A half-dozen residents have thrown their hats in the ring for an At-Large seat on the Reston Association Board of Directors, and they faced the community Thursday in a candidate forum at RA headquarters.
Roberto Anguizola, Eric Carr, Mike Collins, Charles Dorfeuille, Ven Iyer and HeidiAnne Werner are all vying for the three-year term on the board. The forum provided them an opportunity to tout their abilities, as well as their goals if they should be elected.
When contemplating the 2018-19 Reston Association budget, which will be approved later this year, candidates said there is a wide number of factors that must be considered. Collins, who was an RA board member from 2010-2013, said it is important for the board to get back to fundamentals.
“We’re not doing the very basic thing we have to do, and that’s maintaining our facilities to the best of our ability,” he said. “That’s going to require laser-like focus by the board, they are going to have to be intimately familiar with our operations, and they have to just say no.”
Dorfeuille, an eight-year resident and a member of the Community Engagement Advisory Committee, advocated for a line-by-line analysis of the budget that separates essential items from non-essential.
“We are spending too much for what I believe we as a community are being given,” he said. “What is non-essential, we look at in the line-by-line review of what we can reduce or what we can de-prioritize.”
Iyer, also an eight-year Reston resident and the president of a technology business, said the budget must be brought in line without continuing the trend of increasing assessments.
“Our assessments have nearly doubled in the last 15 years — this is not sustainable and it is not warranted,” he said. “In another 30 years, the Reston as we know it now will only be affordable for the wealthy top.”
Carr, a former cluster president with over 20 years of nonprofit and government management experience, said a long-term capital plan is needed so the RA board can “get [its] arms around” the existing capital assets that need to be addressed.
“We think about these 40-, 50-year assets we own in two-year budget cycles,” he said. “That doesn’t make sense and it’s very hard to project into the future, and we continue to get surprised when pools fall into disrepair or when pathways need maintenance.”
Werner, a lifelong Restonian who works as an association manager, said natural environments need to be protected from development. She added that services, programs and facilities available to Reston Association members need to be optimized.
“This really is to put a focus on our facilities, to make sure they are in the proper maintenance and attractive for members to use,” she said.
Anguizola, a trial attorney who has lived in Reston since 2008, said his top priority would be to address aging infrastructure in the community. He touted partnerships with nonprofit groups and businesses as a way to achieve that goal without increasing assessments.
“Most of the recreational facilities and amenities in Reston were built in the late ’70s, early ’80s,” he said. “They need attention, and that’s going to cost money to keep them at the level everyone expects them to be at.”
Collins said the board must do a better job of managing its staff and analyzing its needs in the effort to keep costs down.
“The board needs to have firm controls on the budget from the get-go, they need to be willing to get into the details, get behind the top-level numbers and again, say no,” he said. “Sometimes we don’t need a new truck, we don’t need a new computer system. I hate getting into the weeds like that, but apparently we need to do it.”
The Fairfax County Planning Department will hear presentations Thursday on the advertised FY 2018-2022 Capital Improvement Program, with a number of Reston projects on the list.
The largest local project in the plan is the reconfiguration and redevelopment of Reston Town Center North, which includes replacing and redeveloping the North County Human Services Center, as well as the Reston Regional Library and Embry Rucker Shelter. An indoor recreation center is also expected to be part of the project.
From the plan:
Reston Town Center North (Infrastructure and Blocks 7 & 8) (Hunter Mill District): Approximately $76,000,000 is proposed to rezone and develop the overall master plan that reconfigures and provides integrated redevelopment of approximately 50 acres currently owned by Fairfax County and Inova at Reston Town Center North (south of Baron Cameron Avenue between Town Center Parkway and Fountain Drive), including the replacement of Reston Regional Library, Embry Rucker Shelter, currently on this site, and development of additional facilities to accommodate Human Services needs. The plan maximizes the development potential consistent with the needs of the community and in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan Amendment approved in February 2013.
