Alcorn shuts door on possibility of redeveloping Reston National Golf Course

Hunter Mill District Supervisor Walter Alcorn reaffirmed his commitment yesterday (Monday) to oppose the development of Reston National Golf Course.

Alcorn said he will not support Weller Development Co. and War Horse Cities’ effort to change the county’s comprehensive plan to redevelop the golf course.

His public statement comes after a community survey found that 98% of respondents opposed amending the county’s comprehensive plan to change the designation of the golf course. Similar results were yielded from a survey of 14 communities surrounding Reston National.

“The numbers speak for themselves. Therefore, as with Hidden Creek, I do not support changing the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan’s current designation of this property as a golf course and consider this matter closed,” Alcorn wrote in a statement.

Alcorn voiced similar opposition when the owner of Hidden Creek Golf Course sought to redevelop the course with a 100-acre park and 1,000 residential units. In 2020, Alcorn said that he would only support the proposal if there was strong community support.

Reston’s ongoing overhaul of its comprehensive plan leaves the issue of preserving Reston’s two golf courses untouched.

In the absence of changes to the plan, Reston National’s owners financed the creation of the Reston National Neighborhood Study Group to determine lacking amenities in the area.

The group called for the reclamation of roughly 100 acres of the golf course for “usable” open space, a neighborhood with shops, restaurants and gathering spaces, and a half-mile park through the neighborhood.

Here’s Alcorn’s full letter:

Since I took office almost three years ago, the topic that my office has received the most emails about is the potential redevelopment of Reston’s two golf courses, Hidden Creek and Reston National Golf Course. On this question I have consistently stated that any proposal to change the comprehensive plan for these properties from their current respective “golf course” designations would need support from surrounding communities.

The owners of Reston National have spent considerable resources during the past year reaching out to the community to consider the condition of and potentially the redevelopment of, some or all of their privately-owned property.

Below is the information that has been compiled by my staff from emails and other communications I have received from residents of surrounding communities and beyond. The pie chart and map provide a visual of the input received from residents in the surrounding communities of Reston National. I have also not received any requests from neighboring cluster association leadership to change the comp plan guidance for Reston National – in fact, I have heard the opposite from those neighborhood leaders.

The numbers speak for themselves. Therefore, as with Hidden Creek, I do not support changing the Fairfax County Comprehensive Plan’s current designation of this property as a golf course and consider this matter closed.