Reston is changing at a fast clip — with several large development projects in progress and more than a dozen new applications in the pipeline.
Concerned Reston residents say they want to know about those projects in an equally speedy manner.
Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and representatives from the Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning held a public meeting at Reston Association Monday in which they spelled out how the development process works, from application to final approval from the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
Even though the development process can take years, the citizens in attendance complained about a lack of opportunities for community engagement earlier in the process.
“The planning process is making me crazy,” said longtime Reston resident Tammi Pettrine. “In reality, citizens have no power against the county.” Read More
The first phase of an eventual 1.5-million square-foot mixed-use development on the south side of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro was recommended for approval by the Fairfax County Planning Commission on Thursday.
The first phase of Vornado’s plan for Commerce Executive Park at Wiehle Avenue, Sunrise Vally Drive and Commerce Park Drive, calls for a 200-unit residential building, as well as interior roads, pedestrian paths and a cycle track.
The planning commission held a public hearing last week but deferred decision until Oct. 6 to iron out some development conditions. While those issues — when a bike lane on Wiehle will be built, as well as expected contributions to the Reston Road Fund, among others — are not completely settled, Hunter Mill Commissioner Frank de le Fe says he is confident the parties will work together as the development plan comes together. Read More
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has recommended for approval Pulte Homes’ plan to rezone a one-story industrial building into 44 residences at 1825 Michael Faraday Court near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
After a planning staff report recommended denying the application and the commission held a public hearing last week, the panel delayed making a decision until Wednesday.
Hunter Mill planning commissioner Frank de le Fe said he still had some issues with the plan for the Lofts at Reston Station — which jams 12 2-over-2 townhouses and 32 multifamily units into fewer than two acres of land.
The staff report asked the developer that a few units be removed to allow greater ease of movement and parking for emergency vehicles and trash trucks.
Pulte said that removing units would affect the number of homes set aside for workforce housing, de le Fe said.
“I really don’t like to go against staff on this,” de le Fe said Wednesday. “While not perfect, [the application] represents compromise. In this case, the compromise centers around design for two units at the end. If we did not keep them, the applicant has made it clear it would be difficult if not impossible to meet WDUs [Workforce Dwelling Units set aside for a lower price] with three bedrooms. WDUs are very necessary.”
The plan will next go to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval.
The parcel is about one-third of a mile from the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, and will eventually be connected by interior streets, including an extension of Reston Station Blvd, plans show.
The staff report also takes issue with the configuration of open space; the amount of surface parking (27 spaces, which they say should be in structured parking); a poorly designed pocket park; and lack of landscaping in connecting to public space.
Rendering of multifamily building along future Reston Station Blvd at Michael Faraday Drive/Credit: Fairfax County
Another multifamily project is closer to approval for the area south of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended for approval Thursday Lincoln Property Company’s plans to build 260 multifamily residences on what is now a parking lot at Sunrise Valley, Commerce Park and Association drives.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission held a public hearing Sept. 23, but delayed decision until a few proffer conditions could be worked out.
The developer has now committed to a contribution at the highest level of the scale ($2200) per unit to go to the Reston Road Fund — which will be used to help make more than $2.6 billion in transportation improvements here over several decades. The developer also agreed to work out issues with building a sidewalk on Association Drive and a possible additional contribution to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
The park authority issue came about because the proposed plan is very urban in nature, with limited open space (about one-third of an acre) that will be used as small pocket parks. The lack of room for active play should be offset with $50,000 more towards county athletic fields. The developer has offered $25,000, in addition to $462,852 it has already committed for fields.
Lincoln Property’s project is a seven-story building with trails connecting bikers and walkers to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station. The plans call for a pool and a natural play area, among other amenities.
Read more details in the county planning staff report.
The project is adjacent to Vornado’s large plan to transform more office buildings nearby. Phase I of that plan, to build a 200-unit multifamily building, was reviewed by the planning commission Wednesday, but the PC deferred decision on the project until Oct. 6.
