In a work session Tuesday (video), Reston’s Design Review Board and Kensington Senior Development made progress on the latter’s plan to put a 91-unit assisted-living facility at 11501 Sunrise Valley Drive.
A re-worked sketch for the proposed facility presented to the DRB at the session pushes the building farther away from nearby townhouses on Approach Lane, part of the Wethersfield Cluster. Where previous proposals had the building within 50 feet of the nearest residence, the new configuration leaves about 80 feet.
The proposal also caps the building at three above-ground stories over one level of underground parking. The center portion of the building would have only two above-ground stories, with a rooftop garden accessible from both sides.
Previous designs for the proposal featured as many as five stories.
“This seems to me to be progress,” said Richard Newlon, DRB vice chair, who was very critical of previous plans. “I think this is going in a direction that is going to be just better.”
The facility would be at the site of the current Good Beginnings School. The property has not yet been sold, with the deal contingent upon the plan’s approval.
Several residents of the Wethersfield Cluster spoke during the session, expressing their concerns about lowered property values, privacy and architectural compatibility.
“The sentiment of the community is that the mass and height of this building is inappropriate at this location so close to a residential community,” said Stephen Cerny, president of the Cluster Association.
DRB members remained skeptical of how the facility would be viewed from Approach Lane and from the adjacent Sunrise Valley Convenience Center. They implored the developer to bring more detailed exhibits to future meetings to address those issues.
While DRB was happy with the effort to move the building farther away from the nearby townhouses, retaining more tree buffer in the process, they asked the developer to explore whether inching even closer to the Sunrise Valley Drive side of the property would be possible.
Screencap via Reston Association/YouTube
Another developer has plans for residential units near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station.
The Washington Business Journal reports that a subsidiary of TF Cornerstone is looking to build several residential buildings on 11.6 acres at 1900 and 1902 Campus Commons Drive. That’s just east of the intersection of Wiehle Avenue and Sunrise Valley Drive, south of the Dulles Toll Road and about a quarter-mile from the station.
According to the WBJ report, the developer looks to add:
- two high-rise residential buildings between 20 and 28 stories
- a seven-story multifamily building
- either 26 townhouses or a six-story residential building with 8,000 square feet of retail
In total, this could add nearly 1,100 residential units to the property.
The property is already the home of two six-story office buildings, which would remain. A rezoning application to convert the property to mixed use has been submitted to Fairfax County.
This is just another in an ever-growing list of residential projects proposed in the portion of the Transit Station Area east of Wiehle Avenue. Others include:
- The JBG/1831 Wiehle project, which would bring 1,300 to 1,500 new residences on six parcels between Wiehle Avenue and Michael Faraday Drive
- 175 multifamily units and 13 townhouses at 11111 Sunset Hills Road, just east of Michael Faraday Drive and adjacent to the JBG/1831 Wiehle project
- a seven-story, 261-apartment building at 1808 Michael Faraday Court
- The Lofts at Reston Station, 44 residences at 1825 Michael Faraday Drive (approved by Fairfax County in October)
Numerous additional projects are also in the works on the west side of Wiehle Avenue and down the Sunrise Valley Drive corridor. In 2014, Fairfax County reworked Reston’s land-use plan to encourage such development in the area of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station, as well as the future Reston Town Center and Herndon stations.
“In the future, the three station areas could become home to a total of 30 million square feet in offices and 28,000 housing units,” the county said in its announcement of the plan’s revision.
The dozens of residents in attendance at Monday’s Reston Planning & Zoning Committee meeting were asked to raise their hands if they oppose the county’s plan to increase density limits in the Reston Planned Residential Community District.
The response was practically unanimous.
After hearing — many for the second time, after a May 3 meeting — the Fairfax County Department of Planning & Zoning’s presentation, numerous attendees spoke up to share their concerns. One of the most repeated was a thought about the seemingly short timeline of the county’s plan to amend the zoning ordinance.
“The County and the community need to understand the implications for Reston of the zoning ordinance amendment and quite possibly amend it so that it is consistent with Reston’s vision and planning principles,” said Terry Maynard, co-chair of the Reston 20/20 committee and an outspoken opponent of the proposal. “This will take time, not the headlong rush the County and Board [of Supervisors] seem to be in to get this amendment passed with three public meetings in three weeks this month.”
