A bloom of purple algae has appeared at Lake Thoreau. Reston Association is monitoring the bloom of Planktothrix rubescens algae.
In a statement, RA said that the algae likely appeared because heavy rains washed different nutrients and sediment into the lake.
Although the algae are expected to clear up on its own, people and pets should avoid ingesting water from the lake. The algae should disappear on its own as cooler conditions take over.
Blue and green algae that appeared on Lake Audubon disappeared after floating on the lake three years ago.
Photo via RA
Before we head off into the weekend, let’s take a look back at the biggest stories on Reston Now in recent days.
- Italian Restaurant to Open in Reston Town Center Next Year
- Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls to Open Next Month in Reston Town Center
- Despite Appeals, Residents Voice Strong Support for Downtown Herndon Redevelopment
- San Diego-based Big Data Firm Opens Reston Office
- Five Men Involved in Attempted Robbery at Hunters Woods Village Center
If you have ideas on stories we should cover, email us at [email protected] or submit an anonymous tip. We’re also looking for photos of Reston submitted by readers.
Feel free to discuss these topics, your weekend plans or anything else that’s happening locally in the comments below.
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Five candidates are running for three seats on Reston Community Center’s Board of Governors. This year’s candidates are incumbents William Bouie, Gerald Zavala, and Lisa Sechrest-Ehrhardt, along with Richard Stillson and April Tan.
Voting — known as the preference poll — will begin on September 7. Each property in Small District 5 will receive mail ballots, which must be submitted by Sept. 27 at 5 p.m. Walk-in and online ballots must be received by 5 p.m. the next day.
Candidates will hold a candidates forum on September 10 at 6:30 p.m. at RCC Hunters Woods (2310 Colts Neck Road).
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will appoint members to the three three-year positions based on preferences stated by participants in the poll. RCC’s board is designed to bring social, recreational, cultural and educational activities throughout the district.
Candidate statements are available online.
Photo via Reston Community Center
This is an op/ed submitted by the North Course Committee of Rescue Reston. It does not reflect the opinions of Reston Now. To submit opinion pieces, email [email protected].
Wheelock Communities bought Hidden Creek Country Club in October 2017. Hidden Creek is zoned as a golf course and is intended in the Reston Master Plan to remain a golf course in order to provide planned, open green space as a balance to the high-density development currently occurring in Reston Town Center and near Metro.
This innovative way to combat suburban sprawl has always been the Reston planned-community deal: protected open space to balance out high-density living. And Restonians were told they could count on this deal.
Yet, from the start of its interactions this year with the Reston community, Wheelock Communities has claimed that Hidden Creek is economically unviable as a golf course. Why did Wheelock buy it then?
Wheelock cannot be arguing that golf courses are inherently commercially unviable because it owns two large properties in Texas that include golf courses. There’s no reporting that Wheelock intends to close those courses.
And Forbes reported this May that the number of people starting to play golf was at an all-time high last year. The demographic makeup of those new golfers coincides nicely with Reston’s demographic makeup. And the number of non-golfers saying they’d be interested in learning to play golf is up as well, according to Forbes.
Plus, Reston is an outdoor-oriented community that looks to enjoy the great outdoors right here, as summed up in Reston’s “Live-Work-Play” slogan. Outdoor activities sponsored by the Reston Association and by the Lake Anne and Reston Town Center merchants’ associations are well attended.
Despite what looks to be favorable conditions for generating more demand for golf among Restonians, Wheelock has not been exploring this opportunity in its interactions thus far with the Reston community. Instead, Wheelock has been gauging how much housing the community might tolerate on what is now the Hidden Creek Golf Course.
Wheelock’s apparent lack of interest in making Hidden Creek succeed as a golf course raises the question:
Could it be that Wheelock is looking to neglect the golf course and let it commercially fail in order to boost its argument for a rezoning request?
It’s easy to see why Wheelock would want to renege on its commitment to honor Hidden Creek’s zoning as a golf course. According to the Fairfax County Tax Administration website, Wheelock paid $63.75 million for a mere 12.3691 acres in the adjacent Charter Oak Apartments, or $5.15 million per acre. Charter Oak Apartments commanded this high acreage price because the land is zoned as residential (for apartments), is developed, and can be redeveloped as housing.
Yet Wheelock paid only $14 million for the 162.5835 adjacent acres of Hidden Creek Country Club, or less than $100,000 per acre, according to the same Tax Administration website. That’s right: an acre on the golf course was one-fiftieth the price of an acre in the apartment complex next door. This dramatically lower price per acre for Hidden Creek is precisely because the golf course is not eligible for development (beyond the parts that already have buildings).
If Wheelock could get Hidden Creek rezoned for housing, the value of the land would skyrocket, giving Wheelock a huge windfall. And in the process, Restonians would lose their precious green open space that they were told was guaranteed by the Reston Master Plan.
Could it be that Wheelock never intended to honor its commitment under the zoning plan to keep Hidden Creek as a golf course? From where we sit, it sure looks like it.
Photo via Rescue Reston
Want to learn more about the history behind Hunter Mill Road? Reston Association is offering a narrated bus tour conducted by local historian and tour guide Jim Lewis in late August.
The tour will take place on August 29 from 8:30-11:30 am. Attendees will get a chance to see locations of military forts, encampments, structures, cemeteries, mill sites and old roads. The tour will also stop by Confederate earthworks.
Attendees will get on and off the bus to check out local treasures up close. Registration is $35 for RA members and $42 for all others.
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Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls, an Annapolis-based restaurant, will open in late September, according to the company’s founder.
The 800-square-foot restaurant will be located at 11939 Democracy Drive, the former location of Red Velvet Cupcakery.
