After six postponements since December, Pulte Home’s Lofts at Reston Station will finally go before the Fairfax County Planning Commission this week.
It might not move quickly though. A Fairfax County Planning staff report recommends denial of the application to rezone an industrial area, currently a one-story office building, on Michael Faraday Drive and built 44 residences. The plan calls for 12 2-over-2 townhouses and 32 multifamily units on a 1 1/2-acre plot of land.
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 planning staff report basically says that is too much housing attempting to be crammed into a small space.
The staff report takes issues 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.
The report also mentions concerns about how trash and recycling trucks will function in the crowded layout.
The staff report suggest an alternative layout or removing two townhouse units in order to open up space in the development.
The public hearing is Thursday at 8:15 p.m. at the Fairfax County Government Center.
Rendering of multifamily building along future Reston Station Blvd at Michael Faraday Drive/Credit: Fairfax County
The Fairfax County Planning Commission deferred decision until next week on 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.
Hunter Mill Commissioner Frank de la Fe asked that the decision be delayed after Wednesday’s public hearing. Reason: the amount of the developer contribution to the Reston Road Fund — which will be used to help make more than $2.6 billion in transportation improvements here over several decades — is not yet known.
De la Fe said more information on the road fund is expected this week. Lincoln Property Co. has agreed to Fairfax County Fire and Rescue proffers and money to provide public access to the private street.
There are still proffers that need to be worked out: the extension of a sidewalk along Association Drive; additional tree plantings along Sunrise Valley Drive; and the number of Universal Design Units (developer has offered 2 percent; county has asked for 5 percent). Read More
The flurry of construction you see in the median of the Dulles Toll Road near Reston Parkway isn’t all the Reston Town Center Metro Station.
Designers of the Silver Line’s Phase 2 are planning way ahead — perhaps decades from now — when a possible new road will take vehicle traffic under rather than over the toll road.
Crews have started construction of a so-called “land bridge structure” in the median. The bridge will enable the future connecter — a four-lane highway linking Town Center Parkway to Sunrise Valley Drive — to be built without disrupting the toll road, said Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project spokeswoman Marcia McAllister.
The structure is being built in the median of the toll road near mile marker 4.8, approximately 500 feet west of the future Reston Town Center Station. That station is slated to open in early 2020.
The bridge was requested by Fairfax County as an element of the Board of Supervisors’ Six Year Transportation Priorities for FY2015 to FY2020. The county pledged $8.7 million for the $157 million underpass project in late 2014.
Building the bridge-like structure in advance would minimize any impact to Silver Line Phase 2 service during future construction of the planned roadway, McAllister said.
Graphic: Rendering of land bridge on Dulles Toll Road/Credit: Dulles Corridor Metrorail Project
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved General Dynamics’ plan to build a new headquarters in Reston.
The defense contractor, which currently leases space in Fairview Park, looked at many spots around the country but found that the Reston site — 22 wooded acres on Sunset Hills Road — “fit that [description] to a T,” said land use attorney Mark Looney, representing General Dynamics.
“They were looking for a facility they could own and occupy,” Looney said at the supervisors public hearing. “They wanted room for 175-200 employees that was private and natural. They don’t want to be seen and don’t want to see other people. The CEO said they were looking for a ‘jewel box in the woods.’ “
General Dynamics plans to keep 84 percent of the space as natural and wooded, adding extra privacy for the site at 11011 Sunset Hills, between Wiehle Avenue and Hunter Mill Road.
The site has long been designated commercial, and General Dynamics’ plan is actually much smaller than the previous zoning approvals for three buildings and nearly 400,000 square feet, Hunter Mill Supervisor Cathy Hudgins said.
“This has been a good-news development,” said Hudgins. “The Sunset Hills Road planned development of the site was planned for much higher intensity. This really is an improvement over what zoning would have allowed.”
General Dynamics plans include three levels of below-ground parking and some surface parking for 347 cars, as well as a pocket park.
The company plans a 10-foot security fence and an access road through the property so traffic will not back up on Sunset Hills as employees and visitors go through a security check gate.
As part of the proffer conditions, General Dynamics will have to make some improvements to Sunset Hills, including widening it for turning lanes and providing money for additional traffic signals.
General Dynamics plans to move into the new facility in late 2018, said Looney.
Graphic: Rendering of plans for General Dynamics’ Reston headquarters/Credit: Fairfax County
Here comes another redevelopment plan for Sunrise Valley Drive south of the Dulles Toll Road.