The third public meeting on the DPZ’s proposal is slated for Wednesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at Lake Anne Elementary School (11510 North Shore Drive). The DPZ says it is hoping to bring the plan before the Board of Supervisors in July, followed by a Planning Commission public hearing in September and the Board public hearing in October.
The DPZ says the current limitation of 13 persons per acre in the Reston PRC “cannot support the amended Master Plan.” It is planning to recommend the Board of Supervisors change that limit to 16 persons per acre. It says that would allow for up to 18,737 more people in the long term, beyond the current cap.
Reston’s PRC District is currently at about 11.9 persons per acre.
Proposed redevelopment of Reston Town Center North will be the topic of a community meeting hosted by the Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services along with Supervisor Cathy Hudgins later this month.
The upcoming meeting will be held in the cafeteria at Lake Anne Elementary School (11510 North Shore Drive) from 7-9 p.m. Wednesday, May 31. DPWES is scheduled to provide a brief presentation about the Town Center North-Mixed Use Area, including the Request for Proposal process for the Reston Regional Library and Embry Rucker Shelter.
According to the DPWES:
“Located midway between Tysons and Dulles International Airport, future Reston Town Center North is part of a quickly urbanizing area in northwestern Fairfax County. The Board of Supervisors envisions redeveloping the property from a collection of irregularly-shaped parcels, which are incompatible with Reston Town Center and surrounding development, into a vibrant urban, mixed-use environment that complements Reston Town Center and surrounding development.”
DPWES says the redevelopment would allow for the creation of a central green space open for public use; mixed-use development compatible with adjacent Reston Town Center; a walkable community connected to surrounding communities, Reston Town Center and public transportation; an expanded library to serve a growing population; upgraded delivery of human services; and affordable housing provided for workforce.
As part of the redevelopment, the area would be realigned into nine parcels, which would then be rezoned. A 2.6-acre public park is proposed for the center of the development. The first two parcels slated for redevelopment are the library and the shelter, which will be fully replaced. The Fairfax County Park Authority also has rights to build a 90,000-square-foot recreation center in the area, and the North County Human Services Center would also be replaced.
Redevelopment of the whole area — bounded by Baron Cameron Avenue, Town Center Parkway, New Dominion Parkway and Fountain Drive — is expected to take more than a decade.
The county last held a community meeting on the proposal in November 2015, shortly after a land swap was completed between the county and Inova, which also included Reston Towne Green, a five-acre parcel, being transferred from the Park Authority. Comments shared by community members during the meeting included suggestions about the locations and amenities of the library and shelter, as well as concerns about parking and open space.
Maps courtesy Fairfax County Department of Public Works and Environmental Services
This is an op/ed submitted by Terry Maynard, co-chair of the Reston 20/20 committee. It does not reflect the opinions of Reston Now.
Last Wednesday evening may have seen a watershed moment in Reston’s development, as about 150 residents confronted the County’s planning staff and Supervisor Cathy Hudgins at a community meeting on the Board of Supervisors plan that, in addition to other changes, would eliminate any limit on the density of residential redevelopment in Reston Town Center under the Reston Planned Residential Community (PRC) zoning ordinance’s “high” density area category, as long as those plans were consistent with the Reston Master Plan.
Power unchecked is power abused. That is what Reston is looking at with the Board’s Reston PRC zoning proposal.
Moreover, increasing the zoned density of any property in Virginia creates a “by right” authority for developers to build at that density. It cannot be revoked by the Board, even if experience shows the density is excessive.
High density is a gift to developers that often costs residents increased taxes (such as the new station area Transportation Service District tax), traffic congestion, school crowding, environmental deterioration; reduced livability from overtaxed open space, park facilities and libraries; and greater demands on police, fire and emergency services.
A more specific look at the implications for Reston Planned Residential Community (PRC) areas of Reston Town Center as shown in the enclosed map highlights where those changes would occur. The PRC zoning area subject to this zoning amendment proposal includes virtually all of Reston Town Center north of the toll road, and the Reston Heights — Westin Hotel — area of the Town Center station area south of the toll road.
