The Fairfax County Park Authority Board has approved a master plan for Reston’s Baron Cameron Park that includes the option of adding an indoor recreation facility to the 68-acre parcel.
The board voted 9-1 in favor of the plan at its meeting last week, said Park Authority Board Chair Bill Bouie.
The park has been in the master plan process for more than a year in order to better use the space, said Bouie. Baron Cameron is a district park, drawing visitors not only from Reston but from surrounding communities.
Last spring, the park authority released a master plan draft that includes several changes to fields, gardens and lighting. The approved alternative plan includes all those changes, but also adds the option for a indoor recreation center, which would likely feature a 50-meter indoor pool.
The recreation center has been a sometimes contentious community discussion since February of 2013, when the Reston Community Center began discussing the idea of building a new facility at Baron Cameron Park in cooperation with the park authority. The park authority would give the land to RCC at no cost.
In 2013, RCC hired consultants Brailsford & Dunlavy for a feasibility study that estimated the rec center would cost about $35 million.
The swimming community is in favor of a new pool as RCC’s 25-meter indoor pool at Hunters Woods is outdated and crowded, they said. However, many community members question traffic, loss of green space, financial impact and whether there is a need for an additional indoor pool in Reston.
The next step in RCC’s process would be a community referendum, and RCC executive director Leila Gordon says that won’t happen this year.
Meanwhile, the new-and-improved Baron Cameron Park won’t happen for a long time, either. Bouie said earlier this year there are no bonds or developer proffers attached to any park improvements. That means whatever is in the master plan is basically just a wish list for the time being.
“Any bonds we would obtain would be for 2023 at the earliest,” Bouie said.
Also in the master plan: The off-leash dog area will stay in its current location along Wiehle Avenue. There had been a proposal in one of the plan drafts to move it further inside the park, away from nearby homes. There had also been feedback from citizens at a community meeting in March to move the dog park to Lake Fairfax Park.
A group of homeowners in the Longwood Grove neighborhood, which sits across Wiehle Avenue from the dog park, filed an injunction against the park in March. In it, they complained about excessive noise and asked that the dog park be shut down.
The homeowners’ attorney was at the park authority meeting last week and asked again that the dog park be shut down.
Key elements of the master plan include:
- Upgrading the rectangle fields to full-size, with synthetic turf and lights
- Adding a second lighted diamond field
- Increasing the amount of parking spaces
- Adding a second park entrance off Wiehle Avenue
- Adding a multi-use court complex
- Expanding the community garden plots
- Creating a trail network throughout the park and a new pedestrian connection to the adjacent Browns Chapel Park (operated by Reston Association)
- Removing several athletic fields in order to build the indoor rec center.
Read the entire Baron Cameron Park Master Plan Draft.
Graphic: Baron Cameron Park with alternative plan/Credit: FCPA
Changing Face Of Fairfax County — The demographics of the county are changing at a rapid pace. One known as a predominantly white, middle-class school system, FCPS has fast-growing numbers of poor students and children of immigrants for whom English is a second language. A look at the Class of 2026, which just finished kindergarten, and what challenges the school system faces. [Washington Post]
Metro Ready For July 4 — Heading down to the Mall on July 4? Metro has changes to the schedule to accommodate holiday crowds on Friday. [Metro]
Safety Drill On Silver Line — Metro teamed with public safety officials on Sunday for an emergency drill on the overhead tracks near Silver Line’s Spring Hill Station on Sunday. The Silver Line opens on July 26, and officials want to be prepared for all scenarios. [WTOP]
Looking for a new home? Start with this weekend’s open houses.
12114 Quorn Lane
4 BR, 2.5 BA SFH
$569,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11698 Generation Court
3 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$435,000
Open Sunday, 1:30 to 4:30 p.m.
2022 Peppermint Court
4 BR, 2.5 BA SFH
$775,000
Open Sunday, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
1534 Moorings Drive
1 BR, 1 BA Condo
$224,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 3 p.m.
11412 Fieldstone Lane
5 BR, 4.5 BA SFH
$1,049,000
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
1404 Northgate Square
2 BR, 2 BA Condo
$224,900
Open Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
11145 Glade Drive
4 BR, 3.5 BA SFH
$785,000
Open Sunday, 2 to 4 p.m.
1679 Bayfield Way
2 BR, 2.5 BA TH
$379,900
Open Saturday and Sunday, 1 to 4 p.m.
For more open houses and complete real estate information, visit Reston Now’s Real Estate Section.
The Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce honored its members for business contributions to the community at its annual ACE Awards lunch on Thursday.
The annual ACE awards recognize companies and individuals who demonstrated excellence as Chamber and community stewards during 2013-14.
The winners:
- Lisa Nicholls, Tira! Strategies, Member of the Year
- Committee of the Year, Charles Kapur, EagleBank Membership Committee
- Committee of the Year, Sam Cousins, SBIS, Membership Committee
- Silver Spoon Catering, Small Business of the Year
- Business Engineering, Inc., Medium Business of the Year
- Sheraton Reston Hotel, Large Business of the Year
- Ellen Moyer, Re/Max Allegiance, New Member of the Year
- Andy Klaff, Colliers, Volunteer of the Year
- Casey Veatch, Veatch Commercial Real Estate, Joe Ritchey Pinnacle Award
- Tonia Chagnon, Red Thinking, President’s Award
Bikeshare consultants looking at the feasibility of putting Fairfax County’s first bikeshare program in Reston, say Reston could support a bikeshare system.
Consultants Charlie Denney and Fionnuala Quinn of Alta Planning + Design, hired by the county last winter, say that the feasibility study should be finished by the end of June. At a community meeting at Dogwood Elementary School Wednesday, they gave participants some of the highlights of the study:
In general, bike sharing would be feasible in Reston as the community makes the transition to a transit-oriented place. In July, Metro’s Silver Line will open its first station here (Wiehle-Reston East), with the Reston Parkway station slated to open in 2018.
Phase 1 would consist of 13 stations with 130 bikes. Locations would include the plaza at the Wiehle-Reston East Silver Line Station; Sunset Hills/Plaza America; Reston Town Center/Freedom Drive; Bluemont/Transit Center; Restom-Wiehle East Southside; Town Center Parkway and Market Street; Reston Town Center/Fountain Drive; Market/Explorer Streets; Town Center Parkway/Reston Hospital; Bowman Towne Drive/Library; and two at the Spectrum.
The estimated cost of phase 1 would be $1.2 million: $54K is for startup costs, $766K for capital (cost of stations, docks, bikes), and $397K for operating costs.
What is not yet certain: who would pay the bikeshare costs. In other suburban-area bikeshares (Arlington, Montgomery County), funding came from a combination of federal, state and local money, as well as developer proffers, county bicycle coordinator Charlie Strunk said.
Those networks are owned by the jurisdictions but operated by Alta Bikeshare, which oversees maintenance, rebalancing, and the warehouse, among other things. Operations are partially funded by user fees. Membership fees range from $7 an hour to $75 annually, with additional charges per use.
Eventually, Phase 2 would include stations in the Lake Anne and South Lakes areas.
— Bruce Wright of Fairfax Advocates for Better Bicycling contributed to this article.
File photo of Capital Bikeshare in Arlington
The Reston Association Board of Directors voted on Thursday to allow residents of Sourwood Lane to hire a deer hunting service to help control the deer population on their property.
The motion passed unanimously, with at-large director Rachel Muir abstaining.
The owners of 11624, 11626 and 11628 Sourwood Lane, located off of Glade Drive in a wooded area of South Reston, say they want to reduce the deer population near their homes as deer have destroyed vegetation and may harbor Lyme Disease-carrying ticks.
At Thursday’s meeting, the directors heard pleas from neighbors of the Sourwood families, as well as residents of Buckthorn Lane, where RA has allowed a deer hunt since 2010 after a Buckthorn homeowner has a similar request approved by RA. Four members of that homeowner’s family have Lyme Disease, which is carried by deer ticks.
There were also three speakers who asked the board not to allow the hunt.
“It is amazing there are people who suggest the compassionate response to this is to do nothing,” said one resident of Triple Crown Road. “It is exactly the opposite — Doing nothing is in fact not really possible. Good stewardship requires difficult choices. A vote to deny is to vote in favor of more disease and more starving deer.”
Sourwood resident Larry Gsellman, who filed the initial request, said the plant destruction will eventually cause soil erosion. He also said the homeowners have tried many ways to rid the properties of deer, including a liquid fence, rotten egg sprays, and Deer-Vic, a deer repellent paste smeared on fenceposts.
The deer hunt, using crossbows, will be conducted at owners’ expense on the three lots (totaling 1.45 acres), by Suburban Whitetail Management during the urban archery season that begins Sept. 7. The state of Virginia and Fairfax County both allow for hunts on private property, but in Reston, permission also must be obtained from RA.
