CPR: Help Stop Fairfax County from Over-Development

Dear CPR members,

At a Fairfax Co. Planning Commission hearing on 7/15, a newly formed, county-wide citizen’s’ group, ACT 4 Fairfax, refuted obvious health and safety issues impacting new residential development in flight path of Dulles Airport.  Only a massive public outcry will stop this travesty. Let the Board of Supervisors and Planning Commission know YOU are watching!

There is an issue in the Sully District that affects all of us county wide. It concerns me because it sets a precedent for ignoring environmental safeguards meant to protect citizens. The issue is that the county has not yet addressed (adopted) the 2019 Metropolitan Washington Airport Authority (MWAA) Noise Contour Map, which has been sitting in the Board of Supervisor’s Land Use Committee since March 2019, nearly 17 months.   Instead the County is using a 27-year-old Noise Contour Map from 1993 to evaluate applications for development around Dulles Airport. 

The process of not using the most current, science-based, objective data to evaluate applications for large-scale development is disturbing and could easily happen in any district in Fairfax County.  Fairfax County needs to use the best available data when evaluating an application, in order to pursue development that is best for the residents of Fairfax County and the environment.

Please email Fairfax County and let them know that the most current scientific data should be used to evaluate all applications throughout Fairfax County and specifically that the Boulevards at Westfields, application RZ/FDP2019-SU-010, PCA 78-S-063-10, PCA 81-S-076, should be deferred until the 2019 MWAA Noise Contour Map is approved and can be used to evaluate the application.

You can email your concerns to the Clerk to the Planning Commission at plancom@fairfaxcounty.gov.  The Planning Commission hearing on this issue is scheduled for Wednesday, July 29^th.  Please reference the above application number and state that you would like to have your email distributed to all the Planning Commissioners. Also, please email your concerns to the Clerk to the Board of Supervisors at clerktotheBOS@fairfaxcounty.gov and do the same thing.

Fairfax County needs to have meaningful processes in place to evaluate applications for development and these processes need to be based on the most current and reliable scientific data.

Tammi Petrine, Member
ACT 4 Fairfax
Accountability | Cooperation | Transparency in Fairfax County
A Countywide, Nonpartisan, Volunteer Association of Residents

Reston COVID-19 Case Rate is Better than the County, Much Worse than the State

While Fairfax County continues to refuse to provide data on the Coronavirus-19 outbreak on a ZIP code basis so neighborhoods and communities can understand their health situation, the Commonwealth of Virginia is now providing some of that information.  Here is the data available concerning Reston’s three ZIP codes provided by Virginia as of today (May 11, 2020):  

Reston Covid cases by ZIP Code, May 11, 2020

With an estimated 2016 population of 62,320, which means Reston is experiencing about 419 cases per 100,000 people.  On the other hand, Fairfax County data indicates that the county, with 5,973 covid cases and an estimated 1,167,000 population is running about 512 cases per 100,000 population, which means we are doing better than the county as a whole.  

Nonetheless, Reston is doing much more poorly than the state on a per capita basis (Reston at 419/100K and VA at only 253/100K) and only about consistent with the national average per capita case load.  This is somewhat surprising given the quality of health care and general wealth we have in our area.  WTOP explains this burgeoning county case burden:

The county, the largest in population in the state at an estimated 1.1 million people, said Thursday its pandemic curve is still in the exponential growth phase.  As of Wednesday night, Fairfax County has 5,045 cases, 832 hospitalized and 211 deaths from COVID-19 — each of those numbers is more than twice the total of the next highest county.

Fairfax County outlined the causes:

1. Significant community-wide transmission is happening in the Fairfax health district, which means more people are getting sick and, in turn, infecting others.
2. Commercial lab capacity continues to increase and more testing means more cases documented.
3. What is counted by public health as a COVID-19 case has changed.

All this provides good reason for Board of Supervisors Chairman Jim McKay to ask that Fairfax and other Northern Virginiacounties be exempted from the governor’s plan to begin re-opening the state next week.  

We will provide periodic updates on Reston’s situation.

"The 'hurrier' Fairfax County goes, the 'behinder' it gets," Letter to the Editor, Fairfax Times, March 1, 2019

The hurrier Fairfax County goes, the behinder it gets.