The Reston Town Center area of the zoning code does not explicitly use the high/medium/low residential designation used in the suburban areas. Instead, the PRC land use map calls for them to be related to transit station area mixed-use. Nonetheless, the “high” density limit of 50 DU/A has been used as the upper limit in RTC. Moreover, the Reston plan that theoretically limits development generally identifies “target” residential goals for each of the districts and subdistricts within the Town Center.
Only one of these districts with an explicit “target” number of DUs proposes an overall density greater than the existing “high” density limit the Reston PRC. That’s the area immediately next to the Metro station on the north side, where the plan’s “target” residential density would lead to 88 DU/A, with 2,600 units as laid out as a target in the plan.
A plan by the Fairfax County Department of Planning & Zoning to increase the population density limit in the Reston Planned Residential Community District by three people per acre will go before the public another time.
The DPZ will share information about the proposal during a community meeting Wednesday, May 24, at 7 p.m. in the cafeteria at Lake Anne Elementary School (11510 North Shore Drive). In addition, the public is invited to see the proposal presented to Reston’s Planning & Zoning Committee on Monday at 7:30 p.m. at the North County Governmental Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive).
Residents first had a chance to hear about the plan during a public meeting on the proposal on May 3.
The DPZ says the current limitation of 13 persons per acre “cannot support the amended Master Plan.” It is planning to recommend the Board of Supervisors change that limit to 16 persons per acre. It says that would allow for 18,737 more people in the long term.
“The adopted Comprehensive Plan, which includes the Master Plan for Reston, cannot be implemented without also updating the density limits contained in the Zoning Ordinance to support the Plan,” the DPZ says.
According to the presentation, the proposal is to “increase the overall persons per acre limitation to continue to accommodate planned development in accordance with Plan.” To make that happen, the department is “recommending that the Board be able to approve individual developments in excess of 50 [dwelling units/acre] in TSAs and when in accordance with Comprehensive Plan recommendations.”
Changes to the Comprehensive Plan and Master Plan made in 2014 and 2015 focused growth around Reston’s three Transit Station Areas, Reston Town Center and the community’s village centers.
Reston is currently at about 11.9 persons per acre, according to information provided by the DPZ. The plan does not propose to change the persons-per-acre limitations in low-density (3.8), medium-density (14) or high-density (60) residential areas; nor does it propose changing the dwelling units-per-acre limitations on individual properties in low-density (5) or medium-density (20) residential areas.
Anyone seeking further information about the proposal is encouraged to contact the DPZ’s Zoning Administration Division at 703-324-1314 or [email protected].
Reston PRC District map via Fairfax County Planning & Zoning
More than 100 turned out for a planned rally at the Reston National Golf Course Sunday against the development of the 166 acres which has long been kept as natural open space.
The group, which calls itself “Rescue Reston,” says the acreage is “Certified Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program Golf,” and that its designation as open space dates back to Reston founder Bob Simon’s vision for the community.
“We’re going to send a message to the majority owner of the golf course — Northwestern Mutual — and potential bidders that Reston will not stop defending the 166 acres across Sunrise Valley Drive from the Northwestern Mutual offices,” said Connie Hartke, president of Rescue Reston. “Restonians have the power when the zoning is already on our side.”
“[Our] message to speculators regarding the sale of Reston National Golf Course is: buy a golf course if you wish, but know that recreational open space is all you will have,” Hartke continued.
News of this latest potential sale and development of Reston National Golf Course emerged earlier this year when ARA Newmark began distributing information that implies the acreage is “coming soon” for interested parties. The memorandum indicates it was prepared “solely for the use of prospective buyers of the real property commonly known as Reston National Golf Course.”
Rescue Reston members have been consulting with attorneys in preparation of fighting any potential rezoning, sale or development of the property, the organization’s website states.
On Monday, construction is set to begin on 210 new senior living units in Reston.
The units, to be called Hunters Woods at Trails Edge, will be located in place of the former United Christian Parish Church at 2222 Colts Neck Road.
