Speaking to community business leaders Thursday in Herndon, Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said the amount of development taking place within Reston’s Transit Station Areas has surpassed expectations and has positioned Reston as an economic driver for the county, region and state.
At the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce’s legislative panel event, Hudgins said she and others believed Tysons Corner would grow faster than Reston when their respective plans were first laid out.
There may be a sense of frustration and concern regarding ongoing construction of Metro’s Silver Line, area elected officials said Thursday, but its great potential must be remembered.
Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and state delegates Ken Plum (D-Fairfax) and Jennifer Boysko (D-Fairfax/Loudoun) talked about Metro and the surrounding future development during a legislative panel discussion sponsored by the Greater Reston Chamber of Commerce and hosted by Dominion Virginia Power in Herndon. Plum, the former state chair of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association, said it is important to put the status of Metro’s Silver Line in perspective.
More Attention for Town Center Parking Debate — Reston Town Center merchant Aaron Gordon was on The Kojo Nnamdi Show on D.C. radio station WAMU on Tuesday speaking about paid parking at the Town Center. Supervisor Cathy Hudgins was also on the show to give her thoughts. [WAMU/player.fm]
Whole Foods Purchases to Benefit Fairfax County Charity — Five percent of purchases today at Northern Virginia locations of Whole Foods — including in Reston at 11660 Plaza America Drive — will benefit Firefighters and Friends to the Rescue, which partners with Fairfax County Fire and Rescue to provide coats, books, toys and needed supplies to families. [Fairfax County Fire and Rescue]
At its meeting Tuesday, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved the $2.27 billion Reston Transportation Funding Plan.
Included in the plan is a 2.1 cent/$100 of assessed value tax assessed to properties in the Reston Transit Station Area (pictured). Under the agreed-upon plan, current homeowners in the TSA will be responsible for up to $44.6 million of the estimated cost. The remainder of the tax funds (totaling $350 million) will be collected from commercial/industrial properties and from residential properties built in the future.
Hunter Mill District Supervisor Cathy Hudgins led off her newsletter this month with a two-page article on “misinformation” concerning the proposed Reston Tax Service District (TSD) for homeowners and businesses along the Dulles Corridor, the so-called Reston transit station areas. So far as we know, no one has provided misinformation on the road tax, including Reston 20/20.
What Reston 20/20 has done — and will continue to do — is highlight the vast quantity of vital information about the proposed Reston road tax that neither Supervisor Hudgins nor FCDOT have been willing to acknowledge because, of course, it undermines the validity of having such a tax. Let’s take a quick look.
Residents of the Hunter Mill District will have their chance on March 4 to weigh in on the proposed Fairfax County FY2018 budget.
County Executive Edward Long presented the $4.1 billion proposal to the county Board of Supervisors at their Tuesday meeting. Each supervisor is holding local meetings to get community input on its details.
“[My two sons] went to school here, but schools were different. They were Virginia schools and we really did have to do some work as parents, as well as as a community. This community was very overt in saying to the Fairfax County school system, ‘Equity is not here.’ We saw overt discrimination and we had to speak up.”
“Lake Anne Elementary was the first school built here, and a group of families… realized that the history of Virginia that [schools were] teaching kids was not the history of real Virginia, and we don’t want our kids to learn just one side. This is not just African-American families, all families were saying that. ‘This isn’t the history.’ And so they went out and said, ‘We’ll help you create a curriculum, because this isn’t what we want.’ Those kinds of things took place often.”
A Fairfax County Board of Supervisors public hearing on Reston transportation projects set for Feb. 28 will address the projects’ funding plan. Questions asked about the project Tuesday prior to the board’s vote to approve the hearing, however, concerned design issues.
Supervisor Pat Herrity (Springfield District) raised a number of questions for Tom Biesiadny, director of the Fairfax County Department of Transportation, regarding concerns he has with the plan itself.
The Hunter Mill Defense League (HDML) this week sent Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins a petition with more than 500 signatures in opposition to relocating the septic dump from Colvin Run in Great Falls to the Lake Fairfax spot, located on Hunter Mill Road on the Reston/Vienna line.
About 21,000 homes in Fairfax County are not tied into the public sewer and must have their septic tanks cleaned out every five years and dumped in one of two county receiving facilities. The septage sites also receive waste from portable toilets and grease from restaurants.
Hudgins’ office says “the Open House will provide an opportunity for the Reston community to gather information on proposed, planned and anticipated development activity within the Transit Station Areas.”
“In addition, Fairfax County Government agencies will also present other area projects at this event,” Hudgins’ office says. “The overall goal is for property owners and/or developers to share with the community a comprehensive vision of what is being considered for the future of Reston.”
The supervisors passed the maximum 4-cent tax hike on Tuesday, but school advocates say the increase is not enough. Each penny accounts for an additional $23 million in revenue, which will fall short to fully fund FCPS Superintendent’s request for nearly $2 billion from the county for 2017.
Garza said in January that a fully funded budget would mean raises for teachers, a commitment to keeping elementary class sizes under 30 students and no cuts to programs. FCPS may now have to consider cuts.
Hudgins made the motion after a sometimes emotional supervisors meeting on Tuesday, where the board passed an advertised 2017 tax rate rise of 4 cents. Some supervisors advocated for a higher maximum tax rate of 5 or 6 cents per $100 of real estate value. (more…)
General Dynamics Corporation is planning to build a large office building on Sunset Hills Road near Hunter Mill Road.
The aerospace and defense company has filed plans with Fairfax County for development on the 21.7-acre parcel at 11011 Sunset Hills Rd., which is currently a vacant lot between Hunter Mill Road and Wiehle Avenue.
That will be the subject of a community meeting hosted by Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins on Sept. 19 (9 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Reston Community Center Lake Anne).
The county is preparing for the redevelopment 49 acres from New Dominion Parkway to Bowman Town Drive and Town Center Parkway to Fountain Drive. The area encompasses the current Reston Regional Library, the Embry Rucker Community Shelter, the North County Human Services Center and the former Cameron Glen Care Center site.
Willie L. Hudgins, Jr., accomplished lawyer and beloved husband of Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins died Saturday, April 11. He was 72 years old.
Willie was born March 5, 1943, in LaCrosse, VA.cAfter attending both undergraduate and law school at Howard University, he and the Hudgins family moved to Reston. They have lived in Reston since 1969.