North County Human Services Center (Hunter Mill District): $125,000,000 to fund a replacement facility for the existing North County Human Services Center located in Reston. The existing facility is within the redevelopment master plan area known as Reston Town Center North which will be reconfigured for an integrated redevelopment consistent with the needs of the community and in conformance with the Comprehensive Plan Amendment approved in February 2013. The proposed North County Human Services Center will also support a consolidation of existing leased facility spaces in the service area into one Human Services site to provide enhanced and integrated multidisciplinary services to residents in the western part of the County.
The 47-acre area is bounded by Baron Cameron Avenue, Fountain Drive, Town Center Parkway and Bowman Towne Drive.
The projects are expected to be paid for by Economic Development Authority bond financing, according to the report. Approximately $10 million will be required in FY2018 to fund the county’s share of the agreement with Inova that will provide for the real estate exchange, as well as design and construction of the campus site infrastructure.
Funding of $12,000,000 was approved as part of the fall 2016 Human Services/Community Development Bond Referendum for the shelter, and $10,000,000 was approved as part of the 2012 Library Bond Referendum for the library.
Also among the five-year plan are the continuation of current plans including the Silver Line expansion, the redevelopment of the Crescent Apartments site at Lake Anne, upgrades to Reston and Fox Mill fire stations, the addition to South Lakes High School, and improvements to Reston Community Center and the natatorium.
The workshop and public hearing on the Capital Improvement Plan will be held Thursday at 7 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center.
Reston Town Center North map (2015) via Fairfax County
The firm that is advertising Reston National Golf Course to developers also has plans for a pair of Hunter Mill Road properties.
The Washington Business Journal reports that 68 acres at the Reston/Vienna line, 46 west of the road and 22 east, are being pitched by investment advisory firm ARA Newmark for possible residential or other development.
The property west of the road borders Sunset Hills Road to the south, while the property east of the road abuts the Dulles Toll Road. The latter is the former home of the Golf Park at Hunter Mill, over which owner John Thoburn was infamously jailed by Fairfax County in 2001 due to a landscaping dispute.
The driving range closed in early 2015. Thoburn’s family had owned the land for more than four decades, the WBJ reports, until it was acquired by private lenders through foreclosure last year.
Property behind the former golf park site is already seeing heavy construction work, as it will soon become the new campus of Oakcrest School, a private girls’ school. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints also has plans for a 16,500-square foot church at the intersection with Crowell Road. Roundabouts are being considered for that and several other intersections along Hunter Mill Road to handle increasing congestion in the area.
This is an open letter submitted by residents of the North Point area, addressed to the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee, Reston Design Review Board, Fairfax County Department of Planning and Zoning, Fairfax County Supervisors, and all affected community members. It does not reflect the opinions of Reston Now.
The undersigned residents of the North Point area of Reston seek your attention and assistance regarding anticipated changes to plans for redevelopment of the St. Johns Wood apartment complex.
The property is located at the intersection of Reston Parkway and Center Harbor Road. Please assure that Bozzuto Development Company Inc. (Bozzuto) provides all affected reviewing authorities and the public-at-large sufficient time and information to review the revised plans that the developer has indicated will be made.
The numerous submissions by Bozzuto for redevelopment of the property, seeking to convert 250 multi-family garden apartments in nine three-story buildings to 467 new apartments and 44 townhomes, have undergone many changes over several years. County Supervisor Cathy Hudgins currently advises on her website, “Bozzuto is in the process of revising their plan; therefore, the public hearing was deferred until May 25, 2017.” This postponement by County Planning follows deferral of review by the Reston Design Review Board in October 2016 and a statement of non-support for the Bozzuto application by the Reston Association in September 2016.
More recently, the Reston Planning & Zoning Committee calendared the review of a yet-to-be publically released revision of the developer’s redevelopment plans for St. Johns Wood. That meeting is scheduled for March 27.