The restaurant would be the first Mason’s Famous Lobster Rolls branch in Virginia. The company has four locations in Maryland, one in Delaware and another in South Carolina. The Reston location’s menu is modeled after the Delaware location.
An exact opening date has not been set yet.
Artists of all ages and skills levels can now save the date for the annual ChalkFest at Reston Town Center. The annual street art festival invites artists to transform RTC’s Market Street with chalk drawings.
Registration is now open and artists can register in the following categories. Prizes will be awarded for each category, as well as audience chance awards.
This year’s sponsors include Boston Properties, Reston Community Center, Fairfax County Government, Reston Association, Cooley, and Leidos.
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Need some extra help getting around? Reston Association is hosting an information session on how to ride the bus and Metro.
The event, set for August 16 from 10 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., will offer attendees a hands-on learning experience. Participants will ride the Mobile Accessible Travel Training bus and get tips on reading bus schedules, route maps, calculating and paying fares, and other skills.
The bus will then stop at a Silver Line Metro Station, where participants will learn how to determine fares, buy Metrorail fare cards, load SmarTrip cards and read the rail system map.
The event is free. Attendees will meet on the training bus, which will be parked on the southwestern corner of the parking lot of the Reston Association (12001 Sunrise Valley Drive).
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After a round of meetings with county officials about a plan to increase Reston’s population density, the Coalition for a Planned Reston is asking Fairfax County officials to hold off on officially proposing the amendment until specific issues raised in the meetings are addressed.
A series of workgroup sessions concluded on July 30 regarding the proposal, which would increase the overall per person density in Reston’s Planned Residential Community from 13 to 16 people per acre.
CPR is requesting the following actions, agreed upon by stakeholders involved in the discussions, go into effect:
“Clarification and correction of the Reston Master Plan (RMP), identification of additional information that the County intends to share with the public, and acknowledgment of areas that require further dialogue.”
No dates for the formal introduction of the proposal have been set yet. CPR plans to hold a community meeting after Labor Day to discuss the outcome of the county meetings and seek additional community feedback.
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Fairfax County police will celebrate National Night Out by taking part in neighborhood visits in Reston from to 9 p.m. tonight (August 7).
The 35th annual event aims to strengthen the relationship between police and the communities they serve and demonstrate neighborhood commitments to fight crime.
Of the more than 100 events planned in Fairfax County, fourteen are in Reston. Complete listings including, the location and duration of the event, are available online.
Attendees are invited to lock their doors, turn on outside lights and spend the evening outside.
Photo via FCPD
As major track improvements continue on Metro, riders of the Orange, Silver and Blue Lines should expect delays this weekend.
On Saturday (August 11) and Sunday (August 12), Farragut West, McPherson Square and Metro Center’s lower level will be closed. Orange and Silver Line trains will run every 12 to 15 minutes outside the shutdown area. All Orange and Silver Line trains will end at Foggy Bottom.
Blue Line trains will run between Franconia-Springfield and Arlington Cemetery only. All other stations will be open. Shuttle buses will replace trains between Foggy Bottom and Federal Triangle stations.
A “Unite the Right” rally and counterdemonstrations planned for Sunday afternoon near the White House could also make the commute more challenging. According to a statement, Metro will “be prepared to add trains as needed to address crowding if necessary.” Access to some stations due to overcrowding on the platform may be restricted by Metro Transit Police.
Photo by Mike Heffner
Updates to Reston Association’s disclosure document fees for home resales will go into effect on Aug. 20 following the Board of Director’s approval of the new fee breakdown last month.
The Property Owners’ Association Act requires homeowners to provide interested purchasers with legally required information about the property, common areas and the homeowners association.
State law allows RA to charge fees to prepare disclosure packets, which must be completed within 14 days from the day payment is received. According to a statement, fee increases were instituted to account for inflation over the last five years.
Fee increases vary between roughly $17 to $39 depending on the type of document to be disclosed. The new fee schedule is below:
Additionally, the fee for electronic disclosures is $264.08 and $293.42 for paper or CD disclosures.
Photo via Reston Association
(This story was updated at 9:23 a.m. on Aug. 7 to include fees for electronic and paper/CD disclosures).
Roughly 230 young athletes hit local pools, streets and trails in Reston on Sunday for the eighth annual Reston Kids’ Triathlon.
The event, which was open to children between the age of 6 and 14, is sponsored by Reston Association and the Fairfax County YMCA.
Photos by Sean Bahrami for Reston Association
Before we head off into the weekend, let’s take a look back at the biggest stories on Reston Now in recent days.
- County Board Approves Nearly 10 Million Square Feet of Development in Reston
- Fairfax County Board to Consider Three Major Development Proposals
- With Planning Commission Approval, Reston Gateway Heads to Board of Supervisors
- Updated: Several Roads in Reston Closed
- Early Discussions on the Future of Hidden Creek Country Club Begin
If you have ideas on stories we should cover, email us at [email protected] or submit an anonymous tip. We’re also looking for photos of Reston submitted by readers.
Feel free to discuss these topics, your weekend plans or anything else that’s happening locally in the comments below.
Photo via Fairfax County Government
The eastbound Dulles Access Highway (DIAAH) will be closed between Centreville Road and Fairfax County Parkway from Friday (August 3) at 10 p.m. through Monday (August 6) at 5 a.m.
Traffic from the eastbound lanes will be diverted to the left lane of the eastbound Dulles Toll Road and will then be returned to the DIAAH once past the construction area. The closure is necessary to allow Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project crews to complete storm drain work in the area.
DIAAH drivers will not have to pass through any toll both on the toll road during the detours. Eastbound toll road traffic will be restricted to two lanes. All drivers are strongly encouraged to exercise caution and pay attention to all signs and barricades.
Map via Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project