Suburban Whitetail Management says the hunt is done from treestands at least 12 feet hight. Arrows are shot at a downward angle, making it safe for neighbors and other animals.
Photo: Deer in Reston/file photo
Fairfax County Public Schools elementary-age children will go to school five full days a week beginning in September, the FCPS board voted on Thursday.
The board voted 10-1 in favor of Superintendent Karen Garza’s proposal to eliminate early-release Mondays. Kathy Smith was opposed, saying that the board should wait for more discussion and implement it in 2015-16. One board member was absent from the meeting.
Fairfax County Public Schools have for decades released elementary school students 2 1/2 hours early on Mondays in order for teachers to have planning time. The “mini-Mondays” were generally unpopular with FCPS parents, who often had to scramble child care plans one day a week.
The new calendar changes how FCPS counts yearly instructional time. Garza proposed the change because allows for more snow days without making them up and also allows for more self-directed planning time for teachers.
Under the new plan, the required 180-day school year will meet the mark with a 990-hour school year. Both are options under Virginia rules. Loudoun County uses the 990-hour system and does not have to scramble when winter wreaks havoc on the schedule.
Under the current system, Fairfax has three days built in for weather cancellations. FCPS says the system uses an average of four a year. By moving to an hourly system, the schools would be able to absorb 13 snow days in a school year because students would already be in school for the required number of hours.
In 2013-14, a particularly snowy winter, FCPS used 11 snow days. That pushed the end of the school year to June 25 in order to have the required makeup days.
Garza says the new calendar will allow two weeks of winter break, 20 minutes of daily recess and will not alter arts or physical eduction time.
The plan is expected to cost more than $7 million to implement. Garza said the money is available due to unanticipated revenues from law enforcement activities.
Metro Fares and Parking Rise Monday — The cost of riding Metro is about to go up. On June 30, Metrorail fares go up around 3 percent — about 5 cents to 15 cents, depending on when and where you’re going. Bus trips and parking will also go up between 10 and 60 cents. [WTOP]
Planning Commission Recommends Block 4 — The Fairfax County Planning Commission on Wednesday recommended for approval Boston Properties’ plans for Block 4, the surface lot at Reston Town Center. The plan calls for two high-rise residential buildings and to turn a three-story retail/office building, part of One Freedom Square, into a 17-story building with 276,788 square feet of office space and 7,800 square feet of ground-floor retail. The building would also have four levels of underground parking. The proposal will now to to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
Fairfax Tests Emergency Readiness — Fairfax County held a giant emergency drill this week, using a simulated hurricane to test public safety’s readiness. [You Tube]
Photo: Ami Dodd & Glenn Payne practice Paddleboard AcroYoga on Lake Audubon/Credit: Gerard Rugel
The Silver Line is opening on July 26. Want to be one of the first riders?
Metro is holding a sweepstakes to randomly select 10 lucky winners to participate in the grand opening ceremony and ride on the first Silver Line train.
Each winner and a guest will receive reserved seating at the opening event, a ride on the first train, and an unlimited Metrorail one-day pass for travel to and from the inaugural activities.
“We know there are many people who have been following this project and are anxious to be among the first to ride on the Silver Line,” says Lynn Bowersox, Metro Assistant General Manager. “This is one of the ways for the public to participate in the grand opening and an opportunity for Metro to say thank you to our riders.”
Here is how to enter: Visit silverlinemetro.com/
Metro officials say they will have more details about the opening ceremony next week.
The long-awaited Silver Line will carry riders to four stops in Tysons Corner and one in Reston, at Wiehle-Reston East. The $2.9 billion Phase 1 is more than six months behind schedule.
Reston’s newest luxury residences are now available for pre-leasing.
The Harrison, at Jonathan Way, Reston Parkway and Temporary Road, is still under construction and expected to be completed in November, leasing staff said. The first residents should be available to move in by the end of 2014.
The Harrison has set up a leasing center at 1801 Old Reston Avenue (ground floor, rear of building).
The Harrison will be one- to three-bedroom rental units. Up to two pets are allowed. Visit the leasing center for rates.
Units will feature gourmet kitchens, full-sized washers and dryers, carpet in bedrooms and walk-in closets.
Residents will be Reston Association members with access to RA amenities.