Despite the rapidly approaching dates for Reston Planning & Zoning Committee review and the County Planning public hearing, to date Bozzuto has not provided the public with any information about changes to its application.
If the changes are not significant, it is unconscionable to withhold public scrutiny of this potentially neighborhood-altering project. If, as is suspected, the changes to the application are significant, it is even more imperative that the public be provided meaningful opportunity to examine and comment. This is particularly important given the troubling deficiencies cited by the Reston Design Review Board and the Reston Association.
The St. Johns Wood project will so greatly affect the quality of life, environment, safety and property values of the North Point area of Reston that the project must be reviewed in the most transparent manner possible. Please help!
Susan Barse
Stephen Canner
Mark Clyman
Patricia Lentz
John Mooney
Dabney Narvaez
Linda Platt
Jeanne Vasterling
An investment advisory firm has listed Reston National Golf Course as a property “coming soon” for developers, which has angered a local advocacy group.
Rescue Reston was formed in 2012 to oppose efforts to redevelop the golf course’s open space into a residential area, and it was successful. However, it now appears the group has a new fight on its hands.
ARA Newmark has recently distributed information announcing that “168 acres of by-right residential development” would soon be available at the golf course. In an emailed statement to media, Rescue Reston says the advertisement’s use of the term “by-right” is “highly misleading.”
“The Development Plans filed with Fairfax County for the Golf Course and the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan clearly designate the land as open space to be used as a golf course. Any residential development plan would require a review by County Planning Commission staff, a public hearing before the County Planning Commission, a public hearing before the County Board of Supervisors, and ultimately an amendment to the County Comprehensive Plan.”
Rescue Reston president Connie Hartke says her group believes the ownership of the golf course, RN Golf Management, is putting out feelers to potential developers.
“After consulting with our attorney, we suspect this is the first round to determine what the market will bear. A call for bids, if you will,” she said. “RN Golf let it be known in this letter of March 4, 2016 that they intend to pursue ‘available redevelopment options’ to develop Reston’s permanent open space. This is why we have remained vigilant and are able to react so quickly to this news.”
The Reston National site is listed on ARA Newmark’s website, with a price designated as “TBD by Market.”
Hartke said Rescue Reston plans to “mobilize [its] allies and supporters as necessary to oppose any attempt to amend the Comprehensive Plan that would threaten our open space.”
Arlington-based Rooney Properties has plans for a large residential project at 11111 Sunset Hills Road, the Washington Business Journal reports.
Unlike other development Rooney has planned in the area, however, this will not include destruction of the current property. According to the report, Rooney will buy only a portion of the 222,000-square foot office building, owned by The Meridian Group, which it plans to redevelop into living spaces.
The site is currently zoned industrial, and is the home of businesses including IBM and Akamai Technologies. Rooney has filed to rezone it to planned district commercial, for a mixed-use development to include the construction of up to 175 multi-family units and 13 townhouses.
The residences are planned for the western portion of the existing site, according to the statement of justification, “closest to the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station and proximate to the residences planned just to the west.”
The adjacent property to the west is 1831 Michael Faraday Drive, also owned by Rooney Properties. The firm is seeking rezoning of that property, which currently is home to a single-story office building it has plans to demolish to make room for new residences there as well.
The Fairfax Newsletter recently reported that the plans for the Sunset Hills Road property propose “an urban, walkable” development while “retaining and incorporating the existing office building and an extension of Reston Station Boulevard through the site to Sunset Hills.”
The statement of justification also reports that public open space planned for the property would integrate with public open space on the Michael Faraday Drive property “to create a large combined public park.”
Meridian purchased the property in 2015. According to its investment strategy, it “intends to benefit from the nearby redevelopments to the neighborhood, which will connect the property to the Metro via retail-oriented, pedestrian-friendly streetscapes as the area transitions to a mixed-use, 18-hour environment.”
Rooney Properties is also the owner of the property where Sekas Homes is developing Sunrise Square, as well as the Sunrise Valley Drive property where a six-story office building is scheduled for demolition to make way for residential development.