Lincoln Property Co. has a Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing Wednesday for its proposal to turn three acres of parking lot into 260 multifamily residences.
The site is bounded by Sunrise Valley, Commerce Park and Association drives, and is very close to where CESC Commerce Park (Vornado) plans a 1.5 million square foot, mixed-use development. That plan, which will feature towers of 22 and 24 stories and 500 residences, has a planning commission hearing on Sept. 28.
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. About one-third of an acre will be devoted to pocket parks. There will be a dedicated cycle track fronting Sunrise Valley Drive.
The staff report recommends approval, but addresses concerns about the width of sidewalks and the streetscape on Association Drive and Commerce Park Drive.
The giant development planned for Wiehle Avenue and Sunrise Valley Drive will have a cycle track, parks and some of Reston’s tallest buildings.
Reston Now first reported the basics of Vornado’s 1.5 million-square- foot plan for Commerce Executive Park on Friday, but here is a closer look at the application from the county planning staff report.
There will be a Fairfax County Planning Commission public hearing on the development — one of several planned near Wiehle-Reston East — on Sept. 28.
Here is what you need to know:
The parcel on the south side of the Dulles Toll Road from the Metro station is 11.58 acres zoned industrial, but seeking a rezoning to PDC (Planned Development Commercial) District. Three six-story office buildings on the site will stay. The existing surface parking lot will go.
In its place:
- 7-story, 100 foot tall residential building for up to 200 dwelling units and 210,000 square feet.
- 24-story, 255 foot tall residential building for up to 300 units and 344,000 square feet.
- 22-story, 275 foot tall office building for 385,000 square feet.
- 14-story, 165-foot tall hotel with 175 rooms consisting of 133,000 square feet.
Access to the property would be from Sunrise Valley Drive via Commerce Park Drive. Retail stores would be on ground floors and would aim to minimize car use.
It is not yet known whether the units would be rentals or condos. They would be Reston Association members.
Open Space — The property has an existing tree canopy of 105,276 square feet (20.7 percent) and the applicant will provide new landscaping of which 35,625 square feet will contribute to the overall tree canopy. A total of 64,551 square feet of tree canopy is provided through preservation or new plantings Read More
The Fairfax County Board of Zoning Appeals will continue to hear testimony on Wednesday regarding the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints’ request to build a 16,558-square-foot church on the Reston/Vienna border.
The church has filed a special permit exception to build the structure at Crowell and Hunter Mill Roads. The special permit exception would allow the church to build a place of worship on land designated residential.
Because it is a special permit, the church would not have to go through the Fairfax County Planning Commission or the Board of Supervisors for final approval.
After several postponements over the summer, the BZA heard a first round of testimony last Wednesday, with several speakers falling on both sides of the issue.
Several said the church — which plans 292 seats, a 30-foot roofline and a 70-foot steeple — has a relatively small footprint, and would mostly be in use on Sundays, when traffic backups on Hunter Mill are less likely. Read More
Another plan to revamp a portion of Sunrise Valley Drive will go before the Fairfax County Planning Commission Sept. 28. This one asks for a giant-sized (1.5 million square feet) mixed-use development south of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro.
Vornado Realty Trust is seeking to rezone 12 acres at Wiehle Avenue, Sunrise Valley Drive and the Dulles Toll Road.
Vornado seeks to keep office buildings at the current Commerce Executive Park but replace open space and surface parking with a seven-story, 200-unit residential building; a 24-story, 300-unit residential building; a 22-story, 385,000-square-foot office building; and a 175-room hotel. There would also be retail in the first three floors of several buildings.
The 22- and 24-story towers will be about the same height as One Reston Town Center, the approved plan for redeveloping a five-story office building into Reston’s tallest building at 1760 Reston Parkway.
The staff report says the project would be developed in four phases, with the 200-unit largely brick residential building going up first along Sunrise Valley Drive and Wiehle Avenue. Next would be the residential tower at Wiehle and the Toll Road, followed by the office building adjacent to the Metro, and the hotel.
The plans also call for pedestrian paths to the Metro, bike lanes, pocket parks and a plaza. The staff report recommends approval.
Earlier this week, the planning commission approved rezoning an office building for 54 townhouses and began demolition of the 42-year-old former American Press Institute building. Both of those projects are on Sunrise Valley south of the Dulles Toll Road.
The second phase of JBG’s Reston Heights is also under construction, with a 385-unit apartment community and as well as 89,000 square feet of retail.