The Vornado development will eventually be 1.5 million square feet of mixed-use development featuring the existing office buildings, two residential buildings (one of them 24 stories); a 22-story office tower; a retail promenade; a hotel; and five parks.
The Lincoln plan now moves on to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval. A date for that hearing has not been set.
Rendering of Lincoln Property Company’s multifamily building at Commerce Park/Credit: Fairfax County.
An elementary school is no place for a cell phone tower.
That was the message more than a dozen concerned neighbors and parents of students at Crossfield Elementary School told the Fairfax County Planning Commission in more than two hours of testimony Wednesday night.
A county planning staff report recommends approval of Milestone Communications’ application (on behalf of Verizon) for the tower, which they say is necessary to fill in gaps in coverage in the areas off Lawyers Road, including Reston’s Fox Mill Woods neighborhood adjacent to the school.
“This plan introduces an unacceptable safety risk,” said Chris Aiello, representing Parents Advocating for Safe Schools in Fairfax County, a grassroots group recently formed to take on Verizon’s request.
“It directly interferes with future expansion of school and fields. The applicant failed to meaningfully explore other sites. It defies logic placing a 138-foot tower 127 feet from a school.”
The pole, which would be built to look like an evergreen tree, would be able to carry signals from five mobile carriers. The pole would be on a 2,500-square-foot area surrounded by an 8-foot fence.
While the pole will be in a wooded area more than 200 feet from the school, the location is only 127 feet from the Crossfield playground, many citizens pointed out.
The pole will rise about 80 feet above the natural tree line, which Aiello called “a visual albatross.”
Other parents and neighbors had similar concerns. More than 30 Fairfax County Public Schools, including South Lakes High School, have cell towers on their property. However, only one FCPS elementary school has a tower, planning staff said. Parents said they are not willing to let their young children be test cases for radiation.
The cell phone companies pay the landowners to lease the pole space. FCPS, for instance, has made more than $4 million from the arrangement over the last several years, FCPS officials said.
Milestone collects rent from the wireless carriers on its towers, 40 percent of which goes to FCPS. Schools receive $25,000 each time a tower is built, and then $5,000 from each wireless carrier that leases space on the tower.
Other speakers said they were concerned the fenced tower enclosure would be everything from an “attractive nuisance” for pranks to a target for hackers.
Lisa Namerow, a nearby resident with a child set to enter Crossfield next year, said she is concerned about home values, among other things.
“The affected community is deeply opposed,” she said. “Research shows proximity of cell towers has a negative effect on homeowners.”
The planning commission also heard testimony from two Fox Mill Woods residents who said they cannot get coverage in their homes and the tower is needed.
Planning commissioners had questions on other high-tech ways to fill in coverage gaps (they would not work in this case, Milestone reps said) to the possibility of building the tower on Fairfax County Park Authority land nearby.
In the end, the planning commission deferred decision until Oct. 19, after they can get more information from the county’s Hunter Mill Land Use committee. The land use committee meets on Oct. 18.
Photo: Proposed cell phone tower at Crossfield Elementary School/Credit: Milestone Communications.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has recommended for approval a plan to tear down a 1980s office building at 11720 Sunrise Valley Drive and replace the building with 54 townhomes.
Rooney Properties’ plan now moves on for final approval by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, most likely in October.
The decision came at the planning commission’s Wednesday meeting, about two months after a public hearing on the project. The commission said then had some concerns with driveway size, garage size and delivery accessibility for Rooney Properties’ plans.
Since the 11720 project’s July hearing, the applicant went back and updated the development plan to show designated delivery area in the southwestern corner of property.
The planning commission and the county planning staff also had an issue in July with Rooney’s lack of proffers to provide transportation demand management (TDM) such as traffic lights.
The proposed project sits just across Roland Clarke Place where another Rooney property, the Marcel Breuer-designed former headquarters of the American Press Institute. That building, also owned by Rooney, is in the process of being torn down to make way for way for 34 townhouses and 10 condos.
