Friday: Last Day to Vote in Tetra Referendum

Friday, May 8 is the last day to vote in Reston Association’s Tetra referendum. Cast your ballot online by 5 p.m. if you have not done so already.

RA has met the quorum needed for the referendum on the purchase of the 3,128-square-foot building to be valid.

As of the end of last week, RA had recived 4,060 ballots back. The association needed to hear from 1,751 (10 percent of the eligible 17,511 homeowners).

The referendum asks members if RA should be authorized to borrow up to $2.65 million to purchase the 32-year-old former Reston Visitors Center (now office space for Tetra Partners commercial real estate) and repurpose it for community space.

The 3.47-acre property sits adjacent to other RA-owned open space, including Brown’s Chapel Park and Lake Newport Tennis. Acquiring the property will give RA 98 contiguous acres of open space and fend off commercial development of the property, which sits on the banks of Lake Newport.

Opponents of the purchase say the sales price is too high since the most recent Fairfax County tax assessment was $1.2 million. They also say that environmental restrictions and easements ensure there is almost no chance of commercial development on the site.

Results of the referendum will be announced at a special RA meeting Monday at 6 p.m. at RA headquarters, 12001 Sunrise Valley Dr.

According to Virginia law, the conditional sales contract is still valid despite the sudden death this week of Tetra Partners president Bill Lauer.