Of the 210 units, 90 will be designated as independent living, 81 for assisted living, 15 for special needs, and 24 assigned to memory care.
The project will offer 20 percent of the independent living units as affordable units, and 4 percent of the assisted living beds will be available for residents who are eligible for the Virginia Department of Ageing and Rehabilitative Services Auxiliary Grant Program.
The project will offer 20 percent of the independent living units as affordable units, and 4 percent of the assisted living beds will be available for residents who are eligible for the Virginia Department of Ageing and Rehabilitative Services Auxiliary Grant Program. Read More
A future office tower at Reston Town Center may soon have a tenant in line, a Boston Properties executive said.
“We are now in dialogue with a tenant for 100 percent of our proposed new development in Reston Town Center, 17Fifty,” said Doug Linde, Boston Properties president, during the company’s quarterly earnings conference call Wednesday.
The 270,000-square foot, 17-story office building will be constructed at the corner of Presidents and Market streets. No further information was provided about the nature of the potential tenant.
Linde also said there are “multiple tenants competing” for a 38,000-square foot block of space at Reston Town Center.
Also during the conference call Wednesday, BXP CFO Michael LaBelle said the company is expecting big things from The Signature, currently under construction at Fountain Drive and New Dominion Parkway. The mixed-use development, which will be anchored by a Balducci’s grocery store, will have 508 residential units and nine levels of underground parking when it opens next year.
LaBelle called the development one of the “most significant projects in our pipeline.”
Site plan via CBRE/Reston Town Center
The Fairfax County Department of Planning & Zoning will host a community meeting next week to discuss proposed zoning ordinance changes that could increase the residential density limit in Reston.
The current zoning ordinance limits residential density in Reston’s Planned Residential Community District, which encompasses most of the community, to an average of 13 people per acre. The Comprehensive Plan for Reston was updated by Fairfax County in 2014 and 2015, guiding redevelopment in Reston’s Transit Station Areas, Town Center and village centers.
The community meeting will be held Wednesday, May 3 at 7 p.m. at the North County Governmental Center (1801 Cameron Glen Drive).
A representative for Supervisor Cathy Hudgins’ office said the county DPZ is reviewing data to determine what changes to the ordinance may be necessary to accommodate for the growth approved by the changes to the plan. The meeting May 3, as well as a Reston Planning & Zoning Committee meeting May 15 at 7:30 p.m. at the same location, are opportunities for the community to share their thoughts, she said.
Map courtesy Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning
This is an op/ed submitted by Terry Maynard, co-chair of the Reston 20/20 committee. It does not reflect the opinions of Reston Now.
Our County Board of Supervisors, led by Chairman Sharon Bulova, is in the process of overbuilding and underserving residents in Reston and across the county. The result will be the eroding livability of Reston and other county areas facing urbanization.
And this is being accomplished by a simple arithmetical trick: Overstating the amount of space new housing and office space require to accommodate residents and workers. Very simply, county planners continue to overstate the space needed for office workers as 300 gross square feet (GSF) per worker when studies globally over nearly a decade show it is now under 200 GSF/worker and could be headed to 150 GSF/worker.
At the same time, as it started to plan for Tysons’ redevelopment nearly a decade ago, the County raised its planning assumption for the size of station area dwelling units (DUs) from 1,000 GSF/DU to 1,200 GSF/DU. Nonetheless, a County planning study for Tysons showed then (2007) that the average size of Tysons residents was 1,100 GSF, mostly in garden apartments before the recent advent of massive high-rise residential development there. Now, the average high-rise DU size is shrinking well below 1,000 GSF/DU, more than offsetting the few mid-rise and single-family attached DUs in station areas, as some recent Reston development proposals show:
- JBG/Wiehle and partners plan for 1,300-1,500 residential units in 1.2 million GSF of development in two 5-story buildings, or 800-925 GSF/DU;
- Golf Course Plaza proposes 413 DUs in a 392,600 GSF multi-family building or 950 GSF/DU, also in 5-story structures;
- Faraday’s proposes redeveloping the area just south of Wiehle Station with up to 500 apartments in two buildings with about 487,000 GSF of residential space that will reach about 975 GSF/DU according to its plan submission.