Photos: Location of project, top; Existing office building, bottom.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission will review and make a decision on an amended plan for 54 townhomes at 11720 Sunrise Valley Dr. at its meeting on Wednesday.
There was a public hearing on the project in July, but the commission had some concerns with driveway size and delivery accessibility for Rooney Properties’ plans to convert an office building to a residential neighborhood.
The proposed project sits just across Roland Clarke Place where another Rooney property, the Marcel Breuer-designed former headquarters of the American Press Institute. That building was recently approved for demolition by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors, clearing the way for 34 townhouses and 10 condos. Read More
August was a slow month in an otherwise very busy year for new development in Reston.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission does not meet in August, but they will be back in September with a host of applications to be reviewed.
Here is a look at what’s on the agenda:
Sept. 14 – Decision only on replacing an office building with 54 townhomes at 11720 Sunrise Valley Dr. This is just feet away from the former American Press Institute, which was approved for residential redevelopment by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors earlier this summer.
The planning commission held a public hearing on the application in July, but deferred decision until September. Read more about it on this previous Reston Now post.
The controversial API building and the office building parcel across Roland Clarke Place are both owned by Rooney Properties. Read More
Just days after the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved a controversial residential development on the site of the former American Press Institute building, the Fairfax County Planning Commission reviewed an application from the same owner for 54 townhomes a few feet away.
RP 11720, LLC, part of Rooney Properties (which also owns the API building), plans to tear down a 30-year old office building at Sunrise Valley Drive and Roland Clarke Place to build the urban-style homes.
The commission expressed concerns Thursday about parking, both in everyday and in special situations. Among the concerns: is 19 feet wide enough for garages, which are planned for the four-story townhouses? And where will delivery trucks go when servicing the units that front Sunrise Valley Drive?
The developers believe that width is sufficient for garages and planning staff says the delivery may have to block someone’s driveway.
Parking, transportation demand management (TDM) contributions and money to the Fairfax County Park Authority also came up as issues at Thursday’s public hearing, so the commission deferred decision on the project until Sept. 24.
Developer representatives said they did not include TDM because of the low-density estimate for the new neighborhood but they are willing to work with developers towards that if it is a development condition.
The parcel is at 11720 Sunrise Valley Dr., just west of the Mercer Condos, (part of JBG’s Reston Heights) and right across Roland Clarke Place from the American Press Institute property, where 34 townhouses and 10 condominiums are planned. Read More
The Fairfax County Planning Commission will review next week the latest development plan for more new housing along Sunrise Valley Drive.
RP 11720, LLC, which is part of Rooney Properties, is seeking build 54 townhouses to replace a six-story office building constructed in 1985.
The parcel is at 11720 Sunrise Valley Dr., just west of the Mercer Condos, part of JBG’s Reston Heights, right across Roland Clarke Place, where Sekas Homes is planning to turn the former home of the American Press Institute into a residential development (34 townhouses and 10 condominiums). Rooney Properties also owns the former API building.
Rooney/Sekas Homes’ plan was was sent to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors last month with a recommendation for denial of the application after the planning commission was made aware rather late in the process of the historical significance of the 1975 building designed by famed Brutalist architect Marcel Breuer. The Board of Supervisors hearing has not been scheduled.
The property also sits across from Reston National Golf Course, which has fended off redevelopment for now.
The developer is proposing four-story garage townhouses. Interior units would be about 1,00 to 1,450 square feet; end units would be about 1,350 to 1,700 square feet.
The Marcel Breuer-designed building in Reston will get a reprieve after some of the Fairfax County Planning Commission admitted “a major screw up” by them. The commission will send Sekas Homes rezoning application to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors with a recommendation for denial.
“This was a major screw up,” said At-Large Member James Hart. “I hope this is a wake up call to us that we need to make sure something like this does not happen again.”
