Coverage of the Rescue Reston Rally, September 29, 2012

 

The following is a compilation of articles, photos, and videos of the Rescue Reston Rally held Saturday, September 19, 2012.

 

 

 

Reston Patch

Rallying for Reston's Open Space

Rescue Reston fires up supporters while outlining reasons to keep Reston National as a golf course.

• By Karen Goff
• Email the author
• September 30, 2012

 

 

Click here for full gallery of Reston Patch photos of the rally.  

Several hundred people gathered across the street from Reston National Golf Course on Saturday to show support to keep the course open space.

The rally was organized by Rescue Reston, the grassroots advocacy group that was formed in August after it was learned that the owners of Reston National inquired about whether they had residential rights to the golf course.  When the county said no, RN Golf Management filed an appeal with the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals (BZA).

That appeal will be heard Oct. 24. At Saturday's rally, Rescue Reston executive director John Pinkman encouraged residents to get involved — to write to the BZA, to put up Rescue Reston yards signs and to sign a petition.

"If the BZA overturns the zoning deciscion, this is the crack in the dam," said Pinkman, who has lived in Reston for more than 30 years. "If you can do it once, you can do it twice. If you can do it in Reston, you can do it anywhere."

"Act now!" he told rally attendees. "It is important we be ready for this." . . . .

 

 

Fairfax's Transportation Funding Crisis--and a New Toll Road???

There have been a large number of news articles in the last couple of weeks pointing the crisis in state and local transportation funding, especially here in Fairfax County.  Most of these articles have keyed off two events:

• Three weeks ago, the leaders of Virginia's "urban crescent" counties (basically the counties along I-95 & I-64 from Arlington to Hampton Roads) sent a letter to our state leaders noting the state-wide funding crisis.   The essence of their letter was that state secondary and urban system construction funds have been eliminated and that, by 2017, no state funds will be available for highway construction.   In the meantime, the state’s existing highways and byways fail to meet the state’s standards of maintenance and the state hasn’t budgeted to meet those standards.   And transit funding from the Commonwealth is far short of what is needed.   As if to put an exclamation point on the situation, Virginia was downgraded from #1 to #3 most “business friendly” state primarily because of the decaying and congested state of its transportation infrastructure. 
• Within the last week, Fairfax County has announced a "Countywide Dialogue on Transportation", including a series of public meetings to present the issues and opportunities to citizens, a long list of tax alternatives to fund the $3 billion shortfall in County funds for transportation over the next decade, and an opportunity for citizens to take a survey to state their views on what is important.  A few comments:
• I encourage all of you to attend one of the public meetings the FC Department of Transportation is hosting.  We all need to understand the scope and depth of this important problem for our county and community.  There will be one in Reston at the North County Government Center on October 3 at 7PM.  If you can't make that one, check the schedule for other dates and locations that are convenient for you.   
• The county's transportation needs survey of residents essentially requires that you read the materials provided on the county website or attend one of the public meetings if you are to make an informed response.   
• A series of funding options--new or added taxes--that range from the absurd to the reasonable.   One that caught this reader's eye was a state law--HBOB 3202 passed in 2007--that permits no fewer than seven new/added taxes for funding transportation needs.  Yet, as the pitchman in those "as seen on TV" says, "But wait, there's more!"  Check it out; some make sense, some don't.

I'm only going to address one funding proposal:  Turning the Fairfax County Parkway into a toll road.  Simply put, Restonians would be taxed no matter what direction they head to leave Reston:  East and West on the Dulles Toll Road and North and South on the Fairfax County Parkway Toll Road.  So in addition to the diversion of traffic from the Dulles Toll Road due to huge toll hikes, Restonians and those coming to Reston would divert from the Fairfax County Parkway Toll Road to, yes, Reston Parkway.  Having just seen a presentation by FCDOT that forecast four minute delays (actually, 241 seconds at Sunrise Valley Drive at the "peak of the peak" period) on Reston Parkway in 2030 due to local development alone--no consideration of tolling the Parkway, I don't even want to think about what tolls on the Fairfax County Parkway Toll Road will add to local congestion, pollution, and diminished quality of life.   (I won't even go into the absurdity of their calculation for the average household.)

It's your community.  Make your voices heard.  October 3 at the North County Government Center is a good place to start.  

Rescue Reston Rally, 4PM, September 29, National Realty Parking Lot--BE THERE!

