Reston 2020 proposes changes to the second draft of the Phase 2 Reston Master Plan

Below is the e-mail Reston 2020 sent to the County's Department of Planning and Zoning proposing various changes in the current draft Reston Master Plan (RMP) for Reston's suburban areas (Phase 2).  We have also included below that a copy of the "tracked changes" version of the proposed draft RMP and the statement Reston 2020 offered on the need to improve its maps.   We have previously published Reston 2020's comment to the January 29th Community Meeting here.


From: Terry Maynard                                                                                                                                   Today at 1:58 PM

To:  Richard Lambert and Faheem Darab, DPZ

Dear Richard and Faheem,

Thank you for the opportunity to review the second draft of the proposed revised Master Plan for Reston's suburban areas.  As a general statement, we believe that the second draft is a significant step backward from Draft 1A, cutting or weakening many of the earlier draft plan's protections for sustaining our neighborhoods and other areas "as built" or keeping them at scales consistent with nearby neighborhoods in the event of redevelopment.

As you are aware, we are particularly concerned about the unfettered redevelopment opportunity and limited process protections offered for the Village Centers.  Our concerns about this weak plan language are highlighted by the planned redevelopment of the Town Center Office Building into an outsized office building more than 1/4 mile from the Reston Town Center Metrorail station.

Besides the village centers, you will find these substantial proposed changes:

• A listing of protected sites in the Heritage Resources section, including the need to protect Fairfax Hunt Club, both its existing cemetery and as a place to create the Reston place for remembrance called for in the Reston Master Plan's Planning Principles.
• The re-insertion of language from Draft 1A that helps assure redevelopment of multi-family developments is to the scale of the surrounding neighborhoods in the "Guidelines for Multi-family Redevelopment" section.
• Extensive changes in the Village Center section focused on assuring they are view as neighborhood resources, not community (as in Reston-wide) focused, including language that emphasizes the importance of inputs from nearby residents and constrains redevelopment to a 1.0 FAR--four times the currently allowed density.
• In the "Option for Residential Redevelopment" portion of the "Baron Cameron Community Retail Area," we also have added a bullet that would help assure it continues the tapering of density from Town Center North across the street to avoid excessive density more than 1/2-mile from the Metrorail station.

A few other smaller changes are also proposed.

To address these concerns, we have attached four documents.

• The first document is the full text of Draft 2 of the Reston Master Plan with our proposed changes tracked in RED.
• The second document reflects the accepted changes we propose.  
• The third document discusses needed additions and corrections to key Reston maps in the draft plan. If the plan text does not specify land use categories for particular parcels or areas, then the maps must be absolutely clear and unambiguous to provide adequate notice to the public, provide necessary information to the Planning Commission and Board of Supervisors who will be asked to approve the proposed plan amendment and, most importantly, prevent future land use disputes.  In particular, open space representations must fully and accurately reflect existing conditions.
• Finally, we have attached our comment presented at the 1/29 Community Meeting on this draft to be incorporated in the DPZ record of commentary, presumably as part of the Community Meeting discussion.

We hope you will find these proposed changes constructive.  We are confident that they are consistent with the wishes of the Reston community whose participation in your workshops and community meetings led to some of the changes we propose here. 

We look forward to reviewing the next draft of the Phase 2 Reston Master Plan.

Sincerely,

Terry Maynard

RCA Reston 2020 Committee

703-476-5376

   "Tracked Changes" offered by Reston 2020 for Draft 2 of the Reston Master Plan, Phase 2

   Comments on Needed Improvements in Reston Planning Maps