A comment by a “guest” in a recent RestonNow article on the Planning Commission hearing on the PRC zoning issue that, “We can't slow down development AND we can't speed up providing the associated infrastructure,” was stunning and highly accurate.  It reminded me of the White Rabbit’s comment in Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, “The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.”

And, yes, that’s what happening across areas of growth in Fairfax County, not just Reston.   It describes the poor decision making of the County Board that keeps approving residential development while being unwilling to provide the necessary supporting infrastructure from sidewalks to schools.  The result, of course, is the declining quality of life throughout our county, especially in faster growing communities like Reston. 

County officials, including the Planning Commission, attribute this behavior to Virginia’s nefarious state Supreme Court “Dillon Rule” decision.  In brief, the Dillon Rule assumes all local governments are corrupt and, therefore, prevents them from making any decisions not explicitly permitted by the state legislature.  Development moratoriums and stiff proffers are, according to Fairfax County officials, not among those authorities.  

So we are stuck with a county government—planning staff, Planning Commission, and Board of Supervisors--that believes it must approve virtually all development proposals presented to it with no promise of timely commensurate infrastructure availability.  Otherwise, they risk the wrath of a developer law suit, they say.  And to say that Fairfax County is law suit risk averse is a massive understatement.

The result is, as we are seeing in Reston, growth continues unabated while the supporting infrastructure is deferred…and delayed…and postponed because of a lack of funding or the means to acquire it.  Indeed, the state legislature—under great developer pressure and even greater financial contributions—has taken steps in recent years to restrict further what local governments can do to generate proffers and other infrastructure commitments from developers. 

This occurs, as I pointed out in a previous RestonNow op-ed, because residential development requires more community services (schools, rec centers, libraries, parks, etc.) to sustain a given quality of life than commercial development.  Both require streets, water and sewage, public safety, and other services, but residents require more.  

In fact, multiple studies, including a “meta-analysis” of more than one hundred community studies, have shown the cost of community services for residential development almost universally exceeds the tax revenues (property, sales, etc.) that development generates.  Normally, that tax revenue deficit is between 10%-20%.  On the other hand, tax revenues generated on commercial and agricultural development, on average, more than doubles the cost of services they require.   Nonetheless, senior county staff has denied to me personally that this will be true in Reston—and presumably the remainder of the county—without any explanation.   They say, “Trust us.”  Right!

There is only one possible outcome from this county self-deception:  The quality of life in Reston and other rapidly growing residential communities in Fairfax County will continue to decline as the demand for resources to support needed infrastructure for residents increasingly distances the supply.   We are already seeing minimum two-decade lead times for key infrastructure development (such as the Soapstone overpass) as our needed schools, streets, libraries, recreation centers, etc., remain unfunded.  In Reston’s case, we face the worst-case scenario in which we may even lose existing referendum-approved bond funding for a new library in the face of county bungling in getting it built. 

In short:  The hurrier we go, the behinder we get. 

The next step in the battle to bring some reason to the growth-infrastructure balance in Reston is to oppose the pending Reston PRC (our suburban areas plus parts of Town Center) zoning ordinance amendment that would increase allowable residential density from 81,000 to 94,000 people—not counting affordable housing and related “bonus” market units that could raise that number to 113,000 people or more—doubling all of Reston’s current population.  That’s on top of the plan potential for 91,000 residents in the PRM-zoned areas covering most of Reston’s Metro station areas.  This call for allowing additional density comes at a time when the county puts Reston’s 2018 population at a mere 63,774.  What’s the rush?

We all need to take two actions:

• Write the Board of Supervisors (clerktothebos@fairfaxcounty.gov) and express your concern over the proposed increase in the Reston PRC allowable density.  Writing to Supervisor Hudgins will not help:  She is the principal advocate for the density increase.

•  Attend the March 5, 2019, Board of Supervisors hearing on the proposed PRC zoning amendment that begins at 4:30PM in the government center auditorium.   And wear your YELLOW shirt supporting Reston if you have one.  (You may buy one from Reclaim Reston at the government center before the hearing if you wish.)  Note:  This will probably be a long meeting with other hearings on the agenda as well.