Photo via The Meridian Group
At its meeting last week, the RA Board of Directors unanimously approved the addition of a planned Sunrise Valley Drive community into Reston Association.
Sunrise Square, at the site of the former American Press Institute headquarters (11690 Sunrise Valley Drive), is being developed by Sekas Homes. Its plans consist of 34 townhouses and 10 condos.
A public hearing on the addition of property request was held Jan. 26, at which time the board determined comments from the community warranted further discussion.
With its membership in RA, Sunrise Square will be subject to various terms and conditions, including:
- The entire property will be subject to the Reston Deed
- The establishment of a cluster association — Sunrise Square
- Full payment, per unit of the RA annual assessment
- The grant of a fee simple dedication for RA common area or easement for RA common area (use and maintenance)
“I think this is a no-brainer,” said Jeff Thomas, At-Large director, prior to the vote. “I think it’s a good investment in Reston, because it provides us a foothold in all the development that’s going to happen around there, and it’s going to help create more contiguous properties that we can tie amenities into.”
The property is located in the corridor that was originally part of the Reston Center for Industry and Government (RCIG).
“We’re injecting residential where it was never planned,” said John McBride, RA’s land-use attorney. “In order to keep Reston Reston, it needs to be subjected to the Reston covenants through a supplemental declaration, and the new residents should be RA members.”
Sunrise Square plan illustration via Reston Association
The demolition of a six-story office building at 11720 Sunrise Valley Drive will likely soon begin.
A permit to tear down the structure was filed with Fairfax County last week. The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved in October an application that would see the building brought down and replaced with 54 townhomes on the 3.5-acre property.
Located on the eastern end of the Reston Heights development, the 69,000-square-foot building was bought by Rooney Properties in 2013. Signage outside the building shows its most recent tenants having been QVine Corp., PVBS and GreenTec-USA.
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.
The new development at 11720 Sunrise Valley Drive is planned to have a quarter-acre pocket park located north of a private street that will run through the center of the property. The park will include benches, a butterfly garden, public art and more.
Developers also plan to build six-foot sidewalks along Sunrise Valley Drive and Roland Clarke Place to help make pedestrian connections to Silver Line Metro stations. The plan also incorporates a separate, 10-foot wide path for bicycles along Sunrise Valley Drive.
The entrance to the community will be on Roland Clarke Place. The developers have a dedicated right of way for a future traffic signal at the corner of Sunrise Valley and Roland Clarke.
The agenda for the Feb. 21 meeting of Reston Association’s Design Review Board includes discussion of the redevelopment of a Sunrise Valley Drive property into an assisted-living facility.
Applications by Kensington Senior Development LLC to establish the facility next to the Sunrise Valley Convenience Center were accepted for Fairfax County staff review in November. The site (11501 Sunrise Valley Drive) is currently the home of the Good Beginnings Preschool, a private preschool, day care and kindergarten.
Kensington Senior Development filed a Planned Residential Community (PRC) plan concurrent with a Special Exception for an assisted-living facility on the 1.8-acre property, which is about 675 feet east of the intersection with Soapstone Drive.
A Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing on the project is scheduled for July 19.
Kensington Senior Development operates a facility in Falls Church, and also has locations in Maryland, New Jersey, New York and California.
Map via Fairfax County
A public hearing on a proposed condominium high rise across Reston Parkway from the Town Center has been tentatively scheduled for this fall.
1801 Old Reston Avenue, currently the 1.51-acre home of a three-story office building, has been proposed by property owner Renaissance Centro as the site of a 20-story high rise with up to 150 living units. Of those units, 126 would be market-rate and 24 would be workforce dwelling.
The condos would represent the first for-sale living units in or near Reston Town Center since 2007, Washington Business Journal reports.
The property’s website touts that the building “will feature well-appointed units and elegant amenity areas.” Among the amenities listed are a grand lobby, a resident lounge and party room, a fitness center, and a rooftop amenity package.
