Reston Bus Service: Good Work in Progress, RCA Reston 2020 Committee, May 22, 2013

This RCA Reston 2020 report highlights the significant improvements in the Reston transit plan since our last report on the plan and identifies a number of improvements for making it better.  

Our earlier paper, “Building on Reston’s Transit Tradition:  Enhancing Bus Service with the Arrival of Metrorail,” examined the state of the County’s planning and our recommendations for further improving that plan.   We greatly appreciate the openness and responsiveness of the County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) in presenting its draft plan and listening to the feedback we and many others provided. 

Like its predecessor, this paper follows up on the presentations staff made to the community in early May, the feedback we heard at those meetings, and our independent analysis of the transit proposal as it has evolved since then.  Besides noting the substantial improvements in the proposed transit plan, we identify some apparent shortfalls in bus service across Reston and some continuing gaps in coverage as service shifts from one period to another.  We appreciate that effort Supervisor Hudgins has made to garner additional funding for transit service and we make some suggestions on the options FCDOT has laid out for that service.  

   Reston Bus Service:  Good Work in Progress, May 22, 2013 by Terry Maynard

Work spaces: Past and present, CBS News Sunday Morning, May 19, 2013

This four-minute CBS News Sunday Morning video focuses on Herman Miller's new designs for very open office work spaces--the kind that require much less space per office worker precisely because there are no walls. 

Judge's ruling puts Virginia road projects in jeopardy, Washington Examiner, May 20, 2013

By Liz Essley

A Virginia judge's ruling threatens to jeopardize the way Virginia is using private companies to run the Beltway Express Lanes and build similar lanes on Interstate 95.

Portsmouth Circuit Court Judge James A. Cales said in an oral ruling earlier this month that he thought Virginia's tolls on the Midtown Tunnel set as part of a $2.1 billion deal with a private company were unconstitutional, since part of the revenue was going to the firm and constituted an illegal tax. Cales also questioned Virginia's public-private partnership law, saying the General Assembly can't hand over its duty to set tolls to unelected bodies. . .

The judge's ruling also could affect the Dulles Toll Road, since it questions tolls set by unelected bodies. The unelected Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority board sets the tolls for the Dulles Toll Road. . . .

Click here for the rest of this article.  

If this stands, it would certainly change the equation for Dulles tolls because no legislator would vote for the toll increases now planned by MWAA to finance Silver Line construction.  It is, however, a significant possibility that the judge's ruling will be overturned by the Virginia Supreme Court. 

RCA White Paper, The Reston Recreation Center Initiative: Unanswered Questions on Need, Facilities, Location, Financing, and Decision Making, May 20, 2013

   The Reston Recreation Center Proposal--Final by Terry Maynard

The RCC Non-Public Offsite that Generated the RCC Baron Cameron Park Recreation Center Intiiative

Below is the summary of a two-day non-public offsite held by the Reston Community Center (RCC) Board of Governors (BOG) on "exploration of a joint venture with the Fairfax County Park Authority to build a Reston recreation center at Baron Cameron Park."

• It does not discuss alternative locations where a recreation center could be constructed, including sites controlled by the FCPA.
• It notes that, on the Friday night before this facilitated discussion, RCC Board members "discussed various options to finance the proposed recreation center in the most cost-efficient and responsible manner possible," but it provides no details on those discussions.  
• Strangely, that Friday evening discussion also apparently included a discussion of "the importance of being completely transparent with the community throughout the entire process."
• In a review of the 2009 Brailsford & Dunlavey (B&D) report, the summary notes, "In general, community input from various focus groups suggests the development of a proposed indoor recreation facility to serve the needs of Reston residents and also fulfill demand on a regional level."  (Emphasis added.)
• The schedule notes that the BOG would take action at its February 4, 2013, meeting.  The minutes of that meeting show no specific resolution to move forward with the initiative (nor do any earlier BOG minutes).
• The summary includes a significant section on "Messaging," that is, selling the project.  

Here is the summary report:

   RCC Recreation Center Offsite Summary--January 2013 by Terry Maynard

CSC to shed 1 million square feet by end of 2014, Washington Business Journal, May 15, 2013

Jill R. Aitoro

 Computer Sciences Corp. downsized its workforce by 8,000 employees during fiscal 2013 and plans to reduce its real estate footprint by more than 1 million square feet by the end of 2014 as part of an ongoing effort to trim overhead.

During fiscal 2013, the company spent $264 million in restructuring costs, including a reduction of management layers from as many as 14 to eight, facilities consolidation, and greater use of offshore resources, CEO Mike Lawrie told investors Wednesday. . .

Currently the company has 16 million square feet in owned and leased space, with plans to trim 1 million square feet by the end of 2014, including data center locations. The company largely plans to reduce space in existing facilities rather than leaving facilities entirely, according to the company spokesman. . . .

For those who don't want to break out their calculator, a year from now CSC will have 90,000 employees in 15 million square feet of office space.  That's 167 GSF per employee, not the 300 GSF the County DPZ insists on using for planning purposes.  

Click here for this latest evidence of declining employee office space. 

Why Commercial Developers Should Be Afraid, Very Afraid, Bacon's Rebellion, May 19, 2013

by James A. Bacon

While most commercial real estate markets across the United States are slowly recovering from the recession, office vacancies in the Washington metro area ticked higher over the past year, to 13.8% in the first quarter, according to the Wall Street Journal. Clearly a sequester-related decline in federal spending was partially responsible, particularly in Northern Virginia, home to the Pentagon and locus of the defense industry, where vacancies hit 15.8%.

But that’s not the whole story. Buried in the article was an anecdote that should send shivers down the backs of commercial property owners, real estate brokers and local government officials everywhere — not just NoVa, but everywhere — who depend upon commercial property tax revenue to balance their budgets.

Booz Allen Hamilton Holding Corp. signed up in 2011 to take one quarter of the space in MetroPark VI in southeast Fairfax County near a National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency base. But late last year, the WSJ reports, the firm reversed course. The company halted construction and put its entire space on the market for sub-lease. The reason for the move? Not just defense cutbacks.

James Fisher, a spokesman for Booz Allen, said the decision to sublease at least a portion of the space came as more employees have been working from home or at clients’ offices, and as the company has been looking to trim its real-estate footprint.

Companies everywhere are realizing that they have way too much office space. . .

The conclusion:

If I were a commercial property owner in the Washington area, I would be very afraid.

If I were a Northern Virginia government official dependent upon property tax revenues to balance my budget, I would be very afraid.

If I were anyone, anywhere, counting on metropolitan growth and development patterns to continue on the same trajectory as the past six decades, I would be very afraid.

Click here for this excellent overview of the WSJ article, which requires a subscription to access. (UPDATE:  You can read the full article by doing a Google search on "DC-area office parks feel pinch.")

So we ask again, why is Fairfax County's Department of Planning and Zoning insisting that the office space per worker will climb to 300 GSF?  Their assumption that it will is the foundation of a major planning failure for Reston.