- Lerner Enterprises is planning a 457-“luxury apartment” complex called Excelsior Park with average unit size at about 1,050 GSF in 423,587 rentable square feet (RBA), which equates to 481,350 GSF.
That’s nearly 3,000 DUs, including luxury apartments, whose average GSF is about 925 GSF/DU — nowhere near the County’s assumed size of 1,200 GSF/DU — and suggesting the number of future residents and DUs in Reston’s station areas will be nearly one-third greater than planned under existing allowable densities. This is consistent with national data: A study of apartment sizes over the last decade shows that their average size has shrunk — not expanded — from 1,015 square feet to 934 square feet.
The impact is straightforward: The resulting planned densities (total GSF of development divided by the square footage of the lot on which it sits) will allow half-again as many office workers and 28 percent more residential units than the County plan officially intends. Yet developers and the County are only planning to provide services — improved roads, schools and parks, and more — based on the lower count envisioned in the plan. The result will be reduced services and higher taxes.
So what does that mean for “real people?” Based on GSF information provided by FCDOT to the Supervisors serving as the Board Transportation Committee, the current Reston station area plan offers the potential for 76,280 added residents (at 2.0 residents/DU) and 29,059 added office worker jobs (at 300GSF/worker) in the next four decades.
If instead of using the County’s faulty planning assumptions, we use real world experience, we can anticipate that the allowable development could result in an addition of 101,492 total residents in 50,746 DUs and 78,559 office workers, including retrofitted office buildings, market conditions permitting. More specifically, it suggests an order of magnitude explosion in residents (11,720 in 2010 vs. 113,212 then) and more than twice as many office employees (69,941 in 2010 vs. 148,500 then) in Reston’s station areas. Overall, Reston can expect twice as many people living and working in the station areas as is anticipated by the Reston plan.
Developer Bozzuto is deferring “indefinitely” its application to redevelop St. Johns Wood, according to information sent out by Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins’ office Thursday afternoon.
Hudgins’ office says the community meeting on the project that had been scheduled for Tuesday is being canceled, and a representative for the supervisor said it is her understanding that “all meetings” regarding the proposal are off the table.
The plan was scheduled to go before the Fairfax County Planning Commission on May 25, following additional meetings with Reston’s Planning & Zoning Committee and Design Review Board on May 15 and 16. Meetings with the P&Z Committee and DRB this week featured many comments against the project from North Point residents, and the DRB in particular was critical of many elements of the project.
Brian Winterhalter of Cooley LLP, the commercial real-estate attorney representing Bozzuto, said at Tuesday’s DRB meeting that his team would follow up about scheduling a work session with the Design Review Board. However, he expressed disappointment with how the process was progressing.
The proposal has been in the works since 2014 and has seen numerous changes in that time. The current plan calls for 481 multifamily units within two buildings on the 14.3-acre property.
Winterhalter has not responded to requests for comment.
Speaking to representatives for developer Bozzuto during an informational session Tuesday night, the vice chair of Reston’s Design Review Board expressed deep concern about the future of the community.
“It’s imperative as we get new developments that they respect the Reston quality, and not allow us to become simply another suburban development,” Richard Newlon said. “Internal overdevelopment will destroy Reston.”
Newlon, who has served on the DRB for 18 years, said roughly 10 percent of the 134 clusters in Reston are owned by developers such as Bozzuto, JBG and Lerner. He said the St. Johns Wood project is a “precedent-producing application.”
“One of my concerns is if all of those 13 or so clusters do the same thing, Reston as Reston exists today is gone,” he said. “Reston as we know it would cease to exist.”
Bozzuto’s redevelopment proposal features 481 multifamily units within two buildings on the 14.3-acre North Point property, where there are currently 250 multifamily units in nine buildings.
Members of Reclaim Reston also spoke during the session, presenting similar information to what they did at a Monday night session with the Planning & Zoning Committee. Members of the DRB agreed with much of what the affected parties shared, including about the apparent lack of context-sensitive design within the proposal.