Some of the amenities at The Harrison:
- Private health and fitness center
- Rooftop pool and fire pit
- Business center
- Culinary center for food and wine demonstrations
- Lounges to include gaming areas, a patio, a cyber cafe and TV room
- Underground parking and bike storage
- On-site concierge
For more information, visit Live Harrison Apartments, stop by the leasing center or call 703-787-8082.
Photo of unit model kitchen at The Harrison courtesy of The Harrison
Six months after Reston Association and Lake Anne Development Partners agreed to a land swap involving RA land at Lake Anne Plaza, the two are ready to formalize the agreement.
The swap is necessary for LADP, which is redeveloping Crescent Apartments and areas close to the plaza, to build a 120-space parking garage at Lake Anne.
The swap exchanges a one-acre parcel of wooded land adjacent to the current Lake Anne Plaza parking lot for similar-sized plot off of Baron Cameron Avenue.
The proposal was met with some opposition when it was first presented in late 2013, even though LADP made proffers of money and tree care. Citizens opposing the plan said there would be potential destruction of trees, as well as inequities of the land, in the swap. Critics say the parcel on Baron Cameron is largely unusable.
At a December RA meeting, citizens concerned with the environment pleaded with the board to think about the ecosystem and an alternative parking area that does not remove mature trees. Others asked the board to go ahead with the plan to ensure the economic viability of Lake Anne Plaza’s future. RA’s Sustainability Committee Chair resigned in protest.
Some of the land swap conditions, according to a revised agreement:
The number of healthy trees measuring 24 inches in diameter at breast height within the LADP Exchange Property shall be equal to or greater than the number of healthy trees measuring 24″ in diameter at breast height that will be removed from the RA Exchange Property when it is developed.
A minimum of 0.3 acres (30 percent) of the RA Exchange Property shall remain in an undisturbed natural state.
LADP will pay $100,000 to RA for either tree canopy enhancement and reforestation or other environmental enhancements of RA Common Area in Reston, or to fund the acquisition by RA conservation easements over privately owned property for the purpose of expanding the amount of RA Common Area and/or protected mature tree canopy within Reston.
An arborist will assess the trees and make recommendations on how trees can best survive the construction process. This includes pruning, fertilization and water monitoring. Additionally, during pruning, removal, and mulching operations, exotic and invasive species will be removed from the area.
LADP will install standard RA-approved light fixtures (or a DRB-approved alternate consistent with its overall planning) on all new pathways/trails within the Crescent Property, as well as 10 additional standard RA approved light fixtures along pathways/trails that adjoin the Crescent Property, particularly in the Brown’s Chapel and Lake Anne Elementary School areas.
LADP will install standard RA approved light fixtures (or a DRB-approved alternate consistent with its overall planning) on all new pathways/trails within the Crescent Property, as well as 10 additional standard RA approved light fixtures along pathways/trails that adjoin the Crescent Property, particularly in the Brown’s Chapel and Lake Anne Elementary School areas.
LADP will pay to RA an amount equal to 25 percent of the cost of the Lake Anne dredge.
LADP said in December that construction on the parking garage would not begin for three to five years.
Graphic: Area that Reston Association will swap with LADP.
Police Warn of IRS Scam — Fairfax County Police say residents should beware of telephone scammers who demand payment of back taxes and make threats such as “you will be arrested.” The scammers have been operating here the last few months and sometimes call targets repeatedly. [Fairfax County Police]
Herndon High Tops in Office Skills — Eighteen students from Herndon High School earned Microsoft Office Master certificates, more than any other school in Virginia. [Herndon Patch]
Free HIV Testing At Reston Walgreens — The Reston Walgreens (1860 Town Center Dr.) is offering free, one-minute HIV testing. The testing is a program offered by the Virginia Department of Health (VDH) and Walgreens pharmacies. At these locations, specially trained pharmacists will conduct free, walk-in HIV testing using the INSTI test, which yields results in 60 seconds. [Greater Than]
Lake Thoreau at Sunset/Credit: James Roth
Classic Reston is a biweekly feature sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce that highlights businesses, places and people with deep roots in Reston.
When Reston was founded in the mid-1960s, Reston founder Bob Simon envisioned horse owners buying homes in the south end of his “New Town.”
Many of the streets in the Hunters Woods area were given horse-related names and clustered around a barns where Hunters Woods Park sits today and at Steeplechase and Triple Crown Road. The new construction was marketed to prospective residents as a place to work, play and ride — even taking your horse to run errands at the new Hunters Woods Village Center.