According to the proposal, the building would be a maximum height of 254 feet, inclusive of a mechanical rooftop penthouse.
The Old Reston Avenue property is flanked by The Harrison to the north and Stratford House to the south, both of which were also built by Renaissance Centro. The company also built the nearby Carlton House.
The property would need to be rezoned from commercial to planned residential mixed-use. The real-estate development company recently filed a rezoning application with the county.
According to the Fairfax County website, the public hearing before the county Planning Commission has been tentatively scheduled for Sept. 28.
Proposed redevelopment of the St. Johns Wood apartments, opposed vehemently by residents and the Reston Association Board of Directors, won’t go before the county Planning Commission for at least a few more months.
The hearing on the topic was first scheduled for 2015, but has had numerous postponements. The most recent scheduled date for the hearing was Jan. 26. However, according to Supervisor Cathy Hudgins’ office, property owner Bozzuto is still revising its plan, pushing the date of the hearing back once more.
The proposal originally called for redeveloping the 250-unit garden apartment complex (11500 Olde Tiverton Circle) near North Point Village Center into 625 multi-family units and 34 townhomes. The concept has already been altered multiple times, with the most recent plan calling for 467 units and 44 townhomes.
The Design Review Board deferred action on the project after a November meeting with Bozzuto.
Reston residents have organized a petition opposing the plan, and many attended a community meeting in August 2016 to share with Hudgins and other officials their myriad concerns about the proposed development. Opposition to the project’s aesthetics, increased traffic and impact on the environment was voiced. Bozzuto says the area has always been slated for high-density development.
At an October meeting of the Reston Association Board of Directors, RA’s land-use attorney John McBride explained that while the board and residents can take a stand, they do not have much power in stopping development. According to the Reston Comprehensive Plan, which was modified in 2014 and 2015, McBride said, Bozzuto is within its rights to propose the redevelopment plan.
The Fairfax County website says the date of the public hearing “will be changing to a future date to be determined.” Hudgins’ office says it won’t occur until at least May 25.
The Reston Association Board of Directors decided at their Thursday meeting to hold off until next month on determining whether to add the future Sunrise Square cluster to RA.
CEO Cate Fulkerson had planned to ask for board consideration of the request following a public hearing at the meeting; however, that decision was postponed after a number of questions were raised by both board members and community residents.
The property is located at 11690 Sunrise Valley Drive, the former site of the American Press Institute headquarters. That building was demolished last fall.
Concerns raised Thursday regarding bringing the new development into Reston Association included a clause written into the agreement that would make RA responsible for maintaining a shared-use public space on the property; and the fact that as the property is not yet part of RA, development was not scheduled to be considered by the Design Review Board.
Director Ray Wedell said he didn’t feel comfortable making a decision one way or the other on the property until the board had fully considered what approval would mean.
“This is just one of many [new developments] coming up, and it’s going to be somewhat of a test case. Like it or not, it may set some kind of precedent — good and bad — on a lot of different issues here,” Wedell said. “I don’t want to open doors to give people a back doorway for getting things approved that shouldn’t be approved, nor do I want to set a precedent of us appearing to be obstructionist or over-regulatory.”
Eve Thompson, board secretary, said it is important for new developments in Reston’s Transportation Station Area corridor to become members of RA, but that the situation involves “walking a tightrope.”
“We want the membership — the property is going to get developed regardless of what we say or do,” she said. “So we’re trying to get them in the fold without [giving up too much].”
Director Sherri Hebert said the loophole created by allowing the development into RA before it goes down the channels required for existing properties would be “dangerous.”
“It’s not going to meet our standards, our Reston principles,” she said. “I’m not sure that I would want to create that loophole and precedent for anybody else on the TSA to do the same thing, come after the fact and say, ‘We want to be members, but we just bypassed everything that you value in Reston.'”
Citizen Irwin Flashman also addressed the board, saying he didn’t believe there had been enough notice of the public hearing.