Renderings of Commerce Executive Park courtesy of Fairfax County.
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.
This is an op-ed by Reston resident Terry Maynard. It does not reflect the opinion of Reston Now.
On Monday, the Fairfax County Department of Transportation (FCDOT) and Reston Network Analysis Group (RNAG) once again offered several proposals that would create a transportation tax service district (TSD) for the Reston Metro transit station areas (TSAs) along the Dulles Corridor that would add to the tax bills of Restonians living there.
At the meeting, FCDOT detailed three TSD tax rate options: $0.017/$100 assessed valuation, $0.20/$100 assessed valuation, and $0.27/$100 assessed valuation to be paid for 40 years largely based on mindless comparisons with Tysons.
Ostensibly, these funds would close a $350 million “gap” in funding new and improved streets and intersections throughout the TSAs to accommodate the traffic added there by new high-density development.
Demolition began on Wednesday at 11690 Sunrise Valley Dr., where for more than 40 years stood Virginia’s only building designed by famed architect Marcel Breuer.
The building formerly housed the headquarters of the American Press Institute, but had been empty since API merged with another organization in 2012.
The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in July approved Sekas Homes’ application to build 34 townhouses and 10 condos on the site.
The proposal was approved after a late effort by historians, design experts and Reston citizens, who protested that the Brutalist building should be repurposed for another use rather than destroyed. The building had not been considered for inclusion in the National Register of Historic Places because it is less than 50 years old.
The building owner and commercial real estate representatives said there was no interest from other businesses to relocate to the 45,000-square-foot building.
The demolition is expected to take about three weeks. Looking through some of the holes made Wednesday, it was visible that the tear-down was happening even as some of the Mid-Century modern furniture and other fixtures remained.
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
Land use, zoning and future Reston redevelopment projects — including Bozzuto’s proposal to double the size of St. Johns Wood Apartments — are all on the agenda for a special meeting of the Reston Association Board of Directors on Wednesday, Sept. 14.
This is an important time for RA as many redevelopment proposals are before the Fairfax County Planning Commission and the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. While RA’s Board has no final say in the plans, the board can wield influence as new residents will, in most cases, be RA members.
Says the Sept. 14 special meeting agenda:
The purposes of this Special Meeting are to provide the RA Board and members with an update and status regarding various Land Use/zoning matters affecting the Reston community and an opportunity for the Board to discuss those matters, including but not limited to:
The County’s and Reston Association’s Land Use/zoning application Review and community input processes;
Current and anticipated Land Use/zoning applications in Reston and, – A draft RA DRB policy related to member notification when the RA Design Review Board receives requests for courtesy review and/or DRB covenant required review of applications related to Fairfax County land use/zoning application projects.
The agenda includes:
Discussion of current & anticipated Land Use/Zoning Applications in Reston (John McBride, Esq., Odin Feldman Pittleman, RA’s land use attorney) Read More
General Dynamics’ plans to build a five-story office building on a wooded lot on Sunset Hills Road will go before the Fairfax County Planning Commission on Tuesday.
The plan has generally been well received by community members, as well as the Fairfax County Planning staff, which recommends the plan with a few conditions.
The 21.69-acre site between Wiehle Avenue and Hunter Mill Road is a heavily treed, previously undeveloped lot. But it has been approved for years for a developer to build three, five-story buildings or about 358,000 square feet. Also approved: three levels of below grade structured parking designed for 297 spaces and the option for surface parking spaces on the south side of the building.
What General Dynamics has proposed is one, five story building at about 190,000 square feet, with an option for a 30,000-square-foot addition in the future.
GD also plans a reduction in parking from 572 spaces to 347 spaces.
GD, which currently leases office space in Fairview Park, previously said it was drawn to the site because it could build to its specifications, including a security fence and an “arrival pavilion” that would provide security checks on the property’s access road.
The company also plans to preserve most of the trees. GD has asked to build a 10-foot security fence along the perimeter, which has previously been approved for a 4-foot fence.
What concerned community members at a previous meeting was potential traffic backups on Sunset Hills Road as the proposed building is not in walking distance of the Wiehle-Reston East Metro.
The county staff report recommends widening Sunset Hills Road to four lanes. Nearly two acres has been dedicated for such road widening as part of the previous approvals. The report says Sunset Hills’ eastbound improvements include the addition of a 150-foot left turn lane with a 100-foot taper into Dressage Drive and a 250-foot right turn lane with a 100-foot taper into the site. 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