“Contextualism is a term that suggests an architecture that responds to its surroundings by respecting what’s already there, and I think we have a problem here because I don’t think that’s happening,” Newlon said. “I think you guys [Bozzuto] are going to really have to look at the design and do what you can, both from a massing standpoint and, as we get to it, an architectural standpoint.”
DRB member Neal Roseberry said the potential of having such an imposing development go up in a residential neighborhood is frightening.
“How do you insert this relatively high-density anomaly into an existing setting, an existing neighborhood that doesn’t have anything like this at all, and [the development] obviously scares people?” he said. “It’s literally scary to think of this thing landing in that neighborhood up there.”
Brian Winterhalter of Cooley LLP, the commercial real-estate attorney representing Bozzuto, said his team would follow up about scheduling a work session with the Design Review Board. However, he expressed disappointment with how the process is progressing.
“You have approved a plan [in July], we came back with a revised plan. You had very specific comments about the revised plan, which we feel we have addressed very well based on what you gave us, and now we’re back two steps backward,” Winterhalter said. “And so I don’t know what we make of that going forward in terms of the comments we just received.”
Newlon said the plan that was approved in July was a different plan that the board felt was “going in the right direction.”
“This is a whole new project, as far as I’m concerned,” he said. “It’s doing, in my mind, all the things we were hoping wouldn’t happen.”
Fairfax County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins has a community meeting on the proposal slated for next Tuesday at Langston Hughes Middle School. The proposal is set to go before the Planning & Zoning Committee and the Design Review Board again next month, on May 15 and 16. A Fairfax County Planning Commission hearing on the project remains scheduled for May 25.
Screencap via Reston Association YouTube channel; rendering via Bozzuto/KTGY
Toll Brothers plans to purchase a Sunrise Valley Drive office property slated for luxury townhouse development, the Washington Business Journal reports.
The company will finalize a deal to purchase the land from Rooney Properties “later this year,” the WBJ says. As we previously reported, Rooney purchased the property in 2013 and Fairfax County approved a rezoning request in October. In February, a permit application to tear down the six-story office building currently on the 3.5 acres was filed.
The purchase price of the reported sale was not disclosed.
The WBJ reports Toll Brothers plans to follow through on the plan to tear down the office building, with an aim to complete site-plan approval by fall. Sales would begin next summer, according to the report, with prices in the $800,000 range.
The property is located across Roland Clarke Place from the former location of the API building, which was razed last year to make room for the future Sunrise Square cluster. Also owned by Rooney Properties, that will consist of 34 townhouses and 10 condos.
Both properties are part of a large number of developments planned for the stretch between the Wiehle-Reston East Metro station and the future Reston Town Center station, as progression of the Silver Line’s Phase 2 continues.
Rendering courtesy Rooney Properties
The last time North Point residents addressed Bozzuto about the developer’s proposed St. Johns Wood redevelopment, the catchphrase was “size matters.”
At Monday night’s meeting of the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee meeting, the message was tweaked — with a nod to Johnnie Cochran.
“In order for the developer to pack in the desired density, to squeeze in nearly double the current number of units and who knows how many residents, the developer again proposes a design that simply does not fit,” said Linda Platt, one of several members of Reclaim Reston who spoke in succession in a coordinated effort to fight the latest proposal. “And if it does not fit, they must quit.”
That rhyming phrase was repeated throughout Platt’s statement and was invoked by other speakers as well as community members had the chance to speak in response to Bozzuto during the latest informational meeting on the proposal. Bozzuto was presenting to the Planning & Zoning Committee for the sixth time since the project was first proposed in 2014; tonight, the proposal goes before Reston’s Design Review Board for the sixth time as well.
Brian Winterhalter of Cooley LLP, the commercial real-estate attorney presenting the plan on behalf of Bozzuto, told the committee Monday that the proposal to put 481 mid-rise multifamily units within two buildings is suitable for a property that was originally marked in the Reston Master Plan for high-density development.
There are currently 250 multifamily units on the 14.3-acre property.
The redevelopment proposal features 33.6 units per acre, which classifies it as medium-density. Winterhalter said the proposal is for about 60 percent one-bedroom units, with a third of the units having two-bedrooms and only about 5 percent with three bedrooms.