“There needs to be much more time for the public to review the documents, think about them, discuss them and raise questions to the board as to whether this is appropriate or not,” he said. “Too often we have seen with the Reston Association a rush to judgment, and too often, the rush to judgment has been wrong.”
Fulkerson said information about the proposal was provided to the Board Operations Committee in November, and that proper public hearing announcements were made.
The board eventually decided to hold a second public hearing on the matter at its Feb. 23 meeting, with RA committees including the Design Review Board to examine the plan before that time.
If you traveled or just tuned out from local news during the holiday season, here’s what you may have missed:
Lake House Review: Work has still not begun on a review of how funds were handled to purchase and renovate what is now the Lake House at Lake Anne. It was decided an independent review was necessary after renovations ended up to be roughly three times what was budgeted, and money had to be borrowed from the Reston Association’s operating budget to cover the deficit. The RA Board previously went through months of negotiations with the firm MediaWorld, who had offered to do the review for just $1 if volunteers agreed to help with some of the busy work, but after more than two months of back and forth, it appears negotiations have been stalled or possibly terminated.
Development on the Horizon: Per the usual here in Reston, there are several major developments in the works around town. In particular, just before the holidays, more news broke about Vornado’s planned development near Wiehle-Reston East Metro, Comstock’s hopes for a development near Reston Station, and an approval for planned lofts by Pulte Homes near Reston Station.
Very Little Crime to Ruin the Holidays: Thankfully, very few crimes made headlines in the Reston area over the holidays. There were minor break-ins at the Carlton House condos at Reston Town Center and the Hidden Creek Country Club, and a tragic accident in D.C. involving a Herndon man. In a bit of good news, the community pulled together to help find a teen boy who went missing in North Reston within 24 hours.
Fourth Spot Opens Up on RA Board: Just before the Christmas and Chanukah holidays, North Point District Director Danielle LaRosa of the Reston Association Board of Directors tendered her resignation. LaRosa also serves as the board’s current treasurer. LaRosa’s seat joins three others that are opening up on the board when three-year terms come to an end in April, for a total of four out of the board’s nine seats up for election when voting begins March 3. The candidate elected to fill LaRosa’s seat will serve the remaining two years of her three-year term. A Candidate Information Session will take place tonight for those who want to learn more about running for the board.
As we kick off 2017, what are you most interested in or concerned about around Reston? Tell us what you most want Reston Now to cover in this new year.
It looks as though another huge development could soon go up near Reston Station.
Developer Comstock Partners has submitted plans to Fairfax County for a new mixed-use development, to be located south of Sunset Hills Road and immediately north of Reston Station and the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station. The Washington Business Journal first reported on the new development last week.
If all goes according to plan, the new development would consist of 500 residential units, about 91,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space and another 178,000 square feet for office or hotel use.
Comstock, which had its eye on the site earlier this year, will reportedly call the development The Promenade at Reston Station. Additionally, the developer plans to connect the new building to its adjacent developments via a “woonerf” on Reston Station Boulevard, WBJ reported.
Reston Station file photo from Oct. 2016
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors this week approved plans for a new 260-unit apartment complex near the Wiehle-Reston East Metro Station.
The seven-story apartment complex, dubbed “the Lincoln,” will be located next to the site of the future Metro Commerce Center, a multi-acre development by Vornado Realty planned to consist of four towers featuring offices, residences, retail and a hotel.
The Lincoln is slated to be built on three acres near the corner of Sunrise Valley Drive and Commerce Park Drive, where a surface-level parking garage for the Executive II office building is located now.
The firm developing the Lincoln, Wiehle Station Ventures LLC, told the board that the apartment complex will feature an interior 
courtyard and underground parking.
“The developer will also help to build the planned shared-use path along Sunrise Valley,” the board said in its announcement Thursday.
The site for the Lincoln complex is close to Reston National Golf Course and Soapstone Drive, where a future toll road crossing is planned.