We need everyone to help in bringing some coherence into our Reston development process, and maybe set an example for good development management in the rest of the county.  After all, we are one of the world’s premier planned communities.   Let’s not lose that community prominence because of county incompetence.

Terry Maynard

Reston

Fairfax Board to Reston: Screw you and your Master Plan!

In an announcement yesterday, Fairfax County stated that the Board of Supervisors plans to move forward with actions that will implement changes in Reston's Planned Residential Community (PRC) zoning ordinance that will allow the tripling of Reston's population.  The specific changes are:

• Increase overall density in the PRC area from 13 to 15 people per acre.

• Allow the number of dwelling units on individual high-density parcels to increase from 50 to 70 per acre.

None of this counts the planned increase in Reston transit station area (TSA) population from zero in 2010 to more than 90,000 resulting from a change in the zoning ordinance applicable there and a change in the "target" dwelling units from 29,000 to 44,000 without any interaction with the community in a 2015 amendment.

Democracy dies in darkness--and the arrogant, insensitive, disgusting Fairfax County Board of Supervisors is well on the way to making that happen.  It does not care what most Restonians think about preserving the values and goals established by its founder, Bob Simon, and encouraging organic growth, including the transit station areas, within that context.

It's just allowing more buildings, more residents, more commercial space in more places.  At the same time, it is not creating better roads, schools, parks, environment, and other necessities to accommodate those people.  Plans, yes; action, no.  Its only goal is more tax revenue without the necessary accompanying infrastructure investments.

Contrary to what the county says, there need be no fear that Reston will lose its broad PRC zoning because developers will choose alternative zoning categories.  That's a lie.

First, the only place that this could occur is where alternative zoning ordinances overlap with the PRC in the TSAs--basically Reston Town Center (including RTC North) and a portion of Reston Heights.

The two alternative ordinances are Planned Development Commercial (PDC) for commercial-centric high-density development and Planned Residential Mixed-Use (PRM) for residential focused high-density development supported by retail.  These ordinances, in revisions a couple of years ago, increased the allowable density from FAR 3.0 to FAR 5.0 with Board approval.  That means a 20-acre plot could have as many as 3,620 dwelling units (DUs)--some 7,500 people excluding affordable and bonus housing which don't count in the PRC zoning ordinance--using the county's planning factor for DU size.

Second, a change in zoning requires the approval of the Board of Supervisors; it is not a unilateral action by the developers.  The Board can say "no," but the current Board would almost certainly say "yes" as it continues bend over for the development community at the expense of Restonians, current and future.

In fact, the county's worry isn't a "patchwork" of zoning ordinances in Reston as its announcement states.  That too is a lie.  Its concern is the loss acreage covered by the PRC if developers shift to another zoning category in the TSAs, thus lowering the level of allowable development in the smaller PRC areas of Reston.  In short, it's trying to insure maximum development, not avoid some imagined bureaucratic complexity.

The county's announcement highlights that the master plan process "ended in 2015" and included a community task force that worked on the station areas (Phase 1 of the planning process).  That task force worked five years to create a reasonable Reston transit oriented development plan.  It culminated in a "Scenario G" in 2012 that constituted the task force's perspective on more residentially-focused station areas at a reasonable density.  The total number of households targeted was 27,538 dwelling units.  In 2014, the Board approved the plan with a target of 27,900 dwelling units in line with the task force's recommendation.  Then, in mid-2015, the Board suddenly changed this dwelling unit target from 27,900 to 44,000 without any discussion with the community.  That was the "end" of the planning process: A big screw you to Reston!

And who was behind this move?  Our supervisor, Cathy Hudgins, of course.  Her treacherous action, completely ignoring the will of Reston and her own specific commitment to have county staff answer a series of mutually agreed upon questions before proceeding, is unforgivable.  Her letter to RA and CPR (below) about her perfidious action tries to justify the unjustifiable.  We, as a community, need to step forward--and do so quickly--to show her that her dishonesty and treachery will not stand.

   Supr. Hudgins letter to RA-CPR stating the county is moving forward with increased Reston density by TerryMaynard on Scribd

What if HQ2 comes to Reston?