The building on Sunrise Valley Drive is the only Breuer-designed building in Virginia. Breuer is a famed architect of the Brutalist style of the 1960s and 1970s. The building housed the American Press Institute (API) from 1974 to 2012. It has been vacant since 2012, when API merged with the Newspaper Association of America.
Sekas Homes is planning to rezone the property to build 34 townhomes and 10 condos. A planning commission staff report earlier this year recommended the project for approval. Read More
The Fairfax County Planning Commission recommended for approval on Wednesday new standards that will allow for denser development in nearly two dozen areas of the county where transit-oriented development is rapidly happening.
The proposal will now go to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval on June 21.
The proposal will increase density limits in 22 areas in the county around the Metro’s Silver, Orange, Blue and Yellow lines. Read More
Is Reston, particularly around its transit areas, about to get even more urban?
That’s what the Fairfax County Planning Commission will examine at its regular meeting Wednesday.
The planning commission is considering a proposal that would allow denser development in 22 areas in the county around the Metro’s Silver, Orange, Blue and Yellow lines. If the planing commission approves the proposal, the new standards would go to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for a vote on June 21. Read More
Supporters of saving the former American Press Institute building have started an online petition to protect the Brutalist building from the wrecking ball.
The building was designed by noted architect Marcel Breuer, who also planned Atlanta’s Central Library, the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City, and buildings at Yale University and New York University, among others.
The building housed the API from 1974 to 2012. It has been vacant and for sale since 2012.
Sekas Homes is looking to rezone the 4.6-acres of land from industrial to residential in order to build 34 townhouses and 10 condominiums at 11690 Sunrise Valley Dr. A county staff report recommends approval of the application.
There has been a last-minute effort, including letters from the Fairfax County Architectural Review Board and state historical society, to stop that process.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission toured the empty building last week and will make a recommendation on June 16.
The building is the only Breuer-designed project in Virginia and should be given historical designation, some say. Others are of the opinion that it is an outdated office building that is ripe for redevelopment. A planning commission public hearing was held last month.
Here’s what the petition says:
The American Press Institute (API) building in Reston, VA, is under the threat of demolition.
It is the only building in Virginia by the internationally acclaimed architect Marcel Breuer, “a master of Modernism” who also designed the Whitney Museum of American Art (now the Met Breuer), UNESCO Headquartersin Paris, and the HUD buildingin Washington, D.C.
For nearly 38 years, tens of thousands of news media executives — representing a “Who’s Who in Journalism” — attended leadership seminars in the nonprofit’s Breuer-designed headquarters in Reston.
- The API building is historically and architecturally significant.
- It is a crucial chapter in Reston’s rich history.
- It should have a second life instead of being torn down.
That’s why we’re asking you to sign this petition to save the API building.
On June 16, the Fairfax County Planning Commission will make a final decision on a local developer’s application for rezoning the property from business to residential and a demolition permit.If the commission and, soon after, the Board of Supervisors approves this plan, the building will be razed so that single- and multi-family housing can be built on the site.
A growing coalition — local and nationwide — questions this plan given what’s at stake, including:
- Fairfax County Architectural Review Board (ARB)
- Fairfax County History Commission
- Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Historic Resources
- Reston and other Fairfax County residents
- Community leaders
- Architects, historians and preservationists
- Journalists and other news media executives across North America who attended API programs
- Former API staff members
- Those who believe that architectural treasures should be preserved
The Fairfax County Planning Commission will wait until next month before deciding what the future holds for the former American Press Institute Building on Sunrise Valley Drive.
The building, designed by noted architect Marcel Breuer, is an example of Brutalist design that should be given historical designation, some say. Others are of the opinion that it is an office building that has been sitting empty for more than four years and is ripe for redevelopment.
Sekas Homes is looking to rezone the 4.6-acres of land from industrial to residential in order to build 34 townhouses and 10 condominiums at 11690 Sunrise Valley Dr. A county staff report recommends approval of the application.
A public hearing was held earlier this month. Planning commission members will tour the building on June 2 and on June 16 will either recommend or deny the plan for approval. Read More