The pony barn at Steeplechase and Triple Crown burned down in more than 30 years ago. On the site, Reston Association opened the Pony Barn Picnic Pavilion, a 2006 square foot picnic pavilion near the Glade Stream. There is also a swing set, grills and an open lawn area.
But it may be time to repurpose the Pony Barn area. Reston Association’s Board of Directors is about to begin a community engagement process to get feedback on what residents would like to see in the wooded spot.
Last November the RA Board of Directors marked $30,000 in the 2014 Capital Expense Budget for renovations to the Pony Barn area.
The board will consider a variety of uses, including a memorial garden of reflection.
To kick off the process, RA will send mailings to homes within a quarter-mile of the Pony Barn. They plan on organizing a task force, holding several community meetings, and developing a plan in conjunction with the Initiative for Public Art Reston (IPAR) and the RA Design Review Board. Any plans would have to go through the county planning process as well.
RA says it hopes to begin organizing the project this summer, with a final plan presented to RA, IPAR and the DRB by November.
What would you like to see in the Pony Barn spot? Tell us in the comments.
Photo: Pony Barn Pavilion in South Reston
Shack Shack, the popular New York-based burger restaurant that opened its fourth D.C.-area location this week, may be looking at expanding to Reston.
At the opening of the Union Station Shake Shack, company CEO Randy Garutti told Eater.com that he’s considering Reston as a possibility for a future shop.
Eater’s Missy Frederick reports:
“I’d like to someday be further outside the city,” he said, though there are no concrete plans to open any locations there yet. Garutti could see such markets as Bethesda, Reston and Pentagon City responding well to a location.
A Shake Shack is planned for Tysons Corner.
Reston currently has many good burger places. Among them: Be Right Burger and The Counter, both located at Reston Town Center, as well as Five Guys at Plaza America.
The Fairfax County Public Schools Board will vote on Thursday whether to eliminate the shortened Mondays for elementary school students.
FCPS students have been released early on Mondays for decades, allowing teachers time for planning, but Superintendent Karen Garza says the change is necessary because it will eliminate having to make up classes on account of snow days, as well as allow for more self-directed planning time for teachers.
Under the new plan, the state-required 180-day school year, currently used by FCPS, will meet Virginia requirements with a 990-hour school year. Both are options under Virginia rules. Loudoun County uses the 990-hour system and does not have to scramble when winter wreaks havoc on the schedule.
Fairfax has three days built in for weather cancellations, and FCPS says the system uses an average of four a year. By moving to an hourly system, the schools would be able to absorb 13 snow days in a school year because students would already be in school for the required number of hours.
In 2013-14, a particularly snowy winter, FCPS used 11 snow days, which has pushed the school year to June 25 in order to have the required makeup days.
The board proposal says there are other advantages to the change. Among them:
- A uniform elementary day would increase instructional time for all elementary students and would allow for the state required 20 minutes of daily recess for children.
- The uniform calendar would allow the school system to plan for two weeks of winter break.
- The changes would only be implemented with new regulations/rules that provided all elementary teachers with at least 60 minutes of self-directed time four times per week and at least 60 minutes one time per week for collaborative team planning equating to a total minimum planning time per week of 300 minutes.
- The changes are responsive to parents, who have consistently asked for the elimination of the early Mondays due to the inconvenience for many working families.
- There would be no changes to music, art and physical education.
School board documents say that the changes will cost up to $7.6 million.
“This is difficult in these tight economic times, but we believe that this is an important investment in our students and our teachers,” Garza said in the report. “As such, a growing number of County Supervisors have expressed that they will provide us financial support for this important change. They have some monies available that were not budgeted due to unanticipated revenues from law enforcement activities.”
However, some teachers are skeptical that this would be a smooth transition in an era of cutbacks, stalled raises and mounting work requirements.
“I’d like to know where the ‘more’ planning time is coming from,” said one elementary school administrator who asked not to be named.
“When they went to Mondays, they extended the Tuesday-through-Friday day. If they shorten that, will we have less time? The Monday schedule in elementary is crucial to professional development for teachers and is one of the only places they can get training in areas they need support.”
There has also been criticism that teacher opinions were not taken into account when formulating the plan.
The new plan would go into effect as early as September. This is a separate issue from the plan to change high school start times, which may also affect elementary school students as they may start school earlier in the day. The details of that plan are still being worked out, and it will not go into effect until at least 2015-16.
See the proposed Master Calendar for 2014-15 on the FCPS website.
Photo: FCPS Superintendent Karen Garza/File photo
