Reston Station apartment owner wants to convert open lawn to dog park

A new dog park is proposed at Russell at Reston Station, an apartment community at 11500 Commerce Park Drive.

The building owner, ST Wiehle LLC, is seeking to build the dog park in place of an open lawn after seeing many community members and residents use the existing park for their dogs.

“Due to the popularity of this activity that has resulted in wear and tear on the open lawn area, the applicant proposed to replace the open lawn area with a formalized dog park,” a land use planner representing the applicant said in a letter to the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning.

The application asks the department to confirm that the “minor design modifications” can be approved administratively, without requiring public hearings.

Located in the mid-block on the north side of Sunrise Valley Drive, the open lawn park is one of three located on the property.

According to the application, the existing shade structures, seating, mosaic area and paving will remain. Additions include artificial turf with drainage, a pet waste area, planters, round stools, solid-form benches and 1,590 square feet of concrete paving at the park’s entrance to match the existing sidewalk.

The previous lawn would also be converted into impervious turf to allow water to flow through a a layer of gravel before filtration.

A plant bed will be installed on both sides of the dog park to create a landscaped buffer from Sunrise Valley Drive, resulting in a park that totals 2,130 square feet in size.

“The applicant is simply making the space more usable to address resident and community needs,” the application says.

Image via Google Maps

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