At last week’s DC Economic Club luncheon, Jeff Bezos stated that Amazon will announce the location of its second corporate headquarters—“HQ2”—by the end of the year.  The Washington metropolitan area figures prominently in Amazon’s consideration with nine sites identified as finalists.  One of the possible locations indicates it is likely to be located at the Center for Innovative Technology (CIT) near Dulles airport in the bulls-eye of the US internet.    

Regrettably, Fairfax County leaders are not planning realistically or inclusively to provide the infrastructure needed to support the promise of 50,000 new jobs dangled by Jeff Bezos resulting in an estimated 130,000 person population gain, according to the Metropolitan Washington Council of Governments (MWCOG).  Moreover, MWCOG expects Amazon’s arrival in the DC area to generate an additional population growth of 260,000 people region-wide in households with employees directly supporting Amazon. 

Reston and the CIT are at the epicenter of Fairfax’s development planning to support Bezos’ expected move.  They are along Metro’s Silver Line and bordered by generally low-intensity commercial development that is already being profitably redeveloped into a high-density residential-centric mixed-use urban environment. 

The county’s comprehensive plan for our masterpiece Bob Simon “planned” community—modified without meaningful resident knowledge, much less input, in recent years—is to triple Reston’s roughly 60,000 population and add about 40,000 jobs over four decades.  This is the kind of growth that Amazon will require.  This includes well over 90,000 new residents and the new jobs in its three Silver Line Metro stations and adding more than 20,000 residents to its redeveloped suburban village centers, changing them from neighborhood shopping sites into high-density mixed-use mini-urban centers.   Routinely awarded "bonus" density and development waivers are likely to drive that population growth up at least another ten percent.

Using FCPS' forecast methodology, that potential 180,000 or so population means more than 5,000 new students added to the 20,000 kids already in Reston’s overcrowded schools according to Fairfax schools.  More broadly, MWCOG estimates total added students from all Amazon-related employment at 87,000--a much higher per household student ratio than Fairfax County anticipates (0.2 vs. 0.087 students per household).  The county’s plan:  Add one elementary school and shift some boundaries.  Using the county’s forecasting methods, Reston’s citizen groups calculate that three new elementary schools and one each middle and high school will be required.   MWCOG's forecast would require a doubling of that number.

Open spaces—parks, athletic fields, woods, and lakes—are a cornerstone of Reston’s history and its planning principles.  More than 1,350 of Reston's total 10,000 acres is HOA open space while the county provides only about 110 acres of parkland in Reston.   Yet the county’s Reston plan calls for only about 12 new ballfields requiring less than 50 acres, about one-quarter the acreage mandated by its own urban parkland acreage standards.  There would be virtually no other public open spaces of consequence, maybe some small linear and pocket parks, playgrounds, and—yes—sidewalks. 

The county’s transportation plan for Reston is equally ludicrous.  In general, it hypothesizes without meaningful evidence, using a flawed methodology, and relying on unreliable self-monitoring that traffic will magically diminish as new bicycle and pedestrian facilities and high-density housing are added.   Its few substantial road improvement proposals—critically needed crossovers of the Dulles Corridor—are literally decades away and unfunded, and moving farther into the future despite a special added tax on Reston station area properties.  Finally, the Reston plan explicitly proposes no additions to public transit—none!

Nonetheless, the County is in no financial position to carry out even these insufficient plans as the delays and omissions in its transportation planning highlight.  It has insufficient reserves to buy land for schools, parks, or any other public facility, much less build them.  Moreover, it almost certainly has made generous secret tax concessions to Amazon to attract it here.  It could use its “AAA” bonding power, but the investment would be in the billions of dollars over time, put its bond rating at risk, and require substantial additional property taxes on all county residents while limiting the availability of bonds for other county needs.   And there is little land available in Reston for almost any of the needed infrastructure investments at any price. 

Moreover, as analysis of numerous research studies has pointed out, the cost of adding infrastructure to support residential development consistently exceeds the new tax revenue generated.  The result, of course, will be a sharp diminution in Restonians’ quality of life with similar, but lesser, lifestyle erosion county-wide.   

And, when it suits Jeff Bezos, Amazon will move on to “HQ3”—just as Exxon returned to Texas a four years ago—leaving behind the wreckage of the once-uplifting planned community of Reston.