Opponents of rezoning and redevelopment at Reston National Golf Course are gearing up for another round.

After 18 months of relative quiet, RN Golf (a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual) is again preparing for a Fairfax County’s Board of Zoning Appeals hearing on reclassifying the 166-acre public golf course as something other than open recreational space.

The hearing is Jan. 21 at 9 a.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center.

Rescue Reston, the grassroots group formed when the golf course rezoning issue first came up in the summer of 2012, is hard at work rallying opposition to rezoning.

On its website, the group has a countdown clock to the number of days, hours and minutes to the BZA hearing. It has distributed Christmas-themed flyers portraying Northwestern Mutual as both the ghost of Christmas past and Scrooge, as well as the developers of “Pottersville” — the darker, drunker alternate reality of Jimmy Stewart’s Bedford Falls in It’s a Wonderful Life.

“Northwestern Mutual has launched the most serious attack on the heritage of Reston we have witnessed in the 37 years we have lived here,” Reston Rescue founder John Pinkman wrote to golf course-area neighbors recently.

“If this destruction of open space and the concept of the planned community is allowed to proceed, the door will be open for extreme change in neighborhoods throughout Reston. NWM HAS NO COMMITMENT TO THE COMMUNITY; except that is, to make as much profit as they can and then leave.”

To generate community support for the upcoming BZA Hearing, Rescue Reston has planned a Rally to Save open space for Jan. 10 at 2 p.m. at Langston Hughes Middle School. The group hopes as many residents as possible will attend the Jan. 21 hearing to show their support.

The group held rallies back in 2012, when RN Golf first filed the appeal with the county after an original inquiry came back that the course was zoned open space and to change it, the owners could have to go through the rezoning process.

RN Golf has asked for the appeal because it wants to be able to rezone without going through the process.

The BZA hearing was postponed about a half dozen times in 2012 and 2013 before RN Golf deferred it indefinitely in July 2013.

Since then, the Reston Master Plan Comprehensive Amendment, approved by the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in 2014, states the two Reston golf courses should remain as community assets in the face of nearby development.

Both Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins and Reston Association have spoken in opposition to the rezoning.

RA says it would even consider purchasing the land to prevent development.

“It is RA’s stance that these golf courses are integral to the active lifestyle of its members,”  RA president Ken Knueven said in November when the new hearing date was announced.

Photo: Rescue Reston flyer/Courtesy Rescue Reston

The quest to possibly redevelop Reston National Golf Course may be taking shape again.

The attorney representing RN Golf Management, which owns the public golf course, has asked the Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals to put the issue back on a meeting agenda.

The BZA hearing would likely take place in January or February as it is required under state rules to do so within 90 days of attorney Frank McDermott’s request.

The county last heard from the golf course owners in July of 2013, when they asked that the same appeal be deferred indefinitely. That ended — or at least subsided — about a year of discussion on the matter.

RN Golf, a subsidiary of Northwestern Mutual Insurance, asked the county in the spring of 2012 for clarification on the course’s status. Even though it was commercial/open space, could it be considered residential? RN Golf said at the time that the course was zoned residential, and therefore it could be built as such.

Fairfax County responded that the course is open recreational space, and if the owners wanted something different, they needed to seek a rezoning.

While the appeal was scheduled for hearing several times in 2012 and 2013, it was deferred indefinitely in July 2013.

However, the issue of potentially losing 166 acres of green space sparked a grassroots organization, Rescue Reston, as well as a stance on the issue by Reston Association, which is opposed to the golf course being redeveloped.

RA said Friday it remains opposed to the golf course land being redeveloped for residential use.

“It is RA’s stance that these golf courses are integral to the active lifestyle of its members and furthers the Reston lifestyle ‘live, work, play and get involved,’ ” said RA president Ken Knueven. 

RA says is also willing to consider a purchase of the golf course in order to keep Reston a golf course community. 

Rescue Reston president Connie Hartke says the group is ready to resume the fight for open space.

“We are prepared to respond,” she said. “We have money in the bank. We will fight to make sure it remains zoned as open space.”

Since the last time the golf course issue was active, the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors has approved Phase I of the Reston Master Plan Special Study, which guides development around the transit centers.

The county is now deep into the Phase II process of the comprehensive plan amendment. The working draft of the Phase II guidelines, which will update plans for neighborhoods and village centers, has several areas in which it speaks of Reston’s commitment to open space and recreational areas.

The Phase II strawman text states that both Reston National and Hidden Creek Golf Courses “are planned for private recreation use, more specifically to remain as golf courses.”

Meanwhile, the county earlier this year called for public land use proposals for Phase II. Fairfax Hunt Club, for example, inquired about changing zoning from recreational to residential. RN Golf did not file a land use proposal at that time.

Reston National has been golf course space since it was built in 1970. RN Golf purchased the course in 2005 for $5 million, county records show.

McDermott, the attorney for RN Golf, did not return calls from Reston Now.

Photo: Golfers at Reston National/file photo