The Fairfax County Planning Commission has few items scheduled for the rest of November, mainly due to Thanksgiving.
But expect a lot of activity in early 2016.
Now is a good chance for a checklist to bring you up to date on what’s in the works for Reston.
Note, these projects are in addition to projects already underway such as JBG’s Reston Heights, Comstock’s BLVD, Bozzuto/Veatch’s residential building off Sunset Hills and Boston Properties’ Signature Site (Block 4) at Reston Town Center.
New Applications Filed
Comstock Partners has filed a Proffer Condition Amendment, Conceptual and Final Development Plan to increase the overall maximum density of Reston Station from 2.5 Floor Area Ratio (FAR) to 3.5. The Application is also seeking an increase off 100 feet in the maximum building height of three of the eight buildings (future buildings 6,7 and 8 from 140 feet to 240 feet).
JBG has filed a rezoning application to rezone 1831 Wiehle Avenue from the I-4 Industrial District Medium Intensity to the Planned Residential Mixed-Use (PRM) district to develop a mixed-use, transit oriented development in the Wiehle-Reston East Transit station area. The rezoning proposes 504 multi-family residential units and up to 61,000 square feet of complementary retail uses.
Tall Oaks Development Company LLC (Jefferson Apartment Group) has filed a planned residential community (PRC) plan to redevelopment the property
with a mixed of residential and retail uses. The proposed redevelopment will
consist of 70 condos in two multifamily buildings with garage parking underneath each building; 42 two-over-two townhomes with a combination of garage and street parking; 44 townhomes; and 7,000 square feet of retail.
Applications Accepted
CESC Commerce Executive Park, L.L.C. has a rezoning/final development plan, concurrent with special exception amendment for 1850 Centennial Park Drive, 11400 Commerce Park Drive, and 11440 Commerce Park
Drive to rezone from Industrial District I-3 (light industrial) to Planned Development Commercial (PDC) to permit the development of approximately 500 new dwelling units, a hotel with approximately 175 rooms, a new trophy office building of approximately 400,000 square feet, and complementary retail/active uses integrated into the ground floor. Read More
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has recommended for approval tighter rules on charity drop off boxes, which have good intentions but often end up as neighborhood dumps for castoffs.
The boxes are currently not covered by any county zoning rules, officials say. Instead, Fairfax County has applied its rules for secondary structures like garden sheds or garages.
Under new rules OKed by the planning commission on Wednesday:
- May not be larger than seven feet tall, six feet wide or six feet long.
- Are limited to two boxes per property in an area not to exceed a total of 120 square feet.
- Must be made of weather-proof, noncombustible materials.
- Must get regular collection with no items left outside the boxes.
- Must list the following information on the outside of the box: name and telephone number of the owner/operator, the items for collection, and a statement prohibiting liquids and dumping.
- May only be placed on certain commercial properties, like shopping centers, that are 40,000 square feet or larger; in any commercial area of a planned district when shown on an approved development plan; and in any residential district on lots with a non-residential principal use, like a church, or in conjunction with approval for another use by a special permit, special exception or proffered rezoning and only when shown on an approved development plan.
The new rules will now move on to the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has recommended for approval a parking lot expansion for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in north Reston.
The church — which had recently looked into building a new facility elsewhere in Reston — seeks to add 39 parking spaces to its existing 23-year-old site at 1515 Poplar Grove Dr. The parking capacity will increase from 121 to 160 spots, planning documents show.
The site is adjacent to residential town houses, Armstrong Elementary School, a public elementary school, a power substation and a park authority-owned property.
Residents of adjacent cluster Birchfield Woods were unhappy with a 2014 proposal that would take up additional space and remove additional trees. The plan has since been amended to its current form.
Church officials told zoning staff they looked into a parking agreement with Armstrong Elementary as a possible alternative to expansion.
The church said it had pursued parking agreements with public schools previously.
“The church is self-insured. Public schools does not accept that form of insurance,” Rinker Design, the firm hired by the church to do the expansion told county staff in a letter. “The church also has concerns about the safety of families crossing Lake Newport Road. It is a busy street. The church does not consider this a feasible option.”
“The church feels that additional parking is needed to meet the needs of their congregation, to be a good neighbor to the adjacent townhouse residents, and to provide parking with a safe access to the church. There will be no changes to the existing building or current use.”
Some of the development conditions:
- The church must submit a tree preservation plan and narrative for the site and the site will include a tree preservation fence.
- Supplemental landscaping is proposed to include shrubs, 51 evergreen trees and nine deciduous trees. Interior parking lot landscaping is proposed to include six additional trees.
- Stormwater quality will be addressed through permeable pavement, Filterra and storm filter structures.