Reston National Golf Course Residents say "no" to development plan, WUSA Channel 9 News, September 20, 2012

RESTON, Va. (WUSA) -- A golf course is at the center of a controversy in Reston.
It's a case of big corporation against the residents of the Reston golf course community.

Reston National Golf Course is off Sunrise Valley Drive and Soapstone Drive.

The landowner says they should be able to develop the land, instead of having the golf course.

But for folks who came to live in this planned community, the first post-war planned community in the country, says not so fast. . . .

 Click here for WUSA's full news item.

MWAA Releases Toll Rates to 2014, Reston Connection, September 19, 2012

Community groups concerned about raises and effect on local traffic.

Alex McVeigh

Fairfax County — The Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority has released its scheduled toll rate increases for the Dulles Toll Road up to 2015. Effective January 1, 2013, tolls at the mainline plaza will be $1.75 (up from $1.50) and the ramps will be $1.00 (up from $0.75).

There are two options currently being presented by MWAA for toll prices from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31, 2014. The first would raise the cost at the mainline plaza to $2.50, with no increase on the ramps. The second would raise the mainline plaza to $2.25, and the ramps to $1.25.

There are two similar options for rates from Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 2015. Option A calls for a mainline plaza raise to $2.75 and the ramps raised to $1.75. Option B would raise the mainline plaza to $3.00 and the ramps to $1.50.

ACCORDING TO MWAA, “toll increases beyond 2015 will be analyzed based on actual financial performance and potential receipt of any additional funding.” . .

. . . Reston 2020, a committee of the Reston Citizens Association, has released their own take on the increases, which they believe will only serve to increase traffic on Reston’s other roads.

THEIR REPORT claims that the hikes will move more than 40,000 vehicle trips onto nearby roads by 2015, which includes 10,000-15,000 trips in Reston.

This will lead to more congestion, pollution and maintenance requirements. The RCA proposes that toll road users be responsible for a fixed 25 percent of costs, which would prevent tolls from rising above $2.85. . . .

 Click here for the rest of this article.

MEETING: County Meeting on Crescent's Future Oct. 1, Reston Patch, September 17, 2012

What does the future hold for 16-acre apartment complex near Lake Anne Plaza?

By Karen Goff

Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins will host a community meeting Oct. 1 about proposals Fairfax County has received for future development at Crescent Apartments. . . .

Meeting time is 7 p.m. at Reston Community Center Lake Anne.

Crescent is a 1960s-era, 16-acre, 180-unit development across the street from Lake Anne Plaza.

The county guidelines to those submitting a proposal (to redevelop the apartments):

• Create a high quality development that complements the existing Lake Anne Community 
• Ensure diverse housing options exist in Lake Anne including workforce, senior and affordable housing 
• Enhance pedestrian, and bicycle connections throughout the Lake Anne area 
• Increase the viability of the Lake Anne Village Center by adding new residents

The redevelopment of the complex, which was acquired by the county in 2006 as part of an effort to add affordable housing units, is part of ongoing discussions for the redevelopment near Lake Anne. . . .

 Click here for the rest of this article. 

 

Letter: AAA Opposed to MWAA's Toll Plans, Fairfax Patch, September 16, 2012

"It was a rotten formula at the start whose stench only gets worse with each passing year and the skyrocketing tolls that come with it."

With another increasingly expensive round of toll fee hikes in the offing for users of the Dulles Toll Road, according to the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority (MWAA), AAA Mid-Atlantic wants to reiterate clearly and loudly its opposition.

We understand that someone has to pay for the $6 billion cost of the construction of the Silver Line, but the overriding question in our mind is just who that should be. At last check, local motorists, via their tolls, are being forced to shoulder nearly 60% of the costs of this project. . . .

. . . We urge MWAA, as it prepares for its latest round of hearings, to slow the escalation of these fees. The costs of a project of this magnitude that will benefit an entire region should not be borne so disproportionately by the drivers on the Dulles Toll Road.

It was a rotten formula at the start whose stench only gets worse with each passing year and the skyrocketing tolls that come with it. As the latest round of toll hikes for a round-trip on the Dulles Toll Road prove, they don’t call it the “Silver Line” for nothing, but we think it’s now more deserving of a new name: “Platinum Line.”

Lon Anderson
AAA Mid-Atlantic Managing Director of Public and Government Affairs.

 Click here for the rest of AAA's letter.