done by three - now four - Task Force committees: Reston Parkway; Wiehle Avenue; Herndon-Monroe; and the recently created Vision Committee. While a vision framework should have been put forth at the beginning of the Master Plan study, the Vision Committee is now in gear and offers perhaps the only hope for injecting coherence into the product of study Phase I.
The Vision outfit has exceptional leadership, the most experienced professional community planner on the Task Force. It also has strong community participation and a clear course of action for examining plans of the three station area committees, vital matters they've not addressed, and the impacts of what they propose.
I've been glued to the Task Force since day one in December 2009, attending over 100 meetings. Its work is not easy. Nor is it quantum physics. The process wandered at times, lacking clear direction. To date, we have but one complete committee report -- that of the Reston Parkway/Town Center group, and drafts from the other two station-area committees. The Wiehle report, of course, is key since that station will be the first to open—in 2013. Their draft looks promising. Herndon-Monroe's is far behind.
But, let's talk about the known — the Reston Town Center Committee's recommendations for a new Master Plan. Their task was complex, dealing with a large, already partially urban area. Their report reflects compromises on some thorny issues while ignoring others, such as infrastructure. It also reflects strong commercial developer influence. For example, it stresses the need "to incent" developers, including, for example, offering huge density bonuses while waiving a requirement to contribute to infrastructure to support massive new density—up to 2.5 times that of the existing urban core.
The great new density will continue to favor commercial vs. residential construction, resulting in more profit AND more congestion piled on Reston's already failing intersections. And, they propose less open space relief than other station areas, favoring grassy areas more suitable for pet potties than creative, attractive parks suggested by residents. They leave providing athletic fields for thousands of new residents to other parts of Reston to pony up.
However, there is encouraging news. First, Reston 2020, the community coalition following and supporting the Task Force, is putting the finishing touches on a terrific alternative plan for Town Center. Unlike the Committee's version, the 2020 alternative sizes growth in density to fit public infrastructure and community needs, consistent with Reston's goal of being a world class planned community. The 2020 plan for Town Center will:
* permit doubling the current level of development - more than what the County recently approved for Tysons Corner - while slashing development above the carrying capacity;
* emphasize residential/commercial development balance, reducing the traffic generation of the Committee plan;
* require additional and more varied open space;
* call for new school construction, not included in the Committee plan, to accommodate the additional demand created by growth;
* call for the addition of a major fine arts center, possibly on the south side of the station, at least partially funded by developer proffers; and,
* provide positive incentives for developer actions to benefit the community—e.g., FAR increments for LEED Gold standard for construction as well as providing affordable housing and open space above county minimum requirements.
More good news: At the strong urging of community groups — led by the Reston Citizens Association and Reston Association — Hunter Mill Supervisor Catherine Hudgins has agreed to change the composition of the Task Force for Phase II of the Master Plan Special Study. Hudgins has the exclusive power to appoint or remove Task Force members.
Since Phase II will focus on the areas in and around Reston's to-be-expanded Village Centers, it would seem appropriate to add residents and small business owners from these areas as well as a residential developer. She could make room for such genuine representation of the areas under study by reducing the ranks of commercial developers and friends, and Town Center reps now serving on the Task Force. Just a thought.
About this column:
John Lovaas lives in Lake Anne. He is host of community TV's "Reston Impact" on Channel 28, Co-Market Master of the Reston Farmers Market, and a community activist/volunteer. This column runs monthly.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)