- The county is permitting a waiver of a barrier requirement between the church and the surrounding areas because a 25-foot vegetative barrier already exists.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors will hold a public hearing to give final approval to the expansion on July 28.
Map of Church of Latter-Day Saints location/Credit: Fairfax County
Update, Wednesday, 1:25 p.m.: The Wednesday, Feb 18 meeting has been canceled due to weather. Reston Now will apprise of the rescheduled vote date.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission will revisit and take action on Wednesday regarding the new retail and restaurant destination at Sunset Hills Road and Town Center Parkway known as RTC West
There was a public hearing held on the new development two weeks ago. The planning commission then deferred action on the plan for RTC West until Feb. 18, mostly to give time for transportation improvements to be formalized.
A staff report recommends approval, provided transportation improvements are met.
Developer JBG Companies is seeking a special exception from the planning commission in order to add retail, restaurant and food stores to the 13-acre site that currently houses three office buildings. Much of the development will convert the first two floors of the office buildings into restaurant and retail space.
JBG’s application says it plans to convert 15,100 square feet of office space to retail/restaurant space and add 25,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space (on the southwest corner of the site) within an existing office campus on three parcels.
Some of the transportation logistics that need to be worked out:
Connecting an existing walkway to the adjacent trails along the public roadways and adding two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway.
Connecting the development to the W & OD trail, which runs on the northern part of the property. One development condition for JBG is working with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) and Dominion Virginia Power to establish an easement for a pedestrian connection between the site and the W&OD trail.
Closing the existing exit-only driveway on Town Center Parkway and to construct new signalized access point about 440 feet north of the intersection at Sunset Hills Road. Constructing an entrance in this location will require the relocation or closure of an existing entrance for the property across Town Center Parkway to avoid an unsafe intersection, JBG says. JBG will have to work out an agreement with Boston Properties, which owns that parcel, as a condition of development.
Two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway at a new access point.
A new turning lane on Reston Parkway.
See the entire staff report on the Fairfax County Planning website.
The planning commission meets at 8:15 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center.
The Fairfax County Planning Commission deferred action on Wednesday regarding a new retail and restaurant destination at Sunset Hills Road and Town Center Parkway.
The planning commission will revisit the plan for RTC West on Feb. 18, mostly to give time for transportation improvements to be formalized. A staff report recommends approval, provided transportation improvements are met.
Developer JBG Companies is planning the development that will bring Reston Town Center-type amenities closer to where the future Reston Town Center Metro Station will be located. Though the Silver Line station will be in the center of the Dulles Toll Road at Reston Parkway, it is actually about a quarter mile from the town center.
The developer is seeking a special exception in order to add retail, restaurant and food stores to the 13-acre site that currently houses three office buildings. Much of the development will convert the first two floors of the office buildings into restaurant and retail space.
JBG’s application says it plans to convert 15,100 square feet of office space to retail/restaurant space and add 25,000 square feet of new retail/restaurant space (on the southwest corner of the site) within an existing office campus on three parcels.
There were two speakers at Wednesday’s public hearing. One was Patty Nicoson, the former chair of the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force and president of the Dulles Corridor Rail Association.
“Hopefully, a good design plan will emerge to support pedestrian and bike planning,” she said.
The other speaker was a resident of nearby Lincoln Park, who said she is concerned about construction noise.
Some of the transportation logistics that need to be worked out:
Connecting an existing walkway to the adjacent trails along the public roadways and adding two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway.
Connecting the development to the W & OD trail, which runs on the northern part of the property. One development condition for JBG is working with the Northern Virginia Regional Park Authority (NVRPA) and Dominion Virginia Power to establish an easement for a pedestrian connection between the site and the W&OD trail.
Closing the existing exit-only driveway on Town Center Parkway and to construct new signalized access point about 440 feet north of the intersection at Sunset Hills Road. Constructing an entrance in this location will require the relocation or closure of an existing entrance for the property across Town Center Parkway to avoid an unsafe intersection, JBG says. JBG will have to work out an agreement with Boston Properties, which owns that parcel, as a condition of development.
Two new crosswalks across Town Center Parkway at a new access point.
A new turning lane on Reston Parkway.
See the entire staff report on the Fairfax County Planning website.
Fairfax County Planning Commission on Thursday recommended the plan for major redevelopment at Crescent Apartments and the area surrounding Lake Anne Plaza move forward to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors.
The Supervisors will give a final vote on the project on Tuesday.
“The actions we take tonight are a step forward in a long (process) of redevelopment of Reston’s first village at Lake Anne Center,” said Frank de la Fe, the Hunter Mill representative.
The planning commission held a public hearing on the project on Dec. 8. The main issue that caused the two-week deferral in the planning commission decision was a discrepancy in how much money Lake Lake Anne Development Partners should proffer to the Fairfax County Park Authority.
