Monday Morning Notes

Columns

by RestonNow.com June 18, 2018 at 9:00 am 21 Comments

Greats Falls and Reston soccer merge — “The Reston Soccer Association and Great Falls Soccer Club merged in March of this year, combining to form one club of around 2,600 players. The merger has been a subject of discussion for years now, but only recently came to fruition after careful coordination between members of the Reston and Great Falls Boards of Directors.” [The Connection]

Be wary when going outside today — An air quality alert has been issued for today. The heat index could climb into the high 90s or even the low 100s. [National Weather Service]

Herndon’s high hopes for Metro — “The town is preparing for an unprecedented amount of high-density development around the Silver Line’s new Herndon Metro station slated to open in 2020.” [Washington Business Journal]

Nearby: Fireworks and family fun — “Lake Fairfax Park will host its annual fireworks show on Saturday, June 30, 2018. (Rain date July 1, 2018). Come to the park early and spend the day. The park opens at 7 a.m.” [Fairfax County Government]

Flickr pool photo by vantagehill

30yearsinreston

That blue monstrosity is a candidate for Restons ugliest iconic building

Where are the DRB ?
- Arielle in NoVA
  
  The apartments that loom over Sunrise Valley Drive by the International Center are also on my list, for their poor arrangement – and the associated parking garage on the back side of that complex, the one adjacent to Reston Parkway with the weird vertical wood pieces, is also high up on my list of things that shouldn’t have gotten building approval.
  - Mike M
    
    But Hudgins reminds us, we don’t want to be where “things” aren’t happening.
- AUI
  
  Looks like 4 1/2 dozen window cleaning crews got permanently stuck to that condo with cathedral ceilings. were the architects drug tested for LSD?
  - Greg
    
    Ask Richard Newlon…
- JoeInReston
  
  When I first saw that building – or buildings, as there is a twin tower of the same dimensions and color immediately behind the building in the picture – I wondered if that was some primer color or if there were some kind of building material packing that had yet to be ripped out from the building material.
- Greg
  
  The Reston DRB: One more of Simon’s useless, dysfunctional vestiges that needs to be eliminated. ASAP.
- Scott
  
  What if the blue is just a film to protect the surface during construction?
  - JoeInReston
    
    That would be nice…
- Jim Gottlieb
  
  I really like the clean, simple flat surface punctuated by an fanciful and almost random arrangement of balconies. The variation of the window widths adds to the interest. I was also struck by how bland and dated the beige aggregate facades of the Plaza America buildings look behind the clean blue faces of of these new structures.
  - JoeInReston
    
    The exact shade of blue appears to change with the time of day/position of the sun.
- Mike M
  
  Remember Blue U in Ballston? They tore it down. Maybe it looked slick in 1966?
  
  Remember Reston?
Chuck Morningwood

Have they picked a name for that building yet? If not, I would like to suggest “FUGLY by the Parkway”.
- Mike M
  
  FGLY. Get with the times. Letters are names now. No more than four.
  - Chuck Morningwood
    
    And vowels are optional.
MakeRestonBetter

For those of you who don’t like the looks of these buildings, you do realize that P&Z and DRB meetings are open to the public and you can go in ahead of time to tell them what you think? Griping about it after the fact changes nothing…but respectful observations ahead of time can change outcomes.
- Mike M
  
  We should all apologize for having opinions about what’s going on in our community. And we should all spend endless hours going to meeting where the input goes nowhere. Our bad.
  - OneReally
    
    Agreed. After all 99.9% of the time the decision has already been made.
- .
  
  Relentless.
- Greg
  
  I thought that only those registering as “affected parties” have standing with the DRB and a right to be heard.
  
  The only way to have affected party status is to so indicate on the notice form supplied by the applicant to the three nearest properties.
  
  The meetings may be open, but that doesn’t mean that anyone can get up and speak.
  
  And, of course, no one can ever read the quaint, town-crier-era, handwritten sandwich boards announcing whatever they announce when placed on the properties, and RA’s DRB certainly doesn’t give great notice of its meetings, agendas, or decisions.
  
  Most of the county government meetings are at times and locations that are inconvenient to the vast majority of us.
  
  Also, are there not design guidelines for apartment blocks and everything else in Reston? Is this property part of the industrial corridor? Or part of RTC with its own design board?
  
  Finally, if I recall, this apartment block was long-ago approved as part of the Oracle campus. They were supposed to be built at the same time.
- JoeInReston
  
  I agree its better to gripe in advance than after the fact, but I do think there is value to griping after the fact. Design auditors will hear the gripes, potentially may be influenced by the gripes, and might make better decisions going forward.

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