LADP wanted to give $100,000 to the parks department. The standard county rubric for fair share contributions to the Park Authority is $893 per resident. That means LADP should make a contribution of about $1.4 million, the county’s staff report said.
LADP reps agreed on Thursday to give $500,000 to the park authority.
The planning commission also agreed to waive some conditions set forth by the planning staff concerning residential street length, transitional barriers and underground storage facilities.
Some larger issues raised in the staff report, including the realignment of Village Road, will be worked out before construction begins, said de la Fe.
LADP was chosen by the county in 2013 to redevelop the aging Crescent Apartments, which was purchased by the county in 2006 for affordable housing.
LADP’s plans for the area include 1,037 residential units, including replacement of the 181 affordable units at Crescent; 60,000 square feet of retail; a 15,800-square-foot grocery store; and 78,000 square feet of office space. The project will also have a 1.1-acre central park, an outdoor amphitheater, a bike share station and 12 public art works, according to the staff report.
See the entire staff report on the project on Fairfax County’s website.
Photo: Rendering of plans for Crescent Apartments site/Credit: LADP
The Fairfax County Planning Commission is set to make a decision Thursday that will move forward the massive redevelopment plan at Crescent Apartment and the surrounding area.
Lake Anne Development Partners had a planning commission public hearing on Jan. 8. but the planning commission deferred decision due to several areas of concern.
Among them:
- How much money LADP should contribute to the Fairfax County Park Authority. The developer says $100,000. The planning commission says $893 per new resident, which totals about $1.4 million.
- How Village Road will be vacated during the time it is realigned to provide better exposure and sight lines through to Lake Anne.
- Square footage requirements for Land Units A and D. The county is concerned it will not reach its true mixed use goal.
- The planned grocery store. LADP wants to market it for one year; the county thinks it should be a three-year project.
- The county wants an $265,000 elevated walkway from the parking garage to the grocery store. LADP says it would provide minimum return on investment.
- LEED certification for the grocery store building. Strobel said it would be difficult to get certification for the grocery store, but if a grocery store ends up not being built they are willing to comply.
Once the planning commission recommends the plan for approval, it moves on to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval. It is slated to be on the Supervisors’ Jan. 27 agenda.
LADP, a division of Republic Land Development, was chosen by the county in the summer of 2013 to redevelop the county’s 16-acre Crescent Apartments site as well as areas adjacent to Lake Anne Plaza’s Historic District.
LADP’s plans for the area include 1,037 residential units, including replacement of the 181 affordable units at Crescent; 60,000 square feet of retail; a 15,800-square-foot grocery store; and 78,000 square feet of office space.
The project will also have a 1.1-acre central park, an outdoor amphitheater, a bike share station and 12 public art works, according to the staff report.
At the Jan. 8 hearing, a county rep said $100,000 is just 7 percent of what LADP should be offering for recreational amenities.
“It is the staff’s opinion that what LADP is providing enhances the quality [of the area], but does not provide active amenities such as basketball courts or athletic fields,” a county representative said.
Lynne Strobel, the attorney representing LADP at the Jan. 8 hearing, said the developer’s application “is providing significant and costly improvements to Washington Plaza. Those are not unlike parks; they are public areas that serve the community.”
Strobel said the improvements to Washington Plaza total $1.2 million, so an alternative formula for LADP’s contribution should be used. The developers also said new residents would be Reston Association members, so their added yearly assessments would be boosting coffers for recreational amenities in Reston.
See the entire county staff report on Fairfax County’s website.
Reston Association on Thursday voted unanimously to amend the Use and Maintenance Standards Resolution 15 regarding air-conditioning service in Lake Anne neighborhoods that use RELAC.
The amendment allows for Lake Anne residents to apply for a medical exemption to the covenant that requires their property to use the lake water-cooled system. Click here to read the resolution.
About 300 homes are bound by deed to use the RELAC system. Residents of some of the homes that use RELAC users say the system, which was touted as quiet and state-of-the-art in the 1960s, is inefficient and produces mold. Many have added supplementary air conditioning systems to their homes, but the medical exemption for that home expires if the home is sold.
RA has allowed for medical exemptions in the past and had been discussing modifications to that policy since last year.
The board added new language about what constitutes a disability. One of the main changes includes adding a form that must be signed by a physician in order to get a temporary exemption. RA did soften the language on the form at the request of residents.
Meanwhile, the Fairfax County Planning Commission was scheduled to hold a public hearing Wednesday night on the transformation of Reston Town Center’s surface parking lot to a mixed-use development.
That hearing was deferred until June 25.
Developer Boston Properties’ plans for the surface lot at Reston Town Center include two high-rise residential buildings as well as a park with a yoga area, public art and picnic areas. The 6.35-acre site, called Block 4, is currently a 251-space surface parking lot, the only remaining surface lot at Reston Town Center. The lot is currently zoned for up for 250,000 square feet of office space.
According to the county planning staff report, which recommends approval of the project, the 250,000 square feet of office density represents the last remaining non-residential density available under the proffered maximum 3.465 million square feet of non-residential development approved within Reston’s urban core.
Boston Properties is seeking to move the office development to Block 5, where the current FedEx/Kinkos and Ann Taylor are now located, with additional office space above.
The plan calls for turning the three-story retail/office building, part of One Fountain 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 Fairfax County Planning Commission is slated to revisit on Thursday the amendments to the county master plan that will affect development around Reston’s transit stations.
The planning commission held a public hearing in November, in which it heard testimony from dozens of Reston residents, developers and business owners on the future of Reston. It also, of course, has had nearly two months to go over the 183-page comprehensive plan amendment.
At its Thursday evening meeting, the planners will decide whether to recommend sending the plan to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for final approval or advise more changes. The plan is tentatively scheduled to go before the Board of Supervisors on Jan. 23.
Meanwhile, Development-watchers Reston2020 point out that county planners have made changes to the language throughout the plan amendment. Some of the the biggest criticisms from the citizens’ group is that the changes say bonus density would be allowed more than one-quarter of a mile from Metro stations and no limits on building heights.
After four years of work, the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force recently completed the comprehensive plan amendment — a massive document outlining everything from density around three Metro Silver Line station’s to street patterns to recreational facilities. Dozens of citizens spoke at the public hearing with a variety of opinions on the plans.
One of the main points of the plan: where to put the people. The plan calls for ratios of 50 percent commercial/residential within one-quarter mile of the Metro stations at Wiehle-Reston East, Reston Parkway and Herndon-Monroe. In the half-mile range, the ratio should be 75 percent residential, 25 commercial.
The concept of implementation — just how the plan will be executed, who will pay and other details — came up often in citizen testimony at the public hearing.
“Planning without implementation is empty,” said Reston Citizens Association President Colin Mills. “It is not just a planning issue, it is a political issue. We support having a single entity responsible for implementation issues.”
Planning commission member James Hart reminded Mills, and the people assembled a the public hearing on Nov. 13, that implementation specifics don’t need to be in place as the new Reston will evolve over 30 years and planning will get more specific when variables such as developer proffers, population growth and economic climate are known.
“The comprehensive plan regulates nothing, ” he said. “In Virginia, we are under the Dillon Rule. It is probably inappropriate to put things in the plan like specifics if they have no force of law. The plan is intended to be a general guide. If we bear that in mind a lot of what is in this plan looks a lot better.”
Read more from the public hearing here.
More:
Comprehensive Plan Goes to Planning Commission, With Caveats and Complaints
The Fairfax County Planning Commission has deferred making a decision on the amendments to the county master plan that will affect development around Reston’s transit stations.
After a public hearing last month, the planning commission was scheduled to decide on Thursday whether to recommend the changes to the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. However, the commission says it needs more time to consider the changes and public comments and postponed its decision until Jan. 9.
After four years of work, the Reston Master Plan Special Study Task Force recently completed the comprehensive plan amendment — a massive document outlining everything from density around three Metro Silver Line station’s to street patterns to recreational facilities. Dozens of citizens spoke at the public hearing with a variety of opinions on the plans.
One of the main points of the plan: where to put the people. The plan calls for ratios of 50 percent commercial/residential within one-quarter mile of the Metro stations at Wiehle-Reston East, Reston Parkway and Herndon-Monroe. In the half-mile range, the ratio should be 75 percent residential, 25 commercial.
The concept of implementation — just how the plan will be executed, who will pay and other details — came up often in citizen testimony at the public hearing.
“Planning without implementation is empty,” said Reston Citizens Association President Colin Mills. “It is not just a planning issue, it is a political issue. We support having a single entity responsible for implementation issues.”
Planning commission member James Hart reminded Mills, and the people assembled Nov. 13, that implementation specifics don’t need to be in place as the new Reston will evolve over 30 years and planning will get more specific when variables such as developer proffers, population growth and economic climate are known.
“The comprehensive plan regulates nothing, ” he said. “In Virginia, we are under the Dillon Rule. It is probably inappropriate to put things in the plan like specifics if they have no force of law. The plan is intended to be a general guide. If we bear that in mind a lot of what is in this plan looks a lot better.”
Read more from the public hearing here.
More:
Comprehensive Plan Goes to Planning Commission, With Caveats and Complaints
